New Year, New Blog

 So, it's 2023.

Which means it's approaching 10 years since I started posting on Blogger.

Well, I've decided to move over to a new site as part of that New Project I've been hinting at.

To get the scoop and to continue to follow my ramblings, head on over to: https://a2ndchapter.polyhedral.co.uk/ 

All of my previous posts have been ported over and I hope you join them. 

More than one new thing for 2023.

I teased a new project for 2023, this isn't that post.

This post is about other new stuff that I'm doing in 2023.

First up. I should be releasing my first Fear Itself adventure under the Pelgrane Press Community Content Programme in January.

"Only way out, is up" is almost finished drafting, with playtesting aimed for January and then finally releasing it at the end of the month.

I chose Fear Itself for this rather than releasing another Miskatonic Repository title for a couple of reasons.

1. I think I prefer Gumshoe to Call of Cthulhu / BRP mechanically for playing investigative style games. Plus whilst the scenario would work under CoC, it just fits better under Fear Itself.
2. I have more releases planned for Gumshoe so it makes sense to get that ball rolling to test it out from a writing perspective.

Speaking of more Gumshoe releases, I got some lovely Ashen Stars books for Christmas along with the excellent looking Project Cassandra and a bullet journal to take part in #dungeon23

Ashen Stars is another one of the Gumshoe system games that I plan to write stuff for in 2023. I have a 3 part idea that should be playable separately as well as a progression of a wider storyline. Hopefully get the first one done before June.

Would be great if the core book for Ashen Stars was reprinted before I release them but I have it in PDF anyway so no biggie.

Project Cassandra ticks a number of boxes for me, especially having read a lot about Majestic-12 earlier this year. Spycraft and psychics? Winning. Look forward to taking it for a spin.

The bullet journal is for #dungeon23 which in reality will probably be closer to #scenario23 for me as it's unlikely to be a dungeon focused exercise.

The above is also combined with this mock noteboard that I did for my 2023 tabletop resolutions.

If I can do all those things, the ones mentioned above and my new project which is to be announced then it has to be chalked off as a very successful year.

I know I won't be able to do ALL of that but I'd rather set myself a bigger target for 2023, in the hope it gives me more focus.

2022, now that WAS a year.

It's been a year of mixed fortunes, and one I'm both glad and sad to have ended.

Gaming highlights: I went to UK Games Expo, Gen Con, hosted Tabletop Scotland, ran lots of games, published Horror in the Highlands, got back into board gaming at East Neuk Tabletop, and went to Dragonmeet for the first time. Compare that to any year and it's a damn good set of things.

Gaming lowlights: I missed AireCon, had to cancel lots of RPG sessions and my writing took a long detour. All largely down to issues with my ears.

As I look forward to 2023 those same issues with my ears have returned.

This is not a good thing.

Having had months of not-fun at the start of the 2022 I don't really want a repeat of that so fingers crossed the wonders of medicine come to my rescue in 2023.

But this isn't Dave's Health blog, it's a tabletop gaming one. So let's get that on track.

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The normal approach for these posts is to have a review of my Objectives & Principles, although I note I didn't do one in 2021.

These are the pillars I set in place when I started this blog way back when.

Objectives	Principles
1. Balanced gaming although originally this was Sustainable and regular gaming.	1. Only buy it if you’re going to use it
2. More gaming overall	2. Is everyone having fun? Including you?
3. More involved	3. Accept that you’re going to be the GM
4. Event Attendance	4. Change is a good thing and is necessary
5. Organise Events	5. Opinions aren’t as important as knowledge and experience

As things stand they're still very relevant and I suspect any fine tuning would largely be cosmetic. But sometimes that's what you need to refocus.

If I was to write them today though it'd probably be more in the form of user stories.

1. As a gamer I want to play games regularly with lots of different people.
2. As a gamer I want to engage with and be engaged by the hobby and communities around that.
3. As a gamer I want to both attend and organise events, including conventions.
4. As a gamer I intend to only buy something if I'm going to use it.
5. As a gamer I want to make sure that everyone at the table is having fun, including me.
6. As a gamer I accept that I will GM more games than I will be a player in, and I'm happy with that.
7. As a gamer I recognise that Change is a 'good and necessary thing', particularly when it comes to new editions of games.
8. As a gamer I value knowledge and experience more than I do opinions.

Hmmm, that's technically two less but gets the same point across.

So what do I call them? Objectives? Not really. Principles? Well kind of, but they could equally be labelled as all sorts of things. 

Wait... I've gone off on a tangent, I'm supposed to talk about where I am in meeting them.

Ok, so let's do that against these new ones.

1. I play RPGs regularly with the same people (ears aside) and board games regularly now that ENT is back up and running. I would like to play more RPGs with more people though. That's a development opportunity for 2023 I suspect, not least because we're coming to the end of the D&D AL Avernus Rising campaign so I'll have a game slot to replace with something.
2. I think I do this well. I have plans for 2023 that I can't share yet which will expand on this somewhat I suspect.
3. Having Tabletop Scotland back is a big part of this one, and I've now chalked Dragonmeet off the 'must attend' list. The plans I allude to in 2. above might mean going to more events but if there's one thing that's clear is that I don't currently have the capacity to organise more conventions. Not if I want to continue to write and run weekly games that is.
4. So this isn't quite where it needs to be. I bought a lot of stuff at Gen Con that I haven't played yet, although it's offset by a bit of a purge of stuff in the Tabletop Scotland Bring & Buy. I think the main thing here though is using the RPG stuff I've got for both in-person and online games. Retaining that Tuesday night slot every week (ears permitting) and ideally adding a _once a month_ bonus session whether in-person or online would be great for this.
5. Yep, still doing this well. Particularly evident with the return of ENT I think.
6. Still happy with that. I am getting invites to play more and more these days which is very nice and much appreciated. I think from a scheduling perspective I'm far better at doing that when I'm the GM, which is absolutely fine. I probably do need to play more though.
7. Particularly poignant given all the chat about ONE D&D right now. The fake or even completely inexplicable outrage from the fan base never ceases to amaze me. The test of any edition change is only really possible when it's in front of you and you're playing. It'll either be for you or it won't. If it isn't then you can keep playing with what you have, or try something new.
8. Aligned to 7 a bit here, but as ever I don't really care what others say about a game. I'm very happy to make my own judgements on things based on actual experience...  Same applies to most things in life after all.

So, yeah here we are approaching the end of 2022 and in my next post I hope to not be talking about ears. Instead I want to talk about a new project for 2023.

I hope everyone reading this has a fabulous festive period and that I see you all in some capacity in the New Year.

My Tabletop Scotland 2022

With the last Tabletop Scotland event being held in 2019 I had a feeling of apprehension coming into this year's event.

• Not about attendance levels. Our pre-sales had blown the doors off 2019's pre-sales.
• Not about whether people would have fun. Put gamers in front of games and that's largely a given.
• Not about whether our exhibitors would have a positive experience, especially those with us for the first time. Again, put gamers in front of games and other adjacent things then they're going to explore and investigate it, especially if it was something new to them.

The apprehension was one driven by having not done it since 2019, and likely in part due to fatigue thanks to catching COVID post Gen Con.

So what was the apprehension about?

• Was all the hard work put in to prep and plan for the event going to pay off?
• Had I considered every possible scenario and made sure we had an answer to resolve it?
• Did we have enough volunteers? - It's worth noting that there is no such thing as _enough_ volunteers...

Until we opened the doors there was no way of actually knowing.

But there were two other things which I don't think I really appreciated until the event got closer.

1. Was I going to enjoy it?
2. Plus perhaps crucially, would I want to do it again?

To understand number 1, you have to go back to the 2018 and 2019 events.

• 2018 was hard largely because it was the first one we did, but also because this was the culmination of a vision I had which was refined by the others in the team to the point that we knew what the event should be. The problem was that I didn't relax throughout the weekend, which meant I didn't get a chance to savour and enjoy what we'd achieved until afterwards.
• 2019 was hard primarily because we doubled the floorspace and perhaps jumped too soon into that additional complexity. We also had a lot of last minute stuff to deal with.
  As with 2018, I didn't relax during the 2019 con to be able savour and enjoy it.

2022? Well, other than a few tech issues, the occasional decision and some "have we done this?" moments, I didn't actually have anything specific to do during the convention other than chatting to attendees, our charity partners, volunteer & event team, press, guests and exhibitors. In other words I relaxed and was able to enjoy my / our creation. This freedom was largely down to the efforts of the rest of the yellow team and our amazing volunteers, plus of course we'd done it before so certain things just click into place.

The time I was able to spend with folks at the convention was invaluable, especially those friends that I haven't seen since the last event in 2019 and many for even longer. Ultimately the freedom provided me with the fuel I'd been running out of during the preparation.  Which leads into number 2.

To understand number 2, you have to factor in a few things...

• I have a full time job which is very busy at the best of times.
• I was ill from late January through to early May, which was energy sapping. This impacted a chunk of our planning for the con but we muddled through.
• Then I get COVID early August after being at Gen Con.

Alongside those, I think I'd forgotten how much time and effort is spent on planning the convention. In the 2-3 months prior it essentially becomes a 2nd full time job. A lot of that is of my own creation, I obsess over the little things and like to respond to questions immediately. I like to think that obsessiveness helps make the event work as effectively as it does, but who knows right?

As a result, when combined with the above, I felt drained physically, mentally and emotionally going into the convention. All of which had me seriously wondering whether I wanted to do it again.

There's a kind of expectation that Tabletop Scotland will happen every year. An assumed state that obviously we'd want to do it etc etc. I'll be honest and say that it wasn't until the Monday after the convention that I really felt the desire to do it again. That's because everything largely worked as planned, and as a result I was able to relax and even enjoy the convention. But it's also because I've missed doing it, missed the people, missed the thrill of opening those doors and seeing friends old and new come in. 

So, Tabletop Scotland 2023? That's the plan. When we have something to share, we'll share it.

Days and Weeks

This time next week I'll be at Gen Con. Fly out on the morning of Tuesday 2nd August and then get home again on the 9th.

Plus it's less just over 4 weeks to Tabletop Scotland 2022.

As I said in my previous post, I'm more than a little bit excited to be returning to Gen Con and Indianapolis.

My plans for Gen Con fall into three categories:

1. Fun: Play games, enjoy the experience of being there and have fun.
2. Writing: I'm attending several seminars / panels that related to self publishing. Mostly D&D centric but a few generic ones in the mix too.
3. Tabletop Scotland: Mostly from the perspective of picking up new releases and titles that are hard to get in the UK. These are both for my own collection and for the Tabletop Scotland games library. The BoardGameGeek Preview is quite useful for that, although you do have to keep in mind that some of the games that are new at Gen Con are already available in the UK & Europe. There's also an unofficial list of all the RPG products coming out over on RPGGeek. As always I fully expect to buy a mix of stuff from those lists and lots of impulse buys too.
   I'm sure there will be photos galore taken too.

Event wise this is what my schedule currently looks like. It will almost definitely change between now and I arrive.

If you're going to be at Gen Con and you want to meet up, let me know.

Once I'm back from that we're into the final prep stage for Tabletop Scotland.

Safe to say, August is going to be busy!

Gen Con 2022 Event Booking

 As I said in my recent post, I'm looking forward to Gen Con 2022.

Flights, accommodation, tickets etc are all sorted.

So the next step is to work out what I'm going to be doing for my best 4 days in gaming.

Gen Con event booking is different to most conventions, not least because the sheer number of events hosted.  Gen Con 2019 had 19,630 events... I'm expecting 2022's number to be something similar.

Here's the Gen Con 2022 Event Catalog: https://www.gencon.com/events?c=indy2022

And here's a handy alternative web tool with the same info: http://gencon.eventdb.us/index.php

The first drop of the event catalogue was published on the 1st of May and event booking opens on the 15th of May. So what happens in that two week period?

Well, you build your wish list based on the events published at that time, sort them into a priority order, and then at 5pm BST on Sunday 15th May you submit it and see what spaces you've managed to get. Where you didn't get spaces you might want to look at other events to fill the slots.

As I covered back when we went to Gen Con in 2014, the wishlist + submit approach works and it's effective given the sheer number of events and people wanting to book them.

What will I be looking to do? Well I kinda covered that during my Gen Con 2020 post but here's what I've currently got planned.

It's very likely that schedule will change between now and Sunday, and it's also very likely that schedule will change before the con as more and more events are added. But this is what I've got so far.

Worth noting that STEAK NIGHT on the Sunday isn't an official Gen Con event, it's just become a tradition of our visits to Gen Con.

Most of these events don't actually take place in the convention centre, so I see a lot of walking in my future... The convention is spread out across the Indiana Convention Centre (ICC), Lucas Oil Stadium including the pitch / field / whatever, and lots of surrounding hotels that have events space.

Conventions (and ears) in 2022.

So, as with many things, attending conventions in 2022 have an element of hesitation about them.

Many of us who go to multiple conventions per year can't wait to get back to visiting them, whilst at the same time we're all maybe a little bit apprehensive.

So when this year started I had it all worked out.

• March - AireCon
• June - UK Games Expo
• August - Gen Con
• August - Tabletop Scotland

and anything else was a bonus.

Of course, the best laid plans etc etc...

At the start of the year I developed a lovely (it wasn't) ear infection in both ears. An infection that prove resistant to all attempts to treat through the usual means (I have a long medical history with my ears).

The infection's main impact was pain followed closely by an inability to sleep. Fortunately pain killers exist, unfortunately I needed really strong ones. If you've ever been on really strong pain killers for any length of time, you'll know that when you stop taking them it isn't a pleasant experience...

So January came and went, then February, and March (had to skip AireCon) too. With April approaching and no improvement it became clear (well to be fair it already was) that surgery was the only answer. Now, because of my long medical history with ear issues that's never a simple thing to consider but it was becoming a 'necessary evil'.

As I type this it's the day after surgery and already I can tell a big difference. It's not a long term fix but it'll do for now and means I can now actually have confidence in my plans for going to conventions and organising Tabletop Scotland (the latter was never actually in doubt!).

UK Games Expo - Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th June 2022

For me this will be Thursday 2nd to Monday 6th June purely from a travel and social perspective.

I'm really, really, looking forward to UK Games Expo this year. I've missed the event and the people that I normally see there. Plus it's always a useful event from a Tabletop Scotland perspective.

Gen Con - Thursday 4th to Sunday 7th August 2022

For me this is Tuesday 3rd to Monday 8th August factoring in flights etc. Technically Tuesday 9th August as that's when I get home, timezones huh.

If I am really, really, looking forward to UK Games Expo. You can probably add another 2 or 3 reallys onto that for Gen Con. Returning to Indianapolis after 4 years away and going back with Richard, Simon and of course Greg. The festival atmosphere of the convention and the whole celebration of the hobby that the event has really is special.

The event catalog gets released tomorrow and I am looking forward to planning my Gen Con experience.

If I could only go to one convention every year, and could justify the cost every year, then it'd be Gen Con. No Greg that doesn't mean we're going every year.

Tabletop Scotland 27th & 28th August 2022

Then we have Tabletop Scotland. It's amazing to see so many people excited about our event this year. After 2 years without it, we as a team have really missed hosting it. It seems that our attendees and exhibitors feel the same, which is really special.

We have a lot planned and we really think this will be our best event yet. So if you're in Scotland or can make it to Scotland at the end of August, come to Perth and visit the convention.

Horror in the Highlands - A Call of Cthulhu Scenario

On Friday 23rd February 1722, something horrible happened in Moy.

It is almost Friday 23rd February 1923, and Moy will once again experience something horrible.

The Bodach Glas has come.

There will be Horror in the Highlands.

After writing The Oxford Articles (now a Silver seller on DriveThruRPG!), I decided to go back to my original idea for an adventure set in the Highlands of Scotland.

There are a lot of horror / mythos style stories that could be written and set in Scotland purely because of the rich history of the country. As with The Oxford Articles, I wanted a hook that tied to a historical event and then build a fictional horror story from that.

I settled on using events in and around the village of Moy and started to look at key events in the local history.

Moy is known for a few things:

• Moy Station and the Aultnaslanash Viaduct were constructed in ~1895 ahead of the railway line opening in 1897.
• Moy Hall is the home of the Clan Mackintosh. The building itself has gone through multiple iterations what with fires and the like.
• Loch Moy is there and in the loch sits both the Isle of Moy and the crannog Eilean Nan Clach. Both of these have interesting histories.

But Moy itself has no obvious ties to Horror, at least no more obvious than any other rural location in the Highlands. So in many respects placing the adventure in Moy is more down to leveraging what it does have and then applying a 'what if?' type of horror story to it.

One of my goals with this adventure was for it to be playable in one session. Whilst The Oxford Articles can theoretically be played in one session, it wasn't written with that in mind. Ultimately my goal wasn't quite met as whilst the adventure could be done in a single session with some truncating of events, in reality it likely needs 6 hours of play to get under the covers of what's going on with enough content for perhaps 10 hours depending on how deep the players explore the narrative.

Researching various sources of Scottish folklore, I stumbled across a reference to the Bodach Glas. A sort of malevolent spirit that gives warning that death is coming. Traditionally linked to the clans, and knowing the Clan Mackintosh has their home in Moy, the story started to come to life.

It's now published on DriveThruRPG and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Ten Years

You know, if you said to me 10 years ago that I'd go on to do what I've done within the tabletop hobby I would have thought you were nuts.

I mean, I didn't join the army nor have I become a professional hitman but it's definitely been a life changing period.

What happened 10 years ago? The 1st Chapter ended, that's what.

It's weird to think back on it, mostly because my emotions at that time were very ragged and I was both mentally and physically exhausted. I was also very much done with all things board, card, roleplay, war game and comic book related.

I recently had cause to be on the street where the shop was and I took a photo. Not quite wondering "What if?" but more in reflection on whether the 2nd Chapter has only been possible because the 1st ended the way it did... No way of actually knowing I suppose but it certainly gave me pause for thought.

If there's one truth that I can take from that thought, it's this, I value my hobby more now than I ever have.

Probably moreso given the last couple of years of COVID.

So, there it is. Ten Years.

Here's to the next ten.

More RPGing + Board Games on the horizon?

2021 was a year of more roleplaying, 2022 looks similar but with regular board gaming hopefully on the horizon.

I came into 2021 with a reasonable expectation that unless there was a significant improvement in all things COVID, I would continue to game exclusively online.

That expectation became reality fairly quickly, with a couple of small exceptions where I had friends over to play board / card games. Although in all fairness those were more about seeing these friends for the first time since the before times, rather than being specifically board game meetups. I continued my reluctance / disinterest in playing board games online so those occasions also represent the totality of my board gaming in 2021.

RPGs continue to dominate my gaming thanks to those same D&D games I reflected on at the end of 2020.

• Homebrew D&D campaign that's been running fortnightly for 3 years / 10 levels and now starting to build towards what the characters actually have ahead of them. I think the next few sessions will help to shape how the next 12 months of that campaign will go.
• D&D Adventurers League: Avernus Rising has been going for more than 12 months and we're now on part 14 of 20, in fact I think it's possible we might finish part 14 before we get into 2022.
• D&D Adventurers League: Eberron Oracle of War game that I play in. Run by Rich for Iain, Ian, Pete, Shane and I. It's been fantastic fun and a great opportunity to spend time with great people that I would normally see once or twice a year at most. I missed a few sessions this year due to illness or power cuts but I'm looking forward to what's next.

Other than D&D, my 2021 gaming included running games of Trail of Cthulhu, Call of Cthulhu (although that was only for a playtest), ALIEN, Star Wars FFG and The Expanse. Mostly these were one or two sessions.

I also took part in the RPG Writer Workshop again and published the currently 4.8 out of 5 rated and Silver selling "The Oxford Articles" for Call of Cthulhu.

Writing for a system that I had zero experience with was challenging but it's definitely got me thinking about writing more for it. I had hoped to do the workshop again in November but post AlbaCon 2021 I think I needed a break from being creative!

Speaking of AlbaCon, after raising > £3,100 for It's Good 2 Give in 2020 we were delighted to raise > £3,300 for Penumbra in 2021. It's a fantastic feeling that the effort we put in to make the event a success not only results in people having fun but also enables us to support charity.

The Oxford Articles - A Call of Cthulhu adventure.

As per a previous post I signed up to take part in the Storytelling Collective's RPG adventure writing workshop during July, this time opting to write for Call of Cthulhu after previously writing a DMsGuild module - Unsettled Ground.

I wanted to capture some of the thinking that went into The Oxford Articles and how it might lead in to other things I have planned.

Firstly though, what is the adventure?

What connects a fire at St Michael At The North Gate Church,

a series of missing books and The Order of the Green Gate?

Visit Oxford, England in 1953 and help uncover the truth.

As I said in that previous post, until very recently, like a few days before the workshop started, I have never owned any edition of Call of Cthulhu nor have I ever played or ran Call of Cthulhu.

That said, I had the Starter Set on PDF and the Keeper's Rulebook (and PDF thanks to Bits & Mortar) to work from. Plus I understood the environment that the game operates within and also had a handle on the basic mechanics of the game before jumping into the workshop.

But of course the first hurdle in anything like this is - "What are you going to write?"

So I already had an idea that I'd started to draft but I didn't want to use that for the workshop. Instead I wanted to write something completely different and something that challenged me.

The only thing I kept from the other idea was the name of a secret society, namely "The Order of the Green Gate". I fully intend to publish that other adventure in due course, November hopefully, so I won't give too much away but this specific secret society and the history of its members is something I plans to write about in general, potentially up to ten different adventures. But we're getting sidetracked...

The workshop asked participants to brainstorm different ideas for what to write. From that list the idea is that you choose one then start to work on it, with the others either being ones you'll revisit in the future or exiled to the writer's bin.

One of those ideas a strong theme started to come through; books, and more specifically university libraries. I didn't want to write something in 'standard' Cthulhu country and so I started to narrow it down to UK based universities that would have old books. That's quite a long list so I picked three universities and then started to look at real world connections to the unusual or perhaps events that could be leaned towards the unusual in a work of fiction.

Two things started to shine very brightly through my 100+ Chrome tabs:

1. Oxford University has a loose but real connection to The Smithsonian in Washington D.C. thanks to one James Smithson who attended Oxford University in the 18th Century and his fortune and collection is what established The Smithsonian.
2. St Michael At The North Gate Church in Oxford had a fire in October 1953.

Two seemingly unconnected things suddenly became connected.

So I began to create those connections and weave a series of events that would result in someone requesting aid from 'investigators'.

It's worth noting that I wasn't born in 1953 nor have I ever been to Oxford never mind the University. So this presented several challenges on a research front.

The workshop suggests that you aim for 3,500 words for the adventure and the recommendation is that you write a one shot.

Going into it after the experience of writing Unsettled Ground, I was wary of falling into the trap I did last time. Namely, I wanted to ensure that what I was writing didn't grow out of control and become largely impossible to complete in the time frame of the workshop.

It's safe to say that I failed at that!

Around the 20th of July I realised that I wasn't going to finish the adventure within the month, I also knew that my plan was to playtest the adventure on the 28th July... Which was almost identical to what happened with Unsettled Ground. So using that learning I set about constraining the scope of the adventure, using techniques and outputs from the workshop to help me do that but also just simply binning content that whilst added more flavour also added about 1,500 - 2,5000 words and time I no longer had... 

One of those items that landed on the cutting room floor was a fictional expansion of the tunnel network underneath Oxford. Something I might revisit in the future.

It was during this cutting exercise that my 'draft' was done. It wasn't actually a complete draft though but it was enough material for me to run it and for friends to 'tear it apart in a nice way'.

The 'draft' even with chunks removed was easily a two-session if not three-session adventure, ultimately depending on how deep into the investigation the players go.

The playtest was invaluable both as a Keeper and from the excellent feedback I got from those who played. Adding that together with the 'tear apart' feedback gave me a good solid steer on what needed to change to improve the adventure and ultimately finish it.

Oh, and I forgot to say that during the month of July my laptop died. Fortunately everything was stored in the cloud so no data was lost but I was largely without tech for a week.

Ultimately though, The Oxford Articles was published on the 3am BST on the 5th August and has since gone Copper (51+ sales) and seems to be quite popular too!

I have to add, the RPG Writer Workshop and Miskatonic Repository communities are amazingly helpful and encouraging. They really are communities that celebrate each others success. So if you get the chance to be part of either or both communities, go for it. You won't regret it.

AlbaCon 2021 is soon!

 

Last year AlbaCon raised over £3,100 for a Scottish charity, specifically for It's Good 2 Give who provide amazing support to young cancer patients and their families.

Ahead of last year's event we had no idea whether people would come or indeed if people would pay to play RPGs.

Thankfully they did on both counts.

AlbaCon 2021 is raising money for another Scottish charity, this time it's Penumbra.

Penumbra are a mental health charity and in many respects it's almost the perfect match to an online RPG convention, particularly given the last 18 months where many of us have moved our games online or indeed returned to the RPG hobby to escape from the pandemic.

Every penny that we raise from events, donations and via our D&D Beyond Raffle will go to Penumbra.

We have a lot of companies and individuals supporting us by Sponsoring the convention this year and they're all fantastic humans for doing this.

Our attendees are in for some amazing offers and giveaways throughout the convention weekend.

So if you've got some free time over the weekend of the 2nd & 3rd October, please sign up for events.

If you can't make it then please donate.

If you're a D&D fan, then also consider entering our D&D Beyond raffle. We have some amazing prizes to give away.

Call of Cthulhu - RPG Writer Workshop Summer 2021

 After doing the RPG Writer Workshop in November 2020 and producing Unsettled Ground on DMsGuild, I came into 2021 with grand plans to produce more.

Those plans haven't turned into outputs and it's in part down to the usual "spinning too many plates" but it's probably as much due to a lack of focus on creating those outputs.

I've got 2 other DMsGuild scenarios and 1 Cthulhu-esque scenario drafted but not in the sense that they're ready for proof reading & editing. Significantly rougher than that.

So, to help tackle this and hopefully assert some structure I've signed up for the RPG Writer Workshop for Summer (July) 2021.

This time though I'm writing something for Call of Cthulhu.

Why?

Those who know me may be quick to point out a few things.

• Erm Dave, have you ever played a game of Call of Cthulhu? - Answer: No.
• Ok, but you've ran a game of Call of Cthulhu before? - Answer: No.
• But you do own the RPG and have read it, right? - Answer: Prior to the 26th June 2021, No.

So why am I doing it with Call of Cthulhu?

I had / have plans to publish a series of GUMSHOE powered adventures but due to licensing have to use either Fear Itself or Esoterrorists for it.  Now in all honesty that probably isn't that much of a negative but the adventures definitely have more of a Cthulhu-esque leaning than anything else.  I own Trail of Cthulhu and enjoyed running it but I'm not beholden to it as a system.

So, by doing this using Call of Cthulhu I hope it gives me the skills and techniques for writing that "type" of adventure and then I can either pivot back to GUMSHOE or stick with CoC for what I have planned.

CoC isn't a mechanically complex game, in fact it's quite the opposite. I've just never been a fan (as a GM) of percentile systems.  Maybe this experience will change that? Who knows.

So yeah, I'm writing a Call of Cthulhu adventure during July. I have several ideas of what it could be without using the draft one I mentioned above.

If you're thinking about writing for the Call of Cthulhu Miskatonic Repository then I highly recommend reading the following websites -

• DriveThruRPG: Chaosium - Miskatonic Repository
• DriveThruRPG: Chaosium - Miskatonic Repository Additional Guidelines
• Chaosium Blog Post about the workshop
• Chaosium Blog Posts about the Repository
• Call of Cthulhu Style Guide

Once you've gone through all of those then worth checking out the following -

Free Art Packs

• Miskatonic Repository 1920's Rogue Gallery Art Pack
• Miskatonic Repository Curious Things Art Pack
• Miskatonic Repository III Omen's Art Pack
• Miskatonic Repository Mythos Monster Silhouettes Art Pack
• Miskatonic Repository Phantasmagorical Art Pack
• Miskatonic Repository Weapons and Relics Art Pack

Free Maps

• Mike's Free Mythos Maps Collection #1

Product Templates

• Miskatonic Repository InDesign Template - Also works with Affinity Publisher
• Miskatonic Repository Word Template

All of the links above will help you to publish a finished product.

All you need to do is write it.

Which is what I intend to do by July 31st!

Onwards and upwards...

Since my last post I've done a few things.

Running & Playing

Ran session two of Midnight Sub Rosa for Pelgrane Press' Trail of Cthulhu.

As someone who likes a visual reference both as a GM and a player I decided to make a "map" of sorts for one of the scenes not depicted in the adventure.  Whilst I could narrate the scene (and I did) I find it helps to have something visual to help guide that narration.

In session one there were no dice rolls, safe to say that there were dice rolls aplenty during this session. Fortunately the investigators recovered the occult text and returned it to Miskatonic University; and now must come to terms with all that they've seen.

I also ran The Expanse RPG using the Salvage Op PDF adventure.

This was the first time I'd used the AGE system that Green Ronin have published. As I understand it the version for The Expanse RPG is subtly different from how it's implemented in ModernAGE etc.  I enjoyed the game and the system and can see me returning to it in the future.

So far that's two new games I've run and I've got more games planned.

Alongside those my two D&D campaigns continue to move along nicely, plus I got to play in a game of the new Judge Dredd RPG run by Ross and playtested a new Eberron Adventurers League scenario with Rich, Shane, Ian, Iain and Pete.  All good stuff.

Writing

I've been struggling a bit with this, probably due to too many other things occupying my brain (see above) and missed my planned DMsGuild release in February. It's fine though because...

Out of the blue, thanks to a random reference by Kevin Y and John D to a certain film about immortals with swords I wrote this.

"Less Than Two" A One Page RPG about immortals who wield swords.

I woke up on Sunday morning with the game largely formed in my head. About 6 hours of effort later it was written, had artwork and I'd made it look all fancy thanks to Affinity Publisher. 

So I decided to publish it!  It's "Pay What You Want" with a suggested donation of $2.

It's available on itch.io here and on DriveThruRPG here.

I've also come up with an idea for a series of horror / mystery adventures. Will likely use Gumshoe given my familiarity with it. It's a question of whether that's a hack using the SRD or whether it's using Fear Itself and/or Esoterrorists to take advantage of the DriveThru Community Content licence.

Either way I've given myself 6 months to at least publish the first part...

First though is finish at least one of the DMsGuild products I've got loosely drafted.  Starting with one about a broken time-control clock.

Mapping

I've decided to pick up an Inkarnate license ($25 for a year).

Main reason I chose Inkarnate over other platforms is that the price includes Commercial Use and with that comes a LOT of assets.  If Dungeondraft had a larger Commercial Use asset list included by default then I may have opted for that instead.

Think I'm getting comfortable with it as an app but notice there's a real lack of tutorial videos out there for it...  So if anyone knows of any please get in touch!

Events

Ok so the main bit of news is that we've cancelled 2021's Tabletop Scotland event.  Full details are on the website here.

In short, our venue is currently a vaccination hub for Perth and there is no end date for that.  As a result the venue management team contacted all event organisers to let them know that they were cancelling all 2021 bookings.  We'll confirm 2022 dates when we can.

In the meantime, I co-organised a D&D Game Day over on the Dungeons & Dragons Scotland Discord Server on Saturday 13th March 2021 (today as I write this). Good variety of games offered up and whilst I didn't play in any of them I'm keen to see what the feedback is like on the event. Maybe we'll do another one?

At the very least I hope it enables the D&D Scotland community to embrace more conventions in general.  Not least of which is AlbaCon in October.  Proper planning for that will start soon.

RPGs in Scotland and New Gamemaster Month

I started 2021 with a few notions in the back of my head about what I wanted to achieve this year

I referred to some of those in my end of 2020 post.

Mostly my hobby goal is to enjoy my hobby as much as I can whilst also introducing others to it

One of the things I did in 2020 was to re-launch the Dungeons & Dragons Scotland community and as referenced in that end of 2020 post it has grown significantly and continues to do so.

The Facebook Group now sits at 830 members with the Discord at 412 and both are growing almost daily.

For 2021 I want to diversify the range of RPGs I run and at the same time create a hub for that "non-D&D" community and so thanks to a few others who play a range of RPGs I created a sibling for D&D Scotland called RPG Scotland.

Currently the RPG Scotland community is split into 3 sections:

RPG Scotland Facebook Group (72 Members) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/rpgscotland/

RPG Scotland One Shots Facebook Group (122 Members) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/rpgscotlandoneshots/ 

RPG Scotland Discord (130 Members) - https://discord.gg/zMvpJP2JB6

Why 3? Well the original idea behind having separate Facebook Groups was to have a specific group purely for arranging one shot games.  The Discord is for both communities rather than having it fragmented over multiple servers.  Will see how things develop over the next month or two but I suspect a merger of the two Facebook groups might make sense.

One of the specific benefits of the RPG Scotland community that I can already see is that if I want to run a game that is more of an "idea" than a campaign, then I can get a group of players for it pretty easily.

What to run though? Well I listed several options in my previous post but also remembered early in January that New Gamemaster Month was about to start.

What is New Gamemaster Month?

Well, it happens every January and involves multiple publishers providing support for new GMs to run their games.

2021's list was - Numenera, Unknown Armies, Trail of Cthulhu, Runequest, Monster of the Week & Delta Green.

I ruled out Numenera, Unknown Armies, Runequest and Monster of the Week pretty quickly due to having ran them before or feeling the systems weren't a match for my game style. That doesn't mean I won't revisit them, more that as something I learn to run then organise a game for inside a month it needed to at least be adjacent to my GMing preferences and ideally new.

Gumshoe based RPGs have been something I've looked at in recent years, particularly with Night's Black Agents, so Trail of Cthulhu was the obvious choice.

So I bought the books (print & PDF) as well as some Night's Black Agents stuff I was missing.

Pelgrane Press provided a free adventure for this, Midnight Sub Rosa, and Roll20 offered a discount on the module so I picked it up there.

The adventure was originally designed as a convention scenario and so can be run in about 4 hours. Knowing that it can also take significantly more than that meant making some tweaks to essentially narrow the focus of the adventure.

I advertised it on the RPG Scotland Discord and quickly had 5 players (the most I tend to have for online games) and made it clear that it likely would take more than 1 session although likely no more than 2.

Telegram made using template at https://www.dholeshouse.org/

First session was last Thursday (4th Feb) and served as a reminder of the different style of play Gumshoe provides.  We played for 3ish hours (part two will be needed) and I can't recall any dice being rolled.  This was mostly down to investigative abilities being used which in Gumshoe terms means you don't roll, you simply "spend" a point to get the clue.  Dice tend to only be needed where a direct test is required e.g. in combat situations.

Fun was had and we should have the next session in a couple of weeks time.

I've currently pitched 3 other games on the RPG Scotland Discord:

Feb 25 19:30 The Expanse RPG - One shot [GM: Dave]

Mar 25 19:30 Polar Light (All Flesh Must Be Eaten) [GM: Dave]

Apr 22 19:30 Star Wars: Prison Break (In or Out?) [GM: Dave]

I've run that latter two a few times at conventions and as one shots in the past whereas The Expanse is a completely new system for me and I just need to decide which scenario to run...

Fortunately I have a few options there.

Community Content Publishing (OneBookShelf)

What, a post so soon?

It's Day 1 of 2021 but I'm not using that naming convention for these blog posts anymore.

I mentioned in my end of year post about potentially publishing content for games other than D&D.

Whilst doing some reading of the other Community Content Programmes on DriveThruRPG I thought it may be of interest to others how this works.

Before we dive in though.

I am NOT an expert on this subject but I have spent a fair bit of time reading the info on DriveThruRPGs website and doing some digging around the interwebs.  If any of this is wrong, please let me know!

If you're creating something that is not tied to an existing RPG and you want to publish it on DriveThru then you have two options:

1. Exclusive
2. Non-Exclusive

What's the difference?  This page explains https://www.drivethrurpg.com/joinchoice.php and here's the table for speed.

	Download Exclusive	Download Non-Exclusive
Earnings on digital sales	70% of customer price you set	65% of customer price you set
Digital sales channels	Only resold through DriveThruRPG.com	Sold anywhere
Earnings on printed sales	70% of print margin*	65% of print margin*
Printed sales channels	Sold anywhere	Sold anywhere
Enhanced title rotation	Yes	No
Bonus on-site promotion	Yes	No

If you want to create something that IS tied to an existing RPG then worth looking at the Community Content Programmes on DriveThru.

Three things to consider.

1. If you're planning to create products for one of the Community Content Programmes on DriveThruRPG then first you need to decide which one. This page lists all of them - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/cc/0/default

All of them give you access to their IP and in many cases provide artwork, templates for InDesign, Word and Affinity Publisher to create content and a variety of other resources.

This is really important to consider when creating something.  If you're wanting to write for a specific RPG then it's an easier decision to make because you are actually writing for that RPG.  If you don't want to lose that 15% or 20% then you have to ensure that what you produce doesn't infringe on copyrights or at the very least uses Open Gaming content.

2. The trade off is in the Earnings %.

In the main the Royalty % is 50% although there is one exception I could find (Savage Worlds) and a few where I couldn't find the %  on the DriveThru website (those in italics).  I'd err on the side of those being 50% too though.

Community Content Programmes	Royalty
Canis Minor (Pugmire)	50% Royalty
Chronicle System Guild (Green Ronin)	??% Royalty
Cypher System Creator Program	50% Royalty
Disciples of the Demon Lord	??% Royalty
DMsGuild	50% Royalty
Free League Workshop	50% Royalty
Genesys Foundry	50% Royalty
Gumshoe Community	50% Royalty
HERO GAMES	50% Royalty
Hero Kids Creator's Guild	50% Royalty
Infiniverse (Torg)	??% Royalty
Jonstown Compendium (Runequest)	50% Royalty
Miskatonic Repository	50% Royalty
Pip Worlds ???	50% Royalty
Savage Worlds Adventurer's Guild	60% Royalty
Scriptorium Aventuris (The Dark Eye)	??% Royalty
Slarecian Vault (Scarred Lands)	50% Royalty
Storypath Nexus	50% Royalty
Storytellers Vault	50% Royalty
Stratosphere (Unknown Armies)	??% Royalty
TinyTrove (Tinyd6)	??% Royalty
Travellers' Aid Society	50% Royalty
WOIN (What's Old Is New)	50% Royalty
ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous	50% Royalty

Stuff not listed would include games / systems like Pathfinder, Powered by the Apocalypse and FATE mostly because they either don't share their IP or have no specific IP to share.  If you're using these then you're not using a Community Content Programme and if you publish for these on DriveThruRPG then you're able to take advantage of the Exclusive / Non-Exclusive options above.

3.  If you're publishing D&D 5e compatible material you have 2 options.

1. DMsGuild
2. 5e OGL / SRD on DriveThruRPG

The former gives you access to the D&D IP and the dedicated D&D platform for customers that is DMsGuild. Although that's with a 50% royalty.

The latter gives you access to (most of) the core of D&D 5e as a game and gives you 65%-70% royalty. Although that's with being in a marketplace (DriveThruRPG) that isn't targeted at the D&D community.

That said it is worth noting that if the OGL / SRD approach means you can publish stuff wherever you like whether that's itch.io or Kickstarter or frankly anywhere.  DMsGuild produced stuff can only be sold via DMsGuild.

Beyond that we get into the area of ownership of what is created.

It's here that I need to clearly state that I am not a lawyer.

Below is a summary from Travis Legge comparing three such offerings.  Travis also isn’t a lawyer, but he’s been involved in self-publishing for many years so certainly a good guide.

DMsGuild	The FAQ states, “Wizards does not own any of the unique IP that you create in your publications. Wizards does own the IP that they contribute, plus the DMs Guild agreement will grant Wizards and other DMs Guild authors a license to use your IP. That said, if your work merits incorporation into canon, Wizards will contact you about purchasing your IP outright.” What this means is that if you create a Wizard named Blinky McScuzzlefort and in an adventure you create for the Dungeon Masters Guild, you have Blinky McScuzzlefort get kidnapped by Mind Flayers (A Wizards of the Coast IP property) that you own Blinky McScuzzlefort and Wizards keeps ownership of Mind Flayers. If Wizards wants to later use Blinky McScuzzlefort in a book they create called “Blinky McScuzzlefort’s Guide to Stuff” they have to purchase that intellectual property from you in order to do so. This seems to confuse a lot of people, but it is really that simple.
OGL	This is the part of the OGL that new creators seem to find the most challenging. When you publish under the OGL, you effectively split your content into two types, which you must clearly designate in the title or legal page of your text. The first type of content is Open Game Content, which is game systems, rules, numbers, stat blocks, etc. This is effectively added to the SRD in terms of ability for people to draw from and use in their own publications. It becomes open source. Anyone can use it, so long as they follow the guidelines laid out in the Open Game License. The second type of content is Product Identity. Product identity is generally Proper Nouns, setting elements, trade dress, storylines, and other non-system items, which you retain ownership and copyright over. Others using the Open Game License can reuse your Open Game Content, but they cannot use your Product Identity.
Slarecian Vault / Canis Minor	These community content programs each list specifics regarding the Product Identity you are allowed to use and the ramifications of publishing under these programs. The Slarecian Vault FAQ, available here, explicitly states that Onyx Path owns the content you create under the Slarecian Vault. This is not the place to publish ideas that you wish to retain ownership of. You won’t. The Canis Minor FAQ, available here, makes the same stipulation. In effect, you are using their Product Identity to contribute to their Product Identity. This is something to be aware of and create accordingly.

If protecting ownership of any Community Content you create is important to you, worth reviewing the wording of these FAQs etc very carefully.