Well, it’s December. I can’t decide how to feel about that, though. On the one hand, I’ll be happy to see the ass end of this crappy year. On the other, I can’t help but feel like I flushed most of this year down the crapper and flipping the calendar page means putting an entire year in the loss column.

But that’s my problem, not yours, and I’m really not asking anyone to tell me how I’m totally right or totally wrong or whether I should be less hard on myself or whatever. That’s what therapists are for and, last time I checked, I ain’t paying any of you $200 an hour to screw around in my head.

Truth be told, I’m not as down as I sound. I’ve come to terms with things as they are and I’ve shifted focus from pissing and moaning about how shit 2024 has been and how I can make 2025 better. But that sort of optimism’s more of a January Monthly Update thing. This update is more about cleaning up, winding down, and getting across the finish line in one piece.

Cleaning Up the Mess

First, I know — or at least, I think — there are some streams or proofreadalouds that haven’t gotten posted yet and there’s a bunch of Features that aren’t properly listed in the right archives and indexes. That’ll all get cleaned up and squared away in the next week or two. I’ve got a list; I know what needs doing. I’m taking care of it.

Content Release Schedule

Second, I absolutely do not intend to spend the week between Christmas and New Year cranking out tens of thousands of words in a desperate attempt to meet my content obligations before the calendar changes. The first Feature of the month is in progress and it’ll hit the site by Monday at the latest. I’m trying for tomorrow, might make Saturday, but failing all that, Monday.

Thereafter, I want to get on the release schedule I intend to keep into the New Year. New Early Access Features for site supporters will be published on Thursdays each week and then, each article will be published to General Access the following Wednesday. The staggered release thing is a must. It’s a pain in the ass doing both publications on the same day.

By the end of the month, Proofreadalouds will be published on the same day as the Early Access Feature, but the first couple of Proofreadalouds of the month might get delayed.

Content Release Topics

Third, let me tell you what’s in the pipeline this month.

First of third, I’m dropping yet another True Scenario Designery lesson. I’m claiming it’s about the Information Gap between players and Scenario Designers — whatever the hell that is — but really, it’s about how Scenario Goals fit into the whole Winnable and Losable Scenarios thing.

Second of third, I’ve been asked by Frienemy for Life Mendel to address the issue of tropes. Yeah, I know I already wrote all about how great tropes and cliches are and how you should totally embrace that shit, but Mendel asked me about the opposite: how to deconstruct tropes and subvert expectations and all that crap. I thought about that question for as long as it took for my pizza rolls to warm up and I came up with a good answer that totally deserves at least 3,000 words of ranting. None of you are gonna like it, but I promise I will give Mendel exactly the answer that question deserves.

Third of third, I’ve got a short entry in my True Campaign Managery series about creating replacement characters mid-game. By itself, it won’t be much, but it’ll set the stage for a whole, big thing about Character Creation that’ll start up in January.

Fourth and finally of third, I’ve got my standard fluffy, reflective, New Year’s bullshit naval gazing crap article. It’s called Reflections of a Half-Elf. Just try to figure out what that’s gonna be about.

Live Chat

Fourth and finally, I’m gonna host a December Mostly Monthly Live Chat. It’ll be on Tuesday, December 10 at 7:30 PM EST. Discord Server Access-Havers will be able to post questions and topic proposals in a thread in the #live-chat-chat channel starting sometime later today and listen and participate on December 10. The rest of my supporters will be able to listen to the recording a day or two later.