Welcome to the Cannibal Halfling Weekend Update! Start your weekend with a chunk of RPG news from the past week. We have the week’s top sellers, industry news stories, and discussions from elsewhere online.

DriveThruRPG Top Sellers for 1/15/2022

1. Ascendant
2. They Came From Beyond the Grave!
3. Savage World Super Powers Companion
4. The One Ring Core Rules
5. Heroic Maps – Essentials: GM Starter Pack

Top News Stories

Upcoming Print-On-Demand Cost Increases at DriveThruRPG: Announced in Publisher Newsletters and on the DTRPG Discord server on Monday, most types of Print-On-Demand publications on the vendor’s site are going to see an increase in printing costs in the coming months. Unlike last time, which was due to a hardware change and was limited to Premium Color products, this one is broader. To pull text from the announcement by Meredith Gerber:

“Our printed book supplier, Lightning Source/Ingram, has announced their annual price adjustment. Beginning in March, the price of B&W and Standard Color books will increase approximately 6-9% depending on format and page count. The price of US Premium Color printing will not change, but UK Premium Color will increase about 3%.

A detailed comparison of the current and new prices can be found here.”

There’s an issue here of a monopoly stacked on top of another monopoly; DTRPG is the go-to for many independent publishers who want to see their product in print, in some cases the only option they have if they can’t take advantage of crowdfunding (and even then, the Kickstarter->DTRPG route is common). DTRPG is in turn dependent on Lightning Source’s own whims and needs, whether it’s price changes, junked equipment, or discontinued printing options. The announcement ends with a promise to “continue to investigate alternative book printers to be sure we are providing the best possible quality and price combined with geographic delivery reach.”, but to be honest that’s been said before, and LS still stands alone.

The bottom line is that come March creators offering Print-On-Demand products are either going to make a little less per sale or are going to have to increase the costs for the customer to maintain the same margin. Either way, if there’s a PoD product sitting in your wishlist now may be the time to consider adding it to your cart instead.

Solo But Not Alone 2 Bundle Raises Money For Suicide Prevention: The second itch.io bundle of its kind, the Solo But Not Alone 2 bundle supports Jasper’s Game Day, “an organization dedicated to suicide prevention and letting people know “You Are Not A Critical Failure”!” From the bundle’s description:

“In the darkest months of the year, it’s time to come together to show our vulnerable friends, loved ones, and community members that we care about them and are willing to fight to keep them.

In this bundle you will find a huge pile of games, all of which you can play on your own! There are journaling games and horror games, fantasy games and slice of life games, bright games and dark games. 

In short, there’s everything you want in here and more! We’ve included a handy spreadsheet to find just the game you want in this bundle of over 100! 

Last year, we raised $31,650,24 for suicide prevention, and this year we’re going to exceed that total! Buy this bundle, which is full of incredible games, and help us save lives!”

The bundle only asks for $10, has raised 31% of its goal as of this writing, and will run for another month.

Discussion of the Week

How Often Do You Buy Games You Wish To Play? Oof, I feel this one. Maybe not advancing discourse or determining the future of the RPG, but this thread is a bunch of gamers commiserating over wanting to play more games than they have the time for. I empathize severely.

Have any RPG news leads or scoops? Get in touch! You can reach us at cannibalhalflinggaming@gmail.com, or through Twitter via @HungryHalfling.