Druid Players Divided, ORC Comes Back For Second Round, And King Kong Enters The Fray - TTRPG News 5/18/2023

The world of tabletop RPGs got through another week, so it’s news time! StartPlaying is here to offer a bite-sized rundown of the biggest stories in TTRPGs. Whether you’re into giant monsters, ranged smites, or equitable legal documents, we’ve got you covered. 

Dungeons & Dragons Players Divided Over New Druid, But Love Paladin

D&D design architect Jeremy Crawford sat down for another review video of the upcoming 2024 rule changes. This time, he tackled the highly-controversial druid and paladin class updates. As expected, the druid was split almost 50/50 in terms of playtester satisfaction with Wild Shape being particularly divisive. Many took issue with swapping out the menagerie of specific beast stat blocks for a standardized version, but many also liked the concept of simplifying the druid as a whole. As for paladins, around 80% surveyed liked the ideas. Surprisingly, one less popular change was the addition of smite damage to ranged weapon attacks. 

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Paizo Offers Second Draft Of ORC License For Feedback

The dust has settled over D&D’s OGL disaster, but that doesn’t mean that the fight for open gaming is over. While Kobold Press prepares to launch its D&D-free 5E Kickstarter, Tales of the Valiant, Paizo continues to refine its Open RPG Creative license (ORC). The second draft is available to download and discuss, with Paizo urging creators to join their Discord and give feedback on the draft. The challenge now seems to be pinning down what exact role the ORC will play in the industry, as many games already offer open licenses through Creative Commons. 

King Kong Teams Up With Pacific Rim For New d20 Adventures

The next big Kickstarter to hit the scene is a double feature. Evil Genius Games is bringing Kong: Skull Island and Pacific Rim to your table using the Everyday Heroes system. The crowdfunding campaign was funded in 45 minutes and aims to ship product by May 2024. Using d20-based gameplay, players will go from levels 1 to 10 in new Cinematic Adventure Paths. Backers can choose to delve into the conspiracies behind government interest in Skull Island or go on a worldwide Jaeger tour to unify the world against Kaiju. If you’re feeling particularly game before the June 6 Kickstarter end, you can fund at a higher tier to get both adventures.

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That’s all for this week! May the dice be kind in all your sessions!