Time for my monthly update.

Upcoming Articles and Release Schedule

I am now calling myself as fully recovered from the plague. And articles will be back on schedule for once-a-week release. However, this week’s article may not quite hit Wednesday. It will hit by the end of the week. That’s due to another project I have in the works that is taking a lot of resources.

Based on all the feedback I’ve received, I’ve decided to follow up the Adventure Building Checklist with a running example about how to build an adventure. It’ll likely be split into several parts and the first part is the next article I’ll release. I will be continuing the series on Relatable NPCs as well. The next part on Magic Item Pricing will come as the third article this month. It needs another pass. My illness really killed that project hard. And I’m not sure what the fourth article will be yet.

The Save My Map Sweepstakes

Remember, the “Angry, Save My Map” Sweepstakes is open for entries until May 15. There’s an awesome prize for the winner. Make sure you enter.

Live Chats, Recordings, and Videos

Given that many of us are partially or completely locked down due to ongoing quarantine, I have been trying to spend some extra time interacting with my supporters. I’ve been holding weekly Live Chats following the same format as my Monthly Live Chat. I also did the amazingly fun Jeopardy game. And I have been recording these things to distribute.

The Jeopardy video/audio is taking longer to clean up and get posted than I would have liked. Especially because I had to shift focus to getting content out and have a massive project working in the background that I really wish I could tell you all more about, but the fruits of it won’t be publicly available for a couple of months. Trust me, it’s exciting. I will get that cleaned up, but it’s a middling priority right now.

The audio from last week’s chat will be available by the end of this week.

Meanwhile, I have another Live Chat scheduled for Tuesday, May 5 at 9:00 PM EDT. And that’s probably going to be where those things fall on weekly basis. People have asked me to vary the timing to allow people in different time zones to participate and, unfortunately, that just isn’t possible right now. Maybe it will be in a few weeks. My schedule is limited due to the amount of work I have in front of me, health needs, household needs, and the fact that I have to share the office space and resources with the Tiny GM who is now, effectively, an internet college student and will be for at least the rest of this semester.

I am looking to add some variety into the chats as well and see if I can work in more interactive games and more streamed content. And maybe after the Wu Flu ceases to be an issue, I can keep some of this going. It has been fun.

Patronage and Financial Difficulties

Given what is going on in the world right now and especially how things are going economically in the United States, some people are now in serious financial trouble. I have been contacted by Patrons who have had to end their support of my work due to unemployment, delays in receiving public assistance, and that kind of thing. Everyone who has contacted me has been extremely apologetic and regretful.

Let me get one thing straight: I write advice about playing games about pretend elves. There is probably no more luxury good than that. And I know that I’m a luxury good. I would never, ever expect any human being to put this crap over feeding their family or themselves. I am grateful for every penny of support I have received and consider myself lucky to have so many loyal supporters. If you are in financial difficulty, please do not think twice about ending your support. And do not worry about me, personally. I have taken steps to ensure that The Tiny GM and I will be financially secure – and I’m lucky I’ve been able to do so; not everyone is so lucky – and if the worst befalls, I have job skills, a strong back, and a work ethic. I’ll do what has to be done to take care of me and mine. You do the same.

You owe me nothing. No apologies. No explanations. Just do what you have to do get by and I promise I will not hold it against you. However, please do reach out to me so I can make sure Patreon doesn’t remove you from the Discord server if you’ve been a member thus far. It’s a great community and I would hate to lose any of you from it just because of financial struggles.

To that end, I have noticed that some people tend to respond to changes in my Patreon support. When it starts to drop, I’ve noticed some very kind, loyal, and generous people tend to respond by increasing their support while others reach out to me to ask me if I am okay. I’m grateful for that, but I also don’t want anyone feeling the need to do that. Nor do I want anyone questioning whether withdrawing their support is the right thing to do. To that end, while I pride myself on being transparent and open, I’m going to hide my current financial support level on Patreon for the next few weeks. I really don’t want people responding to it. There is only one reason to support me on Patreon: support me if you like my work and think it’s worth paying to make sure there’s another article coming.

And honestly, as long as I am able, even if my financial situation goes south and I have to go out and get back to exclusively real work full time, I will still provide content insofar as I am able to. And I will keep working on my own role-playing game as long as I can.

Political and Moral Objections

A few days ago, I posted a quote on my social media channels from a man that some of you – in my opinion incorrectly – believe to hold morally objectionable views. And some of you took the quote to be a political statement on the current global pandemic and the proper social and political response to it. Of course, I also made a rather public statement weeks ago as to what I believe is the correct political and social response to the pandemic and that greatly offended and angered people.

Now, the quote I posted had nothing to do with the pandemic situation – though it was, of course, relevant. I posted it because I came across it immediately after posting the last article I wrote on relatable NPCs and it resonated strongly with me after all that stuff about vulnerability and fear that I included. It was a very apt quote, I felt, and it was serendipity that I encountered it immediately after finishing that article.

I have been contacted by several people who have made it clear that they find some of my recent comments morally and politically objectionable or offensive. So, let me make a few things clear.

I write about role-playing games. I made one official political statement regarding the pandemic on my social media platforms – not on my blog – and I will not make any others. As I promised. I will not post political speeches on my blog because my blog is about role-playing games. And I will not host what I feel to be useless social, political, and cultural arguments in my comments either. For example, I have had to delete numerous comments from people trying to engage about the “orcs are racist” crap consuming the Twitter D&D community. Because, as I said in my introduction, I am not giving that s$&% a platform on my site.

I write in a sarcastic and conversational tone and I write with passion. That means that all sorts of throwaway lines about this issue or that issue will end up in my writing. I have my own values and beliefs. And they inform my worldview. And there are aspects of playing social games and managing groups of people that cross beyond the realm of pretend elves into realm of how you behave as a person. I cannot keep that stuff out of my writing. And I will not. I would rather stop what I am doing altogether than stop being who I am. And, look, there’s a reason why I make the joke that I “only give gaming advice, never life advice.” And that’s because I acknowledge the overlap.

Now, I am very aware as soon as I expose my own views and values, I risk offending people. I like to think that everyone can take a little offense and dismiss differing views and still get something of value out of what someone says. That is how I try to live my life and I think it’s the best way to live life. But I can’t pretend everyone thinks the way I do.

Here’s the long and short of it: if you find one of my views or opinions on anything other than gaming personally offensive, you can feel free to let me know. If you do so politely, I usually take the time to respond politely and try to find a common ground. But rarely does that result in my changing my view or correcting my “offending behavior.” If you are less than polite in your response, I usually ignore you.

More importantly, though, if I have expressed some view, idea, or opinion that is so morally reprehensible to you that you cannot in good conscience continue to support my work, I encourage you to withdraw your support. I could not believe in free will and free markets if I didn’t think you had the right to choose where your dollar should go based on whatever criteria you want. I don’t want you to support my work – or even read my work – about pretend elves if it leaves you feeling morally compromised. It’s just stupid advice about pretend elves. It should not give you a crisis of conscience. And I will not hold anything against you if you can’t support me. You need to stand firm for what you believe in, just like I do. The only thing I will note is that there is very little sense in screaming insults at me as you walk out the door.

In short, if you’re offended by me and can’t support me in good conscience, please withdraw your support. I don’t want it. You don’t want to give it. And we’ll both be much happier if we go our separate ways. But I do appreciate the support you did give. Thank you.