The last time I tried this, everything went to pieces in early January.

I was going to rock Dungeon 2023 among other interesting projects. My copy of Shadowdark had not been paid for yet, so I was heavy into Dungeon Crawl Classics. (I still love DCC, so all is well.) I made a pretty long list of bullet points of things I wanted to do. Some got done, others did not.

I’m fond of setting intentions in the new year, not resolutions. My Law of Attraction principles state that I adhere to gratitude for things to come as if they have already happened. Yes, I know how nutty that sounds, but it does seem to work pretty well. Sometimes I have new desires for experiences I wish to manifest in my life as things change.

Looking at the old 2023 list, I think I tried to take on too much.

On top of my huge list of plans, the Open Game Debacle of 2023 happened, which sidetracked all of January. Constant TTRPG controversies and Wizards of the Coast disasters followed making it really difficult to stay on schedule with some projects. My other “excuse” is my mental health went all to pieces a few times and my personal life had some bumps in the road to overcome.

Spirit of 77 plans didn’t come about the way I had originally pictured. I still want to come back to that game at some point. It’s a quirky kinda niche game that minimally deserves a review. I had a good friend who had mentioned running it online before their life went all topsy turvy.

My publishing plans turned into a bit of a pipe dream when the OGL happened. I’m still in no hurry to ever publish for D&D 5E or any other official WotC/D&D Studios property. If I do anything for Hasbro IPs such as GI Joe, Transformers, or Power Rangers, it’s strictly for my own amusement and free on the site. Even then, I’m not sure I want to support any of that stuff.

My DCC ambitions got put on hold for a couple of reasons. RPG Superstar came around with some promise of possibly getting published, so I shifted gears to Pathfinder 2E. Those plans did a swan dive into the toilet when all three of my submissions for RPG Superstar, despite being turned in under the FIRST deadline, within ALL guidelines, and I thought they were pretty clever, got rejected. (*The feedback wasn’t very helpful. Probably not doing that to myself again, at least publicly.

I also got a little concerned about Goodman Games and DCC in general because they’re an OGL product on top of their own licensing. I emailed back and forth with Goodman’s rep a bit to great success. Lovely company. Can’t recommend them enough. Seeing the success of Shadowdark RPG spurred me onto wanting to do more for that system.

Publishing anything on Roll20/OneBookShelf’s DriveThruRPG or DMsGuild still concerns me a bit. Apparently WotC’s buyout/merger attempt fell through. (*I told you it was going to happen, although Roll 20 and WotC refuse to comment.) The fact that it was even being considered still worries me a little bit about the stability of the website. I don’t want to wake up some morning and find out all that once was DTRPG is now part of the Hasborg Collective.

I had some minor success publishing on Itch.io as part of the Shadowdark Game Jam. I’d totally do that again. It was a lot of fun and a very non-threatening way to dip a toe into publishing. I’ll be doing more on there in the months and years to come. The only downer is properties have to be all or nothing exclusives to DTRPG and not Itch and vice versa.

DTRPG has an exclusivity clause which grants a bit more profit if I remain with them. So, Itch projects publish on there, DTRPG projects publish on their site. Never shall the two combine. I’m fussy about where and how I publish, especially after 2023 and its OGL mess.

The Ogrenomicon project flat out died. Originally it was going to be a portfolio project for DCC. Then I thought maybe I’d go Pathfinder 2E until the RPG SuperFailure and Pathfinder 2E Remastered was announced. I might do it for Shadowdark somewhere down the line.

Some things didn’t quite come to fruition as fully as planned but survived.

The Des Moines Remote Viewing Society lives on inside my head and in my notes. It may well be making a bigger return in 2024. My DsMRVS plans have expanded to include material borrowed from Call of Cthulhu, SCP RPG, and even a little old school World of Darkness. I want to keep that particular ball rolling as time permits. If nothing else it’s a good writing exercise.

My unnamed Mecha/Space campaign came and went twice over. First as a setting for my own generic ruleset, then as a Cypher System setting. I have all those notes for the Peregrine and her crew sitting here within reach. Someday we will see that setting come to life. I had several really neat setting ideas come about when I got into Cypher more heavily. Somewhere down the road, they will come about.

Speaking of settings, my ICONS RPG setting, The Gritty City (*working title) will still be seeing some love in the months ahead. It will be my tribute to the Batman Animated series and the DCAU because I’m a JLA/JSA fan from way back and I love Detective Comics. Plus, ICONS is still the best supers rule set I can find. I really want a game where the PCs knock down criminal empires, expose corrupt officials and occasionally stop rampaging supervillains.

2023 success stories.

I was overjoyed that my long struggle to get disability income finally came to an end. It took enormous financial strain off of my wife and family while giving me some time to focus on recovery. I’m still a mess in some ways, but at least the family can eat now. Plus, I have a little more time to work on what I want to be doing in life.

In TTRPG terms, we had a few things that did work out quite well. We’re still here on the blog 637 days in a row strong. I’m determined to keep going no matter what. I might have to drop a rerun article or something short just to keep everyone up to date, but I’ll always try to get something out.

My love of random charts continues to grow. I’ve been inspired by the various solo and adventure design books I’ve been reading to create more d12 tables. I love creating weird and wacky things for GMs to play with in their own games when they need a little something quick on the fly.

I’ve been trying to drop more GM and even player advice when time permits. I’m planning to do more of that in 2024, especially in sync with my YouTube endeavors. I started a series of Silly TTRPG Internet Argument posts recently and I’m enjoying rolling those out. The posts, not the arguments.

New year, new projects.

I have more fantasy TTRPG campaign settings brewing in my head than I know what to do with. I’m doing some solo Shadowdark gaming to test ideas and maybe build some adventures. It’s also giving me an excuse to play around with the Mythic GM Emulator and Tome of Adventure Design.

YouTube is again in my sites. I’ve been inspired as of late by the OG GM and This Effin GM by watching what they’re doing. I’ll just say we all have a lot in common. I think I might be able to make a go of it provided my social anxiety doesn’t take over.

My first DriveThruRPG project for sale is coming in the next month or two. It’s a Shadowdark compatible supplement called The Deck of Many Portals. It’s 52 random draws that could lead down a rabbit hole of endless adventure. It could also upend the GM’s campaign and open an all new sandbox, so beware.

My plan after that is a sourcebook I am working on under the title of “Otherdark.” It’s a supplement of new classes, ancestries, spells, weapons, and magic items for Shadowdark RPG. It’s going to take a long time, but I will be posting updates to keep myself on track. When you’re a one man operation, it can be difficult to stay focused.

The rest of the list is going to be fairly short and open-ended. I would rather put out a few well designed products than slapdash stuff together and hope something catches on. Plus, I’m expecting a big year in terms of TTRPG releases and undoubtedly more drama from the coastal wizarding community.

The List of 2024 Intentions:

  • Finish the Deck of Many Portals  and publish on DriveThruRPG.
  • Start and finish Otherdark and publish on DriveThruRPG.
  • More random d12 tables for use and amusement in TTRPGs.
  • More GM and Player advice articles.
  • Reviews. I have a backlog of games plus several new ones coming up.
  • More writing prompt months. Frightening February was so much fun.
  • Giving serious thought to Lore 2024. It seems more practical that Dungeon 23. That, and I have several settings I’m wanting to develop. It could be a lot of fun.
  • More on my ICONS RPG campaign set in the Gritty City.
  • Might do RPG Superstar again if I can work up the nerve. (*Not ready yet.)
  • Write at least a short blog post every single day.
  • Essence20 stuff time and energy permitting. Power Rangers Lightning Force if time.
  • DsMRVS adventure material/fiction as time and energy permits.

Let’s do this thing! Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve. See you on the other side.

Thank you for being here. I appreciate you. Embrace that which brings the most joy in 2024.