Happy Halloween: October Newsletter: Goblins and Growlers Gazette

🐉 Deck of Many Things Delayed, Hasbro Earnings Down, Building an Unbuildable Machine, Too Much $$$ for Phandelver and Bigby's Giants

Brandon Dingess
October 31, 2023

⚡ (Total read time: 2.8 minutes) ⚡

🎃Boo!🎃 Happy Halloween. Over the weekend, I dressed up as someone who had to move a large appliance and build an outdoor fire pit. The costume was super effective. I hope tonight everyone sees some cool costumes and contributes to your neighborhood’s tooth decay. In the meantime, check out some spooky stuff — like a cursed journaling indie RPG (that we played for a podcast), WotC product delays, and half a D&D book for the price of one.

This month:

🗞️ 3 must-know gaming news nuggets
📻 1 great indie game you need to play (we played it. can confirm fun.)
🔥 2 hot takes from the podcast
🧭 Goblins in the wild: Upcoming events

🗞️ 3 must-know gaming news nuggets

♣️ Deck of Many Flaws. A myriad of production problems has caused Wizards of the Coast to delay the physical release of the “Deck of Many Things” set. You could say… that… an on-schedule release date just isn’t… in the cards. (Dig Deeper)
- WotC rep: “The defect rate is too high. I cannot in good conscience ship this stock. We need to fully inspect it, understand exactly how many units are defective — all that.”
- Offcenter art, convex/concave cards among issues.
- Digital release unaffected. Bundle purchasers will still get digital copy on schedule Nov. 14.
💰 Hasbro Earnings Report. In their Third Quarter financial results call, Hasbro announced less-than-expected earnings, mostly due to their physical Toys and Games Division. They still made tons of money, but Magic and Baldur’s Gate carried a lot of their water. (As Financial Reports Go, It’s Quite Readable)
- Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming had revenue growth while the company’s overall 2023 revenue is projected to be down between 13 and 15 percent.
- The report touts Baldur’s Gate III as one of the best-selling games of 2023 with metacritic reviews akin to Grand Theft Auto and Legend of Zelda. Look for them to triple down on the BG franchise.
- They’ve instituted a lot of cost savings and anticipate more but, given WotC is actually making money, it’s unlikely we’ll see layoffs or cutbacks for D&D.

📺 Do Not Adjust Your Set. Kickstarter launching today for this collection of system-neutral urban legend/modern horror TTRPG adventures. (Let’s Be Clear, This is Horror, Not Just Spooky)
- Five TTRPG designers have come together to create this one-shot book.
- An example: “there is a man-shaped hole in the world somewhere and it whispers promises to those who venture near its illogical borders.”

🔊 1 great indie game you need to play

📠 The Machine. You’re feeling compelled… or cursed… to complete this infernal machine. You don’t know why you’re obsessed and you don’t know what it’s supposed to do really, but you can’t help it! “The Machine” is a solo or play-and-pass journaling RPG that chronicles the attempts and failures.

For yesterday’s episode of “The Goblins and Growlers Podcast,” we orchestrated a six-person game of “The Machine.” It’s our Halloween episode, so there’s some spook baked into the experience. Give it a listen — it should give you a taste of the game. Here’s a link to that episode.

“The Machine” is from Adira and Fen Slattery and is $5 on itch.io.

The idea of this inscrutable machine gnaws at your soul.

🎧 3 hot takes from the podcasts

⚒️ Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. Is it half a book? We were wondering if this release would be something wholly new or “Lost Mines of Phandelver” with some extra content added; unfortunately, it was the latter. We discuss the pluses and minuses of that decision. Is it worth the newly raised D&D book prices? (Link to Spotify, Youtube)
🗿 Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants. A short book with a high price. Don’t get us wrong, it’s fun and full of good information; it’s just that you have to really want to incorporate giants into your campaign for it to be a sensible purchase. (Spotify, Youtube)

🧭 Goblins in the wild: Where to find us.

🍺 Starr Hill Beer Hall, Nov. 12. We’ll be running games and our merch table for a fundraising event where a portion of all proceeds goes to MADRVA. Come see us! Join our Discord for more details.

🔊 Fire safety.

I’m going to be hanging next to my backyard fire tonight. There’ll be a bucket of candy on the front porch just in case we get any visitors. Everyone have a safe and happy Halloween.

I’m putting up my Christmas Tree tomorrow,
Brandon