Updating past TTRPG work for the year 2024

I set aside some time this week to apply last year's fancy purple Periapt Games logo update to most of my previously published work. Along the way I found myself freshening things up with some nicer graphics, improved hyperlinking, typo corrections, and a little bit of extra content.

This meant minor updates to half a dozen different things (note, affiliate links):

120 Fantasy Food Inspirations

We Will Yet Triumph: An Imagination Game

Spells: Made More Magical (5e)

and

Spells: Made More Magical (system neutral)

Almanac of the Archaic

A Fistful of Curiosities: Ten Site-based Mysteries, Oddities, and Puzzles



 

 

 

 

It was a bit more of a process than I expected, with all the files in different layouts and most of them generated using technology (LaTeX) that I stopped using for TTRPG content a year ago. And then there was the extra work of uploading and double-checking the files, resetting the file previews, updating storefront images, etc. It's definitely enough to make me want to stick with my nice new logo for a long time.

If you bought or received any of this older work via DriveThruRPG, you can download the new versions for free through your account there. Thanks!

The year ahead (and happy 50th birthday to D&D)

It's been fifty-two years since the creation of tabletop roleplaying games – or maybe fifty-five depending on which of the Three Founding Daves you think had the most pivotal role.

But January 2024 is spooling out past us, which means it's now fifty years since the editing, proofing, printing, marketing, and overall publication of the now-quinquagenarian Dungeons and Dragons by some guy who wasn't named Dave at all.

That makes it a date of celebration to a publisher, which I'm endeavouring to be!

After moving home and getting injured at the end of last year, I'm behind where I had hoped to be with several half-finished projects: a mythic reimagining of fantasy peoples, a weird book of monsters, and a puzzle-focused adventure.

Most of the creative work for these is done. Now is the time to buckle down and start putting all the elements and refinements together. I'm hoping to get a minimum of two major projects published this year, and there's a lot of minor things I could be putting forth as well.

Here's to a happy and productive 2024!

This month's writing

Here at Periapt Games I've just reached the first milestone on some fantasy monster design work for an upcoming book. The first milestone is "all the content is drafted". The second milestone will be getting through all the playtesting and ensuing revisions; third is finishing the supporting text and copy-editing; fourth is the layout being done; fifth is the art being finalised and proofs approved; etc.

(A major lesson in writing for production is that the actual writing is only a sliver of the process.)

What's my philosophy of fantasy monster design?

A monster should be easy to run. It should be plausible and/or fit a specific setting. It should be fresh. It should touch on classic tropes, but should also be weird. It should be easily tweaked or be presented alongside minor variations.

That means...

Aberrant grazers. Sorcerous byproducts. Creatures that lurk, beguile, and trap. Entities which warp the world around them. Small things made giant. Spells escaped from spellbooks and given form. Swarms which actually work the way they ought to. Monsters that are also transdimensional portals. The world's largest garden pest. Ethereal spirits lurking at the heart of permanently raging storms. And many many more.

And maybe whatever this thing is?

Hopefully I'll be able to share a more substantive update before the end of the year!