Another Month of Meeples (September 2026)

 

Check out the latest issue of Meeple Monthly for more fun stuff, plus a host of random things I'm not listing under my imaginary store.  

ViscountEric's Want List

Wizkids

D&D Heroclix: Giant Space Hamster 

ViscountEric's Money-Is-No-Issue Want List

Adam's Apple Games

Gnomeville .......................................................... $49.00

Arc Dream Publishing

Delta Green: Wolves ........................................ $24.99

Mantic Entertainment
Terrain Crate: Holiday Advent Gift Calendar ... $40.00

The Imaginary Store List (Infinite Shelf Space Games & Hobbies)

25th Century Games

Moonlight: The Land of the Wolves ................... $14.99

Faust vs Mephisto ............................................... $19.99

Rheinlander ......................................................... $49.99

Adams Media 

Facts of the Fellowship ...................................... $17.00

The Dungeonmeister NPC Generator Deck ...... $20.00

Alderac Entertainment Group

Cascadia: Alpine Lakes ...................................... $49.99

Alley Cat Games

Spaghettin ...................................... $14.99

Arcane Wonders

Dogfight: 1917 ............................. $44.99

The Army Painter

Speedpaint Marker: Most Wanted Set .............. $127.42

Atomic Mass Games

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Cosmic Motherlode Terrain Pack ............. $89.99

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Uncanny Telepaths & Telekinetics ........... $64.99

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Winter Guard ............................................ $64.99

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Hard to Hit ............................................... $64.99

Star Wars Legion: Jedi Council ........................................ $59.99

Star Wars Legion: Mandalorian Leader & Hunter ........... $39.99

Star Wars Legion: Agents of the Empire .......................... $39.99

Bandai 

Gundam Assemble: Starter Set 1

Gundam Assemble: Deluxe Set 1

Gundam Assemble: Expansion Pack 1

Gundam Assemble: Expansion Pack 2

Gundam Assemble: Paint Pack 1

Not a fan of the games without prices, but a game where you build your Gundam models, then actually play with them.  I'm intrigued.

Beadle and Grimm's 

Star Trek: DS9: Holosuite Homicide Murder Mystery Game .... $40.00

Star Trek: Lower Decks: Chaos Protocol Escape Room Game .. $60.00

Black Armada Games

Advent of Adventure .................................................. $20.00

Advent of Abomination .............................................. $20.00

Blue Orange Games

King of Tokyo Duel 2 - Tokyo Bay ............................ $24.99

Board&Dice

Thessaloniki ................................. $60.00

Burning Wheel

Torchbearer 2e: Middarmark ......... $40.00

Catalyst Game Labs

Shadowrun: Controlled Chaos Miniatures ................. $34.99

Shadowrun: Corporate Threats Miniatures ................ $34.99

Shadowrun:  Savage Threats Miniatures ...................  $34.99

Shadowrun: Sprawl Runners Miniatures ................... $34.99

Battletech: Battlemat: Fire & Ice 04: Caldera Lake ........... $39.99

Cubicle 7 Entertainment LTD

Warhammer: The Old World RPG - Starter Set .......... $39.99

Warhammer: The Old World RPG - GM Screen ........ $29.99

Druid City Games

Sky 5 ......................................... $14.99

Dyce Games

Romantasy ................................ $19.99

Evil Genius Games

Everyday Heroes Adventures: The Final Hero ........... $19.99

Evil Hat Productions

Designers & Dragons: Origins Boxed Set ................. $200.00

Facade Games

Roma XLI ................................. $24.99

Fanroll by MDG

D&D Advent Calendar: Red Robes & Winter Woes ...... $64.99

7-Die Set: Christmas Dice Set ........................................ $19.99

Marvel Multiverse: 12 Days of Doom Dice Advent Calendar .... $44.99

Fight in a Box

Barkane ...................................... $15.00

Floodgate Games, LLC 

Flintlock! ................................... $38.95

Free League Publishing

D&D 5e: Lord of the Rings Loremaster Screen .............. $29.99

The One Ring: Loremaster's Screen & Compendium ....  $29.99

Twilight Sword RPG - Core Rulebook ........................... $49.99

Twilight Sword RPG - Starter Set ..................................  $39.99

Twilight Sword RPG - Lands of Radia ........................... $39.99

Twilight Sword RPG - Card Chest .................................. $29.99

Gallant Knight Games

Tiny Cyberpunk: Corporate Edition ............................... $45.00

Small rant about using "Tiny".  For something that I feel should be compact, low-key, and possibly minimalist, why to all the "Tiny" labelled products seem overblown, slowly getting expansive, and expensive to boot.    Tiny Cyberpunk in my head brings up an expanded version of TWERPS CyberD.U.D.E.S, not a $45 book.

Goodman Games

DCC: Adventure #68 - People of the Pit HC .................. $19.99

DCC: Adventure #112 - Mother of Monsters ................. $10.99

DCC: Tomb of Adventure Vol 8 - Dying Earth .............. $59.99

Kids Table Board Gaming 

River Market ............................. $29.00

Konami Digital Enterainment 

Yu-Gi-Oh!  Beyond the Brave Boosters

Loke Battlemats

The Dastardly Deck ................... $19.99

Looney Labs

Star Trek: Lower Decks Fluxx ... $25.00

Mantic Entertainment Ltd.

Bar Room Brawl: Advent Calendar Game ................. $45.00

Deep Space Pest Control Advent Calendar Game. .... $45.00

Worms: Advent Calendar Game ................................ $45.00

Walking Dead: Advent Calendar Game ..................... $45.00

Marvel 

Marvel Mutliverse: Spider-Man Midtown Mayhem  ..... $14.99

Modiphius Entertainment

Star Trek Adventures: Captain's Log Solo RPG: 2026 Edition ........... $48.00

Mongoose Publishing

Traveller: Vehicle Catalogue ...................................... $44.99

The Mystery Agency 

Mystery Agency: The Robber's Grave ...................... $24.99

Osprey Publishing

American Civil War: Siege Tactics ............................. $21.00

Baku 1918 ................................................................... $25.00

Case Green ................................................................. $35.00

Javelins in the Half-Light ........................................... $35.00

Lexington-Class Aircraft Carriers 1927-1946 ............ $20.00

Murmansk 1941 .......................................................... $25.00

Soviet Rifleman vs German Infantryman ................... $23.00

A Billion Suns 2nd Edition ......................................... $35.00

Midnight Heroes ......................................................... $35.00

Signs and Wonders, a Wargame .................................. $35.00

Paizo 

Pathfinder RPG: Adventure: The Dead God's Hand ..................... $49.99

Pathfinder RPG: Flip-Mat: The Dead God's Hand Multi-Pack ..... $29.99

Pathfinder RPG: Flip-Mat: Haunted Library ................................ $19.99

Pathfinder RPG: Lost Omens: Cheliax Infernal Inheritance ......... $64.99

Pathfinder RPG: Game Night: The Dragon's Crown ..................... $34.99

Starfinder: Flip-Mat: Absalom Starion Multipack ......................... $29.99

Starfinder: Secrets of the Swarm AP ............................................. $49.99

Starfinder: Tech Core ............................................................. $69.99

Pandasaurua

Space Lab ............................................. $24.95

Penguin Random House

Choose Your Own Adventure: Among Us ................ $9.99

Planet of the Apes Solo RPG .................................... $34.99

The Henchperson's Guide to Unionizing .................. $21.00

Level Up For Love .................................................... $20.00

Dragonlance: War Wizard ........................................ $30.00

Pickpocket Games

Lodge: Retail Edition ............................................ $39.99

Lodge: Deluxe Edition .......................................... $69.99

Lodge: Hospitality Edition .................................... $14.99

Rocket Ranchers 2nd Edition ................................ $24.99

Pink Tiger Games

Proof of Life ....................................................$20.00

You Think You Know Christmas .................... $14.00

Play to Z

Pressed ....................................... $20.00

Wee Folk .................................... $20.00

Portal Games

Robo Run ................................... $29.95

Bohemians: Tales from Montmartre ................... $14.95

Ravensburger

Lorcana: Illumineer's Quest: The Great Hunny Rescue

Lorcana: Rapuznel Collection Starter Set 

Renegade Game Studios

Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition - Tribes of Gaia ........... $50.00

Saga Press

Remonstered!  The Monsters Know What They're Doing .......... $38.00

Scryptid Games

Tales from the Cryptids .................................. $30.00

Severed Book

Sickest Witch: Spell Card Deck ...................... $16.00

Small Party Figurine Set: Skeleton Warriors ... $16.00

Small Party Figurine Set: Crystal Fighters ...... $16.00

Space Penguin Ink

Hellward Unto the Breach ................................ $30.00

Liminal Horror: Hotel Dracula ........................ $20.00

Stillfleet Studio

Danse Macabre: Quickstart ............................. $15.00

Synapses Games

Medium: The Hand of Fate ............................. $24.99

Not Alone 2nd Edition .................................... $29.99

Tuesday Night Games 

Fatherfog: Into the Fog .................................... $10.00

Troll Lord Games

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 1- Canting Crew .................................. $29.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 2-  Essential Facts & Things ............... $29.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 3-  Living Fantasy ............................... $29.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 4-  Extraordinary Book of Names ......  $39.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 5-  Guide to Adventure Writing ........... $29.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 6-  Nation Builder ................................ $29.99

Worlds of Gary Gygax Vol 7-  Cosmos Builder .............................. $29.99

Tycoon Games

Living Forest, 2nd Edition ............................ $50.00

UVS Games

Riftbound: League of Legends TCG: Radiance Boosters

Wizkids

DC HeroClix: Iconix: Fortress of Solitude Vol 1

DC HeroClix 400: Gotham Knights

D&D HeroClix: Series One Boosters

D&D HeroClix: Series One Map and Terrain Kit

D&D HeroClix: Tavern Trouble Scenario Pack 

D&D HeroClix 400: Adventuring Party 1

D&D HeroClix 400: Red Wizards of Thay

HeroClix: Iconix: GI Joe

HeroClix: Iconix: GI Joe Cobra

Marvel HeroClix 400: Venom

D&D: Icons of the Realms: Aarakocra Flock

D&D: Icons of the Realms: Harpy Flock

D&D: Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures: Cthulhu

D&D: Replicas of the Realms: Spirit Board

Z-Man Games

KPop Demon Hunters - Battle for the Spotlight ............... $14.99

#RPGaDay2026 - A Recap

It was 2014 when I missed enough of this odd little community concept called #RPGaDay that I used the questions as filler for my December posts.

Fast forward to the present, and we've completed the 13th Annual #RPGaDay.  

It was good.  I'm tired.

To be honest I'm tired for a number of reasons.  It wasn't a year I was necessarily enthused, nor did my ideas or nostalgia flow off the old keyboard.  

The prompts were serviceable.  They're serviceable every year, and everyone is subject to the writer's whim. 

And a huge shoutout to my Monday night online group.  I brought about a dozen of the prompts to the the sessions and we mined a few gems for topics that I had completely forgotten about. 

Like last year,  most clicks go to Twitter, while most engagement remains Bluesky's domain, although... I expected a lot more traffic.  Although all the clicks from social media and other engagement for the month was still less than my Historicon 2026 AAR views... a month after the con.

My favorite post was about my friend Hoyce on Day 1 "Discipline."   While the most popular overall is the gaming internet's obsession with Lathar Bracken, Day 3 "Poise"

Barring any surprises, I'll be back to daily community sharing with the #CharacterCreationChallenge in January.

#RPGaDay2026 - Day 31 - "Edge"

The final day of #RPGaDay , Day 31!   And if I'm grateful, it's for the prompt "Edge" to be the last day.  It's been the one problematic prompt, even with the helpful alternate question to help us along.  

So, I've devolved to tooting my own horn, "What's my edge as a GM?"

If my players were here, they'd say my greatest strength is continuity.  The world is just a series of things, growing, evolving, adapting to the rest of the campaign.  Even if portions of the game are too linear, recalling NPCs, actions, and events keep the campaign lively,  a slowly developing web, rather than that straight line of events.  It's a constant proof (and threat) to the players that every interaction, every decision reverberates through the campaign in some direction.  

And sometimes it feels like this...

My biggest suggestion?  Treat everything in game like it has a true memory, imperfect and changing, and let that influence future interactions and events. 

Alternative Question: Why does a character think they have an edge?

#RPGaDay2026 - Day 30 - "Pride"

 It's Day 30, the penultimate day of #RPGaDay !   And we should show a little "Pride" that we've made it this far. 

We'll even go so far and used the Alternate Question: A game event that you are still proud of?

Now, I always go down the convention game rabbit hole, and I don't anticipate too much deviation, but Let's try a non-con game

"It's a Wonderful Reunion" Circa 1999  With the spring semester of college looming, I had split the group into gamers and non-gamers for the summer.  About half the group got teleported to, and adventured in Talislanta for the summer, while a few of them still were stuck with some pretty horrible things back in town.  And after a few sessions for the "homebodies" who survived everything, only to have the armed threat of foreclosure on their base of operations, the "Chateau" on the first day of Yule. 

We met on the evening of move in day on campus, staffing with the dorm basement like improv theatre, some of the PCs with murder plots for the moneylender coming, while villagers, townsfolk, and their lost fellow adventurers made big reveals... only for the next person to make an appearance to prevent tying up loose ends.  One of the least likely characters shows up with the gold to pay off the loan and save the Chateau, and there was artwork displaying a kobold Mariachi band.   

That out of the way, let's cover my prideful moments after 35 years of running convention games.

"Scavenger Hunt" Circa 1996  A GURPS-IOU game at CoveCon, Blue Valley Farm Show Building, Bangor, Pennsylvania.   This was the first con I ever helped run, and we.... broke even, to the penny! 

The characters I put together were fantastic, my players were simply top-notch, and the looks on my friends faces as they ran their own games, watching the chaos descend,  but all knew the students were close to obtaining the disco ball from the 1977 IOU Winter Social, only to face off against the Village People and their Disco Zombie minions.... culminating to when I played a Village People Greatest hits cassette as background music for the final combat.  

It holds a dear place in my heart, but I kept no notes from the game, and every years, the memories get vaguer and vaguer.  

Monster of the Week - Mepacon 41 - November 2021 -  A game I actually PLAYED in!  That weekend I had spent Friday and Saturday at Historicon in King of Prussia, playing and running wargames for the masses willing to leave their homes.   I came home Saturday night so I could take my daughter to Mepacon, a mixed-game convention, since it was 20 minutes away.  Mandatory masking AND proof of vaccination were annoying to hear other players on an active table, but otherwise understandable and tolerable.  

I let Maja choose her game, and the only words I remember her describing it were "mature audience", "mystery", and "children's teeth."  I thought the worst, but was relieved to find out it was Monster of the Week, and we were saving children from corrupted tooth fairies.  

The game itself isn't too important, it's that, despite masking and other inconveniences, this was the first time we played together in a game as equals, rather than one of us as sidekicks.   That itself warms a burnt out portion of this old man's heart. 

My Little Pony - Mepacon 34-ish - November 2017 - COVID screwed up the numbering for the bi-annual convention, but there's a full write-up of the weekend here.  With my daughters 8 and 6, my search for a good RPG for them was always in full effect.  I had found a great game, My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria Storytelling Game and would run it every two hours when I could make it the Mepacon.  Better yet, I allowed the kids to keep the pony they made at the table, and "level them up" each time they played at my table, be it that con, or a future one.  

While most of my players were always kids, their parents, and two tolerable Bronies, things didn't escalate into awesomeness until the bro-nies showed up.  

Brandon and Anthony were two college-age guys who had two open hours and signed up for the game, partly for fun, partly for the challenge.  

Everyone was having a good time, but as the game progressed, it was obvious the young girl playing the pony Harmony was heading for direct show-down with the captain of the gnome legion.   When that showdown took place, I expected her father on his feet, cheering her own,  I expected the other kids, but the bros were the ones on their feet, standing on chairs, tossing Tokens of Friendship (think Savage World super-bennies) to improve her rolls every time she falter, cheering raucously with each success until the gnome legion was vanquished.

Kids get excited when they can play a game with their parents.  

Parents are excited to play with their kids.  

These two guys took that energy and ran with it.  

Alternate Question:  A game event that you are still proud of?

#RPGaDay2026 - Day 29 - "Labor"

Four weeks down with #RPGaDay and we're in the home stretch with "Labor."

This September will be the 17th anniversary for the blog.  I've been averaging OVER a post per day for over a decade.  It's certainly a labor of love, especially the role-playing stuff.  I normally post my Top 20 posts for the past 12 months at the end of September, and it normally is chock full of painting, convention AARs, game store reviews, and a few quality wargame recap,   Even well promoted #RPGaDay or #CharacterCreationChallenge posts don't scratch the traffic of the other posts. 

Why do I do it?  Because introducing journals to the groups almost 30 years ago helped play.  Adding experience for writing in the core book around 2001 produced some great entries for my Hackmasters games.  

By 2018, I had catalogued much of my AD&D/OSR time, all the ongoing games Cthulhu and Star Wars games.  

The only thing missing from my ongoing World of Georic campaign, was the early, non-journal years (1989-1997).   The campaigns I kindly label the high school, army, and Sabut Tablesmasher storylines.  There's bits and pieces, fleeting memories, and I either don't possess or threw out the material I ran for those guys.  

The solution was to make a fictional character to wade through the aftermath of these supposed adventurers cause, and with that, the Lost Dispatches of Feraso was born.  Thanks to a scribe who wrote above his station, Elsderth Millsbottom and his accumulated group of friends and allies acted as chroniclers, and sometimes damage control for the wake of destruction my high school group.  It was great, because it filled in the story gaps for 30+ years, it helped the mis-matched accumulation of Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Dungeon Magazine adventures all within a few leagues of each other, and they allowed me to map out sections I've barely put together,  

Elsderth Millbottom: scribe, hero, judge, Baron Greyhawk, horrible father, racist witch.

I covered the entirety of high school games, my entire army campaign, and the host of smaller, mini-campaigns I ran for folks.   Eldsderth became a real character by the end of the 100 episodes, gaining titles, losing friends, abandoning his family for selfish reasons, and secretly filling in a ton of plot holes that eased my brain. 

I still keep the sessions for our Gamma World campaign up-to-date, and I do some entries from the campaigns Gazetteer, but the Lost Dispatches is the last true labor of love I'll probably do for the blog.

Alternate Question:  Thing you are most willing to work on for a game

RPGaDay2026 - Day 28 - "Devotion"

Day 28!  Four weeks of #RPGaDay and we show our "Devotion" to the process.

The most devotion I've ever seen was Echelon and his animals....  

My college roommate Steve has a 30-year, well-documented history of creating unique (and annoying) characters. 

Despite some great ones after we moved to the online era gaming, he truly peaked with Echelon.  

Echelon's  back story alone was enough to create heart palpitations with a GM.  When his only piece of equipment purchased was his trident, I knew I was in trouble.  

With the rest of his starting gold he bought animals... and the cages and carts needed to transport them. 

A regular Dr Doolittle. 

And a lot of pigeons.  A LOT of pigeons.

Echelon die NOT have buy in during the early episodes.  Sure, he travelled to the dungeons of the ancient Temple of Alasku, but he refused to go down into them, worried some animal would eat his animals. 

Echelon: Come back out here if you need healing.... Don't worry I won't charge.

He even brought a large tent, his fellow adventurers delighted that they could stay dry during an encroaching thunderstorm.

Echelon: No that's for the animals... 

I also believe he let Timmy, the torchbearer, stay above ground to help him tend the animals.  

This schtick didn't last very long, probably because I embraced it with foils.  

As the party released prisoners from the dungeon, they gave them some rations and sent them out of the dungeon... and into the passive aggressive tones of Echelon, while he was feeding his cages of pigeons.  Most simply wandered away, heading towards the nearest village, if the cleric pointed in the right direction. 

Then I had Carthon come up, a basic 0-level human.  And despite getting Echelon annoyed at every step... he stayed near the cart.  He befriended Timmy, and finally Echelon allowed him to stick around as a servant.  

Having Carthon around forced/allowed Echelon to actually adventure... adding more gold to his coffers. 

When the adventuring party left on a mission for the ArchBishop of Hydincall and were all assumed dead.  Carthon used his unknown skills (Echelon never asked) and liquidated some of the animals, and along with Echelon's fortune, bought a small estate "The Chateau"  outside of the village, on the off chance that the group would return one day (spoilers: they did).  The Chateau raised pigeons and made wine.  It was a great action by Carthon, until Echelon and Talis learned how he financed the place.... and they nearly lost everything, but I talked about that on day 13 - "Strain"

Alternative Question:: Game you have played the most!

#RPGaDay2026 - Day 27 - "Hunger"

Day 27 of #RPGaDay and I'm running on fumes.  

Perhaps I should have had my players order my rations for the week, to supplicant the "Hunger" I'm looking for.

For the RPG community, one of the most epic stories has always been "Eric and the Dread Gazebo."   Immortalized in print by Knights of the Dinner Table, the classic tale of players not knowing everything, whether its in the book or in real life, can be quite amusing.  

When I brought forth today's prompt to my Monday night players, the immediately went with "The Mead Story"

I don't know the source anymore, perhaps a wacky letter in Dragon Magazine but I know I'm not the originator of it, but it goes like this:  

New campaign, new characters, definitely new players, who might have cracked open a Player's Handbook truly for the first time.  With a lot of handwaving to encumbrance and basic equipment, there's always a moment for a DM to officially question if the party had 500' foot of rope between them, or or gallon bucket of bat guano, or eight 10-foot poles, and food is always the easiest to call out. 

For us, and many other, rations are a rolling commodity: if you bought two weeks of rations, we essentially say you resupply when necessary, unless we deal with some underground adventure, or lost at sea, or something similar where food will dwindle.   My friends who borrowed my campaign world kept the same liberal worldview.  

The gist of the story is, the party reaches some point where character sheet bookkeeping is required for some reason.  Every one in a while a character is caught off guard, and the others usually share. 

And then there's the one player:  Oh, I'm fine I brought 15 days worth.

Fifteen days? Fifteen days of what perchance? 

Mead.

You bought 15 days of mead?   Just mead? 

Yeah, I figured it was per day and I know we don't follow encumbrance, but it didn't seem to take up much space.

You're adventuring and surviving on 15 days worth of mead? 

Sure!  Is there something wrong?

Do you what mead is??? 

Gemini

**** There is a practical discussion as to what mead actually is.  The player is enlightened, a little embarrassed, and suddenly very worried.*****

Then.... we never made it here.  

What do you mean? 

You asked me to get feed for the horses... 

Oh no....

I've been feeding them nothing but mead for the last five days we've been in the mountains...

Gemini

I know there's a mention of the mead story back in the RPGaDay2016 posts, but nothing that's happened to me directly.  

Any guidance to the origin to the story would be appreciated.

Alternate Question:  What do you hunger for most from a session?