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News Roundup: Villains, Vampires and Digital Dice
Another villain-themed Unearthed Arcana for Dungeons and Dragons, Baldur's Gate gets new books and a interview with a new dice app.
Christopher Hutton
April 26, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
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This week, I kept things a bit light as I had to work extra hours. First up is new subclasses being tested for D&D. There are new Baldur’s Gate 3 books coming soon. And I chatted with an appmaker who made an app for rolling dice.
On a more personal note, I’ve been reading Leaving Mundania by Lizzie Stark during lunch breaks at work. It’s a layman’s look at the Live Action Roleplaying or LARP community, and it’s making me want to go try it. There’s a group I know that meets in my town to play it every week, and I am dying to try it. Sadly, I’m working right when they gather. Yay 60-hour workweeks. Anyway, I do recommend the book if you're interested. It’s not a high-level academic text, but it’s a casual read.
In This Edition
D&D Continues to Expand Unearthed Arcana Offerings W/ A Second Helping of “Villainous Subclasses”
Wizards of the Coast
Another set of D&D subclasses was released via Unearthed Arcana this week. The new set, which focus on three “additional” evil subclasses that “encourage players to embrace their inner antiheroes or engage with sinister powers.”
The Path of Lament Barbarian lets your unarmored fighter embrace their inner banshee and turn the powers of death against their opposition
The Warrior of Venom Monk is all about using their body to generate and expel poisons that inhibit the opposition
Primordial Patron Warlocks are all about channeling the elemental evils as your source of strength.
The UA is now available on DnD Beyond and will be seeking feedback via a Survey starting on April 30.
The original villainous UA was released in early April, and offered options for becoming a death knight or lich.
Other Stories from This Week
Owen KC Stephens, a longtime TTRPG designer, rejoined Green Ronin Publishing (Mutants & Masterminds) after a long battle with cancer.
Free League is releasing the 10th anniversary edition of fantasy game Symbaroum
Rascal has a fantastic interview about how Wizards of the Coast nearly made a Buffy the Vampire Slayer TTRPG.
Evil Hat is talking all about their design plans for Rocket Club, the upcoming TTRPG about young teenagers fighting off aliens.
Roll20 posted an update on how it is addressing performance issues with its VTT.
Household/Outgunned creators Two Little Mice announced that they are remaking their adventure-themed TTRPG Broken Compass to use Outgunned’s rules.
Clockwork and Claws is a new collection of Pulp Cthulhu scenarios, Chaosium’s more adventurous spin on the iconic Lovecraftian TTRPG. The book will be released later this year.
Wargamer found an Omegaverse-themed resource for D&D. The fact it exists AND that I know what it means is a curse on this existence.
TTRPG veteran Lou Zocchi passed away this week.
D&D is releasing weekly resources for DMs to use alongside the ongoing Ravenloft campaign. This week it’s a “Zombie Clot”.
Speaking of Ravenloft, Variety chatted with “Dungeon Masters” DM Jasmine Bhullar about her new role.
Lord Soth of Dragonlance has been confirmed as a baddie in Ravenloft: Horrors Within.
Steve Jackson Games is releasing GURPS RING OF FIRE, an alternate history based on the book series of the same name. The setting will be written by Ring of Fire contributors Griffin Barber, Charles E. Gannon, Walter H. Hunt, and Robert E. Waters. It will likely be of interest if you’re someone who wants to read about 17th-century Germany and the Thirty Years’ War.
The Elder Rings Nightreign TTRPG from Group SNE is scheduled to release to English audiences in late June.
The Many-Sided Network interviewed Tom Gibes, owner of the TTRPG-focused Tabletop Bookshelf, about moving from just selling TTRPGs onlines to operating a brick-and-mortar store.
The Fallout: New Vegas setting guide (different from Royal Flush) is available for preorders
Season 4 of Legends of Vox Machina was announced.
Astarion and Baldur’s Gate 3 Get Expansion Books
Baldur’s Gate 3 fans rejoice! Random House Worlds is partnering with WOTC to publish four new supplements for the award-winning video game based on Dungeons and Dragons.
The most exciting revelation was Baldur’s Gate 3: Astarion, a prequel about the half-elf vampire rogue played by Neil Newbon. The novel will be a prequel to his role in BG3, where we’ll explore his relationship with his vampire sire, Cazador, and some of the jobs that he was involved in. The novel is scheduled to release on September 26, 2026.
Here’s the Amazon description:
Astarion Ancunin was supposed to be a magistrate, not a vampire spawn. He was supposed to serve the law, not the vicious vampire lord Cazador Szarr. And he was supposed to drink fine wine, not rat blood. Alas—the city of Baldur’s Gate cares little for what’s supposed to happen.
Though he has been powerless to resist his master’s bidding, haunting the nighttime streets to fetch warm blood, Astarion has never surrendered his hope. One day, this nightmare must end. He just has to find out how.
When the vampire lord announces a twisted competition for his favor, an opportunity presents itself in the form of a rare prize . . . and an unlikely alliance. The blood of a dead god is buried deep beneath Baldur’s Gate, and, to get it, Astarion will need the help of a handsome Aasimar paladin named Hahn den Suriel.
There are just a few problems. Astarion is not supposed to trust his fellow spawn. He’s not supposed to go out into the city for his own ends rather than the vampire lord’s. And he’s certainly not supposed to strike a deal with a stranger whose golden eyes can snare even a blackened, undead heart.
But the city of Baldur’s Gate cares little for what’s supposed to happen
Three other books are scheduled to release.
Baldur's Gate 3: The Necromancy of Thay is a recreation of the necromantic spell book from the game. The book will be a blank, grip-paper notebook for you to fill with your dark secrets. This wil lrelease on July 21, 2026
The Official Baldur's Gate 3 Coloring Book will feature 40 illustrations of characters, creatures and scenes from the game. This releases on August 11, 2026
A Feast for a Tenday: The Official Baldur’s Gate Cookbook contains 65 recipes inspired by the core settings of the game, including dishes it labels as “romanceable.”
I suspect this is just the first of many tie-in products that Wizards of the Coast will release to support the BG3 fandom. The books are being produced without the involvement of BG3’s game devs at Larian Studios.
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Q&A With ROLLD Virtual Dice
Rolling dice is a very important part of the TTRPG hobby, to the point of becoming synonymous with it for the public. While a lot of people consider themselves dice goblins, there’s also a need for digital dice. Whether you’re rolling dice in your VTT or using an app to do so at your home game, digital dice are a regular accessory in the space.
The latest tool to provide these services is Rolld Virtual Dice, a free mobile app for rolling dice in RPGs and board games. Designed by the app developer Drakkar Ti, Rolld is a "free dice roller designed for TTRPG groups who want a fast, reliable option for both in-person sessions and remote play.” It’s pretty simple in design, but it offers an alternative dice roller for when you’re on the go. The app already has 85,000 users in 128 countries.
We spoke with Drakkar Ti's strategy director, Giovani Linke, about the app and why they made it.
1. What's the story behind this product? What inspired it?
We love TTRPGs, and Rolld Virtual Dice came from our own experience as players who felt existing tools didn’t fully meet our needs. We used a much simpler dice app before, it had very limited options, looked like a microwave console, and even charged per roll... That’s when we saw an opportunity to build something better. We teamed up with other players and designed a tool that could support everything from D&D and Pathfinder to games like Yahtzee. Over time, the app kept evolving, and today it offers a wide range of features that cover pretty much any RPG or board game scenario.
2. What makes this different from other free online dice rollers or VTT tools? Why use this over Roll20 or Google’s dice?
It mostly comes down to user experience and flexibility. We’ve included a wider range of features than what you usually find in basic dice rollers, like modifiers, different dice types, shared rolls, and customization options. We’ve even seen people get creative and use it for things like giveaways. We also put a lot of care into making the design simple and easy to use. You can roll with just a couple of taps, which is something users often mention as a positive. Our goal is to make it quick and practical without getting in the way. And when people find it useful, they tend to share it with friends, which is always great to see.
3. The app is currently free. Are there plans for monetization?
We think of Rolld as a kind of “Swiss Army knife” for RPG and board game players. When you download it, all features are unlocked from the start, but there are ads. Monetization is totally optional and flexible; you can support us with a small one-time payment, like buying the team a beer or a pizza, and that removes ads permanently. No subscriptions, no locked features.
4. What updates should people expect?
We’re players building for players, so we’re always looking for ways to improve the app. Community feedback plays a huge role in shaping what we do. For example, we’ve already added new dice types, more languages, and layout improvements to make the app more accessible for users with visual impairments. And there’s more coming, by late April to early May 2026, we’re planning a major update that will unify features across platforms and introduce new improvements.
You can check out Rolld on the App Store and Google Play Store.
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