A while ago I wrote about the need to spend money for each publishing type of a TTRPG “book”. My opinion at the time was that the PDFs should come for free with the physical books and I was annoyed, but somewhat understanding of the need to charge extra for a VTT version of the book. My thoughts have evolved somewhat, so I wanted to write an updated post on the different ways a book could be published and what I thought about it.

The Adventure

Before the group sets out Appeluna’s patron tells her that she’s doing a good job and grants her access to more power (meta: attains lvl 6).

It’s a 3 day journey to Reywald. The first two days and nights were uneventful. On the third night Ariana’s on watch. She falls asleep for a second and when she awakens just a few minutes later the package from Aalthic Bellin, the sorcerer, is stolen. She wakes up the rest of the party and tells them what happened.

As I mentioned back in my May 2025 Kickstarter update, I backed the Kobold Press Tales of the Valiant Labyrinth kickstarter. I got my materials recently and made the following videos to review the final product.

This is about the content of the Beadle and Grimm’s GM Vault:

This one is about the FoundryVTT Modules:

The Adventure

Scrabble spends the next week doing some tinkering. He also offers up repair skills and fixes clocks for caravan. Finally, Scrabble spent the week teaching Seno how to use smithing tools.

Seno used the travel time to study a new cantrip and also joins the caravan as a guard. Ghada researched Goblins (meta: gains advantage one time in a future encounter)

A week later, the caravan arrived at the town of Fernhaven. The party helpe dto unload supplies at The Pierced Hart Inn. They are offered a room at the inn. Scrabble negotiated to play bagpipes or lute for the guests later.

The Adventure

The team took a week in Wollerton to recover from their efforts to free the area from the machinations of the Servants of Nidhogg. The local Baron gave them each 100GP and a plot of farmland. At first they thought to set up a base in Wollerton, but it was deemed too remote. They decided to lease the farmland for a rent of 10cp per month. Gratiosa’s parents also sent them a reward of 600GP for freeing her and also said they would put in a good word with Appeluna’s parents.

As I mentioned back in my May 2025 Kickstarter update, I backed the Kobold Press Tales of the Valiant Labyrinth kickstarter. I got my materials recently and made the following videos to review the final product.

This is about the content of the books:

This one is about the physical product:

Last year I was a Kickstarter backer for Faster Purple Worm, Kill! Kill! By Beadle and Grimm. (Available for Pre-Order here). I was originally going to use it as a low-stakes way to introduce some family and friends to TTRPGs. It would be low-stakes since everyone is expected to die at the end anyway, so no one has to feel sad or disappointed if they die since it’s expected. However, the timing of getting together hasn’t worked out well recently.

Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is the lowest rating I have given an October Daye book. It mostly comes down to the final chapter, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

This should have been a book I loved. It had ALL the lore. We almost (as far as I know) know the answers to all the things - what happened to Oberon and his wives. How was The Ride broken and what were the consequences. What has The Sea Witch’s plan for Toby been all along? We now know all that and more. Also at this point Toby is firing on all cylinders. She knows how to rely on her friends and family. Everything was going to well until we got to that final chapter….

Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins: Series I & II Collection by Matthew Mercer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Whether you’re a fan of Critical Role’s Vox Machina storyline from the live play or the cartoon on Amazon Prime, this is a fun set of stories that tell how the group got together and some of their early adventures. This version is oversized when compared to a traditional trade paperback or graphic novel, but it’s got a nice quality to the cover as well as the pages.

When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Toby’s finally getting married. If you’ve made it this far, you know nothing is ever that simple for Toby. (And McGuire has been preparing us for that via Toby and Tybalt’s chatter about the wedding for 1-2 books now) Overall I enjoyed the book and the cast reunion that the event leads to.

I’m going to get a little more spoilery than I usually do with my reviews, but by book #15 you should know if you’re in or not with series rather than depending on a review.