Crap! Time for another update already?

January was simultaneously the longest and shortest month ever here at Angry Games HQ. Thanks to WotC’s OGL Shitshow and my semi-unplanned — and definitely under-planned — trip to visit my folks in New York, I crammed four weeks of content into a week-and-a-half of work. And without a day to breathe, I’m staring down the barrel of a new month.

So, what should you expect from February? Let me tell you.

The OGL Wars are Over… For Now

Wizards of the Coast started the year by declaring war on the Open Gaming License, all D&D content creators ever, and most of the publishers in the RPG space; kind of a dumbass move. And that war was all we talked about for a month. But, on January 27, General D.D. Beyond surrendered on behalf of his liege-lords of the Coast. Apparently unconditionally.

You can read the official statement at D&D Beyond. And that’s the best place to get further updates too. What you cannot do is discuss it here in my comment section. I’m sick of this crap and this update ain’t about the assholes at WotC; it’s about this asshole right here.

The New New Plan; Same as the Old New Play (Mostly)

In December of 2022, I came up with a brilliant, exciting, year-long content plan to revitalize this here site, to get back to my roots, and to give you all more of what you want. Then the OGL wars broke out and 35 percent of that plan was one hundred percent FUBAR. And my existing content was seriously at risk. So, I made some back-end changes, gave away some paid content for free, and built a new plan. While also writing 20,000 words of the best content I’ve ever written.

Now that WotC has surrendered unconditionally and everyone’s bestest friends again, I can go back to the old plan, right?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No.

WotC has not surrendered anything they care about it. And Content Creators like me are still long-term screwed. We’ve got a stay of execution. That’s all. DBox One is going to be a walled garden and I’m willing to bet money no edition of D&D will ever fall under anything like an OGL ever again. In less than two years, everything 5E will be irrelevant and D&D 5E’s value to Content Creators will be all used up.

Every smart Content Creator should be using this time to pivot the hell away from D&D. Either that or save enough money in the next two years to retire.

So, what are my plans for the year given all of that?

The True Game Mastery Series

I just launched this advanced, basic GMing course that is either called Mastering Game Mastering or True Game Mastery depending on the week. And everyone loves it. Really everyone; not just two of you. And so, it ain’t going anywhere. It also ain’t going anywhere near Dungeons & Dragons. Fortunately, though it’s rooted in the fantasy adventure genre, there’s nothing especially D&D about it. So it’s easy for me to keep D&D out of it.

Angry Hacks

I promised I’d regularly publish new — and finished and polished — rules, systems, and mechanics regularly this year. Most of the hacks I’d planned were centered around building a solid Town Mode into D&D 5E. Obviously, the OGL crap scuttled that idea.

Well, I’m unscuttling it. Mostly.

Starting in February, I’ll release a new mechanical hack. Many of them will be D&D 5E specific. Especially the Town Mode stuff. But a few hacks — the best hacks — are gonna be system agnostic. And the centerpiece is the newly revised, finished, and polished Tension Pool™ system which comes later this month.

Why start by republishing something old? First, because it’s central to most of the other hacks I plan to share. And second, because later this year, Angry Games is launching the long-delayed Tension Dice™ Kickstarter. So, you know, look forward to that.

The Slapdash Engine

This one’s going to need some explainin’.

But not today.

To keep the long story nice and short for now, I’m working on a fantasy adventure RPG system. This ain’t the big one; it ain’t The Angry RPG. This is just a crunchy little side-project that’ll top out at 150 pages. I ain’t planning to print it or Kickstart it or anything. I’m just making it.

Frienemy Tier Site Supporters will get early access to Slapdash — and all its future updates — for free starting in April of this year. Tentatively. The rest of y’all will be able to get Slapdash in the Angry Games Store this fall. Tentatively.

I’ll talk more about this in due course. Especially with my Frienemies.

The February Content Calendar

But enough talk about big plans in broad strokes. Let’s get down to brass tacks. What’s coming this month?

Angry February 2023 Content Calendar

Production Code	Tentative Title	Early Access	General Release
F0201	Ask Angry Mailbag	February 7, 2023	February 14, 2023
F0202	True Game Mastery: The Declare, Determine, Describe Cycle	February 21, 2023	February 28, 2023
F0203	True Game Mastery: Using Dice Right	February 23, 2008	March 2, 2023
F0204	Angry Hacks: The Tension Pool	February 28, 2023	March 7, 2023

Angry February 2023 Event Calender

Production Code	Event	Date	Time (EDT)
LC0223	Angry's Mostly Monthly Live Chat: February 2023	February 16, 2023	9:00 PM

Side Note: Comments

Last year, I consolidated all my work — all my articles, updates, and even the super-secret podcasts only Site Supporters know about — to this site, TheAngryGM.com. That moved improved my workflow, streamlined publication, and it got my work out from under the thumb of my third-party funding platforms. The only things I share on Patreon and SubscribeStar are links to my work here.

Some of y’all still insist on commenting on those platforms instead of leaving comments here. And all you’re doing is splitting discussion between multiple sites and making more work for me. If you want to comment on a post, please comment on the actual post hosted at TheAngryGM.com. Thank you.

Side Note: Site Rejiggering

This year’s basically The Angry New 52. I ain’t deleting any old content, but I’m making a new start. One that’s easy for new folks to get into. Pursuant to that, expect a couple of slight front-page redesigns to emphasize current content. Most of you won’t notice anything at all. But some of you will.

I know my archive is a mess. I know it’s hard to find old content. I know some old content has disappeared and some old podcasts never made their way to the new feeds. Unfortunately, I don’t have any plans to do anything about any of that. I’ve been writing content for twelve years. And for most of those years, I had no idea where all this was gonna go. Hell, I only got into the crowdfunding thing six years ago.

The problem is, reorganizing the old content and redesigning the archive would be a massive undertaking. One that would suck up a lot of time and energy. And that time and energy is much better spent on new content and new projects.