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- July Newsletter: Goblins and Growlers Gazette
July Newsletter: Goblins and Growlers Gazette
š Baldur's Great: Gaming bundles, your own personal radio station, and 50 years of text adventures.
ā” (Total read time: 2.9 minutes) ā”
Welcome to a very late-in-the-month July newsletter. Usually, I like to be a little more on time, but this month really took it out of me. Scroll down for some fun news nuggets ā especially if youāre an old-school Baldurās Gate fan ā along with a cool radio station solo play game and book recommendation that wonāt give you dysentery. Weāre at Queen City Anime in August ā come see us! Details below.
This month:
šļø 3 must-know gaming news nuggets
š» 1 great indie game you need to play
š„ 2 hot takes from the podcast
š 1 cool book recommendation
š§ Goblins in the wild: Upcoming events
šļø 2 must-know gaming news nuggets
š„ļø Baldurās Gate Humble Bundle. Looking forward to BG3 next week? Humble Bundle has the classic BG-era game library available. (Go for the link, Boo!)
BG, BG2, Neverwinter Nights, Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale, and more.
$12 for the whole shebang - 8 games.
All purchases support the Active Minds charity.
šĀ Modiphius Solo Play āStar Trekā RPG. From the folks who brought you āStar Trek Adventuresā 2d20 game, hereās Star Trek Adventures: Captainās Log. (Make it solo)
Simplified rules designed around solo play storytelling.
Uses randomization tables to help players tell their own solo Trek adventures.
Pre-order the print version and get a PDF of the 326-source book immediately.
š“āā ļø MorkBorg Goes Pirate. Get ready for some doom metal pirates in āPirate Borg,ā a high seas spinoff of the apocalyptic indie favorite. (Dig for Treasure)
Rules-light OSR-style play.
Releasing on Sept. 19 with a main book price of $37.
166 pages with sea combat rules, a bestiary, system agnostic tables, and a sandbox adventure.
š» 1 great indie game you need to play
šļø VOID 1680 AM. Ever listen to the radio in the middle of the night on a long drive? It can get kind of weird and haunting without even trying. This solo play game uses a deck of cards and six-sided dice and revolves around building a playlist and interacting with callers to your radio show over multiple episodes. Youāll evolve peoplesā stories but probably wonāt get any closure. You can even add yourself to a library of ācallersā for other players to use. āVOID 1680 AMā was in the Judgesā Spotlight in this yearās Ennie Awards. Itās a different kind of game, but super fun. (Link) (Check out an actual play)
VOID 1680 AM lets you build your own radio station and interact with callersā stories.
š§Ā 2 hot takes from the podcasts
šĀ Questing for Glory. We talk with author Jason Michal about his upcoming book, which is a definitive history of the classic Sierra point-and-click adventure series, āQuest for Glory.ā Brandon: āThis was my gateway drug into D&D.ā (Link to podcast)
š“Ā QPR: Gabe STILL on Vacation. As our audio engineer nears the end of his summer regeneration, weāve started getting a little weird with our one-off releases. Enjoy us battling the undead and enjoying reasonably priced casual-dining breakfasts in āCracker Barrel Has Fallen.ā (It actually takes place in a Waffle House)
š§Ā 1 cool book recommendation.
āļø You Are Likely To Be Eaten By A Grue. Last year, I (Brandon) backed the Kickstarter for Aaron Reedās ā50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to AI Dungeon.ā As you might expect, itās a history of the computer text adventure genre. It arrived a few weeks ago and Iāve been enjoying diving into all the 70s and 80s text games I remember playing like āHitchikerās Guide to the Galaxy,ā āZork,ā āSuper Star Trek,ā and ādnd.ā Itās a magisterial and comprehensive work thatās easy to pick up for a few minutes ā each āchapterā is a different game. There are a few copies left from the original run, but you can still get it electronically and Aaron is working on making print-on-demand copies available. Itās so worth it if youāre a fan of old-school gaming. (Obvious exits are North, South, and West)
There are still some first-run print copies available!
š§Ā Goblins in the wild: Where to find us.
Queen City Anime Con (Aug 11-13): Weāll be running games, doing panels, maybe a live show(?), and vending this year in Charlotte. Come by and see us! Weāre always thrilled to see our Charlotte peeps.
šĀ Remember to hydrate.
Beat the heatwave by staying inside and rolling some dice ā thatās the best idea I have.
Peace and Long Life,
Brandon
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