New Year - New Stuff

Before I launch into a post outlining my plans for this month's expansion and other game news, I just want to say thank you so much to all the people who stuck around through December and thank you to all those who joined as well. Your support helps me to pay my bills which lets me focus more on being creative and bringing you weird games so really, thank you and happy hogmanay :)

Schedule

I took December off in order to refresh and recharge so the monthly expansion for January will be for UMBRA with an Apothecaria expansion coming in February.

The UMBRA expansion this month is going to introduce more results for the various Discovery tables as well as introducing more content all around. I haven't got a title yet but in my head I'm referring to it as UMBRA+

The upcoming Apothecaria expansion is all about the misty highlands, forgotten valleys, and something not unlike the Wild Hunt. I'll be developing this with a lot of help from my partner (who just released her fantasy bestiary last month and I think y'all should check her out)

Why am I getting help? Because of Zinequest of course. As many of you know, February is that magical month where many of us indie RPG designers take to Kickstarter to beg for cash and it has been what's sustained me through the past couple of years. But, as usual, they haven't announced if its happening which is a fun little game in itself. 

I'll make a full post about my Zinequest project later on :)

March should be quiet and takes us back to DELVE then April sees the release of Apawthecaria which I am so excited about.

The Bubbling Soup of Game Design

So while I've technically got my Zinequest project, Apawthecaria, and potentially a second collab in the works. I've also got plans for a few other games that I'd like to get out this year. The quick overview is:

* A solo wargame inspired by T-Def which puts you in charge of a religious order fleeing an unstoppable horde known as The Wretch. Angels, demons, and a traversable node map similar to that found in Apawthecaria. I might end up crowdfunding this one as I'd love to get art for it and get it out in print. A GM-less multiplayer and traditional RPG version might be in the works if it does well.

* A second scratch and journal game, this time about uncovering a person's past by scratching away the foil over memories and determining the connection between the images you've revealed. Played solo or as a group.

* A solo journalling game where you play as a NSA agent trying to find potential criminals via randomly generated search results. This is mostly just a fun character creator/ story maker where you try to imagine the character who keeps searching for all these weird things. <- this is the shortest and probably first side project I'm going to put up this year.

Other Things

After nearly a decade away from it, I've finally picked up my bass again and started really getting into music again. As usual, my partner can be credited with getting me to stick with it and get enthused and I've already learned In The Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg thanks to Rocksmith. 

I've also made it a goal to compose and produce at least one piece of music this year. So let me know in the comments if you lot would be interested in seeing how I'm getting on with that :)