[Tabletop Thursday] Dicey News + ISC Updates, 21.08.2025.
Ah, tabletop and hobby content - the ever-embattled portion of our topical coverage!
It’s been a minute between filling you guys in on our latest happenings, some awesome projects in the crowdfunding/hobby market works and more.
I won’t keep you for long as there has been hella amounts of great titles hitting the inbox of late. As per usual, if what you’ve seen here piques your interest - be sure to check out some of the many links and scope out publisher sites/socials profiles!
Stay strong, stay geeky and support your local independent publishers. End the WoTC hegemony, up the tabletop punks!
Peace, Love and Anarcho-Geekmunism, xoxo - Brady.
ISC - Team Tabletop/Hobby Hijinks:
First and most importantly, I'd like to highlight something VERY important! If you’re not an algorithmic blow-in from the Internet, you may recall that one of our own in Ms Elodie Orlando is an independent RPG publisher herself. This is in addition to being a visual artist with a focus on character design, fantasy, sci-fi and other hobby-appropriate themes.
(And for those of you who are blow-ins from the algorithm - welcome! Stick around. As described below, there’s a fair bit slated on the horizon from myself and the team where the tabletop/wargaming/hobby aspect of Inner-Strength Check is concerned!).
Those of you having followed along may recalled Elodie developed a rules-lite mecha-TTRPG known as BRASS RPG, as her contribution to the recent Kickstarter campaign for The World Well. This is a triplicate campaign also including a cutesy RPG about being a stressed pupper in Unleashed, worldbuilding-focussed title The World Well as well as Elodie’s own.
Heck, while we’re at it, why not check out her conversation here with campaign lead and Unleashed/World Well creator Steve Dee of Sydney’s Tin*Star Games?
That’s not the big enchilada though - the real sauce is the fact that BRASS RPG has finally released to the public!
Cover Art + Sample Text - Credit: Elodie Orlando
Link to BRASS RPG (via Itch.io)
WEIRD BLUE YONDER - OFFICIAL ARTIST SITE.
Having playtested this myself (solo, with a bit of help using Ironsworn’s oracles as a GM stand-in), I can confirm it’s a fun system and easy to pick up! If you’d like to see Elodie and myself do a let’s play, let us know as it’s something we’ve considered for the blog/podcast.
As for the rest of us - in terms of my own tabletop exploration, it’s been great to finally get past the dreaded multiple-adults-locking-down-a-shared-timeslot and got another session from our long-term Forbidden Lands campaign. The party (inclusive of Rough - a brain-damaged and permanently personality-altered wolfkin with an UwU bent these days, Gator - aka Alligator, the least snobby highborn elf with sniping stats to rival CoD leaderboards, Toddles - the most flat-affect halfling you’ll ever meet and Vyrak - a previously selectively-mute tank of an orcish GMPC in obsidian armour) found themselves slinking into one hell of a loose-AF post-full-moon party. In a quarry, filled with big drunk ogres, death-matches, death-metal coded ‘singers’ and a few disgruntled goblinoids wanting pay for being used as bets with warg-racing.
Will the canonically-strange assortment of creatures from various kin be able to assist the ever-fighting dwarves to get both their friend and their stolen shipment of sword billets back from this fracas? The party will have to find out later!
And in terms of new loot acquired, I finally obtained in the mail several books from a sweet deal obtained off the land of Thy Algorithmic Overlord, attention-sorcerer Mark Zuckerberg. Specifically, the Paranoia: Red Clearance Edition box-set, infamous anything-goes multiversal indie RPG Troika! (with several supplements) and finally, the evocative Acid Death Fantasy supplement.
Admittedly, I haven’t had time to check out any of them with proper read-throughs. But, like any good neurodivergent I thrive on external accountability, body-doubling and the like - if you’d like to hear my thoughts from a read-through, let me know and I’ll hop to it!
Here’s the score in image form:
Purdy.
As for Dean, he’s been taking a bit of an extended hiatus from DMing a campaign which (no word of a lie, ask him!) is almost up to its’ seventh (!) year of operation! Group member Mark has instead been guiding us through a very atmospheric and involved sojourn on our way as players through marshes, killer vegetation, riddles and all manner of trickery in the fetid swamps of the Elemental Plane of Earth. It’s been a cool diversion from our typical Faerun-based antics, and props to our current DM for bringing a setting which is relatively sparse (in terms of official content for dungeon-masters, anyway) to life!
Can’t speak on behalf of our other contributors Hamza and Mal, but we’ll get ‘em guys. One day. I mean heck, the hobby got me and I spent the first 27 years of my life actively avoiding it until a board games shop flashed Edge of the Empire and pretty dice in my face…
Finally, we have our latest addition to the ISC team (whom will be revealed in full soon via an initial interview with said person, right here on the blog!) and their latest haul. Said mystery-person is new to the hobby of DMing and sent through their initial haul, with all the goodies one needs to dive into an unfortunately very addictive activity:
Hell yeah. Welcome, dungeoneer.
That’s all from the team, a crew majority-comprised of tabletop-geeks now!
Let’s check in on the latest solid-unit deals and happenings in the RPG space - it’s time for another Dicey News segment.
DICEY NEWS: THU 21ST AUGUST
How’s this for a bit of announcement artwork? These guys are consistently both metal and psychedelic AF:
Introducing the upcoming Meow Wolf RPG (Exalted Funeral)!
Meow Wolf, the immersive arts and entertainment company, is known for its enthralling mix of art, storytelling, and interactivity – orchestrating a truly immersive art experience that empowers visitors to choose their own way as they wander and wonder at will. Founded in 2008 as a punk rock art collective, Meow Wolf has since evolved into a global phenomenon that has redefined how audiences engage with art through its signature style — bold, maximalist environments designed for full sensory immersion and self-guided exploration.
The Meow Wolf RPG allows you to play Tavers who have the power to create portals into new worlds, alternate realities, even new states of existence. The gameplay instills an “exquisite corpse” style storytelling with a focus on uncovering mysteries and exploration of the strange and unknown.
Each character has a personal connection to a wild power of unbridled intent that empowers players to do far more than skill checks; daring to manifest impossible ideas that defy logic, shift perception, and reshape reality itself. “Imagination and creativity are the real magic of our world, and it’s similar in the Meow Wolf Universe,” said Tiger Wizard, lead designer at Exalted Funeral. “Immortal cybernetic hamsters, underground rat punks, sentient pizza, and community radio are just the appetizers. We’re going full gonzo on this menu.”
If you're interested in recreational, multi-dimensional travel, sign up for the Meow Wolf RPG newsletter.
2. Five Parsecs From Home: Tactics Expansion 1 (Commanders’ Field Guide) Available Now! (Nordic Weasel Games/Modiphius)
All throughout my ditherings across Dicey News, I’ve sung high praise for Ivan Sorensen’s fantastic work on blending open-world/sandbox settings, RPG mechanics and fun/easy-to-learn solo/co-op minis-agnostic wargaming titles.
You can check out my interview with the perennially-productive indie-skirmisher wunderkind Ivan right here!
For now though, and something I’m more than excited about - a whole new 80-page expansion has launched for Five Parsecs From Home, a title I’d definitely recommend. I played a full campaign over a few months with nothing but some random containers and minis I had about the place and the core book, and it was a blast! This is definitely getting an order from me, as a big fan of the title.
Click on the image below to follow through to the store page (via distributors Modiphius), and see below for details!
This 80-page PDF-only expansion features:
Armies of Unified Space rules for building armies from the Unity Colonial Militia System, The Horde, The Swarm, and The Soulless.
New Tech such as the Multi-Gun, Overload Rounds, Bio-Kill Shells, and Shimmer Suits, plus cybernetic and biological enhancements, and vehicle modifications.
Bot Infantry and Special Character unit rules, including the Terror Bot, M4 Heavy Infantry Bot (aka “Troll”), Assassin, Scientists, and more.
New Creatures, including the Alurian Stalker, the Giga-Rachnid, and the Strangle Tree.
New systems include The War Generator, which establishes circumstances surrounding armed conflicts, plus Force Events and Battlefield Conditions, which represent the unpredictable nature of combat.
A system for Mercenary Campaigns on the fringes of space where you have to be prepared for anything.
Plus 10 Pick-Up Scenarios and Competitive Play Rules!
3. Coriolis: The Great Dark, the New Edition of Free League’s Original Sci-Fi RPG, Released Fri 15th August
(from Fria Ligan (Free League) Publishing directly):
“Today, we're thrilled to officially release Coriolis: The Great Dark, the new edition of our original sci-fi RPG. The core rulebook, alongside a GM screen and custom dice set, is now officially available via the Free League webshop, in digital format via DrivethruRPG and the Foundry virtual tabletop, and soon if not already in hobby stores worldwide (though we have a delay in the US and Canada, where it could take a few more weeks for the books to reach store shelves).
So don your delver suit, step aboard a mighty Greatship and venture down the Slipstream towards the unknown. Your creed: explore or perish!”
The star portals are dead. Ship City is dying.
But there is still hope.
Inspired by 19th century expeditions, deep sea diving and pulp archaeology, Coriolis: The Great Dark is a roleplaying game about exploration and intrigue. Join dangerous expeditions, navigate the Byzantine schemes of Ship City, and hunt for the keys that unlock the mystery of this Lost Horizon. The core rulebook features:
Rules for creating your crew of Explorers, with upgrades such as talents, vehicles, and crew maneuvers to enhance campaign play.
Rules for delving into the unknown, traveling on Greatships through the dangerous Slipstream, and trekking across wild planets.
A detailed gazetteer of the Lost Horizon, the eleven systems of the Charted Sphere and the asteroid-metropolis of Ship City.
The Black Ziggurat, an introductory adventure that will take you deep into an ancient ruin on a distant moon.
Tools and rules for solo play, making it possible to explore the Lost Horizon all by yourself.
