With a 28% success rate on my goals for last year, it’s time to recalibrate.
There are two barriers to doing this. The first issue is something I'm a little ashamed to admit: I can't see as well as I used to. An eye doctor visit told me this is merely age and not something I can correct with surgery, so it means I need to use magnifying glasses to paint. This is probably for the best (I miss details without it), but it requires more prep than simply sitting down and painting.
The second issue is lighting. Daylight is by far the best lighting to paint by for me, but with the winter weather painting outside is often not practical. So the ideal painting schedule is when it's warm out, sunny out, and not during work hours. This makes Daylight Savings Time much more important and according to my calendar, begins on March 13.
I've got six players lined up for my next game, 5E Quest: Clockwork Carillon so I'm looking forward to getting started. Because I use my games as playtests for what I publish, there's a lot of prework that goes into creating these adventures (tokens, maps, stats, etc.). I created it all myself, but that also means double the work since we're playing online: first, I write it in Word, then I translate it all into Roll20. The good news is that this makes publishing content easier later, but boy is it a lot of up front work!
To save time, I tend to run all the games in my world concurrently. Which is to say when I play D&D with my Boy Scouts, their adventures take place at or around the same time as the "main" adventure. Last time, the troop played an army of knights invading a haunted mansion in 5E Quest: Mastherik Manor, while my online group played through the adventure inside. It helps flesh out the game organically and sometimes interacts in surprising ways (I now know who will come to the rescue if the PCs get in trouble).
Then there's the question of whether or not any of this matters to consumers (yet) and how to advertise it. Should I rename all my products 5.5E to indicate compatibility? Time will tell.
This month we have Jim Wampler of Mudpuppy Games followed by Tim Hutchings, author of Thousand Year Old Vampire, in February. Looking forward to it!
Your Turn: What are your goals for 2022?
Paint More Miniatures
I backed a lot of Reaper Bones Kickstarters and I’m still working through my backlog. As I paint them, I replace prepainted miniatures that are similar. This helps keep my inventory under control and gives me a goal to work toward.There are two barriers to doing this. The first issue is something I'm a little ashamed to admit: I can't see as well as I used to. An eye doctor visit told me this is merely age and not something I can correct with surgery, so it means I need to use magnifying glasses to paint. This is probably for the best (I miss details without it), but it requires more prep than simply sitting down and painting.
The second issue is lighting. Daylight is by far the best lighting to paint by for me, but with the winter weather painting outside is often not practical. So the ideal painting schedule is when it's warm out, sunny out, and not during work hours. This makes Daylight Savings Time much more important and according to my calendar, begins on March 13.
Expand My Online Game
My online D&D group runs pretty lean with five players, and that means if one can’t make it, the game plays very differently. If two players can’t make it the game is cancelled. I’ve mentioned before that breaking each adventure up by session allows for new players to join, and I’m expanding the group to six.I've got six players lined up for my next game, 5E Quest: Clockwork Carillon so I'm looking forward to getting started. Because I use my games as playtests for what I publish, there's a lot of prework that goes into creating these adventures (tokens, maps, stats, etc.). I created it all myself, but that also means double the work since we're playing online: first, I write it in Word, then I translate it all into Roll20. The good news is that this makes publishing content easier later, but boy is it a lot of up front work!
To save time, I tend to run all the games in my world concurrently. Which is to say when I play D&D with my Boy Scouts, their adventures take place at or around the same time as the "main" adventure. Last time, the troop played an army of knights invading a haunted mansion in 5E Quest: Mastherik Manor, while my online group played through the adventure inside. It helps flesh out the game organically and sometimes interacts in surprising ways (I now know who will come to the rescue if the PCs get in trouble).
Get Ready for 5.5E
The next edition of Dungeons & Dragons, 5.5E as I call it, is coming. As I revised my existing products on DriveThruRPG, I’m using the guidelines Wizards laid out at Sage Advice. For the most part, the changes aren't too onerous, but given that I've written monster books with hundreds of monsters in them, it's going to take some time to convert them.Then there's the question of whether or not any of this matters to consumers (yet) and how to advertise it. Should I rename all my products 5.5E to indicate compatibility? Time will tell.
Run More Virtual Panels
I’m Chair for the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games (CAR-PGA) and we run monthly virtual panels, interviewing someone of interest in the role-playing field. I hope to do more of that and achieve 100 subscribers on our YouTube channel so that we can create a shortlink.This month we have Jim Wampler of Mudpuppy Games followed by Tim Hutchings, author of Thousand Year Old Vampire, in February. Looking forward to it!
Go to Conventions Again
My entire family is now fully vaccinated as of last month, so I look forward to going to small, local conventions to start. But Omicron has other plans, so for the moment we're hunkering down and watching the numbers. Here's hoping things turn around in the next few months.Your Turn: What are your goals for 2022?
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