Walking Dead, One D&D Druid/Paladin Playtest, Problems With Dark Sun - TTRPG News 2/24/2023

Another long week is coming to an end, so let’s take one last look at the tabletop RPG news of the week! As usual, there are a mix of exciting announcements and questions about the way older content interacts with today’s safety-focused environment (of which you can read a wonderful think piece on here). Starting off, however, is an unpleasant story about a big name in tabletop accessories. 

If you’re here reading and are interested in learning how to join a campaign with one of our professional Game Masters, check out what’s on the schedule! 

Former Wyrmwood Gaming Employee Alleges Sexual Assault

A recent Twitter post alleged that Wyrmwood Gaming, creator of well-regarded gaming tables and wooden accessories, fired an employee for reporting a sexual assault incident. It started with Andrew Oberbeck, who claimed to work for Wyrmwood from 2019-2020. Oberbeck said that he reported an incident of sexual assault that took place on company grounds, but that he was fired by the CEO for “creating shop drama.” 

Other Twitter users commented to back up the story, and it was later revealed that firings were used as a threat to silence further talk of the incident. Oberbeck also alleged that Wyrmwood later used his design without compensation after he was fired. In Wyrmwood’s corner, the company released a YouTube video where the CEO walks around the office and disputes the allegations based on his recollection of events while chit-chatting with employees. Several partners, including charity organization Take This, have looked into the case and ended their ongoing collaborations in response to the news. 

The Real Reason Why Dark Sun Won’t Be In D&D 5E

While Spelljammer and Eberron have hit Dungeons & Dragons 5E and Planescape is on the way, there are still some classic settings that haven’t gotten the updated treatment. And now a Wizards of the Coast rep has said flat-out why Dark Sun is not on the list for a revisit. Straight from an interview with Bob the Worldbuilder, Kyle Brink of WotC said:

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“I’ll be frank here, the Dark Sun setting is problematic in a lot of ways. And that’s the main reason we haven’t come back to it. We know it’s got a huge fan following and we have standards today that make it extraordinarily hard to be true to the source material and also meet our ethical and inclusion standards... We know there’s love out there for it and god we would love to make those people happy, and also we gotta be responsible.”

One D&D Reveals It’s Druid And Paladin Redesign

With the OGL mess settled, WotC is back to advertising new products and playtesting One D&D. The latest round of Unearthed Arcana content introduces new ideas for the Druid and Paladin. Both classes get big changes to their core features–the Druid now chooses between template stat blocks for Wild Shape instead of using monster stats and gets new “Channel Nature” abilities to compensate, while Paladins are now limited to one smite per turn but can also smite on ranged weapon attacks and unarmed strikes. The changes continue to be controversial, with many saying these efforts to balance combat and prevent broken multiclass builds sap these classes of their flavor. 

Walking Dead TTRPG Gets March 14 Kickstarter Date

That’s it, that’s the tweet. Literally. Free League’s take on the hit franchise will come to Kickstarter on March 14, and those interested can now join the mailing list to be notified as soon as it goes live. 

And Now, Burgerpunk

If you’re tired of Kickstarter RPGs faithfully based on big brands, how about a serving of Burgerpunk? This ZineQuest project is already funded for its full 36-page color art glory, but the campaign is still going. It uses Powered By The Apocalypse to bring to life a dystopian ‘90s future where fast food joints rule the world. It looks bizarre, tasty, and very fun.