Our Brilliant Ruin is: “the first story-world developed by Studio Hermitage. Created for multiple formats including tabletop and video games, Our Brilliant Ruin features the Dramark, an elitist society unraveling against the backdrop of a preternatural catastrophe. Welcome to a gilded age in which upstairs-downstairs personal and sociological drama meets existential horror.” Created by Justin […]

Somewhere, lost in the shrouded realms of death, lies a land of endless night where long?forgotten horrors are revealed to those who travel through the mist. There, in a crooked house lives a Crooked Man with a crooked grin. He raises crooked arms to a Crooked Tree at the edge of midnight and hears the […]

Continuing with my reviews of tarot decks, I’m diving into Tarot del Toro. This tarot deck and guidebook draws from the world of award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. Designed and illustrated by Tomás Hijo, this deck features original artwork inspired by the themes, imagery, and characters of some of del Toro’s most popular films including Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Crimson Peak, and The Shape of Water.

For many tarot card readers, the physical aspects of the cards and the deck box are important, so let me address that aspect before addressing the art and off-page elements of this unique horror-themed deck. The back of the cards has a design that does indicate which position it’s in. The position of the skull indicates whether you’ve drawn the cards in the upright or reversed position. The cards are printed in a limited color palette on a matte card stock that feels velvety-soft to the touch. The box the cards arrive in can be considered a true keepsake box: a red satin ribbon helps lift the cards from the interior box, exterior words are printed in raised, embossed lettering, and the box has a thematically-appropriate interior print that’s then covered with an additional piece of cover art. These details, along with the 87-page guidebook, present a deck worthy of del Toro’s vision.

Our Brilliant Ruin: Horror at Crane Mansion is described as: “upstairs-downstairs drama meets existential horror in this Edwardian-inspired comics tale of high society and creeping dread. Created in collaboration with Studio Hermitage and in association with the Our Brilliant Ruin TTRPG, the comic explores a gilded Edwardian setting where intricate social ties of allegiance and conflict are threatened by the presence of the Ruin—a mysterious force that turns creatures and people into horrific monsters.”

Published by Dark Horse Comics, Horror at Crane Mansion collects the first three issues into a graphic novel, and features writing by Cullen Bunn, art by Christopher Mitten, colors by Piky Hamilton, letters by Frank Cvetkovic, and covers by Helen Mask.

Cultists and Cthulhu 2nd Edition was designed by William Sininger and John Harris, and is illustrated with full-color, entertaining art by Steve Robbins. The cards are full of geek culture references including Meddling Kids, LARP-ER, We Have Cookies, and several nods to popular Cthulhu Mythos tales by HP Lovecraft. The components are well made and include cute, little tentacle meeples and Ritual dice. Steve Robbins’ Lovecraftian art adds a healthy dose of humor and helps keep the gameplay light and fun.

Fen Inkwright is a folklorist and illustrator who has designed The Citadel: A Fantasy Oracle, a deck of sixty, copper-foil embossed cards inspired by fantasy myths and legends drawn from novels and tabletop roleplaying games.

The Dragon Delves Adventure Anthology for Dungeons & Dragons (2024) is a collection of ten dragon-themed adventures highlighting ten unique colored dragon types. The 192-page supplement can be run as a campaign, taking players from level 1 to level 12, or as individual adventures that can last multiple sessions. A short introduction sets the tone […]

The final, updated supplement for the trilogy of Dungeons & Dragons 2024 core rulebooks has been released. The Monster Manual 2024 debuted as a 384-page, full-color hardcover book with standard and premium covers. D&D Beyond and Roll 20 offer a VTT version of the Monster Manual, too. The standard cover, illustrated by Tyler Jacobson, features Vajra Safahr and Minsc facing off against a beholder; the premium cover, credited in the book to Olena Richards, is a metallic blue mindflayer with gold foil print. Both books are high quality-printed hardcover books with illustrated end pages and feature gorgeous, thematic illustrations by over two dozen artists.

The new Dungeon Master’s Screen (2024) is now available! Priced at $20, the screen is compatible with the new Player’s Guide (2024), Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024), and Monster Manual (2024). The screen is packaged in a sealed envelope made of cardstock for protection. Inside, is a folder that allows you to shelve the screen and […]

The Dungeon Master’s Guide 2024 has just been released. The second book of three, the new 384-page guidebook offers updated, hands-on advice and rules to help DMs run sessions of Dungeons and Dragons.

As a companion to the Player’s Handbook 2024, this hardcover, full-color book is a welcome and gorgeous addition. Also available in digital format on D&D Beyond, the Dungeon Master’s Guide 2024 is a comprehensive, deep dive to help people run Dungeons & Dragons and create new materials for their campaigns.

The world’s greatest roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons, has issued a brand new, 377-page Player’s Handbook 2024 with streamlined rules.

The hardcover, full-color book is beautifully designed with gorgeous end pages and museum-quality art. In the introduction, both DMs and players are provided with an overview how to use the book and what’s changed since the 2014 version. Many of the changes–easier character creation, enhanced classes, upgraded weapons, new and enhanced spells, are clearly elements that have been refreshed for playability and ease-of-use.

The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970-1977 is a 576-page, glossy-paged tome with silk bookmarks, color-coded sections, and a short commentary by gaming historian Jon Peterson. A museum-quality book that weighs a little over two pounds, the lightly annotated contents are reproductions of notes, drafts, and publications filled with handwriting, illustrations, and antique typefaces. Combined, they chronologically tell the story of how Dungeons & Dragons was designed and how its early concepts evolved from miniature war gaming to tabletop roleplaying.

The Wishing Pool and Other Stories is a brand new collection of fourteen, masterful tales written by American horror writer Tananarive Due. Due, a multi-award winning writer, presents a bloody tapestry of Black horror across multiple timelines, ending with Afrofuturistic stories. The celebrated author’s first collection was published in 2015; now, almost ten years later, […]

To mark the 50th anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons, Wizards of the Coast delves into the past, to dig up six, classic D&D adventures and present them with light updates, new art, and 5th edition rules. These beloved classics include “The Lost City” (1982), “When a Star Falls” (1984), “Beyond the Crystal Cave” (1983), “Pharaoh” […]

Vecna: Eve of Ruin is a campaign book for characters of levels 10 through 20. Compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, the campaign tasks the players with a seemingly-impossible job: to save the multiverse from annihilation. The campaign book is offered in two editions: standard and an alternate cover. The standard edition cover, illustrated […]

Hiya, I am breaking a review hiatus to offer a review of Loot Goblins, by Michael’s Mind Online. The creator generously offered me a review copy, and I am happy to support their game design efforts-especially since this is their first, published game on DriveThruRPG! Loot Goblins was designed for PocketQuest 2024’s HEIST theme and, […]

The Deck of Many Things Bundle is the latest Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition sourcebook and game accessory. Included in the physical product is a 192-page sourcebook titled The Book of Many Things as well as beautifully-boxed Deck of Many Things containing 66 cards and a hardcover 80-page card reference guide.

The 22-chapter sourcebook, which is available in standard and alternate printings, features Asteria (p. 188) on both covers and is structured around The Deck of Many Things as well as a standard deck of playing cards. This information-dense guidebook includes an introductory chapter written for history buffs that explains the origin and evolution of this titular magic deck. Following Chapter One: Fool, The Book of Many Things offers thematically-appropriate dungeon master tools, character creation options, factions, guilds, and cults, adventure locations, maps, monsters, and statistics for the deck’s creators (the human warrior, Asteria, and the medusa, Euryale) in twenty-one, idea-packed chapters.

Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse is a boxed set available in standard and alternate full color editions of Morte’s Planar Parade, Sigil and the Outlands, Turn of Fortune’s Wheel, and a Planescape-themed campaign screen. The alternate edition offers the same content, but is printed with collectibility in mind; all four pieces are part of a […]

Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk is a campaign supplement for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition that recently debuted in September 2023. Geared for DMs, the supplement builds off of The Lost Mine of Phandelver included in the Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set. That same adventure is reprinted in this supplement as well, and it’s worth nothing that the material has been slightly edited to better fit the campaign. The monsters from Chapters 1 through 4 are not included in the Bestiary, however, so if you require rules for non-named NPCs and creatures along with common magic items, you’ll need a copy of the Monster Manual and the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants begins with a poem written by Bigby about a giant demigoddess named Diancastra, the daughter of Annam the All-Father, progenitor of the Giants. An epic poem details her role in the saga of giants, and sets a thematic tone for the book. Throughout the supplement, Bigby adds colorful commentary to flesh out the informational voice written by Makenzie de Armas, Dan Dillon, Ben Petrisor, and Jason Tondro.

Giants are referred to as a creature type, as listed in the Monster Manual, and are mythological descendants of Annam. This includes fomorians, death giants, trolls and ogres, cyclopes, and ettins as well as goliaths and firbolgs.