Welcome to another monthly newsletter! This is, officially speaking, the September issue, as time has gotten away from me significantly. That means you’ll be receiving another one soon. For now, though, expect lots of discussion about my new & upcoming projects, as well as games I’ll be running in the future. Plus some random thoughts, as always!

love and devotion

If you’re familiar with me — which you are if you’re reading this — you’re probably aware of my biggest & best project, ‘til it kills us. And you may also know about a sale I ran, promising two additional playbooks to be released for that game. love and devotion are those two playbooks: the lovesick, and the bound. With them comes two new magic types, flesh and bone, and some new abilities, presentations and motivations!

The playbooks are completely free to use and, hopefully, precursors to a pre-written storyline I’ll be releasing for the game in the future! Like the playbooks, it’ll be focused around magic as body horror, with themes of obsession, duty and love.

You can also check out more information about the processing for developing the lovesick and the bound at the links provided, and I’ll have updates about other ‘til it kills us supplements by the end of this month!

Roll for Souls

Unlike love and devotion, my upcoming project is a full, original game. Designed for the Minimalist TTRPG Jam 4, Roll for Souls is about traveling through the underworld, rescuing lost souls and figuring out what it is that haunts your characters, too.

Mechanics for this game are primarily based around tags, with different dice associated with skills based on your proficiency in them — all the way from d4 through d12. Characters roll against each other, NPCs or the environment, always in contested rolls, as they try to guide a trapped soul onwards. They also have abilities that can help them improve dice results or mitigate bad outcomes, which are dependent on whether you’re playing as a lost mortal or a lingering ghost (the party must contain some of each).

Right now, I’m working on the two different character sheets (one for the living and one for the dead) and should be on pace to have the game released by Halloween. After the jam ends, there’ll be lots of playtesting and editing to get it into its final form!

There’s no link for this section, but the game will be paid, so you can expect a discount link in the next issue to thank you for reading!

Writing Sessions & Modules

This section is more musing, as I’m currently working on a great deal of planning for various game systems. I’m working on finding a system for a one-on-one campaign with someone (send me recommendations!), as well as preparing for a Vampire the Masquerade campaign I’ll be running next year. And then I’ve also got that ‘til it kills us module I mentioned, which will be making its first appearance at York Board Games Convention later this month. (One of my first “professional” event games, too).

In short, it’s a lot of writing for running games, as opposed to writing game rules. And I’d forgotten how much fun it is to write storylines and NPCs for games — my only ongoing campaign is D&D 2024, and I’m a player in that anyway. I’m thinking about sharing some of my preparations on my Tumblr more often, as modules or NPC intros or just notes. I think there’s something super valuable about seeing how other GMs plan their games.

Let me know if anyone has any thoughts about that particular idea! For now, here’s a sneak peek at the planning for that upcoming ‘til it kills us session.

Long Term Goals

Currently, TTRPG design is having to take a bit of a backseat to other obligations (university, working, IRL gaming stuff) but that doesn’t mean I’ve not got plans! There are a few more games in progress, as well as a backlog of finished games from the summer. So you’ll be getting frequent releases over the next few months, and hopefully some more spread out ones beyond then. I’ve got lots of plans for larger projects.

The other big goal at the moment, though, is yet another limited resource. I’m saving up money, from both my work and the game proceeds, in order to commission some artwork for ‘til it kills us. I want to get that game into a printable state (hopefully hardback) by the end of next year. And step one of that is portraits for each of the playbooks!

I’d love to hear any recommendations for artists, particularly ones that openly do commercial commissions and/or specialize in fantasy character portraits. I’ve got some in mind, but it’s so hard to find all the brilliant artists out there. And I may already be working on some inspiration boards with face claims for each playbook’s representative.

Thanks for Reading!

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Thanks for joining me!