Epic Adventure

Send us Fan Mail
Welcome to You heard it hear last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.
https://www.enworld.org/threads/dice-pioneer-louis-zocchi-passes-away.718828/
Lou ZahKey, the father of dice passed away at 91 recently. If you’ve ever played a table top roleplaying game then odds are you’ve rolled some of Lou’s dice. He and his company Gamescience were the first in the United States to manufacture polyhedral dice. He is also the inventor of the 100-sided "Zocchihedron."
In addition to dice, Zocchi worked on many games and magazines, including a number of wargames including Star Fleet Battles and The Battle of Britain. He was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming's Hall of Fame in 1987 and was presented with the E. Gary Gygax Lifetime Achievement Award at Gary Con in 2022.
I am not only a fan of dice, but I loved The Battle of Britain game and likely still have the original box floating around the house somewhere.
Thanks for all the dice and the hours of great gaming Lou.
Christina, I know you are a massive dice nerd. This news had to strike a chord.
Kick to Christina
What about you Mike. I have a feeling you were into the Battle of Britain as well.
Kick to Mike
Next up we have another Backerkit release that is tapping into the zeitgeist and personally I find it very Meta.
https://www.enworld.org/threads/rpg-crowdfunding-news-%E2%80%93-dungeon-crawler-carl-rpg-historica-arcanum-lairs-legends-3-and-more.718847/
Renegade Game Studios is crowdfunding a Dungeon Crawler Carl TTRPG and Card Game. Dungeon Crawler Carl is a LitRPG book series by author Matt Dinniman that has become very popular. It involves Carl a regular guy and his ex-girlfriends cat that get sucked into a world spanning dungeon created by aliens. It’s a book that uses gaming tropes and plays out like a roleplaying game. So we have a company making a roleplaying game about a book that is based on a world that is a roleplaying game…Yep, that tracks.
I have read the first book and it’s fun. Nothing earth-shattering or amazing, but it does what it set out to do. I have even used the idea from the book in my first Shadowdark adventure, because I couldn’t figure out how to make Shadowdark work for roleplaying.
Christina, Any experience with Dungeon Crawler Carl or thoughts on the Meta of the moment?
Kick to Christina
Mike, what about you?
Kick to Mike
And there you have it, all the news you’ve already heard.

Send us Fan Mail
On this episode Rob from Sidequests and Malcolm from Finding Atoria join us to create some villains on the fly. the process is fascinating.

Send us Fan Mail
Welcome to you heard it here last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard. 
https://www.enworld.org/threads/neopets-terminates-geekifys-license-ttrpg-in-jeopardy.718325/
Let’s start with some interesting and maybe concerning news that can Kickstart a deeper discussion. You’ll get that pun in a minute. Neopets, the free virtual-pet website launched in 1999 where users can adopt, customize, and care for virtual creatures has terminated it’s IP license agreement with Geekify for a tabletop roleplaying game. Geekify is a custom marketing, creative design, and manufacturing company out of Colorado that has worked with Neopets in the past bringing out a number of products. In 2024 a Kickstarter was launched for Geekify to bring out a Neopets tabletop roleplaying game and it raised over 427,000 dollars.
Recently a playtest was released that showed the game was a combat focus 5e variant and to say Neopets wasn’t happy was an understatement. The immediately withdrew the licensing from Geekify for the product.
And the big question is, now what.
Let’s start Mike. What does this mean for the people who funded the Kickstarter? Do they get their money back?
[Kick to Mike]
Christina. What ethical responsibility does Neopets have to the people who kickstarted the roleplaying game?
[Kick to Christina]
Mike, where do you think the communication broke down and who’s responsibility is it, Neopets or Geekify?
[Kick to Mike]
Christina, why did Neopets let a company that doesn’t design games, design a game?
[Kick to Christina]
To anyone, what does this mean going forward with game designers wanting to work with IPs. As far as I can tell this might be the first time the IP has been withdrawn after a game was basically “sold” Is this just another hit to the model of big companies using crowdfunding instead of traditional publishing methods?
To anyone, is this going to hurt Kickstarter and Backerkit in the future.
And there you have it, all the news, you’ve already heard.

Send us Fan Mail
On this episode we interview Ben Alexander. Ben is the artist for Parable Games and his new game Ion Heart Multiplayer has just launched on Backerkit. 
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/parable-games/ion-heart-multiplayer-a-lo-fi-mech-ttrpg
You can contact Ben at Parable Games.
https://www.parablegames.co.uk/?srsltid=AfmBOorW--NCFUPwIO6kfv6eQ9v2p9oam3Yi1bPb3pKfs97UfZYvXK4V

Send us Fan Mail
Welcome to you heard it here last, where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/parable-games/ion-heart-multiplayer-a-lo-fi-mech-ttrpg/launch_party
The fantastic Ion Heart a solo roleplaying game from Parable Games where you take on the role of a mech and it’s pilot is making the leap to multiplayer. Christina and I reviewed the Ion Heart Solo game for Pop Geeks last year and we are getting ready to dive in and give this one a review as well so look for that review to drop in the next month or so. I am looking forward to seeing how the quirky and fun game translates into a multiplayer platform and I really love everything that’s coming out of Parable Games right now.
Christina, I know you haven’t seen the game, but any thoughts?
[Kick to Christina]
Mike, while you didn’t review the game you have a lot of history with solo roleplaying games, you wrote one yourself with the Radiance Engine. What are your initial thoughts on taking a solo game and turning it into a multiplayer game.
[Kick to Mike]
Ion Heart dropped to Bakerkit on March 24th, so check it out.
Next up we’ve got an upcoming tabletop roleplaying game covering one of my favorite anima films, Ghost in the Shell. 
https://www.enworld.org/threads/a-second-ghost-in-the-shell-ttrpg-is-on-its-way.718020/
Mantic Games has announced that the new Ghost in the Shell TTRPG will be based solely off of the acclaimed manga. The plan to publish the TTRPG in 2026. The game uses an all-new system created by Alessio Cavatore of Games Workshop fame and Zak Barouh a writer, editor, and game designer. While I am not very familiar with the manga, I was a huge fan of the 1995 film. That film and Akira opened my eyes to Japanese animation. There have been attempts at turning the source material into a game before and this one isn’t the only Ghost in The Shell game planned for 2026. Mana Project Studio has raised over 500,000 dollars on their kickstarter for a Ghost in the Shell project.
I’m not familiar with Mantic Games, but I do own Mana Project Studios Cowboy BeBop game and lets just say I don’t plan on picking up their version in the future so this one might be a great alternative.
Christina, what do you think about Ghost in the Shell and Mantic Games diving into this source material for a ttrpg?