Quick Note for Supporters: If you enjoy listening to the audio readalouds more than reading, note that I’m recording an audio version of this update. It’ll be live early next week. Feel free to wait for it.

Well, crap…

Apart from that sudden content blitz at the end of February — never again, I swear, because I almost totally blew it and it almost killed me, except I am merely a human and can’t swear not to fuck up again so I don’t — apart from the February 28th content blitz, I’ve been off the grid for a bit. Unless you’re a member of Club Slapdash, that is, but more on that below.

Anyway, February was the closest I’ve come to failure ever and it was pretty much me hitting rock bottom. And then digging. I did spend the better part of three weeks dying of some kind of superflu but,… look,… I don’t want to go into too much of my personal crap here. I do have a personal message to get out to my loyal supporters soon, but that’s not for today. Today, I just want to let everyone — supporter and freeloader, newcomer and old guard — know what’s happening here in March and into April. Because, apart from content, there are some changes I want to make and more than a few I have to make if I plan to keep doing this TTRPG content creation bullshit.

Speaking of content…

Weekly Feature Content

I’ve hinted a bit that I’ve been taking in a lot of feedback lately and also that there’s been a shift in my readership stats. Being the sexy, content-creating genius that I am, this has led me to change how I plan to deliver you — yes, you — more content you actually want.

Let me spell out where I want to get by the end of April.

Regular Weekly Features

I’ve been drawing new eyeballs to the site. I don’t know how or why, but I want to keep it going. Especially because we’ve all got some dark days ahead in the hobby and I’ve got to shore myself up if I want Angry Games, Inc. to survive them.

I’ve mostly focused in the last year on two advanced, concept-heavy series, True Campaign Managery and True Scenario Designer. They’ve gotten positive buzz from my loyal, long-time fans, but they ain’t newbie friendly and some of the oldbies have also made it clear those series ain’t doing it for them. Lots of you have told me you miss my older, one-off stuff with evergreen Game Mastering tips, tricks, analysis, and mechanical tools and systems.

Going forward, I’m limiting True Campaign Managery and True Scenario Designery to one entry a month each and no more, at least for now. I also plan to keep the rambling down a bit — inasmuch as I can; True Scenario Designery demands a lot of critical analysis — to get more out of each entry and also let those Features go a little longer when they need to.

Meanwhile, I’ll intersperse them with two one-off Features focused on basic Game Mastering tips, tricks, and hacks. I’ll keep those on the shorter side to make them more approachable. Right now, I’m planning to fill one of those slots with a monthly Ask Angry column.

Features will continue to launch in Early Access for my supporters and then move to General Access a week later for everyone else. I will also keep doing audio readalouds for my supporters, though they’re going to shift from Proofreadalouds to just Readalouds once my workflow allows me enough advance time to let the volunteer proofreader and editor I’ve got waiting in the wings to help me out.

Early Access Features will release every Wednesday once the schedule’s rolling and General Access Features will come out on Tuesdays. Ideally, they will release mid-morning Eastern Standard Daylight Time.

And then there’s Thursday.

Throwback Thursdays

I want to make newbies feel welcome and help them find some of my best content and I also want to clean up my archive and make it easier to find shit. To facilitate that, every Thursday, I’m going to rerun some of my best — and most timeless — work from the past decade-and-a-half so newbies can find the gold easily and I can gradually archive the really good stuff for future generations.

Angry Hacks

Some of you have made it absolutely clear that you’re sick and tired of waiting for me to get back to producing actual, useful, mechanical game content in the form of hacked systems, subsystems, and rules. I’ve had this plan in the works for more than a year for a series of self-contained rules mods to fill in the gaps in D&D and other, similar game systems, but it keeps exploding on the launch pad. More than a few folks have made it clear those failures alone are the key factor in their withdrawing support. I do not blame anyone for that. I am not mad, offended, or hurt. I’m mostly just ashamed. I can’t fix the past, but I can do better.

I really want to give you guys the final, totally awesome versions of the Tension and Time Pools and then build systems for delving, wildernessing, and towning around them. I want to finish AngryCraft, AngryTraining, and AngryDowntime. Basically, everything that stopped me from doing Town Mode because D&D doesn’t have the right levers for that shit. I love making systems and mechanics. I’m good at it.

My goal is to release an Angry Hack every month or two — they take time — starting in April. But I’m also not counting that shit as monthly content. You will get four Features every month and then, once every month or two, a wild Angry Hack will appear as and when they’re finished.

Tweaking the Front Page

The above is going to require some tweaks to my site’s front page, but I ain’t making that a priority. Right now, I’ve got three high priorities — the first two being (1) make fucking content and publish it on time and (2) make Slapdash Beta so people can try it out — and none of them are “dick around with the site layout.” So, it’s going to be a “tidy as you go,” thing. I just wanted you to know I’ve heard the feedback and I’m on it.

Release Schedule for March and April

It’s going to take some time to adjust course and I’ve got to re-plan some Features and series. I’ve also got a backup of Features that never got pushed from Early to General Access and, consequently, didn’t get indexed properly. Fortunately, across March and April, I’ve got an extra week to work with. Here’s my current content-release roadmap.

I want to say this is up in stone — I can definitely hit these targets — but, nonetheless, there’s a chance I might miss a deadline here and there by a day or so. At least early on. By mid-April for sure — and hopefully, by the end of March — I’ll have everything puttering away smoothly.

Date	Production Code	Title	Series	Access
Friday, March 14	N/A	Momentum: Building Victory	True Scenario Design	General
Monday, March 17	F030125	What Do You Do When You Lose the Plot (Part III)	Random Bullshit	Early and General
Tuesday, March 18	N/A	True Character Creationishm: An Introduction	True Campaign Managery	General
Thursday, March 20	F030225	Designing a Momentous and Inertial Scenario	True Scenario Design	Early
Tuesday, March 25	F030225	Designing a Momentous and Inertial Scenario	True Scenario Design	General
Wednesday, March 26	F030325	True Character Creationism: All That You Need (Part I)	True Campaign Managery	Early
Monday, March 31	F030425	Ask Angry March 2025	Ask Angry	Early
Tuesday, April 1	F030325	True Character Creationism: All That You Need (Part I)	True Campaign Managery	General
Thursday, April 3	T040125	To Be Determined	Throwback Thursday	General
Tuesday, April 8	F030425	Ask Angry March 2025	Ask Angry	General
Wednesday, April 9	F040125	To Be Determined	True Scenario Design	Early
Thursday, April 10	T040225	To Be Determined	Throwback Thursday	General
Tuesday, April 15	F040125	To Be Determined	True Scenario Design	General
Wednesday, April 16	F040225	To Be Determined	To Be Determined	Early
Thursday, April 17	T040325	To Be Determined	Throwback Thursday	General
Tuesday, April 22	F040225	To Be Determined	To Be Determined	General
Wednesday, April 23	F040325	True Character Creationism: All That You Need (Part II)	True Campaign Managery	Early
Thursday, April 24	T040425	To Be Determined	Throwback Thursday	General
Tuesday, April 29	F040325	True Character Creationism: All That You Need (Part II)	True Campaign Managery	General
Wednesday, April 30	F040425	Ask Angry April 2025	Ask Angry	Early

Patreon Changes Coming: For Better and For Worse

Some of you might remember that Patreon announced a few months back some policy changes based on their need to comply with Apple’s App Store terms of service and the use of Apple ID and payment processing systems. I wasn’t in a position to deal with all that shit, but Patreon gave us creators a year to get on board with some of those changes. I’ve got until November of this year, but until I’m on board, I can’t get support from anyone using Patreon’s iPhone app. That turned out to hit me harder than I expected. It is what it is.

I have to deal with this shit and I have to deal with it soon. None of it will require any of you to change anything, but it will change how my membership tiers are listed on Patreon and how and when my patrons are charged for their support. The big deal is that I can no longer charge patrons support on a per Feature basis. I can only take monthly support.

Now, given I’ve been strict about my, always four Features, no more, no less, come Hell or high water, policy — I’ve only missed that target once in all my years on Patreon even if it meant pushing shit out at 11:55 PM on the last of the month — this change won’t be earthshaking. But I believe in letting my patrons know exactly what the hell is happening at all times and how it’ll affect them. Likewise, whenever I’m given the choice, I always choose the option that keeps everything the same for my supporters even if I take a hit on the income side. I still believe in all of that.

Long story slightly less long, I need to open a dialogue with my support representative at Patreon and find out how to make these changes and what it’ll change. And I need to do that soon. I can’t wait until October.

The point is that changes are coming, but they probably won’t affect you at all. One way or another, you’ll be hearing more from me on this in the coming weeks.

Though there is one thing I have to say today and I feel really crappy saying it…

Your Support is More Important Than Ever

I’m gonna try to keep this short because it makes me feel gross. I’ve only made this appeal once before, way back when I launched my initial crowdfunding campaign on Patreon all those years ago. Oh, sure, I’m not above plugging the Support the Site link when I can work it into the text, but that’s just good business.

See, I don’t want support. I don’t want funding. I want to put out content and then invite people to pay me whatever they think it’s worth. I want to get paid for the work I do. No more; no less. That’s why I’ve been clinging so long to the per Feature funding model even as Patreon has tried to force everyone just to take a monthly stipend regardless of what they produce.

It’s also really hard for me to say this because, over the last year and a bit, my life — personally and professionally — has fallen apart and I still haven’t quite got the pieces back together. I’m a broken vessel. I’m healing, but it’s taking way more time and effort than I like. That whole thing about losing the plot in my campaign wasn’t actually just about my gaming life. Shocking, right?

This goes deeper, though than just my collapse for entirely legitimate reasons in the past year. I’ve misread a few situations, thrown some resources in the wrong direction, I’ve broken some promises, and I’ve had a few projects completely fail. Normal, human stuff, but it adds up. Whereas I was once a very reliable content creator putting out regular, high-quality gaming content, with a huge and hugely engaged fanbase, I’m just… not… anymore. I’ve lost some trust, I’ve burned some capital, and now I’m reaping what I sowed.

I don’t blame anyone who lost their faith in me or just walked away because I wasn’t delivering good value any more. I wasn’t delivering; I wasn’t earning the faith. Now I’ve got to work twice as hard to prove myself.

Right now — and in the near term — if you still value what I’m doing and believe in me to make a turnaround and deliver quality gaming content, your financial support is really important. I’m really grateful for it. It’ll keep me going long enough to get back to where I was and then go beyond it. That’s all I’m going to say on the subject of financial support. The end.

Live Chat

The next Mostly Monthly Live Chat for supporters will be on Tuesday, March 18 at 7:30 PM EDT. It will be recorded and published for all supporters via the usual channels.

If you want to ask a question or propose a topic for the Live Chat, there’s a thread in the Discord server’s #live-chat-chat channel. Or there will be very soon.

The Slapdash Project and Club Slapdash

If you ain’t in the know, I was working on this relatively small fantasy adventure roleplaying game system before the Year of Darkness. I built an engine, ran it through some alpha tests with a few different groups, and got some pretty great results. The working title was the Slapdash Game Engine. Now, I didn’t actually stop working on Slapdash during the Year of Darkness, but I did stop communicating about it. Recently, I surprised the secret cabal of folks in the know — called Club Slapdash — that not only had I been moving the project — admittedly slowly — forward, but I’d greatly expanded Slapdash’s scope and refined my vision.

Unfortunately, a lot of my readers don’t even know I’ve been working on the thing. Or they knew once and forgot. Or they’re new here and have never heard anything about it.

I’m building Slapdash — that’s a working title, not a real name, and it’s not even really accurate anymore — I’m building Slapdash to do the sort of fantasy adventure D&D and Pathfinder do, but with all those gaps I’ve been complaining about for years filled in and to do it all more approachably. More importantly, I want to build the Game Master’s Game System. I want it to be the game that GMs like me — especially homebrewers — want to run. I want to empower Game Masters and adventure writers to create and run great fantasy adventures. Of course, it’ll also provide a play experience for players — especially newer and younger players — that they can’t get anywhere else.

Slapdash is way bigger than how it started and it’s engulfed another, older project completely. Unfortunately, it did suffer a lot of slowdown due to everything that’s happened in the last year, but it’s still coming. In fact, things have greatly accelerated on the Slapdash front. By mid-April, I’ll have a completely revised and redesigned version of the game in front of alpha testers and, sometime this summer, I want to have a few dozen Game Masters running beta games at their tables.

Which brings me to…

Club Slapdash

When I first announced Slapdash — partway through 2023 — I invited everyone supporting me at my Frienemy Tier on Patreon and SubscribeStar to join a special Discord channel and a secret website called Club Slapdash. I promised preview materials, design blogs, chats, and, eventually, access to the playtest versions of the game. I further promised that every member of Club Slapdash would get a free digital copy of the core rules and some supplementary bonus stuff when the game was ready for prime time.

That’s still the promise.

I wasn’t great with the design blogs and chats, but I’ve recently started releasing a lot of information via the Discord channel and I’m working with a volunteer to compile the information for the Club Slapdash website in the next week or two. That’ll help me ensure people are getting previews and sneak peeks while I focus on building the damned game rather than writing about building it.

If you’re in Club Slapdash and haven’t checked in on the Discord or the Club Slapdash site in a while, you might want to start checking in from time to time. Two weeks ago, I dropped a nearly two-hour audio recording spelling out my new mission for Slapdash, how the project has evolved, and what my current plans are, and I shared a bunch of game mechanics I thought people would find neat. Until the Slapdash Beta Test Adventure is ready for every Club Slapdash member to run at their own table in a few months, I — and my dutiful volunteer helper — will keep you better informed about the project.

If you’re not a member of Club Slapdash and you’d like to change that — ultimately getting a free digital copy of an awesome roleplaying game system when it’s in a publishable state as well as the chance to play and run playtest games until it’s ready — all you need to do is support me on Patreon or SubscribeStar at the Frienemy Tier. Club Slapdash membership comes automatically.

Of course, if you just want to wait and buy the game when it’s done done — which is probably a little over a year out at this point — that’s fine too. The first release will be digital only and then they’ll be a big project to make a physical version.

This is a big project. I’ve got fancy plans and pants to match. It’s basically my magnum opus.

Hanging Out and Having Fun

I’m gonna end on a kinda vague note. I want to get back to interacting more with the community. With my friends. I keep dreaming about running big, structured events like when I ran forty of you through Fall of Silverpine Watch or, earlier when I hosted that West Marches without the Marches style open campaign called The League of the Blue Cloak, or when I organized the NonCon. I keep thinking I should stream or record game sessions. That sort of shit keeps my passion high and I absolutely love hanging out and sharing games with all of you people who think I’m worth supporting. Someday, I will do those things again. But this ain’t the time for it. This is the time for me to put my head down and bury my nose in my books and do what I’m best at: writing and designing shit and then getting it out to all y’all.

That said, hanging out, hosting chats, talking with people, and playing games all help keep my drive and passion high. I don’t have the resources or energy to organize big, complex things, but casual streams, chats, and even online board game or video game nights with some of my most loyal and generous supporters are in the realm of possibility and I’ve got more time for that crap than I’ve had in the past as long as it doesn’t require too much prep, setup, and organization.

To that end, I’m considering doing more casual things like that. I have an idea for semi-regular YouTube streaming focused on how video games inspire my work and help me solve tabletop roleplaying game design problems — called Appendix V — and I’ve become an avid Board Game Arena member.

I also want to make sure I keep up on my Mostly Monthly Live Chats and host regular Slapchats for Club Slapdash and I want to give more people a chance to participate in those events. To that end, while I get situated, I’m also going to drop a couple of polls in my community about the best times to schedule Live Chats and Slap Chats and when folks in some of the inner circles might be available for things like short Slapdash playtests and demos and board game nights and shit like that.

So, look out for that stuff in the coming weeks as well.

Enough Talking About Work; Back to Work

With all of that said, it’s time for me to actually get back to work so this ain’t all empty promises. But, before I leave, I want to say again how tremendously grateful I am for each and every one of you. Whether you’ve been supporting my work financially for years or whether you just read, enjoy, and occasionally comment on my stuff, I appreciate you. Honestly, without the sense of purpose this community instills in me — and the faith many of you have in me to do great things — I’m not sure I would have gotten through all of the difficulties in my life in the last fifteen months without you. Thank you. I truly mean that.

But now, the time has come for me to stop feeling sorry for myself and be worthy of your faith and support and readership again. I can’t wait until I’m whole and healed because who the hell knows when that will be. The great ones play sick. Broken crayons still color.