RPG Evolution: My Gaming Goals for 2023

My goals have been delayed due to the OGL fallout. Now that things have settled down a bit, I'm looking ahead to 2023.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

Get Ready for the Future of OGL​

For the first month of 2023 it seemed like there would be no future for the OGL, at least for small publishers. With Wizards of the Coast releasing the license into the Creative Commons, I'll begin converting all my books to use that new license. Monster books are likely easier to convert to the new format, species books are much looser (and thus require less conversions), while class books will probably be the most challenging. I've written many subclasses that are going to need to be revised. The winds of change will also dictate if we call compatible editions "5.5E", "6E" or "1E". Players and sales will absolutely dictate what the reality is, it's more a question of figuring it out as soon as possible.

Build the RPG Community​

I was recently reappointed to the chair for the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games (CAR-PGA) and plan to continue hosting guests throughout the year on our YouTube channel. Similarly, we just launched two new columns for the EN World Columnist program focusing on Paizo and the D&D Adventurers League. Both of these initiatives will expand the conversation around tabletop gaming, and that will be more important than ever as D&D enters the next phase, with new movies, a 50-year anniversary in 2024, and the D&D documentary scheduled for release. My son and godson have also both joined D&D groups, and I'm trying to support their nascent interest in the hobby without overwhelming them. As you can imagine, my son has been gaming since he was four-years-old, so this is pretty exciting to see.

Teach Myself Layout Software​

I've long gotten requests for print on demand of my products and it's high time I did something about it. I have experience with layout and design software but it's been a very long time since I've produced anything with it. This year I plan to invest in the software and start producing POD versions of my digital products.

Publish the Next Adventures in Welstar​

My players are currently running through the Clockwork Carillon, a gameshow-style romp through gnome-built challenges inspired by classic video games. The adventure is now complete at over three hundred pages and my players are playtesting it. In fact, the book is so big I published 5E Foes: Video Game Bestiary as a separate product. I plan to clean all up the adventure for publication and release it separately and as part of a steampunk bundle, along with 5E RPG: Steampunk Adventures and the aforementioned bestiary. I hope to have that all completed by June at the latest. The fourth adventure in the series has a working title of The Hellspire. It involves Infernus. I hope to have the sourcebook, 5E RPG: Infernal Adventures, to set the groundwork for that adventure.

Launch a New Podcast​

I already manage a monthly interview session for the CAR-PGA, and my wife has successfully launched several professional podcasts, so it was just a matter of time before we joined forces about a topic we love. That topic is old horror movies, inspired by a collection of 50 public domain movies that we only recently got around to watching. Now we will, with an episode dedicated to each one of them, in a podcast series titled 50 Date Night Screams. I plan to create a villain inspired by each of these movies and publish the book as 5E Foes: Gothic Villains (it will draw on content from 5E RPG: Gothic Adventures). It's not going to be easy (some of these movies are really, really bad), but it definitely should be fun.

Your Turn: What are your gaming goals for 2023?

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Glad to hear of your endeavors!

re: a generic name for the next edition—I’d suggest “Compatible with Edition 5.2.” K. Brink said in one of the interviews that the next updates to the SRD will use iterative numbers like that.

 

[Nylanfs]

1) Win Lottery
2) Buy hotel in downtown Indy

 

[ART!]

I hope you achieve all your goals, Michael!! We live in interesting times, but it's best to look at it as an opportunity!

As for me:

1. Finally make it through running Tomb of Annihilation using 5E. I was all set to run it in person when COVID hit. I tried running it via VTT for a few months, but that drove me nuts. A few months ago I finally got around to picking up where we left off, and they're into the lower levels of the titular Tomb now.

2. Never running 5E again. I will happily play it, but as a GM it's just too much for my brain to keep track of.

3. Find a fantasy game system (preferably something a D&D player could look at and recognize) that's simpler where 5E is complicated (classes, magic, monster statblocks) but that also supports exploration, social, and political stuff well.

4. Build or find a setting for campaign focused on war, politics, and corruption (both mundane and supernatural).

5. Less digital, more physical. I love using digital sources and tools for prep, but at the table I want most things in a physical book or otherwise summarized on paper. That goes for being a GM and being a player.

6. Be a better player: use a character sheet I like the look and feel of, and/or design my own. Know my character. Remain invested when my character isn't doing anything. Offer to be the mapper, or quartermaster, or to play an NPC, etc.

EDIT: 7. Become friends with @Nylanfs if they win the lottery!

 

[Olaf the Stout]

My main goals are:

1. Be more engaged as a player in our current game. I've got into the bad habit of allowing myself to be distracted by my phone during the session and I need to stop that and focus on the game.

2. Start a monthly campaign with my kids. They'd definitely be interested, I just need to put the effort into coming up with something to run for them and get them started.

 

[aco175]

It's early in the year, so I still plan on posting 12 adventures on DMsGuild. I would be more interested in Adventure League (AL) but might need more places to play. I could look harder.

 

[Nylanfs]

It's early in the year, so I still plan on posting 12 adventures on DMsGuild. I would be more interested in Adventure League (AL) but might need more places to play. I could look harder.

Is there any specific reasons you need to post them in the DMsG? Are they using any of WotC's setting material, or are you planning on posting them there simply because they are 5e?

 

[aco175]

Is there any specific reasons you need to post them in the DMsG? Are they using any of WotC's setting material, or are you planning on posting them there simply because they are 5e?

I put them on DMsGuild because I write the adventures my home group plays and we play in the Forgotten Realms (FR). Each campaign has taken place in and around Phandalin, so all the IP belongs to Wizards. I could purge the IP and make my own home-world to play in, but find the arrangement fine for me, for now.

I also post them there for others to enjoy and make use of. I'm not the best writer or layout artist, or proofreader, but they are all listed as PWYW. I wish I had something like this site when I was a teenager and could find campaigns to be able to play for free until I could support them with some nominal cash.

I wonder if charging something would make kids value money a bit more and learn to work harder for something, instead of assume everything should be free or given to them. Likely should be another thread topic.