This week in tabletop RPG News: Rivers of London comes to print from Chaosium, Free League launches their own free gaming license, Dune gets a new sourcebook, and Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 heads to North Africa.

Rivers of London in Print

Chaosium has announced an April 17 launch date for the hardcover release of Rivers of London, a new RPG based on the books by English author Ben Aaronovitch. This fictional setting plays up magic while taking a lighter tone than the publisher’s popular Call of Cthulhu role playing game. In Rivers of London players take on the role of officers from the London Metropolitan Police Service’s magic branch which is known as “the Folly.” Players in this game solve mysteries, catch criminals, and investigate magical happenings in the city of London.

From the publisher: This single, epic volume is for both players and Game Moderators alike! The tome comprises all the rules you need for fully-fledged Rivers of London campaigns. Build your group of freshly-recruited officers of the Folly with character creation, expand and grow those characters with the complete rules for character advancement, and enjoy extensive advice for running tabletop RPGs—and Rivers of London specifically—provided for the Game Moderator. Explore a magical mystery in London, and learn the rules of the game as you play! The solo adventure, based on the short story “The Domestic,” is designed to introduce a player to the world of Rivers of London and the mechanics of the game. Also included is “The Bookshop”—a standalone adventure designed for a first-time group of players.

Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent and the Sands

Also this week in tabletop RPG News –  a new book announced for Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 that looks like a great adventure set in North Africa. The Serpent and at the Sands is “a combined guide and campaign book” for Achtung! Cthulhu d20 that features background material on the location and events as well as a 10-part campaign battling the Ophidians. 

From Modiphius: In the Guide to North Africa, you’ll find chapters on both the conventional and Secret War, with briefs, adventure seeds, bases and locations for all major factions in theatre, with the centrepiece a double page map and guide to Nachtwölfe‘s top secret “Adlerhorst” Eagle’s Nest base. Agents can explore new character creation options like adventurer, gambler and diplomat, plus a host of new North African-themed backgrounds, characteristics and talents to expand their characters. Discover fresh NPC heroes and villains of North Africa, then arm yourself with new tools of the trade, including weapons, vehicles and creatures.

Once you’ve been thoroughly briefed, it’s time to tackle an epic 10-part campaign which takes you from Alexandria to Cairo via Tobruk, visiting lost Alexandrian temples, bizarre oases, sinister caravanserais, and forgotten temples. Dare you foil the machinations of Alom Shallar, a newly awakened Ophidian sorceress who is intent on realising the destiny of the Evolved Serpent and resurrecting the long-lost Ophidian empire? With a climax that plays out on the deadly streets of Sethopolis, the newly arisen Serpent capital, this is thrilling, heroic pulp adventure at its finest!

Read more about Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: The Serpent and the Sands at Modiphius

Dune: The Great Game – Houses of the Landsraad

New adventures await for players of Dune: Adventures in the Imperium. Modiphus has announced the release of a new rulebook titled The Great Game: Houses of the Landsraad which is available on PDF this week.  The Great Game is a 128-page supplement that “expands your campaign away from Arrakis into the vast and deadly Imperium,” explains Modiphius. “It offers the opportunity for your House to vie for power among its peers, politic with your rivals, bring power and wealth to your House, and challenge your position among the most deadly powerbrokers of the Landsraad.”

From the publisher

The Landsraad is the great council of the Houses that decides the fate of the Imperium under the will of the Emperor. Meeting on Kaitain, the Imperial homeworld, this chorus of powerful voices meet to make deals, craft alliances, crush enemies, and take vengeance in the halls of power. Here, whole worlds can be laid waste at the stroke of a pen and riches beyond your wildest dreams can be bestowed for nothing more than a promise of support. The Imperium is waiting for you, and your House, to take your place among the powers of the Landsraad. Will it be only a step from the throne or under the heel of your enemies?

The Great Game: Houses of the Landsraad includes:

• Comprehensive detail on the nature and politics of the Landsraad council and the complex relationships between the Houses that keeps the Imperium turning.
• Secrets of the art of kanly, the rules that govern assassination by blade or poison, and how to manage a deadly war of assassins.
• Expanded notes on CHOAM, with options and new talents for CHOAM agent player characters. Full dossiers on an array of the most important Houses of the Landsraad, such as the fallen House Richese, the aggressive House Moritani, the noble House Taligari, and the devious House Wydras.
• A Navigator’s guide to the mysterious Spacing Guild and their place in the Imperium, with new talents and focuses for Guild Agent player characters.
• Cross space in a moment in a Guild Heighliner, with detail on space travel and managing journeys across the Imperium, with or without the Guild.
• New rules for building any of the ‘million worlds’ that can be found in the Known Universe or beyond. Create the homeworld of your House, your enemy’s domain, or a new planet ripe for exploitation.
• A complete system for House management, allowing you to craft and build your domains, construct new planetary facilities, manage downtime, and gain leverage and favor from your peers as the power of your House grows.

Free League Year Zero FTL

This week Free League Publishing released a new Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License (FTL) in the form Version 1.0. This open gaming license is based on the company’s Year Zero RPG mechanics that have been used in games such as Tales From the Loop, Forbidden Lands, ALIEN, Vaesen, and Blade Runner RPG. The company explains their position in a recent newsletter:

“The work on these new licenses was initiated in 2022, but was intensified during the debates in early 2023 around Wizards of the Coasts’ OGL v1.0, on which the previous Year Zero Engine (YZE) license was based.. The Year Zero Engine (YZE) in various iterations has been used in most Free League RPGs in recent years, including Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis, Tales From the Loop, Forbidden Lands, ALIEN, Vaesen, Blade Runner RPG, and the upcoming The Walking Dead Universe RPG. The YZE is an accessible, fast and adaptable rules framework that encourages story-focused and player-driven playstyles.”

Find the Free League Publishing Free Tabletop License Vestion 1.0 at this link.