Year in Review: 2015

Greetings, readers! It’s time I took a look back at 2015 as we wave goodbye to this year and move on to 2016. Here’s some of the highlights from the year:

Professional

I did well this year, 17 different products got out onto stole shelves (virtual and physical), and many more on the way.

Regicide

This is a biggie. I’ve been working on this game for over a year, and it was truly fantastic to see it take full shape. I wrote the story and the characters, which was very sweet, and I love watching people play the game on youtube. I think Regicide was an interesting idea, but I have to say that chess is not something I’m very passionate about for game-play. Aside from a few small issues, this was a great job that I loved doing.

In Defense of Innocence

I deeply enjoyed writing this book, as it is mostly a setting that ties into an adventure in the world of Malifaux. I wrote about 85% of the book, detailing the main adventure and everything about the town itself. I enjoyed working with Brandon Gensemer on this one, but there were a number of production issues involved — Brandon did not receive any credit, for example — so this is a bittersweet entry.  Still, I am very proud of the finished product, and I welcome anyone to talk to me about it or tell me what they think of the book.

Accursed: Fall of the Tower

This adventure grew out of the special Gen Con adventure I ran for the backers of the Accursed Kickstarter in 2014. We had a great time during the game, so why not turn it into an actual product? I think this is one of my better adventures, including all the things I like to see in a published RPG scenario–choices, options, a fun climax, and so forth. Again, I’m very proud of this one.

Shaintar (Many books)

I joined Evil Beagle Games as a full partner and the Managing Director in 2014, so 2015 was my first full year with the company. One of my priorities was to take the Shaintar setting books and get things moving with the line. We successfully produced 8 books for Shaintar in 2015, and several more happened in quick succession when the line was turned over to Savage Mojo. For this line, my involvement has been almost entirely as a developer, although I plan on writing something for this setting in 2016.

Savage Lairs: Fantasy Forests

This was a fun project that came close to the end of the year. John Dunn is a good friend and a hell of a businessman. I learned a great deal about small-press RPG production from John, and working on Savage Lairs taught me more valuable lessons.

Savage Worlds: Lankhmar and Savage Tales of Horror

This was a fun project to work on for Pinnacle Entertainment Group. I got to officially write up the character sheets for Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser! Going back and reading all the Fritz Leiber books was interesting, although I think the earlier tales really work better than the ones written at the end of the series. I also wrote an adventure for one of the Savage Tales of Horror books produced by Pinnacle in 2015.

Card Games: Lost Legacy and Game of Crowns

AEG is a great company to write for as a freelancer, and in 2015 I got to contribute my writing and worldbuilding for two of their card games. I always enjoy writing for these projects, and I am pleased to say that I have even more coming out in 2016.

Personal

• I turned 40 in 2015, a milestone number.
• I became a true Denver-ite and Colorad-an.
• Made some new friends–Christa and Jason Berger–and celebrated ties with very old friends, like Bryant and Kait Smith.
• I attended a lot of very cool conventions, including Comicpalooza, Genghiscon, Tacticon, Gen Con, and many others.
• I re-connected with my relatives in the area, from cousins to aunts & uncles.
• I wrote my very first complete book entirely on my own–I’ve worked on many, many books before this, but in 2015 I had the entire enchilada. 65,000 words, all mine. It was awesome.

What about 2016?

I’m very much looking forward to bringing out stuff that I worked on in 2015. In fact, I worked very hard on some projects that aren’t quite ready to be released, but hopefully soon.

In particular, I’m excited about Torg: Eternity, Strike Force, Savage Rifts, and the forthcoming worldbooks for Accursed.

With that having been said, I’m also looking to become more productive. I want to get at least one thing per month completed in 2016. I know this is ambitious, and I know it is likely to fail, but I’m interested in the challenge. I want to rise up to meet my goal, not set a standard that I know I can hit without striving.

I want to get out more as well, see more of the country surrounding Denver, and visit friends more often who live in distant parts of the city.

Time to write some fiction! I owe a novella for Shaintar, and one for Accursed — I need to buckle down and make those happen. In fact, my hope is that by stating this ambition out loud here, I’ll be more responsible and disciplined towards achieving the goal.