It’s been quite a while since last we gathered here, so I suppose introductions are in order. For those of you who are new and don’t remember what this was, The Master of Disaster is kind of the tabletop roleplaying game zone of The Bonus World where one could find various stories, recommendations and tips mostly surrounding Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, which is probably going to continue to be the case going forward in what I’m affectionately calling, The Master of Disaster: Reroll, or just Reroll for short.

Since we last spoke I’ve gone a little buck-wild in terms of buying new modules, supplements and games, all of which I have yet to read yet. When it comes to supplemental material, I started reading the new Spelljammer book in the hopes that it would provide for a more transformative D&D campaign, but the more I got into it the more I realized how little outside of a few new races and enemies was actually present. I was hoping for a more official version of SW5e, but Spelljammer turned out to be more flavor than substance, not actually adding any real mechanical differences to the world. It seemed like all the supplement did was add a new mode of transport that barely differentiates itself from sailing a boat.

Additionally, I started reading through Root: The Roleplaying Game and found a world and story that seemed wonderfully fleshed out with some adorable and charming artwork, but didn’t excite me from a mechanics standpoint. Root: The Roleplaying Game places a big emphasis on managing faction reputation which seems like it could be fun for certain gameplay groups, but I don’t think mine would be onboard with that, nor would I want to really have to keep track of it. I wish that I could just get a Root: The Roleplaying Game supplement for 5e so I could enjoy that world using mechanics I was more comfortable with.

I also backed Orbital Blues, a game that describes itself as a ‘lo-fi space western RPG’ which sounds exciting, but is mechanically underwhelming. The book itself boasts gorgeous design and artwork, making it more likely to be a centerpiece on a coffee table than a game worth playing, which is a damn shame because there aren’t a lot of options for space western themed TTRPGS. I also backed Death in Space which also boasts awesome artwork, but I haven’t gotten around to reading it just yet so I don’t have much to say about it yet except it seems dope as hell.

I feel like good art has really motivated a lot of my purchasing decisions lately, but that hasn’t translated into me actually reading the book and running the game. A perfect example of that is MÖRK BORG, a game whose name is confusing, but has some of the sickest art I’ve ever seen. I’ve heard nothing but praise for the actual game itself, but once again it’s one of those things where I just haven’t had the time to dedicate to learning a new game system, let alone internalizing it well enough to teach other people how to play it.

The biggest slap in the face about this whole situation has been that the TTRPGs that I have taken the time to learn have all been one-page RPGs, mostly about animals doing non-animal things, such as Crash Pandas, a game about street racing racoons that are all operating a vehicle together simultaneously. Or like Honey Heist, a game about actual bears infiltrating ‘Honey-Con’ in an effort to steal a butt-load of honey while maintaining your cover as some people dressed as bears. These games are simple and easy to understand, but heavily rely on a good player dynamics and roleplaying, so they might not be for everyone.

There’s definitely stuff I’ve missed, but these are the bigger and more notable additions to my ever expanding library. Maybe one day I’ll actually use any of this stuff, but that would require me overcoming my intense and borderline crippling fear of actually having to run a game in-person instead of over the internet. So that’ll probably never happen.