It’s just one week until The Angry GM: The Website: The Book goes live on Kickstarter! I won’t go into too many details about that here. After all, if you want details, you can get them via e-mail updates by signing up to my mailing list. Yeah. I have a mailing list. If you want to see the archived updates, can read them over at my Mailchimp page. And if you want to sign up for updates – for the next week – you can shove your e-mail address into this box and click the button:

But, I do want to update about what to expect on my website in the next week, after the Kickstarter launches, and after it ends. Yeah: my usual transparency thing. If you don’t care about any of this crap and you just want content, come back on Wednesday for your regular feature article. If you do care about the content release schedule, well, read the next heading and then leave. And if you care about Patreon reward content, read the following heading. And if you care about me as a person, read the heading after that. I’m going to keep this brief in any case because I’m up to my f$&%ing eyeballs in s$&% to do. Got it? See you on Wednesday for the next article.

What to Expect on TheAngryGM.com

If I’ve played my cards right – and I’m pretty sure I have – the Kickstarter should not cause a disruption of my content output on the website once it’s up and running. That is, from June 19 to July 19, expect the normal schedule of articles. A feature every Wednesday, Megadungeon Mondays, and Ask Angry every Thursday. I know the Ask Angry thing disappeared for a little while. There was a little issue that isn’t terribly important. Point is, it’ll be back.

However, I’m in a work crunch right now. There’s a lot of little pieces that have to come together before June 19. That is, before next Tuesday. Launch day. And so, for the next week, all I’m putting out is the normal Wednesday feature article. Megadungeon is on hold. The next Megadungeon Monday will be on June 25. I’m sorry. It’s unavoidable. I have to channel that work time into getting everything finalized so I’ll actually be able to launch a Kickstarter and publish a book. And, just so you understand, a big part of all of that is to make sure the book will arrive on supporters’ doorsteps before Christmas. THIS YEAR. I don’t want this to be one of those Kickstarters that takes two years to deliver. Or even one year to deliver. Or even nine months. I want it done before the year is done. It’s just a f$&%ing book. That should be easy. And I wouldn’t launch the Kickstarter if I didn’t think I could clear it in a few months. Honestly, by the time the Kickstarter has run its course, my part in creating the book will be pretty much done.

I should also point out that, due to disruptions in Brian “Fiddleback” Casey’s life, that also extends to the podcasts I work with him on. We’re not releasing a GM Word of the Week this week, nor will there be a new Digressions and Dragons episode next week. His father is coming home from the hospital, and there’s a lot he has to do. So, everything is basically frozen for one week.

After July 19 – the end of the Kickstarter – there may be another small disruption of content, on the order of a week or so. I’m working hard to make sure it doesn’t happen. But the Tiny GM and I are moving from Chicago to Wisconsin sometime at the end of July or the beginning of August. And that might knock me offline for approximately one week. As I type this, I’m actually waiting for word on whether we have a place to live in Wisconsin and whether we’ll be able to take possession of it before we don’t have a place to live in Chicago. It’s complicated.

So, to summarize: this week, all you’re getting is a feature article on or around Wednesday, June 13. Next week, you’ll get a feature article on or around Wednesday, June 20 and an Ask Angry on or around Thursday, June 21. After that, the schedule will return to normal with Megadungeon Monday coming back on Monday, June 25. And sometime at the end of July or the beginning of August, there may be a week-long disruption of content. Okay? Got it? Good.

What to Expect from your Patreon Rewards

Let’s talk about Patreon rewards and what’s happening with them.

First, Patrons of every level get Early Access to each week’s feature article over at Patreon.com. Well, sort of. The Early Access thing hasn’t been all that early these last few weeks because I’ve been working pretty close to the deadline. Once the KS for the book launches, Early Access will start actually coming early again because I’ll be working farther out from the deadline. I’m not going to promise anything firm, but you’ll notice that start to improve after June 19.

Supporters who back me at the Frienemy level ($3.75 per article, four times a month or $15 once per month) receive access to the Secret Stash. That’s where I put custom maps, monsters, and other content I create for my home games. New stuff there has been thin on the ground because my own home game has been on hold as a result of everything going on. I announced, a few weeks ago, that I have a project in the works there to compile a bunch of my custom monsters into a single document, a sort of bestiary and lore book about the Angryverse and the monsters that live in it. That project actually got more complicated when I developed an alternate scheme for statting monsters in D&D 5E. But that has all also taken a back-burner to the book and the KS. The Angryverse Bestiary is NOT dead. But no serious work is going to happen until after the KS is done in July. But I think it’ll be worth the wait.

Supporters who back me at the Victim level ($5 per article, four times a month or $20 once per month) have access to online games when I have time to run them. Now, the online game has been on hold, as those who were involved know. Because that is highly dependent on my free time, as I always said. Once I have moved, and my life is settled, that free time will increase drastically. Which means I will likely be in touch with all of those folks in August about restarting one-shot games, playtests, and other games in September. And, depending on how the Kickstarter goes, I may be ready to start an exciting project by years end that is going to need playtesters. And non-disclosure agreements.

Unfortunately, at this time, I do not have plans to open up any more Victim slots. I have far more people supporting me at that level than I could accommodate in online games as it is. I’m sorry. But I’m also not sorry. Because being overwhelmed by support is a great problem to have.

What’s Happening in the Life of Angry

For those interested in my personal details, here they are: life is complicated and crazy. I’m writing and Kickstarting my first book – as you may have heard – and I’m also getting ready to move from Chicago, IL – where I have lived happily survived for three years after moving from Long Island, New York. The thing is, these things weren’t supposed to happen at the same time. The book is happening about three months later than it was supposed to, according to my plan. But things delayed it on my side and also on Third Act Publishing’s side. That’s whose helping me make this book a reality. The company is run by my good friend and KS expert Jim McClure. And we had been talking about this partnership as early as last August.

That’s why everything is so hectic.

We’re moving for a good reason. We’re moving to the Tiny GM’s hometown of Manitowoc, WI so she can go back to college and get her degree. Her first stint at college was disrupted by some health problems and, due to the expense, she was never able to return and finish up. Now, she can. And that gives me the time I need to develop… well… you know. Things I’m not working on. If all goes well and she finishes her degree, and I get… things… published… we’ll be on track for marriage. And if I don’t get… things… published in that time, I leave the RPG world forever and go back to accounting so that we can get married and support a family. But at least I’ll have tried. And I will be happy doing that. I actually do really enjoy the accounting field.

Our lease runs out here on July 31. And we’re actually up for a really nice apartment. We’ll know for sure whether we have it in a couple of days. Otherwise, we have to keep shopping. If we get the apartment, that will make life a lot easier because we can stop shopping. But, the timing of the move is going to be very complicated as the apartment may not be available until slightly after we have to be out of our current apartment. So, no matter how it works out, it’s going to be crazy hectic, and it will require a lot of juggling of things. I’m trying to cut a deal that will make the timing work out better, but we’ll see how that goes. Either way, we know things are going to be hectic and crazy. We just don’t know whether they will be hectic NOW or hectic LATER. It depends on whether we’re done shopping or not. That’s why I’m unsure where the other disruption in content output is going to be.

Further complicating all of this is the fact that I have developed not one, but two different nerve problems. I have sciatica, and I also have a mysterious something that may be related to the sciatica but isn’t responding like sciatica and may represent a peripheral nerve issue. So, I’ve been spending a lot of time in physical therapy and exercise and trying to get things under control. The first issue is mostly controlled. The second issue is being a b$&%. Unfortunately, it makes it hard to both work at the computer for long stretches and to put any weight on my right leg for more than a few minutes. That makes it very hard to do – well – anything. And the PT is eating up about three to four hours out of every work week by itself, not to mention the time spent on daily exercises every f$&%ing hour. And because my medical insurance provider doesn’t have a presence in Wisconsin, if this doesn’t get sorted before the move date – and that date is up in the air – I will have to start over with a new doctor, a new insurance company, and a new physical therapist. And the changeover will be complicated.

Of course, Angry Games is now a corporation. It had to be if I was going to fund a book. But that means I also get the joy of moving a corporate headquarters from one state to another. I was smart enough to plan for that when I established the corporation, but it’s still not the easiest thing in the world. Yes, even though my corporate headquarters are basically just A DESK.

Now, I am just sharing all of this to give some sense of what I mean when I say, “things are crazy.” And to explain why I’m making the time management choices I am right now. What I’m not trying to do is drum up sympathy. Or offer excuses. The reality is there are a few too few hours in the week, and I have to make a hard decision now – limit my content output for a week – to make sure that I can keep up in the long run and to hopefully plan for a future disruption. Last year, and the year before, I would have used all of this crap as an excuse. That’s how I got into the mess of falling so far behind and disappointing my amazing supporters and fans. I don’t want to be in that position again. Because they – you – are amazing. You’ve made it possible for me to write and publish my first book. That’s exciting. One of my dreams, honestly. To have my name on the cover of an actual book. And that’s just a step, I hope. Thank you. Thank you for everything. Thank you for believing in me.

Meanwhile, as tricky as things are right now, they are all moving toward great things. Moving, getting Tiny through college, financial stability, publishing… you know, whatever I might publish in the future… those are all great things. That’s why I say I’m not looking for sympathy. It’s going to be hard work. But that’s the way it is. You work for what you want. And you can’t control everything that happens to you. But you can control what you do when it happens.

So, this is just me working hard for what I want and not stopping just because life is hard and I have to work twice as hard to compensate. But I also recognize that I would never have had this opportunity – and I would never have grown to understand this – without every supporter, reader, fan, and friend. So, one more time: thank you. Thank you for everything.

And now I’ve got to go. I’ve got one week left before I have to Kick the Start out of this book. And I plan to Kickstart it right in the a$&. Or whatever I’m saying.