Here comes another week of StartPlaying TTRPG news! 2025 must really be underway now, because there’s a lot to get into. Critical Role announced an interactive show for wildfire relief, the Dungeons & Dragons 2025 roster got two surprise books, the ENNIE awards went back-and-forth on AI, and Evil Genius Games asked a Redditor to remove a post illuminating its shady history.
Critical Role Hosts Interactive Livestream For LA Wildfire Relief
The livestreaming legends over at Critical Role are putting together a charity initiative to help those who lost crucial aspects of their lives to the recent California wildfires. At the head of it all is a special livestreamed one-shot tonight, January 30 at 7pm, on their official Twitch, YouTube, and Beacon channels. The event will see Bells Hells forced into a wager of order vs. chaos represented by fan donations. Yes, you can see the aftermath of your donations live as fans unlock goals such as monster spawns, wild magic surges, player body swapping, and drawing on the Deck of Many things.
The donations from the event will go to The California Community Foundation, the Los Angeles Fire Department, and the Latino Community Foundation. Our StartPlaying GMs are also running charity games for wildfire recovery. Learn more about our efforts and how you can help by playing here.
Wizards Of The Coast Reveals Two More DnD 2025 Books
WotC had several press members visit its office last week to learn a lot about the future of Dungeons & Dragons. EN World posted many juicy tidbits over the last few days, including the possibility of entirely new settings for the new edition and what new subclasses are in store. In fact, Unearthed Arcana already has playtests of these new subclasses.
One big piece of news is that there are two more DnD books coming this year. While the current slate consists of a dragon anthology, a new starter set, and two Forgotten Realms sourcebooks, an Eberron book is now set for August. Called Eberron: Forge of the Artificer, it will include the 2024 Artificer, new bastions, airship rules, and Dragonmark feats. Following that will be a mystery book set for October release.
Ennie Awards Allow AI-Generated Content This Year, Ban It Next Year After Backlash
AI-generated content is allowed for this year’s ENNIE awards, which will celebrate innovation and mastery in tabletop gaming during Gen Con in August. This decision sparked passionate backlash from both fans and professionals who voiced concerns over the environmental effects and content theft used to power many of these technologies. In response, reports Polygon, the ENNIEs decided to not allow AI content for the 2025-2026 awards onward. This year’s ceremony will allow entries using AI, however, as the ENNIE organization feels it is “not feasible to retroactively alter the rules.”
Evil Genius Games CEO Asks Redditor To Remove Post
Last year, EN World released a revealing report about the “rise and fall” of Evil Genius Games. Employees speaking anonymously alleged mistreatment, lack of payment, and NFT use as some of the reasons they resigned. This report blew up to the point that a Reddit post about it shows up as a top Google search result of the brand name. Last week, the Redditor behind it revealed that the CEO of Evil Genius DM’d them to ask for the post to be taken down.
The CEO claims that the post is destroying his company and appeals to empathy to have it removed. Meanwhile, EN World’s Morris shared a bizarre account of copy-paste legal threats sent his way from this same CEO. So it seems the saga of Evil Genius Games still has more ups and downs to deliver.
PHEW! That brings this week’s news to a close. And what an eventful week it was! Enjoy your games, and may your dice be kind.
