Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk
381 | Jean Rabe Passes, D&D x Fortnite, T-Rex Bone Dice
23 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the sad news about Jean Rabe?
All the Tabletop are outplaying yous We aim to amuse you, we aim to enthuse And Morris is unofficial Tabletop RPGs
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Morris' unofficial tabletop RPG talk. I am Russ, aka Morris, or Morris, aka Russ.
And with me this week is... PJ Coffey from the Southampton Guild Roleplayers and Homebrew and Hacking TTRPG Design. Russ, as ever, I am still delighted to be here. Unbelievable, although that may seem. Joining us also, we have the living, beating heart that powers the logistical engine, which is behind the might of the publishing empire that is EN Publishing. It's the only.
It's me, Jessica from EN Publishing. Yes, and I was up till 2 a.m. working on a backer kit page. So that is very much what I do these days. And a helicopter is flying overhead. And I don't know if you can hear it, but apologies if that's coming through on the audio.
They found me.
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Chapter 2: How is D&D collaborating with Fortnite?
We've never been referred to as a publishing empire before.
I think because perhaps it is not factual.
Technically, if it is an empire, I am therefore not the CEO, but the emperor, surely.
I think it's pronounced empire-al.
Empire-al.
Empire-al.
Empire-al.
What's the definition of an empire? Empire.
multiple kingdoms or other polities taken over, swearing loyalty towards a throne. So, yeah.
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Chapter 3: What new content is D&D Beyond revealing?
That's part of all of England and Wales though, isn't it?
You've got Morris' official tabletop RPG talk.
That's part of the N-World.
Yes, but I feel it's sort of its own separate entity, because I like what I feel, yeah.
I think these are all just things that we do, though.
Yeah.
I mean, there isn't anywhere in the world that doesn't do, that only does one thing.
Oh, is anyone else picking that up? It's the sound of a metaphor screaming as it's tortured beyond the point of endurance. Anyway, so as usual, my attempts at conversational hyperbole have
crashed and burned yes yes they've met the exactness shall we characterize it you've met the great wit of your co-hosts and of our ability to pick up nuance anyway right right anyway shall we do some news shall we do some we shall do some news in game news Because that's what people are here for.
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Chapter 4: What are the features of the T-Rex bone dice?
We stream the recording live so you can watch this car crash happen whilst it's still in motion. And we are on Facebook, YouTube and Twitch and you can join us there.
It is compelling viewing.
Indeed.
Our first bit of news is a bit of sad news, I'm afraid.
I don't know.
So, Jean Rabe, writer, editor, and journalist, has passed away at the age of 68. She was a fantasy novelist for TSR and a writer for various game lines, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, also the Star Wars RPG, Battletech. things like that. She was a journalist before she joined TSR in 1987, and she was the first coordinator for the RPGA network.
Wow. So, basically, if you're of a certain age, then you have 99% chance having read something that this woman wrote.
Yeah. If you're a Dragonlance fan, the Dragons of a New Age trilogy.
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Chapter 5: How does the T-Rex bone dice differ from regular dice?
And also, I'm not familiar with these, but the Piper Blackwell Mysteries, which is a non-TSR series of mystery novels.
Yeah, I don't think I've read them, but I've heard of them, which is pretty significant given the volume of space that exists. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, well, sadly, Jean Ravers passed away at the age of 68. I've never had the opportunity to meet her, but I was looking at social media and there were tributes pouring in in the hundreds from people that did meet her at conventions and who she mentored and helped and apparently was, you know, very, very much regarded as a wonderful, lovely person.
And there were a lot of people online, you know,
mourning mourning mourning her passing a big lot of people yeah yeah yeah yeah so our thoughts go out to her family and friends yeah we're getting more and more of like big industry veterans uh news like this i think this isn't the first time this month we've had you know to report things like this so yes yeah yeah wow
Coming to that age in the industry, like you said last time, where people that kind of built it and made it are now starting to pass away, which is weird. Not many hobbies have that.
Yeah, yeah. Right. Should we move on to something slightly happier?
Yes.
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Chapter 6: What are the upcoming Kickstarter projects for D&D?
It's grimmer, I would say, and maybe darker.
I've just seen what it is. Okay, yeah, carry on.
So last week we counted down the top 10 tabletop RPGs anticipated in 2026, as you recall. And the most anticipated one was Deathbringer from Roll for Combat and Professor DM.
Yes.
On YouTube. Well, Royal For Combat has sent along the actual cover of the game because what we had was just a mock-up that I kind of made using the scant graphics that I could find. Right, right. Oh, here's Royal For Combat.
So this is the actual cover.
Okay. Okay. looks like a chaos warrior with an axe standing atop a mountain pile of skulls for anyone who's asked it looks very uh rock as well and the death bringer t is a big axe an excellent alt text description just love it the only thing i might add again for those of a certain age is that it's got a very um it's a black and white the actual picture itself it's really evoking uh 2000 a.d
Is that fair to say, Russ?
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Chapter 7: What is the significance of Erin Roberts' hiring at Wizards?
It says Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay to me. Early Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. That's what really screams it to me.
If John Blanche was doing a book cover, then this is a decent... My reference point was HeroQuest because the warrior on top looks a bit like the Chaos Warriors that you get in that box there. More pointy bits on top.
I must say, though, I do query the stability of that pile of skulls.
Yes, this is a health and safety hazard. So, yeah.
Yeah.
That's my official report as business managers. I don't think that's safe. They haven't done a working at height course. This could be a problem.
Yeah, it's like it's the grain silo wasting time. All that extra weight, you know, straight into the middle of the pile.
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Chapter 8: What other tabletop RPG news is shared in this episode?
No one can move. What a waste of time.
Yeah. But anyway, that's the new cover. And they're doing a crowdfund in May, I believe. Yes. And we should hear more about that soon. Because I think we'll probably cover this as it goes, because it was like the winner of our annual thing.
It's what our audience said they were the most excited about.
Yes, exactly. We're new to the bandwagon, but we'll hop on it all the same. Yeah, yeah.
Right, right, right, right, right. So, Fortnite. The computer game. The video game, yes.
This is what I thought the news item you were just about to do was, which is why I rolled my eyes, just to be clear. I wasn't rolling my eyes about the cover. I thought you were covering this.
Okay. I have not played Fortnite, but I roughly know what it is. Yeah. So Dungeons & Dragons and Fortnite have a partnership coming. which was announced this week. And there are going to be five new islands to explore in the Fortnite game, each of which is a different D&D themed island. And you'll see various NPCs and locations from D&D appearing on these islands.
So the islands are, and this is the names of them, D&D Box Fights. D&D Fox Fights. D-O-X, not F-O-X, Fox Fights. Very, very different.
Yeah, that would be a different one.
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