Check out the latest on the TTRPGkids works in progress to stay up to date on upcoming releases! This Dev Log will cover the latest status for the StoryGuider project, status on Mystery Snacks, announcements for a couple NEW projects, and my next set of convention plans!

Jump to:

• In fulfillment: StoryGuider
• Coming soon: Mystery Snacks
• Just announced: Boundless Brochures
• Just released: Little Mouse Bookmark
• Convention: ConFusion

StoryGuider art and writing progress

The TTRPGkids StoryGuider campaign on Backerkit finished this year, and, since last update, I’ve finished writing all the new adventures (3 for Tome Traveller and 4 for Sandy), and all the art has been kicked off with lots of both samples and finalized pieces coming in!

Here’s a sample from Juno who’s illustrating the Tome Traveller series, one of the new trilogies to StoryGuider!

For the overall timeline status….

COMPLETED:

• Oct – campaign funds released from Backerkit
• Oct – send contracts for funded art to artists
• Oct – draft the Tome Traveller Trilogy (part of the Heroes series)
• Oct → Nov – collect first round of art from early artist kick-offs (from itchio and ko-fi prefunds)
• Nov – artists working on Heroes series
• Nov/Dec – finish writing the new Dragon series adventures

NEXT STEPS:

• Nov → Dec – reformat the Heroes series
• Dec – Heroes series art due
• Dec – Heroes series goes in for test prints
• Jan – reformat the Friends series
• Jan – artists working on Friends series
• Feb – Friends series art due
• Feb – Friends series goes in for test prints
• Feb – Heroes series prints arrive, complete physical copy reviews
• Mar – reformat the Dragon series
• Mar – artists working on Dragon series
• Apr – Friends series prints arrive, complete physical copy reviews
• Apr – fulfill Heroes and Friends series for backers
• Apr – Dragon series art due
• Apr – Dragon series goes in for test prints
• May – start weekly releases of a la carte trilogies for public on DTRPG
• May – Friends series prints arrive, complete physical copy reviews
• June – fulfill Friends series for backers

For this past month, everything has been mostly on track. I still have some of the Heroes series stories to reformat, but it shouldn’t push the schedule back any because I can do that in parallel to the remaining art coming in (and it kind of works a little better that way anyway).

For the next month, I’ll be focusing on keeping up with the artists to answer any questions and review work then getting the Heroes series formatted for test printing. Everything should still be on track, and I’m getting progressively more excited to see this all come together!

AND… if you missed the campaign…

Coming Soon to Backerkit: Mystery Snacks!

Mystery Snacks is going to Backerkit in February for zine month, which is… actually right around the corner!!

So far with this one, the base game is written and being formatted with the layout artists, and then the crowdfunding campaign will be to fund a print run and stretch goals for art and guest writers.

It’s pretty solid for launch as the project, but I do need to really work on getting more followers to the on the page and kicking off the pre-launch party. I’m pretty confident that I’ll be ready for Feb based on how a lot of my other projects had a significant follower increase as they got closer to launch, but it’s good to work on it earlier rather than later, I think, too.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be pulling ads in a few indie TTRPG newsletters/lists, working with folks on a cross-collab endeavor between the all-ages TTRPG zine projects launching with similar timing, and trying to find a collaboration buddy for the Backerkit Zinetopia event so we can offer a cross-collab bonus.

Just announced: Boundless Brochures

Submissions for Backerkit’s Pocketopia event are due Dec 18, so I’ve created the base page for my next-next project now as well!

Boundless Brochures will be for a series of brochure-style games that blend history, geology, and other similar subjects with myths and legends. So far, I have digital versions of the first three (all centered on Irish legends) released in digital format on itch.io, and I have plans for additional games on Scottish, German, and Scandinavian stories, either as part of the base project or as stretch goals.

The crowdfunding campaign for this one will be focused on funding print runs for the digitally released brochures and maybe unlocking some bonus games that fit the theme.

My next steps on this are going to be to fill out the pre-launch page a bit more (once some of the Mystery Snacks goals are done), start advertising it on socials, and writing the additional game trilogies.

Just released: Little Mouse Bookmark

This month, there was a TTRPG bookmark game jam, so I made a little character creator bookmark using a mechanic that’s been stuck in my head for a while. The concept here is to have holes in the bookmark, set it on a random page, and then see what shows up in the holes to determine some characteristics about your PC.

Little Mouse Bookmark is currently released as free, and it’s been submitted to the bookmark jam and the Mausritter jams on itchio.

And…. I really want to do more with this concept. I like the holes overlapping with something in the background as a mechanic and am excited to have made this and seen how it would work. I have like 10 new ideas, so I’m going to wait and see which ones stick around and still seem good after the holidays and then get a game or two into the queue for future projects.

Convention: ConFusion!

Lastly, I want to talk about convention plans!

I’ll be at ConFusion (which is themed after Magic the Gathering this year) in Michigan giving talks, running games, and doing a workshop with the teens to help them build their art and writing portfolios.

This is one of my favorite conventions with chill vibes, lots of writer-focused events, a nice proximity to home, and great timing with it being in January to break up some of the winter blues.

I’ll have more details in January on what panels I’ll be on, but… if you’re in Michigan, start looking this up now. It’s a fun one that’s got a mix of gaming, sci-fi, fantasy, writing, music, science, etc (hence the name ConFUSION).

I have another update coming your way in mid-January, and until then, happy holidays and happy new year!

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Thank you for checking out this update and just kind of being interested in what TTRPGkids is doing! I hope it helps with seeing some of the self-pub, crowdfunding, and blog writing process for anyone who is thinking of getting into that themselves!

Until next time…. happy gaming!

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