Irons In Fires

Happy Zine Month!

I've made a goal to publish 6 things in 2026. I'm knee deep in laying out and polishing up Bolthaven Folio #3 right now, and I've got a new editing gig in the door, so the next few weeks feel very full. I've got some other projects in the hopper, but I may take a look back and rehab some old projects during March. So let's see what's on my mind lately.

The Present

I've done some testing with the Settlement System that appears in Bolthaven Folio #3. It's minimal as tests go, but I think the system holds up. It'll be interesting to see this work at larger settlement sizes. I'm hoping to get that published this week for Zine Month (#ZiMo), so stay tuned. And the aforementioned editing gig just kicked off, so I'll be distracted for the next few weeks.

The Past

I've had a couple of discussions about Schrödinger's Gun GMing in the past few weeks, so I'm thinking of revisiting those articles and seeing what's left to say about the quantum-inspired ideas I've already explored. I sort of fizzled out on that project, but I think I have another couple of ideas to explore. We'll see what I think after re-reading what I wrote 15 years ago.

Cover Art for NanoRegent

I've been looking at twwombat.com to at least update at least the content, if not the vibe. I discovered that the downloadable files were removed as part of an upgrade, so I'm thinking of taking the games I put up there (that's Provenance, NanoRegent, The Tao Of Gaming, and possibly Domo if I can test it some more) and adding them to my itch.io shop as Pay What You Will. It'll take time to find the originals and tweak them for public consumption, and I don't know if those will count toward my 6-publication goal. We'll see how that project goes.

I've published five things during 2025. Everything listed is Pay What You Will, so feel free to go grab a copy, and chip in a few bucks if what I made speaks to you. Links are to itch.io, with DriveThru links at the end.

• Condensed Character Creation summarizing the tables for making characters in Sword of Cepheus 2e (DriveThruRPG).
• Echoes at the Edge of the World, a system-agnostic adventure for the Appendix N Jam.
• Historia Obscura for the OnePage RPG Jam 2025.
• Bolthaven Folio #1: Forge and Fate, containing a system for chaotic item creation (DriveThruRPG).
• Bolthaven Folio #2: Bard Bands, detailing a few multi-Bard magic enhancement systems (DriveThruRPG).

The Future

I've got a list of ideas for future Bolthaven Folio that all need more development. I have an adventure that I started for the Indie Adventure Jam and failed to finish in time that I want to get out - I've identified some Dyson maps to use, but I need to finish writing the thing. I'm also working on MoteWright, which will encompass an expanded version of the Settlement System. And I still have notes for DaggerStar, a Traveller-ish hack of Daggerheart, but that's on the back burner at the moment.

For 2026, I think I'll mainly stick with the Folios to make my 6-publication goal. They're fast to make, and they're weird little add-ons that may or may not fit with the way anyone else plays games. But they're complete little systems that can attach to other games, and I think they add neat new things to a game that uses them. I have projects that will probably extend longer than this year, but we'll see what happens.

On a personal note, I'm still without a day job, which is shaking my stability at this point. It feels like searching for work is taking more and more of my time and attention for less and less return. Having a creative outlet in publishing game things will keep me at least moderately sane. Here's hoping something changes for the positive in the short term, because this new health insurance sucks.

Onward!