d20 Radio's 2021 Gift Guide

Welcome to d20 Radio’s 2021 Gift Guide. Here our writing staff will share their suggestions for gifts for the gamers in your life.

Linda Whitson Suggests

Star Trek Adventures (Mōdiphiüs Entertainment)

The Core Rule Book for this fun RPG version of the classic science fiction TV shows and movies has been around since 2017. However, like its inspiration, Mōdiphiüs Entertainment has produced several expansions in the last couple of years. Notably, the 2020 Klingon Core Rulebook and this year’s Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide, which I am having a good time reading through currently. So pick up whatever books you or your favorite Trekker doesn’t have and go where no one has gone before, including adventures inspired by Discovery, Lower Decks, and Prodigy.

Prices: Core Books are US$60-62 hardcover and about $20 PDF. Supplements are $35 hardcover/$15-21 PDF. Plus lots of free supplements.

Cyberpunk RED (R. Talsorian Games)

This is the latest version of the classic “Dark Future” RPG and a “prequel” to the video game. I’ve had a lot of fun playing CP RED this year, which is the best recommendation a game can have. The mechanics are far less crunchy than, say CP 2020. If you don’t like the Time of the Red era, I see no reason not to use it for the original or 2020 eras, and certainly not to play in the video game era. My review here and a play experience.

Price: Core rulebook $60 hardcover/$30 PDF.

Dungeon In a Box subscriptions

My husband has been showing off these sets to me. Each of the monthly boxes has everything you need to run a cool adventure for your D&D 5e or Pathfinder 2e game group, or at a con. In addition to the maps and adventure booklet, there is 3D terrain and two types of minis. Most are what the company calls “Skinny Minis,” which are like cardboard “standees,” only these are made of durable plastic and beautifully painted. In addition, boxes now include 2 traditional painted minis from the company’s new line. That’s not all. There’s a Digital Only subscription – booklet, tokens, and maps – and a Minis in a Box subscription.

Prices: Physical subscription US$36/month or $105/3 months. Digital Only $11.95/month. Minis subscription $204/year or $19.95/month

Kim Frandsen Recommends

Gingerbread Kaiju

Gingerbread Kaiju isn’t so much a recommendation of a present, but more of the nature of something to do during the holidays. It is a PDF for a board game, where you bake a series of Kaiju monsters that you then use to wreak havoc on Tokyo (of course). Most importantly though, when your monsters take damage, you get to eat them. So you get a board game that’s both fun AND delicious! And it’ll probably keep the kids busy for a little while as well – for added playability, use different types of cake or biscuits for it, but the author has included a gingerbread recipe as well. 🙂

Into the Void

(Disclaimer: This one is written by myself, so I may be biased)

Have you ever wanted to get started on playing Starfinder, but never known where to start? Well, here is your chance! This adventure helps you create your character and teaches you the base mechanics over the course of a single adventure. All you need is this adventure and a Core Rulebook. 🙂 – At the conclusion, it leads you and your players into the Dead Suns Adventure Path so that you can continue your adventures together afterward.

A Print of the Old-School Gamer

We all have artwork that we connect with from back when we started gaming. For me, it’s the cover to The House on Gryphon Hill with one of the first illustrations of Count Strahd von Zarovich, once of D&D’s longest-running villains. I’m not sure why, as we never played the adventure back then, but the friend who introduced me to AD&D at the time (and who was the GM) had this as a poster on his wall. I’ve purchased a few of Clyde’s prints, and he’s been extremely fast and courteous each time – and as you can probably guess, he is my favorite classic illustrator. Heartily recommend that you grab some of his stuff, if nothing else, then to decorate your gaming room. 🙂

Egg Embry Recommends

What Once Went Wrong from NerdBurger Games

Are you a fan of the TV-series, Quantum Leap? Then this RPG zine is a must play. Using this rules-lite duet homage to the show, you play as either the leaper or their holographic handler. You leap into a person and control their actions as you set right something that went wrong in their history. The mechanics controlling what needs to be set right are well considered and keep the game episodic. If you want to leap through time doing good, this is a great RPG to pick up. As a bonus, since it’s a zine, it will not break the bank at $11.99 + S/H for the PDF and POD versions of the zine.

RuneQuest Starter Set from Chaosium

(Physical copies are available through your FLGS and Chaosium)

It’s time to get back to d100 fantasy RPG with Chaosium’s quickstart version of RuneQuest. You play in a world where adventurers are preparing for the upcoming Heroes War. You train and adventure in the hopes of surviving the coming onslaught. This boxed set gives you a lot of content for the price ($29.99 for the print version). You get the rulebook, the Glorantha setting book, a SoloQuest, three adventures, pre-gens, character sheets, handouts, maps, and dice. As a gift, it’s exactly what any fantasy RPGer is going to enjoy.

Twilight: 2000 4th Edition Core Set from Free League Publishing

(Physical copies are available through your FLGS and Free League)

The latest iteration of Twilight: 2000 puts you in an alternate history World War III where the Soviet Union never collapsed and you’re in Poland fighting through the devastation. Using Free League’s award winning Year Zero Engine, you’ll fight in history’s most desperate hour. This is an easy game to recommend with its outstanding artwork, easy to use system, attention to detail as well as all of the battle options and maps that are included. The fact that this game is positioned to be another award winning Free League product does not hurt either. If you want to try out a war story RPG, this one is a great option.

Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, and Amazon.

Ben Erickson Recommends

Backstory Cards

Take your Session Zero to the next level with these Backstory Cards. Using a combination of events, people, and locations crowdsourced by the players, these cards help to lay foundational connections between the PCs, the rest of the world, and most importantly, with each other. I’ve been a part of several games where the GM has used these cards and every time it has helped to push my character concept in directions that I didn’t expect and created a richer group experience overall.

Pathfinder For Savage Worlds

Are you a fan of Golarion but not necessarily the underlying d20 system used for the Pathfinder system? Let me let you in on a new adaptation of the game for Pinnacle Entertainment Group’s Savage Worlds. Focused on the “fast, furious, and fun” that defines the Savage Worlds ruleset, the classic Golarion ancestries have been added to the game and new class edges to help emulate the basic classes found in the basic rules. This game is perfect for those that want to adventure in the realms created by Paizo with a notably less crunchy system.

Wayne Basta Recommends

7 Wonders Duel Box Organizer by Tower Rex

Consolidating a core game and expansions into one box can be tricky. Some companies plan for this and make the core box accommodate planned expansions. But not many. There are a lot of aftermarket solutions out there, some of which are hit or miss. Tower Rex on Etsy has devised an ingenious set up for 7 Wonders Duel and its expansions. The engineering and artistry involved in this design is top notch. Using a laser cutter on some wood, the designer had made one component where you effectively fold the wood into a bowl for the coins. If you know someone who has Duel, I recommend picking this up for them.