News Roundup: GenCon News Roundup + Ennies

GenCon is considered a key industry event for most people in board gaming and tabletop roleplaying, where publishers and fans get to connect. It’s also often where a lot of publishers are previewing new games and content, with some companies organizng their entire schedule around GenCon to make promotion and sales easy.

I (Chris Hutton) have spent the last 96 hours running around the Indiana Convention Center speaking with publishers, creators and general fans to learn about what’s cool. I’ve also been working in tandem with The Fandomentals to publish several stories over the last few days, and here are the latest reveals as of Sunday evening. If you saw a brown-haired man in flannel sitting by one of the walls so they can plug their laptop at GenCon, that was me. Hi.

I got to talk to quite a few different executives, designers, and others about their new releases and compiled quite a few others. Here’s the downlow (to save you time.)

Here’s the Big TTRPG News Of GenCon.

Honestly, there was way too much news this week to cover.

The big news story was Darrington Press, which not only unveiled a new board game (Solar Gardens) at GenCon but also revealed its plans for Daggerheart going into 2026. This includes an upcoming Kickstarter to fund Daggerheart class packs, a new homebrew kit, a future campaign frame inspired by Tusk Love, Season 2 for Age of Umbra, and a bunch more. In my humble opinion, Daggerheart certainly appears to be one of the standout games at this GenCon so far.

Starfinder Afterlight, a new video game based on the Starfinder 2e rules, was announced about a day after the Player Core PDF went live to the public. The GM Core is expected to release in September.

As we published on Wednesday, D&D Head Dan Ayoub unveiled his plans for where to take the popular fantasy TTRPG and the importance of trust and third-party relationships in that future.

That commitment to third-parties was unveiled in the news that Pathfinder publisher Paizo is bringing Abomination Vaults to Fifth Edition D&D, the first addition of the popular D&D alternative to DnDbeyond (possibly more)

Wizards of the Coast previewed Heroes of Faerun and Adventures in Faerun, its pair of books dedicated to providing players with options for exploring the Forgotten Realms, including the factions in focus and the eight new subclasses for 2024 D&D.

Magpie Games unveiled its plan to adapt the draconic fantasy book series Temeraire into a new TTRPG. It also teased its plans to update Masks: the Next Generation in 2026.

R.Talsorian unveiled several plans for Cyberpunk’s next set of books, including the option to play solo mode. It is also finally launching the core rulebook for its ninja-themed Shadow Scar through crowdfunding.

Free League Publishing has partnered with Two Little Mice to create Twilight Sword, an anime-themed TTRPG that takes on serious Legends of Zelda vibes in its design. The game did not get a crowdfunding date yet, but the game is expected to release in 2026.

While this was not something that had a significant presence at GenCon, I do feel it necessary to note that Draw Steel, MCDM’s fantasy TTRPG, released the PDF versions of its core books to the public (including its player-focused book and monster bestiary) as well as a free starter campaign for “Directors” (MCDM’s term for gamemasters) on the opening night of GenCon. It will be some time before we see how this game fits into the ecosystem, but I’m beyond hyped for MCDM fans.

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Exalted Funeral, Chaosium Take Lead at ENnies’ 25th Award Show

The Ennies, for those familiar, is the Oscars for TTRPGs. Winning one holds some significant weight for your career as an artist and some pedigree among fellow designers, but the majority of the public probably doesn’t care. It was also the 25th anniversary of the award show.

Should you care? Maybe. But I do, so here’s all the winners that were announced on Friday!

• Best Adventure - Long-Form - The Shrike, made by Silverarm (Silver went to The Mall Remastered by Space Penguin Ink. This is a Liminal Horror adventure)

• Best Aid/Accessory - Mothership Companion App for Virtual Tabletop (Silver went to Dungeon Scrawl)

• Best Aid/Accessory - Non-Digital: The Map Library from Roll and Play Press (Silver went to Monty Python RPG - Head of Light Entertainment Gamemaster Screen by Exalted Funeral Press)

• Best RPG-Related Product -HP Lovecraft’s At The Mountains of Madness For Beginner Readers by Chaosium (Silver went to Prismatic Wisdom by Games Omnivorous)

• Best Community Content - Dead Beats by David Kirkby, a one-shot for Call of Cthulhu (Silver went to Sweet Dreams are Made of Geese by Jamie Chan, a D&D adventure)

• Best Monster/Adversary - Land of Eem -Bestiary Vol. 1 (Silver went to BIG BADS Box Set by Hit Point Press)

• Best Free Product - Grimwild: Free Edition by Oddity Press (Silver went to TEETH: False Kingdom by Big Robot Ltd)

• Best Supplement - Mothership: Warden's Operations Manual by Tuesday Knight Games (Silver went to The One Ring: Moria – Through the Doors of Durin, Free League Publishing)

• Best Family Product - Land of Eem -Core Rulebook by Exalted Funeral Press (Silver went to Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast by Possum Creek Games)

• Best Art, Cover - MIR by Little Dusha (Silver Best Art goes to Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast by Possum Creek Games)

• Best Art, Interior - Mythic Bastionland by Bastionland Press (Silver went to The Painted Wastelands by Agamemnon Press)

• Best Cartography - The One Ring: Moria – Through the Doors of Durin by Free League Press (Silver goes to Pendragon: Map of King Arthur's Britain by Francesca Baerald from Chaosium)

• Best Streaming Content - Mystery Quest (Silver goes to Seth Skorkowsky)

• Best Writing -Triangle Agency by Haunted Table (Silver went to Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme by Exalted Funeral Press)

• Best Setting - Call of Cthulhu - Cthulhu Ireland by Chaosium (Silver ALSO goes to RuneQuest: Lands of RuneQuest - Dragon Pass by Chaosium)

• Best Online Content - One-Page RPG Jam by James Lennox Gordon (Silver goes to Prismatic Wasteland Blog by Prismatic Wasteland)

• Best Production Values - Mothership: Deluxe Set By Tuesday Knight Games (Silver goes to Land of Eem Deluxe Box Set by Exalted Funeral Press)

• Best Layout & Design - Wonderland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting by Andrews McMeel Publishing (Silver Goes to Mythic Bastionland by Bastionland Press)

• Best Rules -Triangle Agency by Haunted Table (Silver goes to His Majesty the Worm by Exalted Funeral Press)

• Fan Favorite Publisher - Free League Publishing

• Best Game - Triangle Agency by Haunted Table (Silver goes to His Majesty the Worm by Exalted Funeral Press)

• Product of the Year - The One Ring: Moria – Through the Doors of Durin by Free League Publishing (Silver goes to Mythic Bastionland by Bastionland Press)

Who stood above the others?

• Exalted Funeral Press had seven awards with two gold and five silver awards between the Land of Eem, the Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme and His Majesty the Worm

• Chaosium received four awards with two gold and two silver plus one indirect gold with Dead Beats)

• Haunted Table, the publisher behind Best Game Triangle Agency, won three gold awards

• Tuesday Knight Games, the minds behind the sci-fi-oriented Mothership, received three gold awards for various Mothership products.

• Free League Publishing was recognized for two gold awards and one silver well with its single product The One Ring: Moria - Through the Doors of Durin

• Bastionland Press received one gold award and two silver for Mythic Bastionland

• Possum Creek Games received two silver awards for Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees. This just makes me want to play all of your games more.

I should also note that R.Talsorian’s Cyberpunk was added to the ENnies’ Hall of Fame, joining historically essential games like Dungeons and Dragons, Call of Cthulhu and Traveller. It makes a lot of sense to add it, considering how freaking real it feels some days compared to everyday life.

Critical Role Changes Up Campaign 4 GM with Brennan Lee Mulligan

The big news on Saturday arrived outside of GenCon at the Indianapolis live show of Critical Role, where Matthew Mercer and the CR crew announced that Brennan Lee Mulligan (Best known as the DM of Dimension 20, Worlds Without Number, Exandria Unlimited: Calamity and a regular on the comedy streaming service Dropout) will be the regular GM of the actual play’s campaign 4. It’s the first time that Mercer is stepping away from long-time DMing into a player seat. The entire cast of the new campaign has not been confirmed, but it seems fair to presume that the majority of the show’s cast will continue to play. The campaign is expected to premiere on Oct. 2

Mulligan confirmed to Variety that he is continuing to work with Dropout and has signed a three-year contract that will have him continue to run Dimension 20 and develop new properties for the growing streaming service. In other words, Mulligan is going to be extremely busy for the next three years.

Further details are expected to release in the coming months, including what players, what setting and what system. Campaign 4’s game system has been a point of scrutiny among fans and TTRPG observers due to how Critical Role’s publisher Darrington Press released Daggerheart in May. Would the popular D&D podcast stick to D&D, or move to Daggerheart for a long-term campaign?? Mulligan wasn’t able to confirm which system they planned to use, but we will hopefully learn more soon.

Mercer’s decision to step back makes a lot of sense to me. He’s been running campaigns nonstop for the last 10 years. While he has taken breaks inbetween seasons, I doubt that time was not spent in GM brain mode developing new plans for Exandria.

Critical Role is also moving forward with a lot of non-actual play content, from the two television shows to Darrington Press to the exclusive content on the Beacon streaming network. There are a lot of pieces moving and I’ve no doubt that Willingham, Ray and other team members are hard at work.

It also makes sense to allow a new GM to take over as they move out of Exandria into new settings.

That’s it for GenCon! Did you get to attend? What got you excited? Sadly we’re just a one-man show but would love any tips that we may have missed. Send any scoops, tips or press releases to [email protected].

Also, we will be taking Tuesday off this week simply because I need a breather. I spent the last weekend getting up around 6:30-7 AM, driving an hour down to Indy, doing journalism things and then driving back. I’m tired.