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.

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.