Welcome back to another edition of StartPlaying tabletop news! We try to bring you the biggest, most interesting, and fun headlines from the TTRPG hobby in bite-sized bits. All so you can get back to rolling dice.
This week: WotC makes two more hires to the D&D team, Fallout gets solo TTRPG rules, Pathfinder announces a party card game, and AIs played DnD together.
Two New DnD Hires Plucked From Radiant Citadel Success
Two more designers are joining the D&D team full time. Taylor Navarro of the UK worked on several DMs Guild titles such as Journeys Beyond the Radiant Citadel. She also has credits with Ghostfire Gaming and Evil Hat.
The other recent hire was Erin Roberts, creator of the Godsbreath setting in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel. The setting proved so acclaimed that it returned in the recent anthology book Dragon Delves. These hires come on the heels of other new DnD designer additions pulled from previous 5E books and DMs Guild.
Fallout RPG To Get Solo Version
Those hankering for some Deathclaw action after Season 2 of the Fallout show are in luck: Moduphius is putting out a solo rule set for its Fallout TTRPG. (Or try a game on StartPlaying!) The upcoming Wasteland Wanderer book puts you in the role of an emerging vault dweller, reports ICv2. Your character is still created using the 2D20 system Modiphius is known for, but a series of tables creates the story as you go. There’s also a bit of journaling to go along with the action, presumably so later characters can find audio logs from your doomed first character. The book releases in April and will cost $55.
Paizo Announces Pathfinder Party Game About Mixing Words
If you like fantasy but your game night group is more the Cards Against Humanity crowd, Paizo is answering the call with Spellfinder. This party game takes the fantasy vibe of Pathfinder and matches it with silly word-combining card games. Players are magic students trying to create new spells to solve problems at school. A deck of cards randomly generates problems, and players combine words to fashion new spells to solve them. Spellfinder comes out on March 4 and will retail for $39.99.
A DnD Game Where Both DM And Players Were AI Went As Off-Target As You'd Expect
There is a fascinating report on Wargamer about how researchers had a group of Large Language Model AIs play DnD together. While the notion of an AI Dungeon Master isn’t new, this team of computer scientists were specifically testing how a group composed entirely of AIs would play off of one another.
The result was apparently utter chaos. Monsters developed “a personality mid-fight” while Paladin players gave “heroic speeches for no reason” as they abandoned tactics to walk into enemy fire. Which, granted, sounds like some human Paladin players I know. Still, the researchers seemed surprised by these sudden bursts of character. So maybe our jobs are safe for now, fellow DMs.
On that silly note, this week’s roundup is at an end! Thanks for reading, and may your dice be kind.
Sergio Solórzano is the best Dungeon Master in the USA (according to a Wizards of the Coast competition, anyway). He loves minis and terrain but also goes all-in on improv!
