Committing my Intention for 2026: HHSOLO2

Hey, Wayfaring Reader!

If you're a frequenter here at this infrequenting blog, you'll be dimly aware that a while back was the 10th anniversary of the publication of my Dungeon Crawl Classics solo gamebook. I don't hype it up, much, but I'd link to think it was inspirational and I almost uniformly get positive feedback on it.

In fact, a guy took it upon himself a few years ago to translate it into Spanish so his girlfriend could play it. Poor girl! I hope they are still together and their children are well-fed and -behaved. Another guy in Spain (I think) made it into an Android App - I'm an iOS guy but I could probably sort out how to play it on an emulator if I could muster the gumption. An interesting side-effect of this process was that he asked me about why there were certain entries into which one could not ingress through the normal gaming process: that is, no entries had choices that led to these entries in normal play...

I'd been found out! Owing to the conversion process from the gamebook authoring tool to a word document, I had left in some placeholders and then on the way through I had entirely missed updating them after I had written the rest of the text. So in an emergency (and since I had grown weary of writing, editing, and laying it out by then) I swiftly wrote in the entries as stubs. You can't get to them but if you've been flipping back and forth you will have noticed the different format of the entries and would note that they are clues to a different numbered entry that DOES have Paul Wolfe's patron attached. You would have to consciously and conscientiously break the gaming conventions of the book to get in there to find the reALITY BENDING ULTRABEING and bend him to your will (insert winky emoji 😘 )

Another dude asked me about Nebrovolent, which I dug up from an old Dragon magazine Runequest adventurer and never saw anywhere else again. i think I put a disclaimer in the book about it, but anyways, no more explicit theft of IP for me. 

Anyways, the text of the sequel has sat on my hard drive long enough and owing to some recent positive feedback and interest I've decided to reinvest emotional resources into the thing and get it out there. I haven't approached Goodman Games about it, yet so keep it quiet for the time being, but I hope that Joseph and the good-hearted Head Acolytes will take pity on me when I do have something to propose.

No kickstarters (no offense) but I will get and pay for an editor - I know a couple of suitable ones. And I think I will invest in an ISBN so bookstores can easily carry it if they are inclined...

I think I can recall all the necessary processes in InDesign to lay it out myself again, and of course one of the joys of making it will be making art for it. And I may commission an artist to do the cover for me again, this time with understanding of what cover art needs (Sam Schultz, keep an ear out!)

HHSOLO 2 originally began as a romp through a futuristic megadungeon a la M. St Claire's "Sign of the Labrys" but I lost oomph. The beginnings of that were posted on the blog a few years ago. The next iteration was a seafaring romp taking after "Lathan's Gold" which was the first Expert Set solo module. I realized after I began that I had bitten off way more than I could chew, but I did actually make the entries for the first town based off "Lathan's Gold" city of Specularum. I think I called it Aubergiole which is a loose translation of "Innsmouth" and it was grimy and zombie infested and awful in the way that Specularum was bustling and bright-eyed. I may have committed some of that text to this blog, also. I'll have to look. I never released it as a gamebook-format thing but I did keep the idea alive in my brain. It culminated with a break-in into the Deep One-Hybrid Pirate Sorcerer's vault to steal some cursed loot, but I ran out of steam and life carried on. here I am. I've got a day or two a week to write again and I'm dealing with some minor depression that ought to abate as the winter wraps up. 

Anyways, wish me luck! Hopefully I will update you soon on my progress for (tentatively)

HHSOLO 2 : INKDARK VAULTS OF THE SEA-SORCERER

p.s. there are a few tenuous  ideas for follow-ups on the hard-drive. Some I have forgotten entirely... maybe it;s time to raid the archives

"Giving up The Narrative" Collaboration and Ownership in RPG Play Spaces

One of the gentlemen who own and run the local gaming club I attend asked me last week to do a little presentation about my DM'ing style this weekend. At The Historic Haven here in Frederick, Maryland the club owners are really into using data-driven analysis of the discord forum and use of the physical space to drive good decisions for the members. So every so often they have a "DM Conclave" which I have been invited to in the past but avoided because when I'm not going out of my way to play games with pals there at the club, I jealously guard my free-time to spend with my family.

I had to do it a little extemporaneously because of personal circumstances, and I don't know if it was well-received or not. My take was essentially, share more than what you usually do in the crating of game narratives. Let the players have a good time with it. Rulings not rules. Reflective listening. "Yes, and..." the old chestnut from improv comedy. Don't inflict your tedious novel on players, and don't let them inflict their precious backstory on you and the others. What your character is is what comes in playtime. I tend to solicit meaning and world-building stuff from players in real time so that we can build our world together.

Of 10 or 15 participants (I guess I was doing the talking), only one or two people asked about the HOWs and WHYs of the thing. I heard a lady say "well neither of these talks are anything I'm interested in".

The question I can recall from the gentleman was "I guess I'm afraid of failing a little bit so I don't improv more and I have to take a lot of time to prep. How do you know if it's working properly?" Well, the answer in that case is to ask the players if their having fun, if it's not clear from the context. Laughing and enjoying each other's company is the reason I play. But it's clear everybody has their own game. System mastery, competition, adversarial approaches. I have not interest in dominating or subjecting anyone who would sit down at our table. And since it's "DCC" at the bottom, if you bring a 5th edition character, I can with some confidence convert your PC on the fly to fit into our open-table, rules-light, freewheeling adventures.

I'm trying to understand my reaction to their reaction, which was kind of dead-eyed and insolent. Seemed like a lot of the participants really like hours of dice-rolling combat, which ugh. Hey man, or ma'am, whatever you're into. Most mooks and grunts are one-hit wonders for us. Why would I want to go around a table rolling dice for an hour or more for one encounter?

Anyways, be well. In other hobby spaces I am playing a lot of skirmish/regiment games these days. Turnip 28. I'm learning "Muskets and Tomahawks 2.0" so that's fun. 3d printers are sort of on hold. Trying some new painting techniques - acrylic nail transfer gizmo and also slap-chop with a makeup sponge. Lots of Genshin Impact (not good for my brain, really, but still a gorgeous game).