The Dark Orb

24/10/2023

Things of beauty from et . Still the most beautiful portrait artwork in the industry as far as I’m concerned. I’m impatiently awaiting GODS RPG from Deharme / Julien Blondel / (which I desperately want to talk about on the YouTube channel) and I am excited by the hints of the next game too.

15/10/2023

Did you come to ORBTOBERFEST 2023 - Undead and In Person Roleplaying mini-convention in the heart of Nottingham? If so, share your photos, and tag us!

12/10/2023

The very limited 'Convention edition' Orbtoberfest Festival tee shirt, with an exclusive front design by the incredible Johan Nohr of Mörk Borg fame is now available for one month only via our Teemill store in celebration of our convention, this weekend, in Nottingham UK!

We are so delighted with this design. Hope you love it as much as we do.

Reduced during our festival weekend and only available for one month, grab it whilst you can!

The Dark Orb - Orbtoberfest - Festival Shirt Reduxhttps://teemill.com/my-products?project=the-dark-orb-313788&overlay-product-popup=main #

11/10/2023

We have a couple of tickets still available for ORBTOBERFEST 2023 - Undead and In Person Roleplaying mini-convention in the heart of Nottingham, but Eventbrite has changed their pricing model and won’t let us add more tickets without paying for it. Come and play with us this weekend! Join the waiting list! First come, first-served, right here in Nottingham this Saturday! 🖤

02/10/2023

Less than Two Weeks to go until ORBTOBERFEST and the Johan Nohr (Yes, really, Johan Nohr of Mörk Borg fame did our art) exclusive art t-shirts have been ordered, the games have been scheduled and our appetites whetted.

We are very excited for it, we are sold out, but the waiting list is live!

If you are registered, then check your email! Game reservations go live at 19:00 today and everything you need to know should have landed in your mailbox yesterday!

21/09/2023

Roleplaying should be about much, much more than just swanning around pretending to be a wizard and turning thieves into chickens...

In this video, we're taking a look at why Phil loves political roleplaying games, with a little look at three popular political tabletop RPGS: Vampire, Symba...

07/09/2023

Crowdfunding overview/Review for from Open Sesame Games and (from Monte Cook Games and Rusty Quill) is now up! Please forgive some audio levels issues with the background music though, we shifted over to new software and we're still getting used to it (and this was recorded live, so not really fixable in post)!

Join The Dark Orb's Phil to talk about Ecryme and The Magnus ArchivesNote: We know we have some work to do on the background music audio level - forgive us, ...

11/08/2023

11. WEIRDEST Game you've played

Ooh, Weird is a hard one. Perhaps TROIKA! But, I think Zac Braddy might agree that our in-person Electric Bastionland (Chris McDowall's beautiful, incredible game) one shot was very off the wall so that probably takes the biscuit. I was particularly fond of the gin river...

10/08/2023

I'm so behind on this, sorry folks.

8. Favourite CHARACTER.
Oooh, this is a tricky one - at the table, I really enjoy the crazy goblin that we have in our home Symbaroum game, Vyvylex, based on Vyvyan from The Young Ones, but to play I'd say that the most fun I've had is as a Taiko drumming orc in Sweden Rolls' Patreon campaign of Forbidden Lands.

9. Favourite Dice.
Another difficult one, as a D6 set, I really like the dice from Sins RPG, for D10s I'm currently really appreciating my Vermin 2047 dice.
In DCC, my favourite set meanders between Maned Wyrm and the Weird Frontiers RPG dice.
However, with all that taken into account, my favourite set overall right now is the Planebreaker premium pyre deluxe dice set from Monte Cook Games.

10. Favourite Tie-In Fiction
Well, this one is very difficult but I'm going to go for some technicalities here and say that the preceding art book and the follow-up tv series for Simon Stålenhag's Tales From The Loop are currently in the lead here. Despite this, basically all the setting material for Symbaroum is well written enough that I consider it tie-in fiction. There were some books for Symba but they aren't in English so I can't really use them.

I wish I could say that "Death is only the beginning" for KULT was number 1 here, but despite owning a copy of it I still haven't read it, because I'm rubbish. :D

07/08/2023

7. SMARTEST RPG you've played

You know, this is really a difficult one, how do we define 'smartest'? I've been mulling this over for hours.
Symbaroum is a game that very, very cleverly embraces and details the reality of the human condition - the setting writing and the campaign are very clever, I am always forever biased in its favour. - This is probably my honest answer, but if I cast that aside as 'too obvious' then...

I really adore the way that Vaesen so cleverly blend setting with system.

Rafael Chandler's Viewscream is amazing.

Zero Void from MacGuffin & Co. was one of the best games I've run in a long time. It's a self-contained one shot booklet/zine and I can't recommend it highly enough if you're up for some Sci-Fi awesome. The pacing in that little game is phenomenal!

What about you?

06/08/2023

Game submissions for Orbtoberfest are open!

06/08/2023

6. Favourite Game you NEVER get to play.

Ooh. Tricky. Technically this is likely Symbaroum as that’s on an extended hiatus with my home group, however as a player I still haven’t actually played KULT so probably it’s that.

What about you?! Is there something on your list? Maybe we need a few more Actual Play games on our channel…

05/08/2023

5. OLDEST game you’ve played.
I guess probably this is Call of Cthulhu, Traveller, or Vampire The Masquerade 2nd edition, depending on how pedantic one wants to be. Probably Vampire…

What about you?

05/08/2023

Tangent Miniatures. We genuinely love what you do but one of our patrons has been patiently waiting for their order from the beginning of April and isn’t getting any information or help. What’s going on with your web fulfilment please?

Thanks in advance. Again, we are big fans of your work so hopefully this is just something that slipped through the cracks.

-Phil.

05/08/2023

Breaking news: the most awesome prolific Swedish RPG publisher gets recognised for how awesome they are.. Again!

Which of the listed winning products is your favourite and why? Let us know in the comments!

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who voted in the ENNIE Awards and everyone who worked so hard to make these RPG products become reality, and to share them with players everywhere. Free League RPG products won seven Gold ENNIEs at Gen Con this year, including Product of the Year, and the award for Fan Favorite Publisher. This is truly humbling, and an amazing honor.
*Gold ENNIE for Best Adventure: Vaesen - Seasons of Mystery
*Gold ENNIE for Best Layout and Design: Blade Runner RPG Core Rulebook
*Gold ENNIE for Best Cartography: Blade Runner RPG Starter Set
*Gold ENNIE for Best Monster/Adversary: Ruins of Symbaroum Bestiary
*Gold ENNIE for Best Interior Art: Vaesen - Mythic Britain & Ireland
*Gold ENNIE for Best Setting: Vaesen - Mythic Britain & Ireland
*Gold ENNIE for Product of the Year: Vaesen - Mythic Britain & Ireland
*Fan Favorite Publisher - Free League Publishing
Congrats to all the other winners!

03/08/2023

RPG a Day 4.
Most recent game bought:

On kickstarter but currently funding: Brendan’s Xcrawl Classics, and Andreas’ Windheim setting for Dragonbane

Crowdfunding and already funded: Triangle Agency by Haunted Table Games

Most recently delivered: Dragonbane (Drakar och Demoner) from Free League Publishing

Most recently bought as a retail /in stock physical product: Stealing Stories from the Devil from Monte Cook Games 🙂

What about you? Let us know in the comments!

03/08/2023

I'm a bit behind so I'll do the first two together

Let us know some of your answers in the comments!

1. FIRST RPG Played (this year)
I'm not 100% sure of, but you know it MIGHT actually be Thomas Eliot's Fear of the Unknown. That was actually recorded so I'll post a link in the comments

2. First RPG GAMEMASTER
Technically it was probably either Darroch or Phil in the late 90s at University of Surrey... :D

03/08/2023

The first RPG kickstarter I backed this year was Donn’s “Ruination Pilgrimage”,

The first RPG I received this year? The Big Squirm for Troika.

The first I bought AND received this year? That’s a bit more difficult… I think it’s “Ninja Burger, 2nd Edition” I love the concept of this game but it’s a lot crunchier (more fiddly and number-heavy) than I was hoping for…

29/07/2023

Almost an entire year in the making, we're really excited to finally bring The Tower of the Black Pearl to our channel. We love Dungeon Crawl Classics, and this adventure was so good that we just kept on playing until we finished it!

Subscribe to us here and on YouTube and ring that bell to get notified when we post the next episode of The Tower of the Black Pearl for Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game

We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed recording it.

- Phil.

Join The Dark Orb and Judge Zac for their Actual Play of Tower of the Black Pearl, an incredibly fun module for Dungeon Crawl Classics.If you enjoy the show,...

08/07/2023

On the way to Manchester for the day. Grabbing some coincidental lunchy food with some amazing friends (that by sheer coincidence are also hitting Manc this weekend) we then have a relatively free afternoon before seeing a gig at the arena this evening.

Apart from Fan Boy Three, is there anything else we should check out? We will have three or four hours to kill.

29/06/2023

Tomorrow is the last day to grab an early bird ticket for our Orbtoberfest roleplaying mini-convention in Nottingham this October! We are very excited!

20/06/2023

Did you know we're doing a mini RPG convention here in Nottingham, UK this October?

No more than 30 of us are getting together on Sat 14th October, in the heart of Nottingham, for (generally D&D-omitted) tabletop roleplaying fun with a focus on Halloweeny, spooky games.

There are very limited 'Early Bird' tickets remaining, exclusively to our Discord members!

14/06/2023

Disease and ruin has befallen our grand Wasteland Warriors.

Our GM is sadly stricken by a great sickness (probably man-flu) and therefore I must announce that we are deferring our inaugural session to next week, 21 Jun.

Get well soon, Chris! 🖤🖤🖤

Wasteland Wednesdays are upon us!

Starting next week, June 21st, join us over on Twitch for some Post-Apocalyptic Fun as we give the Starter Set of Fallout RPG from MODIPHIUS a bash!

12/06/2023

Wasteland Wednesdays are upon us!

Starting next week, June 21st, join us over on Twitch for some Post-Apocalyptic Fun as we give the Starter Set of Fallout RPG from MODIPHIUS a bash!

04/06/2023

One major plus side of having my birthday at this time of year is that I have a slight excuse to be mildly frivolous at UK Games Expo (and celebrate with AMAZING friends!!!)

This year I was trying very hard indeed to be well behaved and only had one thing on my list to really buy, that being “Stealing Stories for the Devil” (which, annoyingly, nobody had and I was then required to order it online instead.

This year, for me, Monte Cook Games are turning out to be my primary focus outside of the usual stalwart of Free League Publishing. We are very excited about the upcoming Old Gods of Appalachia RPG as well as the upcoming Crowdfunding for The Magnus Archives RPG, so we had great fun having a first time bash at Cypher System via a demo of the aforementioned OGoA (as well as a great demo of Stealing Stories for the Devil). Monte Cook’s team are incredible too!

Speaking of other incredible teams that really knocked it out of the park. My hat is tipped firmly to Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game who were one Bob short of a dream team in my opinion. What joy there was in seeing so many incredible contributors to the DCC writing team all here in the UK again.

Shout out to the Effekt podcasts team and Stockholm Kartell for their fantastic work over at the Free League booth too!

Full-length roleplaying-wise, we only played one actual game, an incredible mobster-inspired noir scenario rooted in Dungeon Crawl Classics. It was sensational and we had a great time.

Want to know more? Come chat to us on Discord! Link in the comments!

04/06/2023

Thank you so much to everyone that I had the fortune to spend such a lovely weekend with at UK Games Expo this year. If we spent any time talking over the last three days, please know that it meant the world to me. You’re all awesome.

If you worked the event and we DIDN’T get a chance to talk, thank you for your part in running such a great event.

I met some people for the first time this year, and you rocked it. Can’t wait to hang with you again. 🤘🏻🤠🤘🏻

03/06/2023

Rocking with amazing people and the mighty Pookie at

04/05/2023

The Dark Orb are headed to Stockholm! Yes, that’s right! Next weekend (less than seven days and counting) we are going to be in Sweden and on the Saturday we will be at Långholmen visiting many friends and TTRPG legends at Sweden Rolls mini convention.

Not only are we going to be playing games and chatting with some incredible people but also bringing some goodies to a couple of our favourite supporters.

We have designed some t-shirts and I’m super proud of them. The only thing we are changing for the final production run is that the arm print doesn’t look right so we are killing it with fire.

If you’re going to be there and you would like one, let me know before Saturday 6 May and I can add you to the list… £20 GBP will cover the costs (it’s a tiny print run at a local firm) so just message me here or on Discord.

See you in Sverige!!!! I am soooo excited!!!!

-Phil

04/05/2023

Very excited that these beautiful apocalyptic pretties arrived from .

16/03/2023

Zombies and worse monsters will be discussed tomorrow at 7PM UTC… Join us!

Join us tomorrow at 19:00 UTC, 17 Mar 2023 as we talk to Mattias Johnsson Haake of Free League about The Walking Dead Universe Roleplaying Game

26/02/2023

Did you miss our actual play of “Fear of the Unknown” PBTA-based zero-prep horror movie RPG action with creator Thomas Eliot of Sixpence Games? Never fear! Catch up right here, only at The Dark Orb!

Join The Dark Orb for an exciting Actual Play of ‘Fear of the Unknown’ from Sixpence Games, with guest Games Master, author and designer Thomas Eliot.Fear of...

19/01/2023

Ok, we actually have no relationship with Mimic Dice, but I've got to say, in all of the years that we've been covering Kickstarter campaigns here and over on our YouTube channel, I think this campaign might have the most entertaining Kickstarter video I've ever seen.

Check it out, laugh merrily and if you like the product and need more dice then, well, yeah there is that too. :D

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mimic-dice/mimic-dice-the-founding

(Don't forget, Kickstarter is not a store!)

Great Dice, Great Price, Mimic Boxes, with just a touch of world domination... Every backer gets a free Carl.

16/01/2023

It was announced today on the Free League Publishing newsletter that new open gaming licenses are being developed:

“Free League Publishing today announced the development of two new Open Game Licenses (OGL). One is a rework of the Year Zero Engine OGL, the other a new license specifically designed for third-party modules for the upcoming Dragonbane fantasy RPG.”

What are your thoughts? We are really pleased that the OGL and SRD for YZE are getting updated.

Free League Publishing we love you! 🤣😝

14/01/2023

https://twitter.com/thedarkorb/status/1614233002757816320

14/01/2023

We have avoided the debacle, aside from some healthy debate on our Discord, however there’s a reason why our podcast (admittedly only a couple of episodes) was named “Casting without Wizards” several months ago.

There are so many other beautiful games.

03/01/2023

There are some great charity bundles for RPG PDFs out there right now.

First and foremost, if you don’t own either of these games and if you’re a fan of folk horror and sword and sorcery, you must check out this Humble Bundle from Free League Publishing for Vaesen and Forbidden Lands.

Vaesen is a formidable story-first folk horror game where investigators are pitted against the fae and the old ones whose dissatisfaction with the developing world and Industrial Revolution is beginning to have tangible effects on (largely) rural communities.

We ran a series of Vaesen actual play episodes for Christmas last year, with our Multiple Award-Winning games master, Joel, at the helm. I’ll include the link to the first episode on our YouTube channel in the comments below.

Forbidden Lands is a tour de force of sword and sorcery hex crawling adventure and peril in a world where something as mundane as walking across a bridge could yield unforeseen action and dangers. Our favourite actual plays of Forbidden Lands come in podcast form from our friends over at Sweden Rolls. Make sure to check them out if you haven’t already.

We’ve teamed up with Free League for our newest bundle. Get tabletop role-playing books for Vaesen and Forbidden Lands, and help support Direct Relief with your purchase!

12/09/2021

October....

10/09/2021

Half an hour until we go live talking about Paul Baldowski’s dee The Dee Sanction Adventures, Mothership RPG , Pinnacle Entertainment Group Super Powers Companion for and more!

Join GuruPhil and friends for a run down on their favourite currently funding games across the crowd-sourcing universe including Adventures for The Dee Sanct...

09/09/2021

Only two hours left to grab KINLESS - A Mork Borg Solo Viking Adventure on Kickstarter by Explore Dungeons, Charles Logan, Elizabeth Borowski & Chris G. Williams
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bigrobotgames/kinless-a-mork-borg-solo-viking-adventure

I am biased, but I think and hope it's going to be awesome, we sat down with the team behind it (YouTube link in the comments) so if you're on the fence, check it out whilst you can!

You are an outcast... sent away to die alone in the cold night. Will you survive long enough to return and get your revenge?

07/09/2021

'Culpeper's Complete Herbal with a twist of Magic'

Coming soon is our chat with Double Proficiency about their currently funding kickstarter - . We are very excited. Such a beautiful book for Herbalists, Natural Magicians and Roleplayers.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDarkOrb to get notified when this awesome interview is available!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/exaltedfuneral/herbalists-primer