News Roundup: Chaosium Cracks Down on AI in Community Programs

Welcome to TTRPG Insider!

Every week, we send you interviews, news and roundups straight to your inbox. Everything you need to know within the TTRPG hobby and industry without the hassle of social media, generative AI, or Google search.

If you want to know more, check us out here! If you like what you’re reading, make sure you subscribe.

Hope your week is going splendidly. This week, we’ve got quite a few news developments. Chaosium cracks down on AI-generated content using its materials. Necromunda’s TTRPG adaptation dies a quiet death. The Japanese TTRPG Sword World gets some serious crowdfunding momentum. More news on the WOTC union fight. And finally, Project Sigil lets out its last dying breath.

All that and more in today’s TTRPG Insider news roundup!

Table of Contents

• Chaosium Cracks Down on AI in Community Program, R …

• Games Workshop’s Necromunda TTRPG Canceled Less Th …

  • Other Stories from This Week

• English Localization of Japan-based Sword World ra …

• UWOTC Elections ahead: D&D, MTG Team to Vote for U …

• Project Sigil To Fully Shut Down A Year After Deve …

Chaosium Cracks Down on AI in Community Program, Removing 40+ Publications

Chaosium, the team behind Runequest, Age of Vikings and Call of Cthulhu, says it is cracking down on the use of AI-generated content within its third-party creator programs.

The TTRPG publisher released a blog post on October 22 stating that it had removed 40+ publications from its community content programs, which is how it partners and promotes third-party content based on its rulesets and IP. The 40 publications reportedly contained AI-generated text, leading to their removal. None of the authors were part of Chaosium’s Facebook groups, but they appeared to be new authors contributing content about popular IPs.

How did Chaosium determine the content was AI-generated? “We use a mix of our own instincts from decades of writing scenarios and running games, backed up by the use of multiple AI detection tools if we smell a digital rat,” writes Chaosium VP Michael O’Brien. “Volume of publication is another obvious indicator that we should take a look. We know many of you, and you often share what you are working on, how it's going, and cover previews when it comes out. You all know that the process takes weeks, often months, sometimes years. But when a brand-new author appears out of nowhere and publishes one or more new scenarios daily, our suspicions are aroused and soon confirmed on inspection.”

Chaosium affirmed its anti-AI position, arguing that it is “antithetical to every reason that we all come to the table to play games with each other, to meet characters that we have created or inhabit, and in doing so explore our collective humanity.” O’Brien also stated that it would remove any and all future publications that showed signs of AI generation.

Chaosium’s crackdown arrives amid growing adoption and widespread skepticism toward the technology. The public continues to grow frustrated with data centers, even as more people use the technology.

The TTRPG and tabletop gaming space continues to see its use increasingly promoted, even as it receives pushback from fans.

Fellow TTRPG news website EN World continues to be overwhelmed by AI bots scraping it for data. AI agents are promoting TTRPG products. TTRPG Insider was recently approached by one of these agents, who offered an article it had written about worldbuilding. The offer was declined, as the content breaches TTRPG Insider’s AI policy.

Games Workshop’s Necromunda TTRPG Canceled Less Than Two Months After Announcement

Games Workshop is no longer adapting one of its gritty sci-fi properties from the Warhammer 40,000 setting into a new TTRPG.

Warhammer Necromunda Roleplay, previously announced in September during one of GW’s announcements, is no longer in production. The company stated in an update to the Necromunda skirmish game that “After careful consideration, we’ve decided to focus our efforts on providing even more great minis for the core game” rather than the TTRPG.

The minifigures within the game will still exist, although it has not been stated when they will be released.

Necromunda tells the story of a world where hive cities, where billions of humans live in desperate urban environments, host gang wars and games funded by the elites in hopes of finding power. The game was originally a skirmish-based wargame.

The game would have used a d100 system for actions, but rely on a grid-based combat experience to communicate and capture play. It would have been produced separately from Cubicle 7, who make the majority of Warhammer-based TTRPGs.

It’s unclear why they abandoned the project, although it has gotten little attention since it was first announced.

English Localization of Japan-based Sword World raised $2 Million in a Day

Sword World, an iconic TTRPG in Japan’s tabletop history, saw massive success after raising nearly $2 million on its first day of crowdfunding.

The game, published by Group SNE and translated for Western audiences by Mugen Gaming, saw massive success at the launch of its crowdfunding campaign this week.

“The response to our first day of crowdfunding has absolutely blown us away, and we want to first say how grateful we are to everyone who has joined us on this journey,” said Shawn Davidson and Ai Namima-Davidson, co-owners of Mugen Gaming said in a press statement. “It would not be possible without the great people working on this project and the amazing members of the Sword World community that supported this game before we ever had the chance to work on it. They truly are special.”

“Sword World has a long and meaningful history within the Japanese tabletop RPG community and beyond, and we believe Group SNE’s work deserves to be recognized by a much wider audience,” Shawn and Ai added. “We’re honored to contribute to this legacy and are committed to bringing the best possible Sword World experience to English-speaking players and introducing them to such an amazing game.”

As of this newsletter, the campaign has reached $2.6 million with 7,800+ backers.

Sword World, for those unfamiliar, was originally published in 1989 based on the game records of a local D&D group. The Record of Lodoss War was initially published by Group SNE, which started out as a local D&D group that recorded the events of their games in writing. When D&D publisher TSR rejected Group SNE’s proposal to turn their table’s lore into a written setting, it decided to create its own ruleset, which became the basis for Sword World. That game (and its various supplements) has sold more than 10 million copies.

The game has since been updated multiple times and is currently on the 2.5 edition of its rules, which was released in 2020.

You can read all about the story behind Sword World in our April interview.

You can also back Sword World now on Backerkit.

Want to see more reporting in the TTRPG space? Heard a scoop or a story you want covered? Let us know! Subscribe to TTRPG Insider and get exclusive interviews, trend pieces, speculation and coverage of D&D, mainstream publishers and the indie scene.

Want to support TTRPG Insider financially? Make a donation on Ko-fi!

UWOTC Elections ahead: D&D, MTG Team to Vote for Unionization November 10

The vote to unionize D&D and Studio X is set for November 10. It’s the next step in the process of employees at Wizards of the Coast to seek unionization.

The vote, which will be hosted by the National Labor Relations board, will require a majority of employees to vote in favor of the union. Wizards of the Coast has expressed its opposition to the union, but also stated it will recognize the results of the vote once it’s done.

Project Sigil To Fully Shut Down A Year After Development Ended

Project Sigil, the 3D virtual tabletop that was initially the next big thing for D&D, will formally disappear at the end of October.

Wizards of the Coast ended development of Sigil back in October 2025, but said it would leave all the tools available online for a year. That period ends at the end of October 2026.

“You can continue running your campaigns as usual until the end of October 2026,” WOTC’s team said in a blog post. “All features and tier access will remain the same during that time. At the end of October, 2026, Sigil's servers will shut down, and content created within Sigil will no longer be accessible.”

Originally previewed during the OneDnD presentation in 2022, Project Sigil was supposed to be an alternative VTT that let people play online in a way that resembled terrain and miniature play in a 3D interface —something that hasn’t gotten a ton of traction among D&D or TTRPG players. The original launch was notably limited in content and centered its tools around a preset campaign with limited character options.

While the project was formally launched in March 2025, it unofficially shut down less than two months later after the development team was cut, at which point the ‘online community’ concluded that Project Sigil had no future.

If there were any tables using Sigil for their campaign (and I’m not sure there were), Virtual Battle Mats offers a resource to transfer to their free 3D VTT.

Thanks to Grant Mielke for talking to us! If you want to learn more about this project, you can check it out on BackerKit.

Are you being affected by tariffs? What’s your company doing to prepare for the incoming economic implications? We’re keeping a close eye on this beat and want your input. Feel free to send us tips or emails at [email protected].