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Welcome to you heard it here last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.

We are going to start with an article from Wolfgang Baur the CEO of Kobold Press. Now this doesn’t really constitute news, but I found it very interesting and thought Mike and Christina might agree.

https://koboldpress.com/state-of-play-in-it-to-print-it-what-to-know-to-get-your-game-printed/

The article: State of Play: In It to Print It. What to know to get your game printed. Is designed as a primer for first time game publishers looking to get their product printed. I thought it was informational not only for the publisher, but for the buyer as well. Baur lays out the printing options and talks about costs and mistakes. With GenCon coming up where you will likely see the results of every type of printing possible, this just seemed relevant.

Mike, talk to us about printing?

Kick to Mike

Christina, anything to add?

Kick to Christina

Next up isn’t really a news story either, more a conglomeration of observations. Ok, that’s not fair, it started with a news story, so keeping with the show lets lead with that;

https://www.rascal.news/dungeons-cabins-registration-is-open-and-filling-fast/

In an announcement through Rascal News, Dungeons and Cabins is open for registration. Dungeons and Cabins is a 4-day immersive D&D summer camp for adults. The outing takes the traditional summer camp with everything you would expect from that and layers a D&D campaign on top of it. To give it all a twist the things you do during the summer camp activities might affect the D&D campaign. The event takes place in Running Springs California and the dates are in September.

Now for my observations. What’s up with all the D&D Vacations.

We have D&D in a Castle, where players spend a lot of money to play D&D…you guessed it, in a castle. The locations are in the United Kingdom and surprisingly several in the US. These events are going to set up back anywhere from 3 to 5 thousand dollars.

https://www.dndinacastle.com/

Green Dragon Fest is another one. This one takes place in a fantastical fantasy village inspired by Tolkien located just outside Knoxville Tn. With some of the most well-known online personalities running games. This one also runs for 3-5 thousand bucks.

https://greendragonfest.com/

Then we have D20 Cruise. That’s right a week of playing D&D on a cruise ship. What could possibly go wrong. This one is basically a mini convention set onboard a cruise ship and has more options than just playing D&D. This one is the cheapest of the bunch starting at 2,350 dollars for the week and then going up based on cabin choices.

https://event.cruises/d20-cruise-a-ttrpg-vacation/

Christina, what do you make of the roleplaying vacation events, you up for it?

Kick to Christina

Mike, would you spend 5k to roleplay in a castle?

Kick to Mike

And there you have it, all the news, you’ve already heard.

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“Live Action Roleplaying, you’ve love it. We get together the first Saturday of the month and everybody is really cool.”

“I don’t know, I mean it’s one thing to play around a table, but I’m not sure about getting all dressed up and acting it out.”

“It’s not like that. Dress however you want; nobody judges you and everybody is chill.”

“Fine, I’ll give it a try”

That was the recruiting pitch I got for my first ever LARP. Live Action Roleplaying. The guy who was helping run the events was really enthusiastic and he convinced me to give it a try. I grabbed a rulebook, put together a character, got it approved, and then showed up for my first ever LARP.

Now I am sure most LARPs out there could easily be described the way that guy pitched his LARP to me. Today, having the experience I have in a wide variety of games and conventions I know that most people will be welcoming, you will fit right in and I don’t doubt you will have a great time.

Not so much for my first one.

You see it was a Vampire the Masquerade game and it was a crappy experience.

The costume you wore did matter, everyone was clickier then a spoken word club on meth. And nobody was chill.

That experience put me off LARPing for a long time, but over the years I have learned that I just had a bad first experience. LARPing has a lot going for it and a lot of permutations out there that might not seem like LARPing, but are.

On this episode Mike, Christina and our special guest, Jen will be talking LARPing. What it means to LARP, what types of LARPs are out there and how to take advantage of this version of our great hobby.

Mike, have you done a lot of LARPing?

[Kick to Mike]

How about you Christina, are you a LARP enthusiast?

[Kick to Christina]

Jen, You are the subject matter expert. Talk to us about Larping.

[Kick to Jen]

https://iu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/channel/K450+Heroes_+Villains_+and+Kinesiology/195190183

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Welcome to You Heard it Here Last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.

https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo70cy9?Gen-Con-Preview-Blog

You may not realize it, but GenCon is just around the corner, and while the online chatter wants to turn the tariff issues into doom and gloom for GenCon, I tend to believe it will be as big as ever. Paizo’s recent announcement about GenCon events seems to bear out my sentiment.

Paizo has announced they are running a Starfinder Society Second Edition event with their new 4-5 hour scenario “Collisions Wake.” They also will be hosting a Pathfinder Society adventure “Under the Eye of Mantis.” Finally, they will be releasing “Battlecry!”, official skirmish rules for leading armies.

While I don’t play much official Pathfinder, I think this just illustrates that GenCon will be as active as ever, not only with the games you love, but with new things as well.

Dust off the credit cards, put on those compression socks, and get to GenCon.

Mike, What do you think of Paizo’s lineup for GenCon?

[Kick to Mike]

Christina, What about you?

[Kick to Christina]

Now onto something a little more heavy hitting.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/goodman-games-revives-relationship-with-anti-semitic-publisher-for-new-city-state-kickstarter-updated.713282/

In 2020 Judges Guild owner Bob Bledsaw II posted a variety of racist, homophobic and antisemitic statements online. These statements rightfully created a bit of a stir at the time and various game publishers including Bat in the Attic, Frog God Games, Goodman Games, and Drivethru RPG cut all ties with Judges Guild.

It should be noted that these statements were all made by Bob Bledsaw II, not by Bob Bledsaw Snr, who co-founded Judges Guild and passed away in 2008.

Fast Forward to today. Goodman Games has announced a new version of “City State of the Invincible Overlord” will be coming to crowdfunding this summer. The original version was written by Bob Bledsaw Snr and the license for “City State of the Invincible Overlord” is still owned by Judges Guild. Goodman Games will be publishing this new version through a license with Judges Guild Games.

Understandable this has caused a bit of concern.

EN World has a great article outlining the original issues and statements along with a current response from Goodman Games.

Let’s start with Christina on this one, thoughts?

[kick to Christina]

Mike, is this problematic or is this just business?

[kick to Mike]

And there you have it, all the news, you’ve already heard.

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William Gibson described Cyberpunk as a fusion of high-tech and low-life, exploring the intersection of technology, cybernetics, and computer networks on human society in a near-future, often dystopian setting.

If you don’t know who William Gibson is then shame on you.

Like most people out there, my first exposure to Cyberpunk was Blade Runner. The 1982 movie by Ridley Scott blew me away. After that I watched movies like Freejack and Johnny Mnemonic, Akira, and Ghost in the Shell. it wasn’t until the late 90’s that I started diving into the literary world of Cyberpunk with Nuromancer and Snowcrash.

I loved the setting, the style, the tech, and the action, but I never got into the roleplaying games. I heard about Cyberpunk, and Cyberpunk 2020. But for some strange reason I never picked them up.

Then Mike asked me if I was interested in playing Cyberpunk Red.

I jumped at the chance.

Mike ran our group though almost a year of Cyberpunk using the Cyberpunk Red rules and we have recently started up again focusing more on the Edgerunner 2077 expansion for Cyberpunk Red.

After that much game time, we got opinions.

In this episode Mike, Christina and I are going to give you an honest, unbiased review of Cyberpunk Red.

But before we do that, Christina, break down the legalese for us.

[Kick to Christina so she can go on about how we haven’t been paid or compensated in any way for our opinion and we bought the shit with money out of our own pocket.]

Now Mike, Start us off on our review of Cyberpunk Red.

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Welcome to you heard it here last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.

Well it’s finally happened.

I don’t want to talk about it. I said you can’t make me talk about it. But I guess when I started down this podcast road it kinda became my job to talk about it. So here we go.

Tariffs.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/do-tariffs-apply-to-rpg-books-maybe-maybe-not.712908/

EN World posted an article titled Do Tariffs apply to RPG Books? Maybe, Maybe Not.

The article discusses an official exemption list which declares that "printed books, brochures, leaflets and similar printed matter in single sheets, whether or not folded" and "printed books, brochures, leaflets and similar printed matter, other than in single sheets" are exempt from Tariffs.

This of course made people excited.

But then the other shoe dropped.

US Customs and Border Protection, in November 1989​ said

“In our opinion, heading 9504 provides the more specific description of the merchandise in issue. The modules enhance fantasy game play; they were not designed for passive reading.”

There are additions to this statement that basically define that rulebooks used for TTRPGs are not books, but games and therefore subject to Tariffs.

The rulings are 35 years old and have everyone confused. Many companies are looking for clarification and hoping that their may be more rulings on what is subject to Tariffs, specifically the 145% Tariffs regarding China.

To make this even more confusing I give you the landmark decision on June 28, 2024, In which the Supreme Court overruled the 40-year-old precedent of Chevron deference, which required courts to defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes.

In laymans terms the Supreme Court said that only the Legislative Branch of the Federal Government can make Federal Law. And only the President can issue and executive order. Laws cannot be made by agencies within the federal government.

In other words, the ultimate decision regarding TTRPG tariffs doesn’t lie with the US Customs, but with the President and the United States Congress.

The article ends with an excellent statement and what I believe is the key to all of this. “Whatever the tariffs, what is necessary for trade is stability.”

It’s kinda hard to plan for the future when the future changes everyday.

And now for something completely different (I hope I don’t get sued for that)

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2025/05/rpg-travellers-new-campaign-the-singularity-evokes-sci-fi-grandeur-on-kickstarter-now.html

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jtas3/traveller-rpg-the-singularity-campaign?ref=discovery&term=Traveller&total_hits=85815&category_id=34

Traveller, the Sci-Fi roleplaying game currently published by Mongoose Publishing has just launched a Kickstarter for their new massive campaign “singularity”. It’s been a minute since we have had one of these huge, multibook campaigns for Traveller and this one looks to be pretty cool. The RPG will take you to the Throneworld of the 3rd Emperium, let you peruse the archives of Reference, chart the Sylean Main. And, put charted space in your wake.

I only hope it’s organized better then Pirates of Drinax.

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I think it was the James Bond Roleplaying game, or maybe it was Twilight 2000. My memory is a little fuzzy on this one, but there was a point in my roleplaying past where I started running adventures set in the modern era,

And I loved it.

Traditionally table top roleplaying games have focused on the Fantasy. Tolkien’s world or some variation of it has the been the centerpiece for TTRPGs from the beginning and many of you have never ventured outside of that setting. Other games over time have added settings some historical like Call of Cthulhu, some futuristic like Traveller, but many have just avoided the modern era.

While there are a lot of games out there that do have a modern setting most of you don’t play them. Games like Delta Green, Twilight 2000, Feng Shei, World of Darkness, Everyday Heroes, GURPS, Kids on Bikes, Double Zero, Masks and Kult are all built on modern settings and I would argue that instead of being afraid of running games in a modern setting you should embrace it. I find it much easier to run games in modern settings and with just a few tweaks here and there you can have some amazing adventures.

On this episode Christina and I are going to talk about running games in Modern settings and give you some tips and tricks that can help you keep your games running smoothly.

Christina was Masks the first game you ever ran in a modern setting?

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Welcome to you heard it here last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.

We are starting with a special request from Christina

https://www.mythicalmeats.com/snacks/dungeons-dragons-variety-pack/

She sent me this link along with the following sentence; “I will say I just got a targeted ad for official D&D branded 'adventure snacks' and was overcome by the need to rant at Hasbro.”

The Advertisement in question is for Mythical Meats (A bold name) and their “about page” says it all;

“Fueled by a passion for jerky and a love for legendary creatures, we at Mythical Meats weren’t content with the ordinary. We embarked on a quest, channeling our creative energy to transform exotic meats into the most beloved mythical beasts! From the fearsome Dragon and Yeti to the majestic Pegasus and Mermaid, our creatures cover land, sea, and sky. Each bite of our snack sticks is a delicious adventure, bursting with flavors inspired by our favorite fantastical beings.”

For the D&D Branding each class has its own special jerky snack.

Christina the floor is yours,

[Kick to Christina]

Continuing with our hatred of Hasbro we have another story about D&D.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/wizards-of-the-coast-says-that-china-tariffs-will-have-minimal-impact-on-d-d.713072/

Wizards of the Coast has announced that the ongoing trade issues with China will have minimal impact on Dungeons and Dragons.

Now we have avoided discussing the Tariff’s and Trade Issues on this show for a couple of reasons. One, avoid politics, it’s a show killer and two, it’s just too early to know exactly what kind of impacts the tariffs and trade issues will have in the long term.

We have seen some smaller companies close recently and I know that many have struggled to figure out future printing options to avoid raising costs. But the Wizards of the Coast announcement just feels smarmy.

Of course, the tariffs won’t affect them. We have already shown that the vast amount of product they are selling is digital and not print. Tariffs have nothing to do with digital products. When everything you make is sold through D&D Beyond and your future is based on micro-transactions you have nothing to worry about. You could argue that the announcement was meant to ease uncertainty being felt by customers, but to me it feels like their marketing people wanted to make sure they took advantage of real-world issues affecting many in the gaming space.

Christina, what do you think?

[Kick to Christina]

And there you have it, All the news, you’ve already heard.

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In 2003 Shane Hensley and Pinnacle Entertainment released a brand-new generic roleplaying game. The game was called Savage Worlds and it kinda made a splash.

The game emphasized speed of play over detail. That may not seem like much today, but at the time it was revolutionary. You see Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 was also released in 2003, which would go on to birth Pathfinder. Steve Jackson Games had 5 years’ worth of source books available for their Generic Universal Roleplaying System. The market at that time was filled with games like Hero, Shadowrun, and Rolemaster,

In other words, in 2003 we were at the height of crunch in our roleplaying games.

And when I say crunch I am not talking about the candy bar.

I’m talking about games with rules, hundreds of pages of rules. I’m talking about math, lots and lots of math. I’m talking about tables to cross-reference everything your characters might do. You see at the turn of the century most TTRPG’s were focused on simulations. Trying to make the games as real as possible and to do that, you gotta lean hard into the rules.

Shane Hensely changed that with Savage Worlds. By focusing on streamlining the systems and making sure your games were moving fast and your players where having fun he opened the doors for massive changes in how we see our roleplaying games.

I would argue that Savage Worlds help bring about D&D 5e, Blades in the Dark, Powered by the Apocalypse, Mork Borg, and basically anything today that is considered rules light.

I’m not the only one that thinks Savage Worlds is an impressive game.

The game received the 2003 Origin Gamers' Choice Award for best role-playing game. Scott Taylor for Black Gate in 2013 rated Savage Worlds as Honorable Mention #1 in the top ten role-playing games of all time.

But now I have to admit my own stupidity.

When Savage Worlds came out in 2003 I wasn’t interested. I saw it as a direct attack against my favorite game GURPS so I lifted my nose and kept playing GURPS. It wasn’t until recently that I started diving into Savage Worlds and man did I miss the boat on this one.

In this episode we are going to review Savage Worlds and talk about the game, the game system, why it’s cool and why you should give it a shot.

Mike, when did you first play Savage Worlds?

[Kick to Mike]

Christina, What about you?

[Kick to Christina]