Games guy. Formerly EIC @joindicebreaker. Also seen on Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, BBC, NPR, GamesRadar, elsewhere.
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Articles by Matt Jarvis
How to play Flesh and Blood: TCG’s rules, keywords and how to build a deck explained (Sponsored)
This article is sponsored by Legend Story Studios. To find out more about Flesh and Blood, including where you can participate in local events, visit the official website. Flesh and Blood is one of the hottest new contenders in the trading card game scene, arriving in late 2019 as a rival to the fantasy battles and rich deck-building strategies of Magic: The Gathering.
Freak War throws Exploding Kittens and Pokémon into a blender for a trading card game you can play at parties
Take the evolving monsters of Pokémon, cross them with the fast-playing chaos of party game hit Exploding Kittens and you end up with something that looks a lot like Freak War, a new party-game TCG that wants to offer the fun battles of trading card games without the effort of learning lots of rules or building a deck.
City of Six Moons is a board game written in an alien language you’ll need to translate to play - and you’ll never know if you’ve got it quite right
Upcoming board game City of Six Moons is taking difficulty-to-decipher rulebooks to a whole new level by writing all of its rules in an alien language that you’ll have to translate in order to play. The kicker? You’ll never know if you’ve done so correctly. The single-player title is described by designer Amabel Holland as being both a game about guiding the fortunes of an alien civilisation, and a game designed as if it actually were made by an alien civilisation in real life.
Hannibal and Hamilcar bring two out-of-print classic historical wargames back to crowdfunding (Sponsored)
Released: 2018 Players: 1-2 Playing time: 120 mins Publisher: Phalanx This article is sponsored by Phalanx. Find out more about Hannibal & Hamilcar and back it on Gamefound until May 24th. Two classic historical board games retelling the clash between Rome and Carthage during the Punic Wars have returned to crowdfunding, giving you another chance to pick up the out-of-print pair of card-driven strategy titles.
I sure hope Frostpunk’s escape room board game is easier to survive than the video game
Frostpunk in all its forms is known for being a deliberately unforgiving and gruelling experience, pitting players against the threat of freezing to death in its post-apocalyptic tundra, starving to death as they struggle to maintain their city’s vital supplies or being torn to bits by the disgruntled populace of the steam-powered metropolis as the result of your political decisions.
Terraria’s co-op board game will tunnel its way onto Kickstarter later this month
The tabletop adaptation of video game Terraria is headed to crowdfunding at the end of this month, turning the immensely popular 2D miney-crafty hit into a co-op board game. Terraria: The Board Game was revealed last summer as tabletop studio Paper Fort Games’ take on original developer Re-Logic’s multi-million-selling indie phenomenon. The upcoming board game stays faithful to the broad strokes of Terraria by generating a 2D world across different biomes from a layout of gridded cards.
Western Legends is the closest board game to Red Dead Redemption I've played, and it's getting a story-driven spin-off
Western Legends is one of my favourite open-world board games, throwing players into a Wild West sandbox where they’re free to explore and earn fame - or infamy - however they like. You could become a revered bounty hunter, a feared cattle-rustling outlaw, a money-making gold prospector or even a poker star - or a mix of all of these and more.
Get expert advice on design, publishing and bringing your game to retail at free one-day B2B event Tabletop Creators Summit London next week
Dicebreaker’s Tabletop Creators Summit returns to London’s ExCeL in just over a week! Ahead of our second free B2B event for designers, publishers and other members of the tabletop industry, we’re excited to announce our full line-up of speakers. Not signed up to attend for free yet?
Warhammer Skulls returns next week for a fresh look at Space Marine 2 and Boltgun, plus other video games
Games Workshop will offer up another look at its incoming line-up of Warhammer video games next Thursday, as Warhammer Skulls returns for fresh peeks at the likes of Space Marine 2, Boltgun and Total War: Warhammer. Warhammer Skulls has been running for a good few years now, serving as a showcase of video games based on Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar and other Games Workshop tabletop titles.
Here’s what the cover of Dungeons & Dragons’ 2024 Player’s Handbook looks like
The cover of Dungeons & Dragons’ next Player’s Handbook has been revealed, ahead of the follow-up to Fifth Edition arriving later this year. The Player’s Handbook will be the first book released for Dungeons & Dragons 2024 - as the new ‘not an edition’ edition is being called, having dropped the One D&D moniker last year - when it arrives on September 19th.
D&D Red Box artist rejects “stupid” reveal of female warrior, then accepts “you can interpret it however you want”
The artist behind the illustration for Dungeons & Dragons’ iconic Red Box has responded to the recent reveal of the anonymous warrior on the cover as female - first by rejecting the claim entirely, then by accepting that it’s in the spirit of both art and D&D to allow for interpretation.
Final Fantasy 14’s tabletop RPG hasn’t even been released yet, but it’s already being reprinted after selling out
The Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG, based on the beloved (and critically acclaimed) MMO in the long-running series of video game RPGs, is still yet to be released after being revealed last autumn. Even so, it’s already proven popular enough that Final Fantasy maker Square Enix is planning a second printing of the tabletop RPG later this year. The Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG was announced last September, the first official adaptation of the franchise into a pen-and-paper RPG.
Neon Hope blends Android: Netrunner and the Arkham Horror LCG into an optimistic cyberpunk co-op card game
Players: 1-4 Publisher: Hopeful Games An upcoming card game looks to mix the cyberpunk strategy of tabletop all-timer Android: Netrunner with the cooperative narratives told in Arkham Horror: The Card Game, wrapped up in a more optimistic vision of the future. Neon Hope tasks up to four players - or just a single player in a solo mode - with averting the impending dystopia caused by behemothic technology companies.
Promising virtual tabletop One More Multiverse, home to digital Blades in the Dark and Yazeba's B&B, is shutting down
One More Multiverse, the ambitious virtual tabletop app for playing RPGs online using fetching pixel-art sprites and a flexible, user-friendly interface akin to a video game, is closing down. One More Multiverse started life four years ago, launching into a beta in 2021 before seeing a full release last summer.
Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: The Board Game will give you another chance to get a miniature David Bowie codpiece in time for the movie’s 40th anniversary
The board game based on cult eighties fantasy flick Jim Henson’s Labyrinth is returning with a 40th Anniversary Collection, adding a new expansion and miniatures - plus another chance to grab a tiny codpiece-sporting David Bowie - ahead of the movie’s big 4-0 in 2026.
The Breach channels Returnal and Control via 1970s sci-fi in a fast and unforgiving RPG perfect for Mothership fans
A sci-fi tabletop RPG inspired by the retro-futuristic stories of the seventies has been given an English-language release. The Breach melds together the punishing run-based feel of Returnal, the mysterious corporate conspiracy of Control and the unforgiving space-horror of Mothership.
The Cyberpunk tabletop RPG has “plenty” more lore and gear from Cyberpunk 2077 on the way
While Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red might be done with the video game after last year’s massive expansion Phantom Liberty, the maker of the tabletop RPG that inspired the game still has plans to delve deeper into its lore and world.
Who’s the top horror movie monster? This rowdy mix of Cabin in the Woods and Betrayal at House on the Hill lets you decide
Alien vs Predator. Freddy vs Jason. Dracula vs Frankenstein. Almost as long as horror movie monsters have been gracing our screens, the battle to decide which monster is the spookiest, scariest or downright deadliest has been hotly contested. In upcoming board game Spooktacular, it falls on you and your fellow players to become the beasties, bursting out of the screen and into the cinema itself to terrify and gobble up humans to prove you’re the meanest monster on the silver screen.
Become a gold-hungry dragon stealing from your friends’ hoards in board game Pillage the Village! (Sponsored)
This article is sponsored by Stone Age Entertainment. Find out more and buy Pillage the Village! directly from Stone Age Entertainment and Amazon. Smaug, Tiamat, Shenron, Nidhogg. It is a truth universally acknowledged that dragons are cool as heck. So why do so many games insist on putting us in the boots of bland knights obsessed with slaying the incredible fire-breathing lizards?
Cyberpunk Edgerunners’ creator has worked on new lore for anime characters’ appearance in the tabletop RPG
Cyberpunk Red’s crossover with animated Netflix series Cyberpunk Edgerunners will expand on the lore of characters seen in the anime, as well as introducing brand new characters to the sci-fi universe. The ties between tabletop RPG and television show will be drawn tighter by the involvement of the anime’s creator and director alongside Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith, Dicebreaker can exclusively reveal.
Critical Role’s latest Candela Obscura finale is almost as long as marathoning the original Star Wars trilogy
Critical Role’s spooky spin-off Candela Obscura has just concluded its fourth season. If you’re getting ready to sit down and see how Circle of the Crimson Mirror wraps up this weekend, prepare to put some time aside: its third and final part comes in at just shy of six hours long.
Imperial Assault co-creator's co-op Mandalorian game looks a bit like Star Wars: Gloomhaven, out this summer
Players: 1-4 Publisher: Unexpected Games Designer: Corey Konieczka The designer behind Star Wars board games Imperial Assault and Rebellion is returning to the galaxy far, far away with a new co-op game based on spin-off series The Mandalorian.
These official D&D cartoon miniatures let you relive the ‘80s classic in your own campaign - now with its iconic DM and villain
With Dungeons & Dragons marking its 50th year in 2024, the anniversary celebrations for the storied roleplaying game are well underway. Among the many birthday presents on their way for fans of the fantasy RPG is a set of figures from miniatures maker WizKids that bring to life some of the icons from across D&D’s universe - and Dicebreaker has an exclusive look at two of the most iconic. The D&D Icons of the Realms: 50th Anniversary set spans - you guessed it - 50 pre-painted miniatures.
Desperate for more Shōgun after the stellar TV show’s finale? Board game Sekigahara is the perfect sequel
Released: 2011 Players: 2 Playing time: 180 mins Rules complexity: High Strategic depth: High Publisher: GMT Shōgun is one of the best television shows in years.
Helldivers 2 doesn’t have an official tabletop RPG, but free fan-made tribute Helldroppers may as well be it
Helldivers 2 is a fantastic video game. Crammed full of Starship Troopers-esque satire, nonstop shooty-bang-bang action and - most importantly - massive explosions (usually dropped on your own head or those of your friends), the co-op third-person shooter about squads of armoured super-soldiers dropping onto players to clear them of deadly bugs and killer robots became a runaway success when it, uh, dived onto screens earlier this year.
No more arguments about movement and line-of-sight in games like Warhammer? This mobile app wants to handle it all for you with a picture
Positioning your troops in the perfect vantage point to line up a critical shot on your opponent’s units is half the fun of miniatures games like Warhammer. Less fun are the inevitable arguments over whether your shooter really does have line-of-sight on a model squatting in cover (“Yes, I know you can see them!”) and those make-or-break debates over a millimetre of range or movement at the end of your ruler.
Dead by Daylight board game’s first expansion adds more killers and survivors to hunt in new maps this summer
The Dead by Daylight board game, based on the killer-versus-survivors multiplayer horror video game, is bringing a fresh batch of hunters and hunted to the tabletop this summer in its first expansion.
Reel in nightmares from the depths in Dredge-inspired horror-fishing card game Deep Regrets
Dredge was one of last year’s standout indie video games, hooking players with its mixture of atmospheric Lovecraftian cosmic horror and satisfying fishing simulation. Now, it’s inspired an upcoming card game that looks to offer a similar compelling combo of eldritch dread and maritime discovery.
The best Fallout games to stash in your tabletop vault after finishing the Fallout TV show
Amazon’s Fallout TV show has reignited the love for the post-apocalyptic series of video games, venturing out of a new vault into a previously unseen corner of the irradiated wasteland. While its characters - peppy vault dweller Lucy, imposing gunslinger The Ghoul and conflicted Brotherhood of Steel recruit Maximus - are fresh faces exploring uncharted territory, the Fallout TV series is packed full of references and lore straight out of the video games.
Turn your game into a hit with advice from makers of the Warhammer and Fallout RPGs, games lawyers, distributors and more at the Tabletop Creators Summit next month
Dicebreaker’s Tabletop Creators Summit returns to London at the end of next month, bringing back the free one-day conference and networking event, presented by our headline sponsor Misty Mountain Gaming, essential for designers, publishers, creators and anyone else working in the tabletop gaming industry. The second Tabletop Creators Summit will be held on Friday May 24th in London’s ExCeL during MCM Comic Con.
Shadow of the Colossus-inspired board game Leviathan Wilds is one of the most compelling co-op experiences I’ve had in years
As someone with a leg-jellifying fear of heights, extreme allergies to hair and fur that turn my nose into a snotty battleship cannon, and the upper body strength of a cheap fridge magnet trying to hold up a shopping bag full of tins, you wouldn’t expect me to be the natural choice for scaling animals the size of skyscrapers.
Wish you could play Dragon’s Dogma 2 with friends? Take on massive monsters as a party of adventurers in this multiplayer board game
Recent video game Dragon’s Dogma 2 is one of the most memorable fantasy adventures in years, offering a vast open world to explore, dozens of quests and characters to discover, and the thrill of taking down towering monsters like griffins, manticores and, yes, dragons as a brave party of warriors, wizards, rangers and rogues.
Cyberpunk Red RPG serves up a free crossover expansion with sci-fi bartending video game VA-11 Hall-A
Seminal sci-fi tabletop RPG Cyberpunk Red - inspiration for video game Cyberpunk 2077 - has crossed back over into the world of video games. This time, it’s a potentially more surprising but no less welcome collaboration - a supplement for the TRPG based on VA-11 Hall-A, the indie darling visual novel about serving up drinks in a futuristic bar. No, I promise this isn’t an April Fool - it’s real, free and out now.
How to Play Ticket to Ride: Rules, setup and scoring
Ticket to Ride is one of the most popular modern board games of this century. Since its release in 2004, Alan R. Moon’s beloved train game of cross-country competition has sold millions of copies, inspired numerous expansions and spin-offs set in different regions across the globe, and become a firm favourite for countless players.
Board-game video game Armello becomes board-game board game as D&D 4E designer's adaptation hits Kickstarter
You’d be mistaken for thinking Armello, the charming video game following animal heroes on their adventures to ascend to ruling royalty, started life on the tabletop. After all, the 2015 PC, console and mobile game drew heavily from tabletop RPGs, board games and card games, playing out its turns across a hex-grid board using hands of cards and pools of dice. Instead, Armello was an entirely virtual experience - until now, that is.
Deadpool Role-Plays the Marvel Universe is part comic book, part playable RPG adventure
The Marvel Multiverse RPG is getting a new Deadpool-starring expansion contained in a comic book, with the comic strip leading right into the playable adventure. Deadpool Role-Plays the Marvel Universe combines a typically meta story by Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe writer Cullen Bunn and art from Mike Shelfer with a one-shot scenario that similarly plays with the fourth wall - or smashes it entirely.
Critical Role RPG Daggerheart opens its public playtest, giving you the chance to try the D&D rival for free
Daggerheart, the fantasy RPG from Critical Role studio Darrington Press looking to offer a more beginner-friendly alternative to the likes of Dungeons & Dragons, has launched its public playtest. The open beta gives you the chance to create characters and try out the upcoming RPG’s original dice system and card-driven gameplay before its planned full release next year.
Almost a fifth of money raised by Kickstarter projects goes to scam campaigns, report alleges
Fraud is allegedly rampant on Kickstarter, a new report has claimed, with nearly a fifth of revenue raised on the crowdfunding giant going toward scams. That’s according to a lengthy report in Fortune [paywalled] covering the crowdfunding platform’s turbulent history and current difficulties in the wake of its controversial blockchain plans and emerging rivals, which cited Kickstarter’s own alleged internal data in estimating that up to 18% of revenue originates from fraudulent projects.
Dune: Imperium Digital lets the spice flow on mobile and Xbox as it exits early access on PC tomorrow
Dune: Imperium, the board game hybrid of deckbuilding cardplay and worker-placement management set in the spicy sci-fi universe, will see a full digital release tomorrow. The app’s arrival on mobile devices and Xbox consoles accompanies its PC port exiting early access.
Former Arkham Horror LCG lead dev Maxine Newman joins Earthborne Rangers studio as eco card game's lead designer
The co-creator and former lead developer for the Arkham Horror living card game has reunited with the game’s ex-creative director at newfounded studio Earthborne Games, where she’ll work on its debut co-op card game Earthborne Rangers as lead designer. Maxine ‘MJ’ Newman departed Fantasy Flight Games last week, having spent more than a decade working on the publisher’s living card games including The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game and Arkham Horror: The Card Game.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream author Harlan Ellison saved the first-ever Dune game
Without Harlan Ellison, the notoriously caustic writer behind techno-existential short story ‘I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream’ and acclaimed Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever, one of the most influential board games of all time might never have seen the light of day.
Before Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movies, the sci-fi epic’s best adaptation was a board game no-one could buy for decades
Released: 2019 Players: 2-6 Playing time: 120 mins Rules complexity: High Strategic depth: High Like sand on Arrakis, Dune is everywhere. In the wake of Dune: Part Two hitting cinema screens at the start of the month, it seems that everyone and their questionable bald nephews are Dune their part in sharing sandworm memes, recognising the signs of their own Lisan al Gaib, reading Josh Brolin’s poetry and recognising Rebecca Ferguson as the holy mother figure she’s always been.
Battle cosmic horrors as kitties in rules-light RPG Cats of Catthulhu, back with a 10th anniversary edition
Gleefully mashing together the cosmic terror of horror RPG Call of Cthulhu with a beginner-friendly set of rules and - most importantly - a whole bunch of feline friends, Cats of Catthulhu has returned with a revised and expanded edition of the charming roleplaying game for its 10th anniversary. Joel ‘Mr. Joel’ Sparks’ rules-light delight was released back in 2014 as a playful take on the world-saving adventures seen in the likes of Call of Cthulhu.
One Piece and Digimon tabletop games are on the way to mark the anime's 25th anniversaries
‘Tis the time for massive anime series to turn 25, it seems, as One Piece, Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh! are all variously celebrating their quarter-century runs over the next 12 months or so. With Yu-Gi-Oh! already well underway in marking two-and-a-half decades of its spin-off trading card game with a massive birthday party in Tokyo last month, One Piece and Digimon are now looking to get in on the action. The animated adventures of Monkey D.
Mage Knight’s The Apocalypse Dragon is legendary fantasy board game’s first big expansion in a decade
Mage Knight, the sprawling, semi-open-world fantasy board game from Codenames creator Vlaada Chvátil, hasn’t seen a major expansion in almost 10 years. That will change early next year, when the fourth big addition to the dense adventure game arrives on tables.
Fallout TV series miniatures let you explore the wasteland as a tiny ghoul Walton Goggins and a limb-chewing dog
With the Fallout TV series due to hit Amazon Prime next month, the makers of miniatures game Fallout: Wasteland Warfare have revealed you’ll be able to do battle as some of the live-action video game adaptation’s new characters.
Unfathomable, Arkham Horror remake of Battlestar Galactica board game, gets an expansion three years later
Three years after it resurrected the Battlestar Galactica board game in the Lovecraftian universe of Arkham Horror, seabound social deduction game Unfathomable will receive its first expansion later in 2024. Unfathomable relocates the hunt for treacherous traitors lurking among a crew from deep space to the deep Atlantic Ocean, swapping hidden Cylons for cultists about the SS Atlantica in 1913.
Like everything else, tabletop gaming would look very different without Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama has died. The visionary writer and illustrator behind the Dragon Ball manga series - which found worldwide success through anime such as Dragon Ball Z - Toriyama passed away on March 1st as the result of an acute subdural hematoma. He was 68.
Mega Civilization, the 18-player, 12-hour-long board game covering 8,000 years of history, returns in a new edition this year
Mega Civilization, a tribute to the seminal 1980 board game that inspired Sid Meier’s Civilization, certainly lived up to its name. Taking up to 12 hours to play with up to 18 players, the sprawling strategy game spanned more than eight millennia of human history on the tabletop. After selling out years ago, the successor to Mega Civilization is returning in 2024 with a revised edition of the cardboard epic - and with plans for more games in the series. A quick bit of history.
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