My upcoming Merryshire Detective Club game of Halfling detectives investigating crimes in a cosy little village is in playtest. If you can run a game or two before the end of February, Pelgrane would love to hear from you. If not, this is only round one of the playtest - there’ll be another for the accompanying adventure anthology, The Dreadful Hare and other Stories, before too long.

The Dungeon Book (out August 11th) is getting more pre-launch attention than anything I’ve done before. And I can’t talk about any of it, yet. But it’s getting a [REDACTED] and going in [REDACTED] and also [REDACTED]. And there’s still six months to go…

(The cover should be revealed soon; we’re onto final revisions and arguing about fonts.)

As Close As I’m Going To Talk About Current Events

I got a new computer - my first new machine in ten years, and my old Mac is still working very well, just a bit slow - and it’s been an opportunity to rethink the software I’m using. I’m not going full on Eurostack yet, but it’s a mark of how the world’s going that it’s even a question.

Hear My Annoying Voice

I did a bunch of interviews before Christmas, when things were rather stressful and I was hyper. It may come across in the hysterical laughter.

Modern Mythos with Jon and Seth: Ep. 54 - Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

FOUND IT!!! Friends and fellow cultists! Back in November, Seth and Jon interviewed writer, Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, and it was glorious. And then the holidays happened, and somewhere along the way, Jon lost the files. [There was much sorrow and wailing.] But then, a Cthulhu miracle! Jon was able to recover the files from Zencaster!!! [And there was much rejoicing!] So, we present to you, the lost-then-recovered interview with Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan! Terraforming Mars RPG Quickstart: chrome-extens...

Announced Projects

TERRAFORMING MARS: still working away. Right now, a lot of internal testing of the Project mechanics. It’s a really interconnected set of rules - the core systems of Crew, Projects, Eras, Corporations and Friction all flow into one another, with one affecting the next and lots of knock-on problems. That said, the test runs are fun and interesting, and I’m very happy with the way the game’s turning out.

THE DREADFUL HARE’s final scenario: The outline is sitting there. I need to attack the actual writing.

DIE: METADUNGEON: Contracts signed, research ongoing. I won’t actually start writing this one for a while.

Unannounced Projects

BREAKING GED: Grinding onwards. This is the current novel, it’s been hellish, it’s less hellish now but that’s mainly through reminding myself of every aphorism of ‘it’s ok for the first draft to suck.’

PSYCHIC ICEBERG PILGRIM: Zooming along.

FISH STEW: Still research and editing. Plan is to finish off PSYCHIC ICEBERG PILGRIM, blast through the last DREADFUL HARE scenario, and then get going on this.

WEIRD HOLE: Did a little bit, waiting on feedback.

PALE KING: No movement.

HELLO ONE RING PEOPLE: Back in Middle-earth to add some extra bits to a Big Unannounced Book, and I should really run off and finish that today.

Warpcon

It was Warpcon last weekend. Warpcon 36, to be precise. I remember Warpcon IV vividly - first time I played Call of Cthulhu, first time I played Paranoia, first time I played Cyberpunk. I’ve been at every Warpcon since, I think, apart from one where I had covid (and stood outside the con with a plague bell so I could see people at a distance).

I ran a Terraforming Mars game on the friday, which went very well (and illuminated a big change I’ll need to make to the mechanics). The game’s providing something that I haven’t seen anywhere else, which is nice. I also ran a whole bunch of Grant Howlitt’s one page RPGs - Adventure Skeletons, Goat Crashers, Horse Around The House, The Orc Pope Is Dead and two sessions of Everyone is Seagulls. I got to play in a few board or card games, and watch the kids get very into Blood on the Clocktower.

I wasn’t at the Charity Auction, but it raised something like 8,000 euro, because Irish cons are still the best.

My next con will probably be www.dagdacon.ie in April. No US cons for the foreseeable; I’m hoping to be at Tabletop Scotland and maybe Expo, but nothing definite yet.

===

In haste, in haste, always in haste. Stay safe and sane if you can.

Gar