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, something from the archives, and discussions from elsewhere online.
DriveThruRPG Top Sellers for 2/17/2024
- Dragonslayer Role-Playing Game
- Rolemaster Treasure Law
- Exalted: Across the Eight Directions
- Wrath and Glory: Aeldari: Inheritance of Embers
- Mutant: Year Zero – Ad Astra
Top News Stories
Hasbro Loses $1.06 Billion in Q4 2023: Well. What else can be said about this one, except that to lose that amount of money calls into question whether money is even real. It certainly makes WoTC getting hit with layoffs despite performing well themselves seem more inevitable, if still unfair and slightly ominous.
Update: D&D IP Sale Rumors: A couple weeks back we reported on a Pandaily article that stated Tencent was looking to buy the D&D IP. Via Dicebreaker, Wizards of the Coast issued a statement that they are not looking to sell the D&D IP. This mostly closes the door on the earlier report; it’s not unlikely that Tencent (or one of their consultants, apparently the original inside source of the Pandaily article) was interested in acquiring such an IP, but that transaction needs a seller as well as a buyer. Given Hasbro’s financial situation, though (see above), we’re sure to be hearing more financial speculation about Wizards of the Coast and D&D in the near future.
From the Archives
Appropriate for ZineQuest, Bundle of Holding has a front-page deal on Knock, the OSR magazine from The Merry Mushmen, OSR designers par excellence and authors of The Black Sword Hack (comment if you’d like a review; at least one Cannibal Halfling backed it on Kickstarter). From the archives this week we’ll look back at a whirlwind roadtrip on the system side of the OSR, Around the OSR in Five Games. The father of The Black Sword Hack, The Black Hack (bet you didn’t see that coming) is included in this overview.
Discussion of the Week
“Serious question; what’s the appeal of Zines?”: A continually topical Weekend Update! The original poster asks that very question, unfamiliar with the concept. What follows is all the reasons you might want to buy or back a zine, some history on where the notion of zines got their start long before TTRPGs were a thing, and some recommendations – as to the latter, here are some of ours.
Have any RPG news leads or scoops? Get in touch! You can reach us at cannibalhalflinggaming@gmail.com, through Mastodon via @CannibalHalflingGaming@dice.camp, and through BlueSky via @cannibalhalfling.bsky.social.
Cannibal Halfling Gaming 
Yes, I’d definitely be interested to know what you thought of The Black Sword Hack! How does the Doom usage die play out? Does it add to the darkness or is it just a proxy for morale, resolve or fatigue? Can Doom really be delayed by a rest?
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