It’s time for an Angry Update.

I know this ain’t what you were hoping for today — and don’t worry, I have articles in the chamber for you this week — but this one’s important. Really important.

Basically, I’m posting what amounts to my July update a week early and I’m calling it a Midyear Update because… well, frankly… this isn’t working. Things just aren’t going the way I went them to here at Angry Games HQ. And there comes a time when you have to admit that “just trying harder” isn’t changing anything. A time when you have to come up with a new plan.

As has become my custom for these updates, I’m going to put the actual plan stuff first. Let you know what content’s coming and what’s changed. If that’s all you want, you can check out after that. For the rest of you who want a behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s going on and why the plan is what it is, I’ll let you in on it.

June Feature Articles

First, June content’s been delayed, which has become the norm these last few months but which cannot remain the norm for the back half of the year. After all, it’s the Feature Articles most of my supporters are actually supporting.

I have two short Features to dole out this week to close out June. They will likely pop Tuesday and Thursday, but it might be Wednesday and then Friday morning.

July and August Feature Articles

The first Feature in July will appear on Monday, July 10 and then a new Feature will appear each Monday thereafter.

The first Feature in August will appear on Tuesday, August 8, and will be followed by a new Feature each Tuesday thereafter.

From that point on, new releases will appear on Tuesdays each month.

Each month, you will see two True Game Mastery Features, one Bullshit Article, and one Angry Hack as I originally intended for this year. The six Angry Hacks, which I’ve planned and outlined, that are coming this year will tie into my original plans for Town Mode and, yes, they will include the Tension Pool. Angry Hacks will always be the last Feature of the month.

Proofreadaloud and Q&A Podcasts

Starting on Thursday, July 6, Proofreadalouds will always be recorded live on Discord on Thursday afternoons at 4 PM EDT and will always include question-and-answer segments. Barring extreme and extenuating circumstances.

The only exception are Angry Hacks. Those don’t get Proofreadalouds.

July Mostly Monthly Live Chat

Unfortunately, I had to cancel the June Mostly Monthly Live Chat due to a major schedule disruption in the Tiny-Angry Household. To make up for that, I’m going to host the July Mostly Monthly Live Chat a little early in the month. Join me on the Angry Discord server on July 5 at 8:30 PM EDT for that.

Ask Angry Video Podcasts

I still plan to turn Ask Angry into a Video Podcast series, but that project is on hold and will be re-evaluated in the Fall.

The Slapdash Roleplaying Game Engine

My currently-in-development tabletop fantasy adventure roleplaying game engine, nicknamed Sladpash, is now going through weekly iterations and playtests to finalize the core rules. That process will take a couple of months and will culminate in a playable introductory adventure that will see a release among core supporters sometime this Fall.

Meanwhile, tonight — June 26 — will see two big events. First, Frienemy-tier supporters on Discord will be invited to the first-ever Slapdash Live Chat and Q&A event — which will be recorded for all members of Club Slapdash and posted in the next few days. Second, Frienemy-tier supporters will be invited to join Club Slapdash website which launches today.

Thereafter, members of Club Slapdash will be treated to weekly short blogs and preview materials until I’ve got a game for them to play.

The Tension Dice Kickstarter

If you’re still interested in buying custom Tension Dice and a physical rulebook, play aids, and adventure module for your Tension Pool usage, you’re in luck. The Tension Dice Kickstarter isn’t dead but will be launching in October of this year. I know that’s still a few months away, but it is coming.

Everything Else on the Backburner

That’s it. That’s my plans for the rest of the summer — and a little beyond — and everything I’m currently working on. I know there were a few other, smaller projects bouncing around, but they’ve been pushed off to the side for the moment. I can only do so many things concurrently and I’m not adding anything new to the pile until I’ve got everything above puttering away smoothly.

If all you wanted to know is when what’s getting released, now you do. You’re done and free to go. Thank you for your readership, support, encouragement, and patience over the last few months and I hope you’ll stick around through the summer to keep cheering me on. Because without you, this shit just ain’t worth doing. And I mean that. I’m grateful to be surrounded by the greatest tabletop roleplaying gaming community on the Internet.

Thank you.

This Ain’t Working…
Except the Stuff That Is

Hey all…

This is the part where I get serious and get personal and overshare a little. And considering it’s the midpoint of the year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on what’s working and what’s not and to change course. Which is precisely what I’m doing.

Because shit’s not working. Except for all the stuff that is.

It’s easy for me to get really down on myself as I struggle with my release schedule and struggle to get new projects off the ground. But I can’t lose sight of what is working. Since the start of this year, I launched the True Game Mastery series and completely reinvented my writing style, workflow, and presentation. And that series has been tremendously well-received. Not a week passes without me receiving a message, comment, or e-mail from someone letting me know I’ve completely changed their game.

Sometimes even for the better.

I kid.

Seriously, it’s not an overstatement to say that True Game Mastery has been a game-changer. It’s been a renaissance for TheAngryGM.com. And I am damned proud of that.

Also, in the span of three months, I wrote a full-functional core roleplaying game engine and I’ve already run it through a dozen test sessions and iterated the design. And the response to it was far more positive than I had any right to expect. I’m pretty proud of that too.

So when I say “things aren’t working,” what I mean is “some things aren’t working as smoothly and efficiently as I’d like and I’m experiencing some serious growing pains, but other things are working well.”

The problem is that this wasn’t my plan when I started the year. But you’ve all heard that story. I spent the three weeks in December building a plan and release schedule only to have it all fall apart when WotC threatened to lock down the Open Game License and lawyer third-party content creators out of existence. I then spent the better part of three weeks responding to that and coming up with a new plan.

The new plan was to do everything I’d already planned to do — slightly differently — but to also just slap together a quick-and-dirty d20 replacement for D&D. But that quick-and-dirty d20 D&D-clone then turned into a much different and somewhat bigger project. So, I adapted by staying on course with all of my other plans while also scratch-building and playtesting an entirely unique roleplaying game system.

It sounds dumb when I say it like that, but it wasn’t really that dumb. See, I’m actually a pretty smart guy. I know how many hours I can put into this or that project and I know how long it takes me to do things and shit like that. So my plan wasn’t ridiculous. It was just really, really ambitious.

And I would rather fail due to overambition than fail due to not trying.

Except I haven’t failed. I’ve just got a lot more data now.

In the last six months, I have learned what it takes to crank out a New and Improved Style Angry Article of the True Game Mastering variety and to get a Proofreadaloud and Supplemental Q&A Podcast out. And I’ve gradually tweaked my workflow and increased my efficiency. I’ve also written not one but two alpha builds of a core tabletop roleplaying game engine and I’ve run a dozen-ish playtest sessions.

The point is I know much better how much these things demand of me and how much time I’ve got to devote to other things.

At the same time, the last six months have been a bit overwhelming in the Tiny Angry Household, for good reasons and bad. I started the year in a definite chronic health downturn and there have been personal issues in both mine and Tiny’s family and two separate major upheavals in Tiny’s personal. All of that’s had us both scrambling. Such is life.

While a lot of things have settled down, my health still isn’t the greatest yet and I have a lot of work ahead of me, and there’s always another crisis in the offing. That’s life, after all.

The point is, on both the Internet Content Creator side and the personal side, I’ve spent the last six months adapting plans as best I can as things change. I’ve been making tactical decisions based on the strategy I started the year with. And now that I have a minute — and the arbitrary midpoint of the calendar provides an excuse — I can re-evaluate the strategy.

And that’s just what I’m doing. I’ve looked at all the things I’m trying to do and all the things I’m doing and all the things I’ve not yet started by intended to do and all the things I’ve half-finished and struggled to get across the finish and applied all that I’ve learned about what each of those things demands of me and I’ve built a new strategy, workflow, and schedule.

The schedule above that looks ahead to the next three to five months is the culmination of that process. It’s me saying, “This is what’s important and this is what I can accomplish with the resources I’ve got provided I don’t start behind schedule.” The articles I’m releasing this week to “close out June” are me bringing myself current using the resources I’ve got even if they’re not quite what I planned so that I am starting fresh on July 1. And the rest — like the Slapdash Blog and Live Chat — are me making sure the groundwork I need has been laid.

In the end, as frustrating as this has been — and I’m sure some of you have felt frustrated with my struggles as well — it’s also totally normal and natural. It’s part of the process. I’m doing some things I’ve never done before and I’m reinventing myself in a few different ways and that shit’s never smooth. There will always be growing pains.

The thing is, most of you have known that better than I did. I suspect it’s because it’s a lot easier to see the truth when you’re not the one neck-deep in the stress and anxiety. So I am very grateful to those of you who keep reminding me that it’s normal to struggle and that I’ve accomplished a lot. You’ve kept me sane and you’ve kept me pushing forward. Without you, I would have given up.

This just further serves as a reminder that I am nothing without all of you. I’m just an asshole who screams about pretend elves in a void. Thank you for believing in me.

That said, please understand that this isn’t just my work, but also my passion. And I’d probably be doing this even if I weren’t being so generously supported. Hell, I did it for a lot of years and for far fewer readers before I tried to make a living of this. I have a good work ethic and a strong sense of integrity. I will always push myself hard. Sometimes, I will overpush myself and need to recover, but I’d rather be the sort of guy who pushes too hard than the guy who doesn’t push hard enough and it is literally impossible to always push just the right amount in the chaos of real life.

I know some of you worry about me and consequently, some of you are constantly pushing me to lighten up and take a vacation. As much as I appreciate it, I do rest when I absolutely need to, I do know my limits, and if I stopped pushing myself to the limit, I’d also stop loving myself.

Besides, I can get a nap in when I’m dead.