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Add Effects to Crit Successes and Failures With ‘Critical Codex’, and More New RPG Releases

4 Minute Read
Mar 21 2024
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It’s time to roll the dice on new releases! Come check out this week’s batch of brand-new tabletop role-playing games.

Dune: Fall of the Imperium

The Dune universe is incredibly influential. Take the reins in creating your own story and see where your own house’s story leads. Maybe in your version, Arrakis collides with Kevin Costner’s Waterworld, and everyone is just pretty chill afterward. Don’t let anyone tell you it couldn’t happen!

The time of the Imperium is ending. Emperor Shaddam IV is about to enact a plan to destroy the popular House Atreides using their old enemy, House Harkonnen. But this is merely the spark that sets the Known Universe on fire. Ancient plans are in motion, and one woman’s betrayal of her Sisterhood places the fate of the Imperium in the hands of her son, Paul Atreides. On the desert planet of Arrakis, the wheel of fate is poised to turn – and sweep everything in its path away.

A storm is coming, one that will tear across every planet in the galaxy. Your House will find themselves in the midst of that storm, but will you survive or be torn to shreds? Will you help the Atreides or watch Arrakeen burn in silence? Can you secure new spice supplies while the Harkonnen regime falters and fails to provide? Will you align with the insurgent Fremen, or seize the chance to bargain for more power from a desperate Emperor on the brink of losing his dynasty?

Raven: A Gothic Horror Roleplaying Game

Pay what you want for this quickstart guide to an RPG of gothic horror and despair. Quickstart guides like this are fantastic for two reasons: A) you’re supporting an indie dev, and that’s always great. B) they are a great source of inspiration even if you don’t continue with the system. Play the included one-shot then maybe pull a few things from it into a different campaign.

Taste a sample of Raven – A Gothic Horror Roleplaying Game with this free Quickstart Guide. Here you’ll find the basic ruleset for Maestrom System, character playbooks and a short ready-to-play scenario: Old Love Of An Old Cat. Dive into an evocative and dangerous fictional world of gothic horror and cursed magic.inspired by the curses, passions, despairs, and longings of Edgar Allan Poe-style stories.

In Raven, a city threatened by the mist and ruled over by a sinister magic Order, your characters are the stars of the show. You are members of the Corvus family, descentands of the city Founder, and the cause of the curse that looms large over Raven.

Star Trek Adventures: The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign

As Star Trek: Discovery fades into a glorious sunset, the RPG is jumping back to season 1. This campaign book includes brand new rules for “procedurally generated campaign overlay” that allows players to become admirals dealing with Kingon threats across the galaxy. It also includes a new scars system, new talents, starships, missions, species, and more.

The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign expands upon the core Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game experience by providing a campaign that parallels the Klingon War story arc depicted in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. This tactical campaign enables you and your group to explore what was happening elsewhere in the Federation during this perilous time. With a plethora of additional rules variations to embrace the emotional toil of being thrust into a war, this campaign gives you the tools to build exciting narratives during the war.

Critical Codex

“I rolled a 20!” you exclaim with excitement. “Actually, according to the rules, nothing actually happens when you roll a 20 on a skill check.” says your boring and unimaginative GM. Never have this mood-killing experience again with the Critical Codex, where every crit fail and crit success means something.

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Critical Codex is a tool used by DMs to add narrative and fun to every critical success and critical failure. Players expect something memorable to happen when a 1 or a 20 is rolled and the Critical Codex puts that power at the DM’s fingertips. Every type of attack and proficiency is covered, along with special rolls like Initiative and Concentration checks. Add-ons available in hardcover and pdf.

Dawnfall: Aitechnocene

Speaking of the frustration of rolling a 1, what if you never had to deal with that again at all? Dawnfall is a diceless system that relies on the choices you make to push the story forward. Diceless systems focus more on the narrative and immersion than worrying about exactly how much damage you dealt. And in a world as devastated as this one, every choice could be your last.

Welcome to Dawnfall: Aitechnocene, a diceless post-apocalyptic tabletop RPG where survival is the ultimate goal and the choices you make shape the future of humanity. In a world ravaged by the catastrophic fallout of advanced AI technology, factions clash, survivors struggle, and ancient secrets lie buried beneath the ruins.

Forge your path in a world teetering on the brink of chaos. Define your character through Skills, Perks, and Passions, and navigate the treacherous landscape of the Aitechnocene. Will you rebuild civilization, harness the power of technology, roam as a nomad, or prey upon the weak as a raider?

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Author: Matt Sall
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