Anker has officially rolled out the Anker Nano Charger (45W, Smart Display) in the UK, timing its retail debut alongside Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days running from 6 to 7 October 2026.

The promotional pricing is not what caught my attention. The unit is billed as the first charger designed to identify specific iPhone models, and my daily driver is an Android device. Instead, the appeal is unabashedly aesthetic. I have long fancied a tabletop robot pet, especially since Kirby, my robotic vacuum cleaner, lost his charm following a carpet mishap that left him with only one surviving googly eye. Purpose-built desk companions typically command absurd prices for what amounts to an animated paperweight. Anker’s take sidesteps the novelty tax entirely: it is an everyday 45W GaN plug that moonlights as an expressive digital creature, pulling real utility out of its quirky animations.

Anker Nano 45W Smart Display Specifications

Operational States and Desk Companion Behaviour

Rather than sitting blankly on an extension lead, the charger relies on an integrated colour screen displaying an animated avatar that communicates power status:

• Idle and Sleep States: Unplugged from a handset, the avatar dozes quietly on the display; connecting hardware wakes it up with an immediate wink and greeting.
• Dynamic Charging Reactions: The face reacts directly to power draw phases. It appears lively and energetic during initial 45W fast-charging bursts, calms to a neutral hum through the 20W mid-cycle, and settles down as trickle-charging takes over near 100%.
• TÜV Care Mode: Double-tapping the outer casing engages an algorithm designed to suppress charging thermals. This keeps the plug up to 20°C cooler and trims handset battery heat by 5°C to protect battery health during overnight sessions.
• 180-Degree Inversion: A two-second hold flips the orientation, ensuring the face and real-time readouts don’t end up upside-down when fitted into low skirting-board sockets or multi-way gang plugs.

Quick Links

• The charger is available directly from Anker and on Amazon,

Cambridge-based developer Jagex revealed a fourth, as-yet-unnamed MMO set in the world of Gielinor during RuneFest 2026 this weekend at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. Built using Unreal Engine, the project marks the franchise’s most ambitious technical expansion as the brand approaches its 25th anniversary.

Alongside the new title, Jagex unveiled an animated television adaptation in partnership with Los Angeles production studio Lyrical Media and creator Charlie White, known online as MoistCr1TiKaL. Over 6,000 attendees gathered at the NEC, the same venue that hosts the annual UK Games Expo, where veteran developer Mod Ash opened the event on stage with the Manchester Video Game Orchestra.

The Transmedia Push: Animation and Nostalgia

Adapting gaming worlds into episodic animation has matured from an experiment into a proven channel. Shows derived from tabletop and digital properties, such as The Legend of Vox Machina, show that linear narrative is an accessible entry point.

For veteran players, an animated series bypasses the intense time commitments of standard MMO grinding. It delivers Gielinor’s shared lore without requiring a new character or hours of skilling. For Jagex, the project serves as an onboarding ramp for new audiences who might find the sheer density of a 25-year-old live-service game daunting.

Key Announcements Across the RuneScape Franchise

Beyond the new engine project and the media partnership, Jagex outlined roadmaps covering its existing portfolio:

Jagex paired these roadmaps with a corporate commitment to reduce monetisation mechanics across its titles. Microtransactions remain a historic sore point for the community, punctuated by past backlashes against systems such as the Squeal of Fortune and the 2023 Hero Pass. How RuneScape Reignited enforces its new economy and protects competitive high scores will test whether this pledge holds up long-term.

A second challenge lies in studio production capacity. Jagex has previously shelved high-profile spin-offs, including Transformers Universe and Chronicle: RuneScape Legends. Delivering an unnamed Unreal Engine MMO while sustaining quarterly roadmaps for three separate live titles will demand strict operational discipline.

Merchandise partnerships rounded out the showcase, with community label Scape Ink launching hand-drawn streetwear on the official storefront. Community creators were also recognised across 44 categories during the annual Golden Gnome Awards.

Toronto-based indie studio Ox Games launches its debut science-fantasy tabletop roleplaying game, Sine: A Story-Driven RPG, on Kickstarter on 7 October. Designed by Canadian improv comedians Jason Ox and Julian Frid, the game casts players as clone soldiers striving to rebuild Earth two decades after an alien invasion wiped out human infrastructure.

The project funding covers physical production of two core volumes, the Player’s Sourcebook and the Handler’s Sourcebook, alongside custom equipment card decks. Ox Games has established a strict human-creator policy for the release, confirming that crowdfunding revenue will finance original commercial illustrations from human artists rather than generative machine tools.

Jason Ox, game designer at Ox Games, said in a statement:

In Sine, players take on the role of a Catalyst: a genetically engineered super soldier created to fight an alien invasion. Twenty years after humanity was ravaged by the invaders, your mission is no longer simply to survive. It’s to help rebuild society from the ruins.”

The Setting: Post-Invasion Earth and the Catalysts

Sine takes place twenty years after an alien force designated “the Stock” dismantled human civilisation. Players take the role of Catalysts, genetically modified super-soldier clones originally bred as defensive shock troops.

With the primary invasion over, the Catalysts return to an altered biosphere where humanity survives in scattered pockets. The core plot centres on civil reconstruction, local diplomacy, and ecosystem salvage rather than standard survival combat.

Rules Engine and Dice Mechanics

The system abandons miniature distance grids, tactical battle maps, and spell point tracking in favour of a two-mode structure: Freeplay and Turn-based play.

Cinematographic Action

Sine incorporates cinematic blocking vocabulary directly into its rules text. The game instructs Handlers and players to narrate table actions through the framing of a film camera:

• Close-Ups: Tight framing on equipment details, such as combat boots stepping into mud or the mechanical wear on an axe handle.
• Tracking Pans: Continuous visual descriptions moving along characters to establish environment and physical wear.
• Long Shots: Wide environmental framing to establish relative distances between squads and approaching alien xenos.
• Emotional Focus: Shifts in facial expression and subtle character tells during dialogue checks.

Quickstart Rules Preview

Ox Games has released a complete introductory Quickstart package covering fundamental mechanics, sample Catalysts, and rules overviews:

[Click to read the quickstart]

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• Back this Campaign

Trebuchet Games released Meaningful Connections: Running Better Roleplay Encounters to address one of the most persistent hurdles in tabletop roleplaying games: running non-player characters who actually matter. Written by Sarah Thomas, the 105-page supplement replaces improvised guesswork with concrete system frameworks and structured scene tools.

Many guides on non-player characters fall flat because experienced game masters already know basic roleplay advice. Trebuchet Games succeeds where others stall by offering actionable, modular depth that seasoned tabletop runners can sink their teeth into. The core engine relies on Trust Scores, relationship tracking, and lasting social consequences, turning bit-part actors into permanent fixtures of a living campaign rather than disposable plot dispensers.

System

The book runs on the fifth edition (5e) ruleset, drawing directly from the System Reference Document 5.1 under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. While the psychological principles fit almost any tabletop setting, the mechanics rely on standard 5e statistics and D&D alignments.

The text provides explicit fifth edition hooks:

• Target difficulty classes for standard checks such as Wisdom (Insight), Dexterity (Sleight of Hand), and Charisma (Performance).
• Ready-to-run stat blocks featuring familiar combat abilities such as Action Surge, Second Wind, and Trip Attack.
• Broad, system-neutral categories such as Thievery, Lore, and Leadership to help game masters transport these social tools into other roleplaying games.

Non-Player Characters

Because this supplement focuses entirely on social encounters rather than bestiary combat, the book replaces monsters with a massive cast of fully realised characters. Sarah Thomas organises every personality into three practical tiers of preparation:

• One-Off NPCs: Background extras who need only a physical description, one distinguishing trait, and an immediate goal.
• Occasional NPCs: Familiar recurring faces who carry distinct mannerisms, secrets, and two to three memorable hooks.
• Major NPCs: Core campaign personalities built with long-term ambitions, complex backstories, and formal relationship webs.

The extensive Royal Ball encounter showcases this hierarchy in action. It details dozens of courtly figures representing rival nations like Eldoria, Frostwind, Stoneguard, and Stormwatch. Every persona includes concrete roleplay notes, starting stances, suggested dialogue lines, and hidden motives.

Game Master Section

The GM chapter forms the book’s mechanical backbone, introducing a numerical ladder for social standing. Trust Scores operate on a scale from -10 to +10, shifting only when meaningful events occur rather than through trivial bar banter.

Crossing specific mathematical thresholds triggers automatic behaviours without requiring a single dice roll. A score of +7 prompts an individual to assist freely at low personal risk, while a score of -10 leads to open hostility or direct violence at the first plausible opening.

Sarah Thomas also introduces tactical Social Battle Maps and time-phased Acts. These track movement and seating arrangements throughout large social functions. Plotting an NPC tracking system into an active dinner seating chart is arguably more administrative effort than I would bother with at my own table, but the sheer level of design detail is commendable.

Art Style

The book includes visual character portraits, scene layouts, and tactical floorplans created in Inkarnate. The illustrations rely on AI-assisted tools. This supplement would have been far better served by using Creative Commons or public-licence art rather than AI generation. Synthetic imagery has become an immediate red flag for the exact community of thoughtful hobbyists most likely to appreciate this book. Today people judge a book by the cover.

Beyond the illustration choices, the printable relationship trackers, scene checklists, and mystery worksheets in the appendices are clean, legible, and immediately useful for table preparation.

On the practical side, the printable relationship trackers, scene checklists, and mystery worksheets in the appendices are clean, legible, and immediately useful for table preparation.

Overall

Meaningful Connections delivers a thoughtful set of tools for tables wanting their social encounters to carry real mechanical weight. While the tracking systems demand extra bookkeeping between sessions, the structured approach to character motivations and relationship decay keeps recurring contacts grounded and memorable. It turns casual tavern chats into lasting campaign threads, making it a solid asset for game masters ready to put serious effort into running their game

Quick Links

• Meaningful Connections

Sydney-based indie studio Storybrewers Roleplaying has launched a Kickstarter campaign for the second edition of Good Society, securing over £109,000 against a modest £10,479 target within its final days of funding. Designed by Hayley Gordon and Vee Hendro, the collaborative roleplaying game revisits Regency romance, drawing room gossip, and social etiquette through an overhauled ruleset and a brand-new physical box set.

The project marks the Australian design duo’s tenth crowdfunding venture, and their system previously powered Dimension 20’s acclaimed Regency-fae series A Court of Fey and Flowers. With more than 1,300 backers already supporting the campaign ahead of its closing deadline on Friday, 9 October 2026, the updated release demonstrates the sustained appetite for period drama across the tabletop hobby.

Good Society eschews traditional dice pools and adversarial combat encounters, structuring its narrative around a regimented cycle of play divided into distinct social phases. Play alternates between Novel Chapters, split into formal public event gatherings such as balls and town fairs, or intimate visitation scenes, and procedural phases covering reputation changes, drawing room rumours, and letter-writing. During the epistolary phase, participants draft letters to voice hidden desires or advance private schemes, with the final epistolary round serving as the campaign’s epilogue.

Reputation, Rumour, and Token Economies

The second edition refines the core social systems that dictate character standing within the fictional county of Habershire. Players manage character reputation through descriptive positive and negative tags, utilising either the streamlined “Reputation by Fashion” method or the deeper “Reputation by Vigilance” assessment. When a character accumulates tags, players can trigger formal reputation consequences, including familial interventions, public snubs, or unwanted suitors, dramatised at the table through concise narrative vignettes.

Gossip runs through a dedicated Rumour Board, where casual whispers escalate into town-wide scandals through player actions like altering stories, fanning the flames, or eavesdropping on conversations. In addition, players deploy resolve tokens to introduce narrative complications or negotiate difficult choices with peers, whilst monologue tokens allow characters to freeze the collective scene and vocalise unvarnished internal truths.

Box Set Production and Expanded Acquaintance

The primary physical offering centres on a gold-foiled box set featuring cover artwork by Marlowe Lune. Inside, backers receive a 200-page 6×9-inch hardcover rulebook, over 65 tarot-sized cards for desires, relationships, and connections, a physical rumour tracking board, a solo tutorial booklet, and punchboard tokens, including a dedicated teapot token to mark the current talk of the town.

For groups seeking alternative genres, the campaign also offers the 320-page Expanded Acquaintance hardcover volume. This compilation bundles six thematic settings, adapting the system for sorcery in Pride, Prejudice and Practical Magics, swashbuckling espionage in Sense, Sensibility and Swordsmanship, domestic service politics in Downstairs at the Abbey, multi-generational drama in Emma, Forget Me Not, the unearthly courts of faerie, and a standalone country-house murder mystery titled Lady Susan P.I.

Reward Tiers and Campaign Fulfilment

Storybrewers has structured the campaign around digital access, standard boxed editions, and expansive collector bundles. Backers can enter at the digital tier with the Curious Flirtation pledge at AU$ 30 (approximately £16) for core PDF files, while previous first-edition owners can secure a digital upgrade for AU$ 14 (around £8). The core physical release, Ardent Affection, is priced at AU$ 96 (approximately £51) for the box set and digital assets, rising to AU$ 196 (around £103) for the deluxe version complete with an embroidered token pouch, facilitator fan, and regional map zines. Premium tiers such as You Pierce My Soul at AU$ 231 (roughly £122) and the Ultimate Literature Lovers collection at AU$ 466 (about £245) bundle the complete physical expansion library, card decks, and companion epistolary roleplaying games.

The campaign operates under Kickstarter’s standard all-or-nothing funding model and will close on Friday, 9 October 2026 at 4:00 AM BST. Digital rewards are scheduled for distribution in August 2027, with physical box sets and international freight delivery estimated to arrive with backers in September 2027.

Quick Links

• Back Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG – 2nd Edition on Kickstarter

Chaosium announced a permanent name change for one of its flagship cosmic entities in the upcoming board game Call of Cthulhu: Old Ones Origins. The Ann Arbor-based publisher will replace the traditional moniker Shub-Niggurath with Shub-Gorath across the title’s materials, citing automated digital censorship and modern table tastes.

The decision follows practical marketing barriers alongside player feedback during the crowdfunding campaign on Gamefound. By updating the entity’s label, the studio aims to circumvent algorithmic bans on social channels while keeping gaming tables approachable for wider audiences.

Algorithmic Moderation and Table Dynamics

The Chaosium Board Games Team addressed the adjustment directly in backer update number thirteen, acknowledging the technical hurdles created by modern content filters:

The decision to change the name of Shub-Niggurath to Shub-Gorath came from a few different considerations, both in and outside of the game’s world. One reason was the feedback we saw online. Some people pointed out that “Shub-Niggurath” could be hurtful to some audiences, particularly when considered alongside Lovecraft’s own views. We want everyone sitting down to play our games to feel welcome at the table, so this was something we took seriously. Although Lovecraft scholars concur “Shub-Niggurath” was not derived from the slur, unfortunately it is one of those words that sometimes triggers automatic content filters. This is something known as the “Scunthorpe Problem”. Since our games and campaigns are promoted and discussed across many different platforms, we wanted to avoid creating an unnecessary obstacle for players and the community simply because of a character’s name.

The “Scunthorpe problem” refers to automated software blocking benign strings of text because an embedded sequence of letters matches a banned word or slur. In commercial publishing, falling foul of these filters can silently suppress marketing posts, demonetise videos, block ad campaigns, or flag e-commerce product listings.

Online response to the update was swift. On the tabletop community Reddit board r/rpg, user InfiniteDM captured the community mood with dry resignation, noting: “The internet will be very normal about this.” While several commenters debated the etymological origins of Lovecraft’s prose, others pointed out practical table friction, noting that game sessions often derail when players stumble over or snicker at the historical pronunciation.

Lore Roots and System Implications

To ground the revision inside the game, the design team drew on pulp fiction history rather than inventing a completely novel phrase. The suffix “-Gorath” borrows from Shuma-Gorath, a monstrous entity introduced by Robert E. Howard in his 1967 short story The Curse of the Golden Skull and later popularised in Marvel comic books.

The publisher framed the revision as a natural reflection of an ancient era:

There is also a little bit of in-world reasoning behind the change. Old Ones Origins takes place in an age long before humanity, when these entities existed without the names and titles that human cultures would later give them. Names such as Mother of All or Black Goat are therefore not necessarily the names these beings would have used for themselves.

The etymological question has long been documented in Chaosium’s own history. In 1994, the company published The Shub-Niggurath Cycle, edited by Robert M. Price, which linked the deity’s name to Lord Dunsany’s Sheol Nugganoth from the 1910 tale Idle Days on the Yann. While literary researchers agree the original Lovecraft spelling did not originate from a slur, modern commercial realities and public convention play have made the phonetics a liability for mainstream distribution.

Chaosium has not yet clarified whether Shub-Gorath will replace the traditional spelling across its mainline tabletop roleplaying games, future Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition rulebook reprints, or upcoming Keeper supplements.

Creative Commons art credit: Shub-Niggurath by Carpet-Crawler, who has a store and a Patreon where you can see the process for the art commissions (actually done for Steinhardt’s Guide to the Eldritch Hunt).

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• Back this Campaign

Tabletop Growth Partners launched in October 2026 across the United Kingdom and the United States as a dedicated marketing and business-to-business representation agency for digital creators and physical tabletop game publishers. Founded by industry executive Anjuli Smith, the agency targets the revenue gap between traditional tabletop games and digital 3D-printing distribution models.

The venture operates under a grant-backed ambassadorship from digital file repository MyMiniFactory, supporting their “Soulcrafted” initiative. The programme enforces a strict policy excluding generative artificial intelligence from supported projects. Client acquisition begins immediately across the autumn trade convention circuit, starting with Spiel Essen in Germany ahead of Spellen Spektakel and PAX Unplugged.

The RPG Engine and Service Delivery

The agency delivers services through an operational system titled “The RPG Engine”, targeted at transitioning single-release crowdfunding campaigns into predictable monthly revenue.

• Revenue Management: Auditing and managing recurring subscription platforms, including Patreon and MyMiniFactory Tribes, alongside digital storefront metadata optimisation.
• Production Pipeline: Direct management of crowdfunding releases on BackerKit and FronTiers, coordinating digital asset schedules and sculptor deliveries.
• B2B Representation: Trade show representation and licensing brokering across major events including Essen Spiel, PAX Unplugged, GAMA Expo, and the UK Games Expo.

Anjuli Smith, Founder at Tabletop Growth Partners, said in a statement:

Products in the tabletop and 3D space don’t grow on technical specifications alone, they grow on human connection and narrative engagement. The RPG Engine was built to give creators the structured marketing and B2B pipeline they need to thrive, without sacrificing their creative authenticity or human-centric values.”

Nebojsa Nikolic, CEO at MyMiniFactory, is quoted on TGP’s website:

Our Soulcrafted Ambassadorship was created for agencies that say no to AI. Allowing them to bridge the gap between world-class 3D talent and long-term commercial success. Tabletop Growth Partners delivers the exact operational, brand, and strategy support creators need to turn their passion into a thriving, recurring-revenue business.”

Critical Analysis: Ecosystem Lock-In and Market Positioning

While the agency markets itself as a cross-platform solution for tabletop businesses, its commercial ties introduce clear strategic considerations for independent publishers:

• Platform Independence: Tabletop Growth Partners lists Patreon and BackerKit management within its materials, but operates under a formal launch grant from MyMiniFactory. Publishers seeking independent platform counsel must assess whether client strategies will default to MyMiniFactory’s proprietary tools, such as Tribes and FronTiers.
• Naming Overlap: The proprietary framework uses the exact brand name of The RPG Engine, an established 3D virtual tabletop and map-making tool distributed on Steam. This creates immediate search and branding overlap within the tabletop community.
• Commercial Terms: Public release documentation does not disclose standard commission tiers, agency retainers, or platform-fee arrangements for publisher-to-creator licensing deals.

Tabletop Growth Partners is currently booking initial strategy audits and trade show meetings for the 2027 calendar year through its official channels.

Australian content creator Macca has officially shut down The Outer Circle, ending his decade-long YouTube channel after a wave of copyright takedowns by Games Workshop and severe personal harassment. The sudden closure follows the removal of his custom 3D printing miniature designs from Cults 3D, compounded by death threats and doxxing attempts from hostile online commentators.

The channel built a dedicated audience around Warhammer: The Horus Heresy, focusing on mechanical critiques, hobby guides, and independent plastic components designed to supply out-of-production unit options. While public video operations on YouTube have ceased immediately, Macca noted a chance of a complete migration to Patreon, maintaining a sharply reduced, closed-door presence away from public video platforms.

Nottingham IP Sweeps and the Australian Tabletop Market

The conflict centres on intellectual property enforcement directed from Games Workshop headquarters in Nottingham, UK, against creators distributing digital sculpting files for tabletop roleplaying games and wargames. Macca, an Australian resident and former plastics manufacturing manager, regularly pointed to steep regional price mark-ups, often referred to by local hobbyists as the “Australia tax”, as a primary driver for players turning to additive manufacturing and local resin printing.

The takedowns targeted files hosted on the French repository Cults 3D, where Macca offered STL files intended to fill gaps in the official range before making popular models free of charge. Games Workshop legal teams have stepped up algorithmic sweeps across digital storefronts, targeting third-party sculpts that match proprietary silhouettes or borrow historic model design cues. While Macca tried to talk with corporate intellectual property officers, the claims remained in place.

The Breakdown of Hobbyist Discourse

The creator confirmed that corporate copyright enforcement was only one part of the decision to step away. A sustained campaign of hostility from elements of the tabletop community proved the deciding factor.

Macca, creator at The Outer Circle, said on YouTube:

I have no want for money, it was always a moral question, and the answer to that question is that there are far more people of little moral character, who will bend over backwards to justify the actions of the company and will hate their fellow community. I’ve received numerous death threats over the years, attempts at doxxing, and I have a family to worry about. I’m not actually threatened by sweaty nerds on the internet, but why go through needless stress? I clearly cannot change any persons mind, and the game is clearly no longer for me, so there is no sense in lingering.”

In his farewell video, titled The End, Macca outlined the conflict between commercial manufacturing costs and consumer value in tabletop gaming.

Nobody seems to rationalize the fact that I have a moral issue with Games Workshop. And that’s where my complaints stem from. It’s that I believe they’re doing the wrong thing by a community that supported them through the good times and the bad and got them to where they are today. And they take it for granted. And they will kill a game system if they think there is a dollar to be made in making a new game system. And I don’t think that’s fair to the people who’ve put so much time, effort, and frankly an incredible amount of money because they are incredibly overpriced for what they are.”

Reduced Presence and Future Platforms

The shutdown marks a clear shift in how independent tabletop analysts interact with large corporate properties. Rather than fighting intellectual property claims through formal counter-notices or continuing to publish on free video hubs, Macca is ending free public broadcasting. While the main channel remains dormant, any future commentary will exist strictly on Patreon with a reduced scope, effectively insulating the creator from open public discussion forums.

Bundle of Holding has resurrected its February 2024 offer for KNOCK!, gathering the first three digital volumes of The Merry Mushmen’s adventure gaming revue. Edited by Éric Nieudan and laid out by Basque designer Olivier Revenu, the publication compiles over 600 pages of rules, dungeon floor plans, and system-neutral resources tailored for the Old School Renaissance.

Rather than running conventional product reviews, KNOCK! curates table-ready tools directly from the indie roleplaying blogging scene. We previously reviewed KNOCK! Issue 2 on Geek Native, finding it too substantial to treat as a mere zine; it functions instead as a coffee-table compendium you snack on between sessions. This revived digital run makes all three early volumes easy to access in a single package.

Knock Collection – $17.95

The bundle offers the complete three-issue run for a single payment, representing a total retail value of $72.

• KNOCK! Magazine issue #1 (The Merry Mushmen, 212 pages, retail price $23) – Collects classic OSR blog writing, seven character classes, seven monsters, and three complete adventures.
• KNOCK! issue #2 (The Merry Mushmen, 224 pages, retail price $23) – Delivers original refereeing procedures, six classes, nine monsters, and four scenarios.
• KNOCK! issue #3 (The Merry Mushmen, 212 pages, retail price $23) – Features design theory essays, the “Portfolio of Cartographic Curiosities” maps, seven monsters, and six classes.

Mechanically, KNOCK! supports classic dungeon exploration and wilderness procedures. Rather than tying itself to one rigid ruleset, each volume delivers modular subsystems, articles and art. You can drop its bespoke saving throw tables, post-death gambling mini-games, and morale checks straight into systems like Old-School Essentials, Basic Fantasy, or original fantasy editions without any conversion work.

Visually, the magazine leans into high-contrast layouts reminiscent of Mörk Borg, pairing eclectic typography with vivid colour accents and evocative line art. Alongside experimental mechanics, the volumes offer immediate utility: random d100 encounter complications, dungeon-dressing prompts, and compact maps from veteran cartographers such as Dyson Logos.

The contributor list across these three issues brings together prominent voices from DIY adventure gaming, including Ben Milton, Emmy Allen, Chris McDowall, Gavin Norman, and Diogo Nogueira. Whether you need an offbeat wandering monster prompt or a short four-room lair for an evening game, the material is built for direct use at the table.

The resurrected collection runs through until midnight at the International Date Line (UTC -12) on Monday, 19 October 2026. All downloads from the bundle are completely DRM-free PDF files, and purchases can be linked directly with your DriveThruRPG library.

Quick Links

• Bundle of Holding: KNOCK!

Welcome home. This is Audio EXP, the weekly podcast from Geek Native. I am your host, Girdy, and today is Saturday, the 3rd of October, 2026. This week, we examine a commercial push marking half a century of Mega-City justice, track an abrupt publishing breakup impacting the World of Darkness, discuss high-calibre worldbuilding lessons from Degenesis veteran Marko Djurdjevic, and celebrate a milestone achievement in competitive British chess.

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #350]

[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | YouTube]

Before we jump into the top stories, our community spotlight ecosystem is bustling. First, our deep-dive Q&A from last month is officially online. You can now read our spotlight interview with Simon of Red Ruin Publishing on fan-craft and classic Legend rules, exploring how the studio operates as a labour of love dedicated to keeping vintage British systems alive without commercial profit.

Following that, patron voting for September has concluded. Slithy Tove Games has officially taken the win for our October RPG Publisher Spotlight! We are beginning our outreach to arrange an interview later this month. In tandem with the result, Geek Native has opened a dedicated RPG Publisher Spotlight nominations hub, streamlining how readers and indie designers register candidates. The ballot lines are now active over on our November spotlight voting poll, where five independent creators are competing for your backing:

• B.J. Keeton
• Arcane Brewery
• Rock Clan Productions
• Gamingbrew
• Seidmann Games

Our lead story today aligns with a major calendar date. Today is officially the Day of Dredd, and Rebellion is pulling out all the stops as 2000 AD marks Day of Dredd 2026 with a commercial expansion across fashion, toys, and tech. Heading into Judge Dredd’s upcoming 50th anniversary, the British publisher is extending Mega-City One beyond the printed page into high-end collectable action figures, premium apparel, and digital hardware collaborations. This aggressive licensing strategy aims to plant 2000 AD’s flagship character firmly in contemporary lifestyle culture.

Over in tabletop business, another publishing alliance has fractured. Renegade Game Studios has parted ways with White Wolf over the World of Darkness publishing partnership. After years of managing physical distribution, sourcebook development, and core book lines for systems like Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse, the relationship has come to an end. The split follows White Wolf’s recent moves to handle design and open playtesting directly in-house, leaving the distribution pipeline for physical 5th Edition books in transition while 6th Edition looms on the horizon.

In high-profile studio collaborations, Critical Role’s publishing imprint is backing new interactive projects. Critical Role has teamed up with Polish developer Lichthund to co-publish the action-adventure title Rockbeasts. Known for Lichtspeer, Lichthund’s partnership with Darrington Press and Critical Role signals the tabletop media giant’s steady expansion into video game publishing, leveraging their community footprint to back distinct, stylised indie game productions.

We also published an exceptional creator conversation this week. We sat down with Sixmorevodka founder Marko Djurdjevic to discuss deconstructing the orc, extracting worldbuilding lessons from Degenesis, and launching his upcoming dark fantasy project, Orken. Djurdjevic reflected candidly on the brutal production costs and logistical burnout of the sprawling Degenesis line, explaining why Orken shifts towards focused, visceral storytelling that strips away generic fantasy tropes to treat orcs as nuanced, culturally complex beings.

On the international sports stage, an extraordinary young player has made British history. We examine how 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan secured the Woman Grandmaster title. The London chess prodigy achieved the historic victory through ferocious positional discipline, becoming one of the youngest players to earn the title and highlighting a generational shift in international competitive chess. It comes at a time when Russia’s dominance of chess politics is under great scrutiny.

For solo tabletop enthusiasts seeking October chills, independent horror is expanding. Spooky Shadows has arrived to bring classic fairy tale horror into the Solodark rules framework. Built for solitary play within Kelsey Dionne‘s Shadowdark system, Philip Reed’s supplement adapts grim folklore into light-management survival procedures, offering procedural gothic crawls without requiring a game master.

We wrap up our reporting with two delightfully quirky crossovers from pop culture and tabletop absurdity:

• Dungeon ‘N Dookie has launched a waitlist for fantasy toilet paper shipped inside a functional cardboard mimic chest, bringing novelty bathroom storage to tabletop gamers who appreciate mimic hazards in every room of the house.
• Combat sports brand Venum has launched an official Jujutsu Kaisen equipment line, bringing anime-styled boxing gloves, rashguards, and fight shorts into genuine martial arts gyms.

That is it for this week. Thanks for listening to Audio EXP. For all the links, interview transcripts, and community voting forms, head over to Geek Native. Until next week, stay geeky.