So, I know my product schedule is somewhat… mercurial. I work on something, and it just doesn’t gel, and then I get a burst of inspiration and push the thing over the finish line in short order. Sometimes things just hit me as I’m working on other things, and I can’t even think about the first thing until the second thing is done. And sometimes I start something, and finish it, right as planned.
Anyhoo, here’s what I’m working on now, with (always, always tentative) release dates.
Darker Paths 3: The Demonolater. Folks have been at me for a while to continue the Darker Paths line, but I just didn’t have any inspiration. That is, until I was working on another project (see below) that needed a priest of Dagon (amongst other things… ahem), and that led me to think about generic clerics, and that led me to think that a book of specialized demon-worshiping priests would be a good thing. And that, naturally, fell under the Darker Paths label. So… a chaotic genesis, but maybe that is fitting for priests of demon lords! Estimated date: October 2015.
The Golden Scroll of Justice. This is something I’ve been working on in fits and starts for about three years. Then earlier this year inspiration struck about how to handle the kung fu skills, and everything else just fell into place. The manuscript is done and off to the next phase, the art is in process, some already received (will post some samples soon) and it’s got an estimated date of November 2015.
Dread in the Deep. This is the adventure module (really a huge mega-module) I’m working on that started the need for the priest of Dagon. It’s got pirates, and long-defeated cults returning to power, and lots of factions and blind alleys and twists and turns. You know all that speculation and analysis I was doing of Temple of Elemental Evil? Here’s the outcome of that research, and it’s about a third written. Everything went on hold so I could write up the priesthood of Dagon, which morphed into the Demonolater project. But no particular creative blocks stopping me finishing once that’s out of the way. See how it all impacts each other? Estimated date: first half of 2016.
Castle of the Mad Archmage. I’m planning to do an expansion module every year, and that means a new one next year. I’ve got a four-level interconnected area already mapped out, and that’s the planned focus for the 2016 expansion, but I might take a crack at something less ambitious depending on how long it takes me to knock out Dread in the Deep. Estimated date: Summer 2016.
The Heavenly Empire. I’ve got a bunch of notes on what a setting for The Golden Sword of Justice would be like. This would be that. Consider this very tentative. I might even contract this out to another author. (I’ve even got someone in mind…) Let’s be generous and give it an estimated date of Fall 2016.
Cygnus Sector. My “starcrawl” style adventure for White Star. I wrote it in something like a week and a half, and while it’s some of the coolest stuff I’ve ever done, no one other than me could even come close to running it. I’m not sure if I need to start over from the beginning, find some other way of reorganizing the thing, or just run it as a convention game myself. Sometimes you just need to walk away from a project. It’s one of those things that makes perfect sense to me, but everyone I’ve shown it to was utterly baffled. I’m not even going to give this a tentative date at this point.
Adventures Great and Glorious. No, I haven’t forgotten this project, which is my take at “domain level” play, as well as long-term campaigns, groups/factions, mass combat, etc. This is another project that has been worked on in fits and starts for years. So this is probably the most tentative of the bunch, and depends entirely on my getting inspiration on a couple of issues that have hung me up. It could happen. It happened with Golden Scroll of Justice. Again, I’m not even going to give this a slot, but hope springs eternal.
So… to wrap things up, I’ve got two projects in their final stages, due in the next couple of months. Fine, comfortable with those. A big project that got put on hold because of a creative side venture, but no real issues foreseen. Something that has maps and some notes. Something I might pawn off on someone else. And two things that are dependent on the Muses to come down and grant me inspiration. Not bad for a year’s work. 🙂
