#169: Elden Ring, Wuxia, Links

I. Dear Reader

Been incredibly sick all week. Have gotten zero work done but have been recuperating alongside Elden Ring. The game was on sale and I had heard that unlike other FromSoft games, you can run away from monsters. That’s all I want really, the option to not learn how to parry and instead run away. And it’s been tremendously accessible and rewarding. I’ve never felt the kind of excitement and joy and wonder for exploring what’s around the corner in a game before. There’s some drop-dead gorgeous vistas to experience. And also some really freaky beasts and fetid swamps. But also gorgeous vistas. There’s a lot of creativity and artistry on display here and if you’ve held out because you’ve heard the horror stories of Dark Souls, Sekiro or Bloodborne, I think you might want to give this one a try.

Honestly, it’s making want to play some fantasy tabletop games after a long time.

(There’s a small cottage industry of help, advice, how-to guides, etc to help you with the game. You’ll probably need it because even as the game tries to accommodate many skill levels and playstyles, it’s not obvious how they’re doing it at the start. I’m playing a mage and while that makes adventuring a little harder (because you’re so squishy), it also allows me to stand far away and hit monsters and run away if they look too scary. )

Yours runefully,

Thomas

II. Media of the Week

• AA Voigt shares his deep excitement for Emily Zhu’s new WIP tactical wuxia game, Ten Thousand Days For The Sword.

• Party of One celebrates eight years with a great run of one shots as usual. I highly enjoyed this one called Upon A Pirate’s Sea with designer Kendo. It’s a testament to how good a show it is that this was the first time the designer played the game but with Jeff Stormer, it came across as creative, smooth and fun.

• Please consider joining 60+ other patrons and support the newsletter on patreon to help keep me going.

• If you’ve released a new game on itch.io this month, let me know through this form so I can potentially include it in the end of the month round-up.

III. Links of the Week

• In the “big IP” corner of tabletop RPG news, Dicebreaker reports the legendary Diablo videogame is going to be adapted into an RPG.

• Egg Embry interviews the husband-wife duo Carlos Hernandez and CSE Cooney about their unique card-based game, Negocios Infernales.

• On reddit, an interesting post where user RollForThings summarizes a video about the “pitfalls” of the boardgame hobby and how they resonate with RPGs as well.

• Sidney Icarus talks about their WIP game, The Tapestry, which tries to let players choose the stakes for every action that needs to be resolved and discusses what resolutions actually are.

• Not about RPGs but a great historical dive into monsters and monstrosity, relevant to all you fantasy worldbuilders.

IV. Small Ads

All links in the newsletter are completely based on my own interest. But to help support my work, this section contains sponsored links and advertisements. If you’d like your products to appear here, read the submission form.

• Vergence, the game of dimensional conflict and family drama, is crowdfunding in November. Explore infinite worlds, make use of cosmic powers, deal with complex politics and ancient forces.

• WW2 game Deployment is now crowdfunding! Deployment includes fast-paced combat, a campaign that tackles important social themes, vehicles, and more! Back the project here and receive a limited edition print!

• DAGGERS & HEART is now LIVE on Kickstarter! This hack of Lasers & Feelings uses the best die, a d12, and costs only $1. Plus, get instant access when you pledge!

This newsletter is currently sponsored by the Bundle of Holding.

• High concept scifi game full of lost memories and a big mysterious ship, Nibiru.

• Funnels for Dungeon Crawl Classics, all bundled up like your level zero NPCs

Hello, dear readers. This newsletter is written by me, Thomas Manuel. If you’d like to support this newsletter, share it with a friend or buy one of my games from my itch store. If you’d like to say something to me, you can reply to this email or click below!