Hey all… it’s big check in time.

Where You Been, Angry?

So I spent the beginning of August away at GenCon in Indianapolis. It was my first attending GenCon after nearly ten years, the first convention I’ve attended in about four years, and the first real trip I’ve taken in the last three years. It was sorely needed. My cousins — who are also my best friends — convinced me to commit to it months ago and, despite many misgivings, it was a great time. I even got to connect with a few followers and friends.

Unfortunately, I also picked up a serious case of ConCrud. After a very fraught, feverish drive home, I was laid up with a serious virus. Flu. COVID. Who knows? It demolished me badly. I should have checked in sooner, especially because I promised I would and because I kept getting, “Hey, Angry, are you okay? Hopsitalized? Dead?” messages. Sorry about that. Partly, that was due to illness. Partly, it was a personal issue I’ll talk about below for those who want to know.

Anyway, I’m back and gradually getting back to work. Content is forthcoming and I actually feel a bit reinvigorated. Some of my despair and hopelessness has melted away and I’m excited to dive into not just weekly content, but also back into the longer-term projects I’ve been trying to get started or restarted since my recovery April and May. Moreover, I have some firm ideas for topics I want to explore, systems I want to build, and bonus gifts for my followers.

So, over the next four weeks, expect a gradual ramp up. I’m going to be careful about promising too many firm deadlines, but I will at least be active. Stuff will appear. Communication will happen. Even when things aren’t ready for primetime, I’ll be sharing more insights with my community through Patreon and Discord so you know what’s going on.

Coming Content

I can’t pretend I’m not behind the eight ball with August content. I have a few things I want to finish up in terms of weekly Features and I have some back Readalouds to get out as well. Before I left for GenCon, I started exploring this idea I called “The Third Heat,” which is an analysis of how to fit open-ended creativity, dice-rolling to overcome obstacles, and actual gameplay together when creating adventures. I want to finish that up because it’s going to feed into some more mechanically heavy upcoming content. I previewed through Patreon quips, for example, the start of a better and more gameplay focused way to handle searching for hidden treasures, traps, secret doors, clues and general perception and investigation.

The other thing I want to do to tie things together is to discuss a more rigorous approach to in-game timekeeping and why that’s super important. I have a variant of my old Tension Pool called the Time Pool to release and it’s companion Complication system. The Third Heat and Timekeeping will together serve as a basis for a lot of interesting mechanical ideas like better searching, perception, downtime and town activity, and even wilderness travel that will help you get the most out of the non-combat parts of D&D and can be adapted easily to whatever fantasy adventure system you prefer instead.

Meanwhile, I want to continue exploring scenario design and talk about how to build better adventures with actual game design elements rather than just strings of encounters, “and then” event-based plots, or “breadcrumb mysteries.”

Visiting GenCon has also revealed that there is still a desperate need for basic-ass Game Mastering advice of the kind I’ve been offering for years. So I am looking for ways to re-explore some of my older Game Mastering ideas and to update it based on how my own understanding of Game Mastering has changed. I don’t merely want to re-run old content, especially because some of you have been here for years and know the old stuff, but I also need to find a way to keep serving the current generation of Game Masters who desperately need my sexy gaming genius.

All of which is to say, I have a much better vision of what to do with my weekly content going forward and how to give attention to the three pillars of Angry Game Mastering Genius: Running Games, Building Adventures, and Mechanical Hacking and Design.

I have also been diligently working on a follow-up to my years-ago opus on custom monster building, FCR, which I hope will be ready next month.

Video and Audio Content for Supporters

Now that I’m back and my schedule has settled down, I want to get back to doing weekly live content for Angrican-tier supporters via Discord and then releasing the recordings for my supporters. My schedule has changed a bit, so I have to adopt a different night for weekly live events and recordings, and I am looking at either Tuesdays or Wednesdays.

For this month, I am planning to host my Mostly Monthly Live Chat with a Post GenCon Debrief on Wednesday, August 19 at 8:00 PM ET and then, the following week, host a Project Slapdash Update for Frienemy-tier supporters on Wednesday, August 26 at 8:00 PM ET, particularly to discuss the Slapdash Skirmish Playtests.

In September, I’ll host the Live Chat, the Slapdash Update, and at least one other live event, maybe two and then keep that groove going so all you generous Angricans get the extra Angry you deserve for your patient and generous support.

The bonus content engine will also be starting up very soon. I still owe you a wilderness tracker, plus more good stuff, and many of you have asked me to repost the secret stash. That’s all in the offing as well.

Slapdash Previews and the Slapdash Skirmish Playtest

While I will provide more information for Frienemy-tier supporters through Club Slapdash on this front, I want to reassure you that preparations for the Slapdash Skirmish Playtest are continuing. By trying to include so many people, I’ve inadvertently made the project a lot bigger than I intended and working out both the “final” combat design for the playtest and the logistics of the playtest side by side is taking a lot. Especially because I want to be able to turn around and give all my Frienemy’s the beta playtest adventure to run for their own groups as quickly after the skirmish playtest as possible.

As a reminder, everyone supporting at the Frienemy-tier is eligible to preview Project Slapdash, to get a seat in a playtest, to get access to playtest materials for their own groups in the coming months, and will receive update core rules as the project goes from playtest to a complete final game.

Your Support Keeps Me Going

I want to thank all of you again for your patient, generous support. I have been through an extremely dark season in my life and the fact that so many of you stuck with me through it despite the fact that I was delivering so little worth supporting is frankly more than I deserve. I am also grateful to all of you who kept checking in and checking back and who kept reading even if you felt you could no longer justify supporting my work. I also know a lot of you experienced financial hardships of your own and were forced to scale back or withdraw support. I hold nothing against anyone. I am only grateful for your readership and whatever support you did provide over the years. I am tremendously blessed to have received and continue to receive the support I have.

This period of rebuilding is dragging on far longer than I want it to. I’m still struggling so much to put the pieces back together and find my passion, creative spirit, and love for the game. The fact that you continue to be patient and hold out hope that I will deliver great things means the world to me.

Thank you all.