As usual, by the time I realise what time of year it is, I’ve almost missed it!
Here’s an A-Z of stuff I want to think about/write about/read about/play with in the next year.
A – Awakened!
I’m thinking up some ideas for a D&D character that’s been awakened by the spell. I haven’t decided yet if it should be an animal or plant (or an item, DM permitting), but I have the start of a personality for either of those.
B – Bugs!
Specifically ant people (Formians) in Planescape and bug people (Thri-kreen) in Dark Sun, but also the Klicks from d20 Future. I have an idea for throwing them up against pseudo-Rome in a Spelljammer game. Could be interesting.
C – Cowboys & Cemeteries!
I’m working on a sequel to the Haunted Mine that has a heap of undead digging their way out of their graves near town. It might be a prequel, for lower-level heroes than the Haunted Mine. I haven’t decided yet.
D – D&D!
Whilst I like to read other games, I haven’t played any in a good few years now. That means a lot of this blog is about D&D, and I know that puts a few people off. I’m trying to broaden my horizons a bit, but currently my main publishing goals are for D&D or system-neutral material, so I guess that’s what I’ll be writing about!
E – Elementals!
I said recently that I’m working on stuff involving elementals and other thematic monsters. I’m hoping to get this rounded out before the end of 2021 at the rate I’m getting it done!
F – Factions of Sigil!
I need to get back to my work on these, but I’ve been a bit distracted for a while. They also need better playtesting (or any playtesting, for that matter…)
G – Goonies Never Say Die!
I’ve started brainstorming a puzzle-based dungeon involving pirates. Yes, I’m unoriginal, but having a dungeon without combat seemed like a fun idea to try out. (Yes, they can have an epic fight with an organised crime gang at the end!)
H – Halastar Blackcloak’s Guide to Dungeon Mastery!
This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, based on my How to DM series, that gives more in-depth ideas for people to run with, and isn’t just for beginners. I need to work on it a bit more, but it’s still there percolating somewhere.
I – Inspiration!
I have a few notes on doing more with D&D’s Inspiration mechanic (and how it’s forever annoyed me that there’s Inspiration and there’s Bardic Inspiration, and no one was inspired to come up with different names for the two things!).
AND I want to do some more with Appendix ï.
J – Jumping Off Points!
I’m working my way to collecting a bunch of different plot hook ideas, and I want to drop them all together in one document. Should be an easy project, turns out it’s very difficult when you want to sit down and write out more than a couple of ideas at once.
K – Kobolds!
There’s not a lot of words that begin with K that I would write about, so kobolds is about it. I tend to shoehorn them into most of my homebrew campaign settings, and I’ve probably liked them since Deekin in Neverwinter Nights.
I have a germ of an idea involving Kobold Knights (pronounce both Ks…), but that’s it so far. It’s something to work on.
L – Lady Luck!
At some point, I’ll finally write up my ideas for a Dresden Files game set in Las Vegas. Yes, it’s definitely the domain of a goddess of Luck named the Lady, no you do not want to mess with her business. It’s now been so long since I’ve thought in terms of Dresden Files that it might be hard going though. We’ll see, stay tuned for that one!
M – Midgard!
The only game I’m involved in at the moment is my Friday night D&D game set in Midgard, where my valiant Ranger/Rogue Rangermouse Twistenbleed is exploring the Old Margreve forest (but currently on a detour northward into ghoul/vampire country).
See Part II for the rest of the alphabet!
jot jot ïota 