Happy New Year!
2023 was a year of growth for Dragon Peak Publishing. It marked the true start of me actually using substack and we’re on a excellent streak of weekly updates. I got to meet a lot of people through this and help be apart of the rising tide by interviewing and uplifting other creators.
(Btw, if you have a ZineQuest/ZineMonth project that could use a little boost, then reach out. It’s gearing up to be a busy month but I’ve got a few spots left to help boost other projects).
2023 Retrospective
Product Releases
We had 11 releases last year! That’s a pretty dang constant release schedule. Now, six of those releases were pamphlet adventures so that does make it easier. But let’s still list them out:
What The Hell Is A Fishblade? (Pirate Borg)
For some reason, this is the one that sells the best digitally out of all my pamphlets!
Dirty, Thievin’ Nerdz (Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland)
It’s Pay-What-You-Want so go get it!
Academia Arcana RPG: Ashcan Edition (DCC-variant)
Still inviting anyone to give me feedback on this! I’ve been given very little in either compliment or criticism. With Sanjulian on board to create original cover art, I’m hoping to Kickstart the full-version of this later this year. More on that below!
Conventions
That was recently detailed. I attended four in-person conventions and four online conventions. I’m likely to do about the same number this year.
Twitch
Rules As Written continued! We had about 20 episodes last year. With no end in sight, we’ll soldier on on the Goodman Games Twitch channel. First episode of the year is January 9th at 5PM Central!
Substack
There were 23 newsletter posts! That’s a whole lot, but I’m sure I can beat that number this year. Especially seeing as I barely posted in the first half of 2023. What was your favorite post?
Looking Forward to 2024
So I’ve got a lot on my plate this year. Fortunately, a lot of it is happening this year because of work I put in last year.
Freelancing:
Writing (that I expect to be published/crowdfunded this year)
Adventure in Ruination Pilgrimage
Article in Scientific Barbarian #6
Stretch goal content in Caverns of the Dead God
Adventure and region write-up for a future Into the Madlands 2
And a writing gig that I’m not at liberty to talk about :)
Other
Fulfillment on Prisoners of the Secret Overlords
Possible future project management and fulfillment with David Matalon
Editing for H20-pocalypse. Coming soon for ZineMonth!
Oh, I’m sure something else will pop up. :) I’m available for freelance work and can be contacted via email at DragonPeakPublishing@gmail.com.
Dragon Peak Publishing projects:
I have 4 planned projects, but one of them (Academia Arcana) is really large. Between that and freelancing gigs, I doubt that I’ll published 11 individual projects this year. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if I get some wild inspiration and end up creating an extra pamphlet or two.
Weird Frontiers
Double-feature adventure module: Big Trouble For A Little Blood & The Sinister Secret of the Slugmen
Editing 100%; playtesting 100%; layout in progress; cover art and interior has been commissioned
Expecting to crowdfund this spring/summer with a quick turnaround
Academia Arcana RPG
A standalone DCC-based system where the PCs all plays students at “wizard school”
Core rules and 3/4 planned adventures have been written and playtested. Additional playtesting to continue. The Ashcan edition represents about 50-60% of what has been written
Sanjulian to create the cover art for the full release
Hoping to crowdfund in the Summer or Fall
Playtesters welcome! Download the playtest rules from DriveThruRPG and email any feedback to email DragonPeakPublishing@gmail.com
Mutant Crawl Classics
About 6k/10k words completed for another MCC zine: Marauders of the Multiverse. The rest has been outlined.
Cover art has been commissioned.
Have written and playtested an adventure titled The Red Truth of Fellowship Farm
Have outlined a number of travelers who could visit Fairhaven. With these combined, it’ll be a good size zine! I might crowdfund this along with MotM4.
Summary
It was a busy 2023 and it’ll be a busy 2024! But that’s not a bad problem to have! How’s your year looking? Anything from my 2024 plans that you’re especially excited about?
What else is going on?
Indie Creator Summit
Indie RPG Creator Summit is three days of Zoom webinars where RPG creators hear from dozens of experts on every aspect of RPG publishing. Learn about product design and art direction; layout and print production; crowdfunding and digital selling; marketing and distribution; and everything in between.
I’ll be one of the hosts on the Layout 101 panel (Jan 9, 6PM Central), but will also be attending as many of these panels as I can! Join us LIVE on ZOOM: January 8-10, 2024.
Etsy
Starting the year with a sale! Use the code REAVE25 to get 25% off any shirt (or shirts). The sale lasts until Jan 31st!
The Fairhaven stuff will be amazing. Count me in on MCC, DCC and Fairhaven for sure!