Indie Publishers, what are you working on for 2023?

[Sacrosanct]

*Mid-June I hope to launch BX Advanced Bestiary, Volume 2

The first one was really nice. I look forward to the next ones

 

[Zaukrie]

I may have jury duty for a long time, it's a civil case, product liability.... Which will definitely delay work. We'll know soon.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I may have jury duty for a long time, it's a civil case, product liability.... Which will definitely delay work. We'll know soon.

You too huh? I find out on the 4th if I need to be on.

 

[Kalmi]

Never published before, but I hope to do so this year. I was working on a heavily-modified 5e game for the past couple of years, and then the OGL debacle happened... in any case, I quickly realized I didn't really need 5e for my game, considering how much I had already changed. It was initially based on 5e but also heavily inspired by 4e, Ars Magica, and PF 2e, among other games, along with my own ideas.

I'm planning to release a lite version for free under the ORC license, when it finally comes out. Trying to balance things between including enough to get people interested while not putting too much into my first release.

 

[andrewdoull]

I’ve published my hard science fiction TTRPG that I’ve been working on for the last 8 years last month. I was lucky enough to get to use the license for the High Frontier board game and just been promoting it over Twitter.

It runs to about 1800 pages and the first 100 can be downloaded free from the Itch home page.

60 Years in Space by half-a.press

Now I’m trying to work out how to fund getting an art director on board. Suggestions welcome.

 

[Bent Goblin]

My first try at "creating something that 30 people like" (I had upgraded the minimum goal for suggested by Sly Flourish in his musings on "How to 'Make It' in the D&D and RPG Industry" 3 people to 30 people) was not exactly flying off the shelves (around 14 copies of Bent Goblin's Compagnion to Dragonlance: Scales of War have been sold at time of writing). But then a witty post (which, try as I might, I cannot find anymore) here on EN World about the OGL debacle together with some much-needed encouragement via Mastering Dungeons inspired me to have another try at publishing something.

The post was about "Keys from the Golden Vault" (before the book was published and when the OGL controversy was still raging) and it went something like this:

Wouldn't it be awkward, if one of the heists in "Key from the Golden Vault" was about surreptitiously replacing a contract with a different document?

THAT is the adventure I am writing, and I am making good progress, I think. I started writing almost exactly two months ago and have managed over 20000 words so far:

The first part of the adventure will play in the City of Pentée:

Already from afar, the City of Pentée beckons travellers and ships alike with the silhouette of the five high-rising towers that circle the residence of the city's ruling family Vatseer van der Kust. It is a prosperous city, with well-off burghers and well-fed farmers. Trade is brisk, and visitors to Pentée have a tendency to stay there: the city has long spilled over its walls, with more and more buildings beging built just outside the city's defenses.

The adventure will give the characters the opportunity to play a leading role in setting Pentée free.

I have started a Developer's Diary (I fear it will be another two months or so before everything is finished, tested , proofread, etc.), if you are interested to see how things are developing, please drop by!

Oh, and because nothing is better for procrastenating when there is actual writing to do than playing around with cover design: there already is a tentative cover for the adventure:

 

[Ben from Periapt Games]

This year I'm writing a life path system for alternative 5e character generation, revisiting an old project involving variant creature ancestries, and compiling years of treasure notes and ideas. All three projects are larger than anything I've done before, and I'm hoping to get them all published by the end of the year.

 

[bedir than]

My goal is to release my Before We Were Heroes project. At this point I'll probably make it for base 5e and 2024, possibly for Tales of the Valiant (that means adding feats now).

In the past I've been overwhelmed with concept of publishing. The writing I'm good on, and I have a connection for layout and even possible artist. But putting together a product feels like a lot.

 

[Zaukrie]

I've been going thru old Dragon magazines for inspiration.... Right now I'm sitting in day one of jury selection...

 

[Zaukrie]

I've been going thru old Dragon magazines for inspiration.... Right now I'm sitting in day one of jury selection...

And, my random number was high enough that will not be a jury on a super long civil suit.

 

[BASHMAN]

The next big product for Honor + Intrigue will be the Tome of Intriguing Options. We are starting a mailing list for those interested in more information when this Kickstarter launches this summer.

 

[Duckslayer Games]

I'm currently finalising the first draft of a 9 page document which has all the rules you need to play as a balanced dragon playable race in D&D. As in, not balanced against other dragons - balanced to use alongside more traditional characters!

 

[Geekrampage]

Working on an adventure compatible with Stars Without Number.
It's a retro-Eighties sci-fi adventure in the vein of Starhunter, Metalstorm, or Space Raiders - any low-budget sci-fi movie filmed in abandoned factories and the California desert.

It's called the Terror-Dome of Warlord Daikhan.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Playable options are shaking out for GEAS...

 

[Slit518]

I am working on a 3d20 system and setting.

A traditional blend of what you know, sprinkled with its own flavors.

You can learn about it here - 3d20 TTRPG YouTube

 

[The Grinning Frog]

I'm working on my marketing.

No really, I mean it.

Three years into publishing RPG content for a living and I'm a reclusive writer, with a part time employee, working in a hired office and doing okay... but entirely under the radar unless you happen across one of my Kickstarters.

As to content, well, this month I've got a couple of things going on:

A Rough Guide to Neo City - is a cyberpunk location guide. It also comes with an optional pocket game called Tiger Hunt. It's on Kickstarter now and will fulfil next month. (Current draft contents page below)

Neo-City Kickstarter ends 15 June
The Oracle, is my monthly RPG magazine and it has just reached it's 36th issue, which is also on Kickstarter right now. Issue 35 comes out at the end of this month and issue 36 is the end of June issue. So excited to hit that next milestone.

The Oracle Kickstarter ends 30 June

I just released Zilight, Dark Ages, and Zilight Seattle in pdf, (they are solo play zombie survival games) and when I get a moment I will put the printed copies on sale - they are currently going out to Kickstarter backers to fulfil the KS from this February.

There are a couple of other things going on but those are the key ones at the moment!

Cheers
Stephen

 

[Sacrosanct]

One of the interesting things about playtesting is how much things can change, and how you as a designer need to be willing to have an open mind and put some of your great ideas on the cutting floor to make it work. For example, in GEAS, I've gone from a level based system to a skill tree based system because the feedback was that skill based works better.

So behold the revised specialty (Wilder profession subclass), Packmaster!