Just The Tips, Warhammer 11th Edition Annoucements, Ask A Dirtbag GM - Boards & Swords #282

Lots of great announcements at Adepticon - you know, like that BattleTech new lineup of products? That’s what has the internet abuzz, definitely not the 11th edition of a certain Games Workshop game. Plus, Cyberpunk TCG is raising all the cash on Kickstarter, and we’ve also got our first “official” Ask a Dirtbag GM segment!

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News

Pokémon-inspired D&D books add hundreds of cute critter companions to your game (via Wargamer)

You got your Pokemon in my D&D! You got your D&D in my Pokemon! Roll 4 Combat has released a new crowdfunding campaign for their sourcebooks that let you add Pokemon-style critters into your Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition games. All of the big mechanics you come to expect from Pokemon seem to be here - like having “types” that are good/bad against others, fighting, not to mention collecting them all!

Cult Star Wars board game returns after 25 years with a Lord of the Rings reskin (via Wargamer)

If a board gamer has been in the hobby long enough, there’s a good chance that one of their “Grail Games” that they’d always love to try out someday is “Star Wars: The Queen’s Gambit”, a game from Avalon Hill that came out around Star Wars: Episode 1 and is no longer in print. Now, Restoration Games has announced that they are bringing back the game in a new form - “The King’s Gambit”, using many of the same mechanics as the original game, but this time themed around “The Lord of the Rings”.

Awaken Realms vows “no AI art” for Concordia: Special Edition after BGG review bombing (via Board Game Wire)

Gamers have been blasting the BoardGameGeek page for Concordia: Special Edition , an upcoming Awaken Realms remake of the 2014 hit board game. When Awaken Realms revealed a cover image of the game, people saw hints of AI artwork and thus spammed ratings of “1” for the game, which hasn’t even been released yet. This was followed by a splurge of “10” ratings, as fans of the series attempted to correct this. Awaken Realms has since come out and said that the image was a placeholder, not the actual cover and that the real game will contain no actual AI art.

BattleTech: Two New Boxed Sets Coming In August (via Bell of Lost Souls)

This August, Catalyst Game Labs will be releasing new versions of its BattleTech boxed sets. “BattleTech: Starter Box” contains 2 minis and a smaller set of rules that teach you the basics of the game and get you playing as fast as possible. “BattleTech: Core Box” contains 8 miniatures, some of which (like the Mad Cat MKII) have not seen a plastic release yet from Catalyst. This core box contains everything you need to play the “full” version of the game.

The ‘Cyberpunk TCG’ Kickstarter Is Breaking All Kinds Of Records (via Bell of Lost Souls)

A Cyberpunk TCG has now set the all time record for tabletop gaming on Kickstarter. Since the podcast was recorded, the campaign has now shot up to $18 million in funding. Centered around the scifi franchise from CD Projekt Red, the TCG has players put together decks and fight to become the best Edgerunner in town. There definitely seems to be a lot of money and resources involved in this game, but will the game even be around a year later?

Warhammer Adepticon Announcements:

Link to all the announcements: https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/dhufmbsz/all-the-reveals-from-the-warhammer-preview-show-at-adepticon-2026/

Ask a Dirtbag GM

“Players complaining that it's 'unfair' the bad guys are getting stronger as the party levels up.” (via reddit.com/r/DMAcademy)

As players level up, they might not be aware that they are basically becoming superheroes. So what do you do when the players start complaining that the people they are coming across are always tougher and tougher? How can you address this without just always throwing them easy fights, or always taking easy enemies and scaling them up to the party’s level?

“What's a common piece of DM advice you completely disagree with?” (via reddit.com/r/DMAcademy)

We all hear about those things that “Everyone Knows” about DM’ing, but which of those common knowledge/tips do we actually avoid in our games? Which rules are actually guidelines, and which ones do we straight up break?

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