This year has been a busy one in terms of both game design projects and playing RPGs, so I thought it would be good to write about a few of my highlights.
Back in January, the Tome of Beasts 3 Kickstarter launched and went on to raise an amazing $767,501 from 9,438 backers. I contributed 23 monsters to the book and an adventure to the accompanying Lairs compilation. My print copies arrived a couple of weeks ago and I am blown away by how great the art is, and how the books look.
As well as Tome of Beasts 3, several smaller projects I worked on were released. The Slumbering Titan and Secrets of the Serpentine Codex are Tier 3 Warlock Lairs set in the Southlands, and I’m hoping to complete the trilogy next year. In addition, Book of Ebon Tides (Kobold Press) and Potbellied Kobold’s Guide to Villains and Lairs (Jeff Stevens Games) were both published – I enjoyed contributing monsters and NPCs to both of these excellent books.
During the first half of the year I worked on two more large Kobold Press projects: Campaign Builder: Cities and Towns and Wastes of Chaos. I had a lot of fun writing sections on rulers, noble houses, guilds and other organizations for Cities and Towns, and several exciting adventure locations and a short adventure for Wastes of Chaos involving a trip inside the gullet of a giant frog-like alien monstrosity. Both will be out next year.
Since then I’ve been working on some very cool stuff I can’t talk about yet. As soon as these projects have been announced officially, I’ll let you know.
Our monthly Empire of the Ghouls campaign continued in person throughout the year and we are now on the final chapter. I’m thinking about running either The Wild Beyond the Witchlight or Tomb of Annihilation next so will put both of these to my group to see what they think.
My fortnightly Scarlet Citadel game has now reached its 31st session, despite an unexpected TPK half way through the campaign. Since it takes place on Monday nights, everyone has been happy to continue playing online, which is fine by me as the Roll20 version of the adventure is excellent. I am a bit sad I haven’t been able to use my Map Pack though, as the printed maps are very cool.
I’ve also been enjoying playing in our regular Trail of Cthulhu game set in Berlin: The Wicked City, and our fortnightly online 5e game, where I am playing a fire genasi monk in Petersen Games’ Yig Snake Granddaddy.
Kate and I went to UK Games Expo in June and had a great time catching up with old friends and buying lots of new games. We played several games including Trail of Cthulhu, Cthulhu Hack, Matrons of Mystery, and Mork Borg, but the highlight for us both was a brilliant game of Blades in the Dark. We bought a copy after the convention but haven’t had a chance to read it yet.
We also played a couple of games at GenCon Online including Pirate Borg. I backed the Kickstarter and am looking forward to receiving my physical copy – the PDF looks great. I have very fond memories of the Pirates of the Caribbean game I ran for our Monday night group back in the 00s, so Pirate Borg really appeals to me.
Then, a couple of weeks ago we went to Dragonmeet. Sadly, we didn’t get to play Blade Runner as planned, but I had fun playing Schemers & Scoundrels in the Indie Games on Demand room.
Lastly, I’m pleased that I’ve managed to keep this blog going, and the number of subscribers is increasing slowly but surely. The most popular post has been Making the Most of Your TTRPG Collection which clearly struck a chord with gamers like me who buy a lot of books and PDFs.
If you’ve enjoyed reading my blog this year, please do join my mailing list. There’s a sign up form on the home page. I’ve written a short Parsantium supplement on the Golden Scimitars, one of the Old Quarter’s criminal gangs, that is available free to subscribers.
Phew! I think that’s all my gaming highlights for 2022. Let me know what yours have been in the comments!
Richard Green | Game Designer 
Huge congrats on your achievements this year Rich, couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
As to my own highlights for this year, I’d probably say getting the physical rewards for the Nightfell and Dungeons of Drakkenheim kickstarters and managing to keep up to date with the session blogs for both Team Gnome Force Ultra and Team MIsfits as they continue their adventures through my modified version of Rime of the Frostmaiden.
Merry Christmas buddy and all the best for the New Year.
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Thanks Mik – jolly nice of you! I’ve really been enjoying your session write ups. Have a great Christmas!
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Hope to see what you’ve also been reading or entertainment that stood out for you this year as well! Thanks for keeping up your blog!
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Cheers!
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Hi, Rich.
Looking forward to see what you get up to in ’23.
All the best,
Steve
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Cheers Steve!
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Congrats! Sounds like it has been a busy and productive year.
I’ve been back in the hobby for about 5 years after being away since the early 90s. Happy to be at a point in my life where I can start to spend more time with things I enjoy. Currently juggling 2 in-person groups and really enjoying interacting with folks through blogging and social media.
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What games are you playing?
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We’re running what’s essentially a D&D Rules Cyclopedia game and a 5e game. 5e game is wrapping, so looking to dip our toes into something else.
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Good stuff! Enjoy!
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Hiya Richard
A very productive year! Am with you on the desire to use those beautiful & fab quality KP physical maps for the Scarlet Citadel! They are awesome.
Likewise, ToB3 & Ebon Tides KS were awesome & I look forward to the cities & wastes books with interest!
Amazed at how you have so many spinning plates going on there…
We have struggled to hold down a weekly slot these past 3 years. TBH we have been on quite a hiatus during / post pandemic. The pandemic impacted on all of us in different ways. As a teacher, teaching online it felt more stressful than the awful first few years of teaching.. talking to blank screens for hours, stuck at my desk for insanely long hours….. I dropped out of online gaming since it was more time on a pc… others had it worse alas…..
Ironically, after an attempt at returning to F2F gaming, we realised that due to legacy of Covid our group was too small for a rpging one F2F, so we are now revving up for a Roll20 campaign, getting 1 old friend 150 miles away to join us, & a new player from another group… and I am running The Abomination Vaults for Pathfinder 2e…. an experiment! Folks are keen to see how it plays in contrast to 5e…..
Hopefully 2023 will see a return to regular weekly gaming!
Have a fantastic Christmas & the best of luck in 2023 for your creativity. I am hoping KP do some PF2E material too…. but I won’t hold my breath! Hope the new 5.5e ogl doesn’t knee cap 3rd party producers too….. fingers crossed!
Take care
Ben F
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Cheers Ben! It can’t have been easy trying to teach online and I definitely know the screen fatigue feeling. Good luck with getting your game going more regularly next year. I’ve only played one game of PF2 but am interested to try it again at some point.
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Cheers Richard! Fingers crossed we manage to grasp it’s extra layer of complexity over 5e. Really like the depth in character options (ancestry, class & background), 3 action economy & how skills are so well done, and the 4 tiers of success (critical success/success/fail/fumble) & how they are used for all d20 checks: combat, skills & magic. Have heard good things about the Abomination Vaults & dungeon bashes are really suited to VTT play.
Good luck in 2023 & hope you keep your creative juices going!
Ben
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts throughout the year, a real highlight when your emails land. For me in particular, hearing how your Scarlet Citadel game is going as I was hoping to start that this autumn, but it is now going to be the new year.
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Cheers Brian! Best of luck with Scarlet Citadel – it’s a lot of fun!
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