Random Loot: Issue #2

What's new in the world of indie RPGs?

Welcome to Random Loot, Loot The Room’s monthly newsletter. You can read previous issues here and support the newsletter on Ko-fi here. Subscribe to get new issues in your inbox!

I can’t believe December is upon us already. This year has absolutely flown by and I feel like I only managed to do half the things I set out to do in January. But that’s not a bad problem to have - it means I’ve got lots still to look forward to as we head into the new year.

Last month I said that this newsletter would appear on the second Wednesday of each month and, typically, I’ve already changed my mind about that. I’m going to be writing it on the 1st of every month, purely because that’s a lot easier for me to remember. I hope you don’t mind getting this email a week earlier than promised! The format is going to remain the same, though - a little bit about what I’ve been up to, and then links to some of the cool stuff I’ve been seeing over the past month.

If you have anything you want me to take a look at, feel free to drop an email to chris at loottheroom dot uk. I can’t promise to cover everything, because I want this to be curated and not to just spam links at people, but I do promise to take a look at anything you ask me to look at.

What’s new with me?

• I’ve just released my December advent calendar adventure, BLACKOUT. I did this last year with Reivdene-Upon-The-Moss and it was a big success, and I’m excited to do it again. I’ll be releasing this system-neutral adventure in pieces each day throughout December. The price starts at £3, and each week it will rise until it hits £10. Getting in early ensures you get the best price, and no matter when in the month you buy it you’ll get access to all the updates as they’re released.

• I also released the second edition of A Dragon Game, A Dungeon Game. It’s completely free and I’d love it if you checked it out, played a few games with it, and let me know what you think!

• Dragonmeet is happening this Saturday, December 3rd at the Hammersmith Novotel in London. I’ve got a booth in the Upper Hall and I would love it if you came to say hello.

• I’ve extended the Adventure Jam again. Is this because I still haven’t had a chance to write anything for it myself? Yes. Will it likely get extended again come January for the same reason? Also yes.

• Modiphius finally announced Fallout: Winter of Atom, the first official hardback adventure for Fallout: The Roleplaying Game. I wrote the first chapter of the adventure and it’s very, very exciting to finally be able to talk about it!

What’s good?

There’s a lot here this month because people keep doing cool stuff. I make no apologies for the length of this list.

• Jared wrote a really interesting post-mortem of Luke Gearing’s The Isle over at the Spear Witch blog. I’ve been loving running this adventure and I genuinely think it’s one of the best RPG books to come out in many years, so this was a really cool peak behind the curtain.

• Magnum Galaxy Games released The Cleaning of Prison Station Echo, an adventure for Mothership in which you play night-time janitorial staff brought in to clean a high security prison. Shit goes wrong, of course, and chaos ensues. This is one of those adventures that made me want to run it the second I read it, and Evlyn Moreau’s art is gorgeous throughout.

• Lucas Rolim released new stuff for MiniBX - an adventure by Diogo Nogueira called “Cult of The Blind God” and a bunch of new archetypes by Gran Boid. The adventure especially is very cool and well worth checking out.

• I mentioned Midwinter Ghost Stories last month, but now there are more details about what the scenarios actually are and the campaign is now live on Kickstarter so it seems worthwhile to mention it again! At the time of writing this it’s about £300 away from being funded with 14 days to go, and I’m confident they’re going to get there easily.

• Zedeck Siew wrote a really interesting post about using disparate systems to make stuff in your games feel weird and alien that’s well worth reading.

• Monkey’s Paw Games released the Expert edition of Kanobo, their rules-light game of adventuring and sword-fighting in Tokugawa-era Japan. I’ve recently been getting into Shaw Brothers movies and so this has come along at a very convenient time for me, frankly.

• And here on Substack, Monte Cook wrote an interesting essay about the changes in attitudes and approaches to “campaign worlds” over the past 50 years of adventure games, and how that’s impacted the landscape at large. I found myself agreeing with a lot of what he says here and I think it’s definitely worth your time.

That’s everything I’ve got for you this month! See you in January.

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Some of the links in this newsletter (really, only the ones that go to DriveThruRPG) use affiliate codes, which give me a small percentage of any purchases you make. This helps me keep paying my bills and I hope you don’t mind me using them.