You can do a lot in a lifetime, if you don’t burn out too fast
You can make the most of the distance
First, you need endurance. First you need to last.
-Rush, Marathon

Time is a motherfucker, especially as you grow older. I am not the first to notice this, and I will not be the last, but it’s incredible when years seem to roll on at the pace of a frantic toddler. And I have a theory with absolutely no truth that the pandemic years chewed up days and months. Now, I know that’s not true because I spent a good chunk of those years working on what turned out to be a very controversial RPG product called GRIPNR. I worked hard on that project. It provided me with new opportunities, taught me new skills, and paid a decent wage for a few years. It’s still going on without me and many others who built its platform, and I wish them the best. I left that project more than a year ago.

In the year after GRIPNR, I worked with several clients, providing either design, consultation, or a combination of both. For a good chunk of the year, Crypto companies tried to pull me back in, but I needed a break from that scene. Crypto sheds much heat and little light (much like AI and our tech oligarchs). It’s too easy to use code to create shell games, and right now, technology is acting more like a casino than a workshop. I enjoy designing rules, systems, and stories for tabletop games. I like the type of puzzles they provide and the visceral and interpersonal interactions they engender. I enjoy their narrative and social possibilities.

At the start of the year, I started to dust off Delve RPG. GRIPNR kept me so busy that I hadn’t looked at the drafts for nearly two years. It wasn’t long until I remembered why I liked this game and why I thought it had teeth. I believe it is elegant where it should be and robust where it begs to be. Play is quick and promotes tactics. System mastery is anticipated but not required. Player options provide ample choices in easy-to-digest bits. It throws away clunk and replaces it with options.

One of my chief goals for 2024 was to give the game a thorough dust-off, start filling in holes, and play it at various conventions. I ran games at five conventions last year, often for the first time at that show. I received positive feedback and a handful of critiques and suggestions. The most insightful and helpful always had me scrambling to improve the current draft.

I also ran sessions of The Crystal Manse, the long-form sample adventure for the game, for the first time. You can run an abbreviated form of that adventure during a five-hour session at a convention or spread it out into two or more sessions if you desire more deliberate or casual play. I also designed, somewhat out of scheduling necessity, Goblin Stomp, a short-play sample adventure that can be played as a ruckus assault or expanded out into a longer play social exploration and investigation adventure. Ultimately, you must stomp goblins plaguing the area before they stomp you. Both adventures provided oodles of fun on both sides of the screen. For instance, no group handled the last encounter of The Crystal Manse the same way. There are many ways to skin that proverbial cat and each group came up with their own solution.

Between that and hammering away at the content and layout of the first group of Delve RPG offerings, Delve has kept me busy over the past year and change. I have nearly all the player-facing chapters (1-7) complete and laid out, and I’m in various states with the last four chapters of the book. The first batch of Delve products will soon be available. The game itself is coming out this year, and I’m forgoing all convention appearances until it is done.

Next week, I’ll launch the Delve Store. Last year, I created a sample of Delve Pre-Proto products, many of which I gave to players at the various conventions where I ran games. They include a Delve Surge token (used for Initiative), a pack of useful cards (including achievement, exploration, and item cards), as well as a Delve RPG components bag, just the right size to carry dice, sturdy miniatures, dice, and writing implements. These accessories were all small print runs, and similar products in the future will be notably different. So, when I run out, these products will not be reproduced in their current form. Get them while you can.

I’ll explore more Delve RPG offerings and how you can get them here next week.

Delve aside, there have been other projects. I don’t know some of their statuses, so I don’t feel right talking about them here. Another project is still in the top-secret stages, but it’s a little different from anything I have produced in the past, so I’m chomping at the bit to talk about it. Right now, we will call it Fred.

The second was a sort of…”ah, what? Fucking really?”… Moment. Luke Gygax called me about a potential Greyhawk book called Melf’s Guide to Greyhawk. Rumors were already spinning that WotC would open up Greyhawk, so Luke wanted to produce a book that focused on the world through the view of his famous character, Melf (Prince Peralay Brightflame of Celene). I’d get to work with a great group of people, like Anna B. Meyers and Jay Scott, not to mention Luke, who I love to spend time bullshitting and gaming with. I’d also get to play in Greyhawk again. It’s been a blast.

And if all of that weren’t enough, I’m staring down the barrel of a significant life change. Soon, I’ll be moving to Southern California. While I love the Pacific Northwest and will miss it, after the malaise of the pandemic years and some current world uncertainties, it was time for a change. It’s a great opportunity in a fantastic environment, and I’m looking forward to the change of scenery and making new gaming friends.

What I’m not looking forward to is moving all my stuff.

I’m also making other quality-of-life changes, including taking a personal retreat from social media. That said, my social media links still work, but nearly everything on those sites will be Delve RPG-related, and I will usually point you back here for the whole story. There are a host of reasons for that change. I suspect some of you are going through similar realizations or decisions. If I have opinions and think you should know about them, I’ll post them here. I know, I know. Stephen, shouldn’t you make a YouTube or TikTok channel and make videos?

Fuck that. Read. I’ll usually add some pictures. Call it old school if it makes you feel better.