This Week at the Table #3
Paizo licenses Re-Animator for 13 Omens, Hellraiser becomes a TTRPG, Critical Role heads to Middle-earth, and D&D World of Warcraft gets delayed in North America.
By Blaine ·
Greetings all,
Welcome back to This Week at the Table. It's been a few weeks, and horror season went out with a bang: two classic horror films are becoming tabletop games.
Paizo licenses Re-Animator for 13 Omens
Source: EN World
Paizo has licensed the 1985 horror film Re-Animator as an adventure for 13 Omens, its rules-lite horror RPG. Players are medical students who've discovered a serum that brings dead bodies back to life. It's an add-on in the 13 Omens Kickstarter, included in several of the All-In tiers, and it's the first in a planned line of licensed 13 Omens Stories, with more to be announced before the campaign ends. At press time, the Kickstarter had raised $320,000 against a $100,000 goal. Joe and I both backed it (our first look).
We already backed 13 Omens, and this is exactly the direction I hoped it would go. A rules-lite horror system built for one-night stories is perfect for licensed horror. A night as medical students with a serum that shouldn't work? That's a one-shot that runs itself. If this is the first in a line, I want to see what's next.
Hellraiser is becoming a TTRPG
Source: EN World
Salt Entertainment has licensed Clive Barker's Hellraiser for tabletop games, and the RPG is being designed by Francesco Nepitello, co-designer of The One Ring and the War of the Ring board game. Nepitello says it'll explore "temptation, desire, consequence and the terrifying unknown." The license also covers a dice game, a social deduction game, an escape-room-style game built around the Lament Configuration, and a board game from the designer of Bloodborne: The Board Game. The first releases are planned for Halloween 2027, the film's 40th anniversary.
I'm wildly excited about this one. Hellraiser is my favorite horror series. And they gave it to the co-designer of The One Ring, which tells me they're taking it seriously. Hellraiser isn't about jump scares. It's temptation and what it costs you, and that's a perfect fit for a game. Halloween 2027 can't come soon enough.
Critical Role is heading to Middle-earth
Source: EN World
Critical Role will run "The Rings of Power: A Middle Earth One-Shot" live at TwitchCon in San Diego on November 15, with Liam O'Brien as GM and players from both Critical Role and the cast of Amazon's The Rings of Power. The system hasn't been announced, and neither has whether it'll be streamed.
This one's good. And notice who's running it: Liam, not Matt. Even Critical Role passes the GM chair around. It's New GM November, so take the hint. You don't have to be Matt Mercer to run a game. Be you.
D&D World of Warcraft is delayed in North America
Source: EN World
North American physical copies of the D&D World of Warcraft book, the Horde and Alliance miniature packs, and the DM screen and map pack have slipped to November 17. Wizards of the Coast blamed the tariff and fuel situations, which forced it to switch shipping providers. The digital book and D&D Beyond access still arrive November 3, and Europe and Asia aren't affected.
A bit annoying. Joe and I were planning to review it. But it gives us room for all the other titles on our list, and we have a big list. We'll get to Azeroth.
That's the week. What did we miss? Tell us on Instagram or Facebook, and we'll keep an eye out for next week.
See you at the table.