Happy Halloween, an end of October Update!

So, unfortunately, this update is just words. I would like there to be content with the words, but it's just words, some of those words will be what content is coming, and when to expect it.

Cursesmith - 'tis time of Curses, where is it?

So, obviously, I really wanted to get Cursesmith out for Halloween, but Halloween is here, and Cursesmith is not. That's a bummer. I had a draft, but it just wasn't what I hoped, and after some soul searching I decided I could not make it what I hoped in time. But it will be coming soon, hopefully very soon.

My original plan was to launch it over nearly two  weeks ago, and have the public release out already, but alas, between a busy schedule and a number of drafts just not quite landing, it's been a slow process.

There are a lot ways to make it work the way I want to in mechanically complex ways, but I have yet to make it work the way I want to in a mechanically elegant way, that is still unique from the other more versatile subclasses (like Infusion and Gadgetsmith).

I still have faith that it will be an interesting subclass, but it's taking time.

What else ya got?

So there have been some updates this month. I'd fully intended to post College of Requiem as my backup for a Halloween reddit post if I couldn't get Cursesmith done, but alas, I forgot as this morning was very hectic.

But it and the rest of what I have been working on have joined the print friendly compendium, as well as been updated on the roster. As some of you may have seen in the weapon template posts, crafting is still ticking, and I think we'll see something on it eventually. It's another thing where I got something ready to post, but reading through the mechanics I just had to conclude it wasn't what I wanted to post, but I think the drawing board has been fruitful, but I would expect only one crafting path when it launches (Blacksmithing or Alchemy, Enchanting will be the 3rd, so will still go in order of the votes from the top three, but may not do them in the same order they were voted as I will focus on the one I feel I have the most coherent mechanics for).

The Expanded Toolbox is finally in its full 2.0 form, and that means that Artificer 2.0.2 is coming soon; I've gotten a lot of great feedback from the playtest content in it; running up on your last chance to submit yours if you have any before 2.0.2 finalizes some of those playtesting changes.

Also, as some of you have heard, we had a bit more art trouble. In the end, despite not hearing any issues from artists or copyright holders, I've decided to replace some art. Some of this I haven't been able to find free replacements for, so we will see some commission art in Artificer and Psion; not much, but enough to get by with. Unfortunately this did take quite a chunk of time, as this was a new thing for me. Fortunately, this is now something I think will take a lot less time in the future, as I have quite a few more contacts in that area, as well as all the legal/usage stuff written up for future dealings of that nature. 

What's coming next month?

Cursesmith is still the next thing in queue, and is coming soon. I really wanted it out today, but it isn't happening.

Artificer 2.0.2 will be in the first week or two, pretty sure on that; I would sort of like to get the cover art in it's finished form before I post that though - its a minor thing, but it'd save on controversy to post it without the placeholder art.

College of Requiems 1.1, Beastmaster Conclave 1.2, and two new subclasses should see the light of day next month. That's the plan anyway.

The Adventure? A lot of the Adventure writing from the 125 goal will be done next month, but I wouldn't expect the adventure to be out in more than a draft/beta version, as I don't know if I will have time to get playtesting for it done inside the next month.

Other than that, there's quite a lot of stuff on the "I'd like to get to it bucket" but is vaguely written in margin notes - Crafting (Alchemy or Blacksmithing), the magical enhancement class for Warlord, and Psionic subclasses. Another Psion Discipline (Clairvoyance) is on the maybe list, and an update to Unleashed is likely... stay tuned for more details there. Runesmith is a long shot, but if Cursesmith gets fleshed out and 2.0.2 goes smoothly, it'll be a solid shot.

The last thing I'm sure there will be more of is Feats. I was on a roll with them for a bit, but unfortunately whiffed a few in a row; thought them up, typed them out, crunched them, considered them, and realized they weren't what I wanted. It can be tricky because I think I fall into "targeted design" pitfalls occasionally, where I find myself design for "there needs to be a way to do X" and that isn't always where the best idea comes from - I think the best idea is from "Y is a cool thing, where does that fit in the game" rather than "there is gap Z in the game, what cool thing fits it".

You sound disorganized.

The truth hurts. Ouch.

 ...Did you say something about a Stream at some point?

A poll will go up for a stream next month. Basically it will be what dates and times people be interested in. If there is sufficient interest in a date or time... I'll give it a shot. I've done some fiddling, and more fiddling needs to happen, but I think it's possible. The trick is that while I know there is some interest, I'm not sure if that interest will overlap when I can do it, as fitting it into the weekend would be very tricky (there might be a weekend option, still working out the details), and of course, I have to fit it around my day job (I can be on Discord at work... I cannot stream making D&D content at work :) ).

Happy Halloween!

Hope ya'll had great Halloween sessions, and thank you so much for another month of your support. While I think a decent amount of content was put out this month, I would really have liked to see the Cursemith be among that content, but all I can promise is that I'll keep doing my best to get cool things to your gaming table, and hopefully that much at least is a promise I'll be able to keep :)

On one last note... we are once more to the highest patreon count. That's incredible; you are all so awesome, and I deeply appreciate the support - it's what brings me to spend the extra hour here and there seeing what neat stuff I can get out there.