A Year of Full-Time TTRPG Work
TTRPG FREEBIE: MeatCastle Annual #1 - Full Zine!
If you only have 1 minute to check out this month’s Missive, please click here to check out the release of the MCGW Annual #1 collecting all of the newsletter freebies released here over the last year in a single A5 zine. It’s free to download on Itch NOW with print copies available via my new storefront as well!
Also, I’ve enabled paid subscriptions via Substack after receiving several requests and pledges from folks who wanted to financially support my work here. The paid tiers are essentially tip jars for me and DO NOT bar access to any past or future posts. The Freebies shall remain free (as will everything else here)! To those who signed up for a paid tier though, thank you so much! It means a lot!
- Christian
A little over one year ago, I took the plunge into full-time TTRPG work (and went part-time with what had been my full-time job at that point). In the time since, A LOT has happened:
5 personal projects (Bloodfields at Blackstar Station/UB just missed the cut off)!
22 editing projects!
10 writing projects!
6 game development projects!
Going through all of that, it’s hard to think it’s only been one year. In the day-to-day of it all, it’s easy to loose track of just how much can be done (and how long some things end up sitting on the backburner).
Financially without going through all the books, I was able to more-or-less hold steady with my prior full-time work (which is to say that doing TTRPG work full-time AND still working part-time elsewhere combined held me steady with the previous full-time position) which, for the first year, is a big win. At first, I had a 90-day test period, than a 6-month test period, then a 9-month test period and then…. the work just kept on coming and financially we were able to tread water. In a world where early days for something like this typically means losing money as you build up clients, finish projects, etc., that was a really encouraging time for me in this whole process.
If anyone is reading this and thinking they’d like to try and do the same thing I’ve done here, my one piece advice would be to remember that it’s a job, just like any other, and that it requires a focused, daily, and professional approach. Especially for freelance, if your clients cannot count on you to hit your deadlines, communicate effectively, and be a boon, rather than a burden, to their project, it’s unlikely they will ask you back for the next one (or recommend you to others in the space). It’s work, creatively fulfilling work, but still work. Always try to treat it as such.
Looking back on the last year or so, I’m extremely proud of the work I’ve done and of the number of projects I have been able to be a part of. When I first made the leap into freelance, I figured I may get a few jobs here or there, but never would have expected that I would have had a consistently stacked project calendar.
In the end, I went a bit too hard on freelance to the detriment of my personal projects, many of which have slowed considerably. In this next year, I’m hoping to find a better balance, still doing the freelance I love but focusing primarily on making consistent progress on my personal projects (like Tacticians of Ahm, several Mothership modules, a Mork Borg dungeon, and a Star Trek-inspired solo game) to ensure I have small, steady bits of income (and get to contribute to more awesome projects from great creators in the space) while also having consistent releases, building my back catalog, and more.
No matter how I look at it though, Year 1 of MeatCastle GameWare was a big success and I am really excited for the upcoming projects I have planned for Year 2. Thank you for being a part of this journey over the last year (and some one you from even before then) and I hope I keep you interested and excited into the future. I’ve got big plans!
- Christian
Outer Rim: Uprising is LIVE on Kickstarter!
Outer Rim: Uprising for Mothership 1e, the latest MEGA BUNDLE from Iko at The Lost Bay Studio, is live now in Kickstarter! I co-wrote two new in-universe pamphlets with Nyhur, both of which can be combined to create an open, player-driven adventure of rebellion against one of the universe’s many evil megacorps: LifeLabor BioSciences, a biotech company using human genetic information to create drones meant to replace workers across the universe. The Thinking Fist intend to stop them, and you can help!
So far, the campaign has seen TREMENDOUS success, and we are all truly stoked. This project is an equal profit share with each creator overseeing the creation of their own aspects of the project while working collaboratively to support the bundle’s campaign handbook that brings everything together into one cohesive web of anti-corp rebellion for your players to explore. By backing this bundle, you are supporting me (and all other 11 creators) directly!
MONTHLY FREEBIE
This month’s freebie is MeatCastle GameWare Annual #1, in recognition of it being one full year since I started dropping the monthly TTRPG freebies here as part of the Missives! This is a full, A5 zine combining the last year’s freebies all in one place. In keeping with the freebie spirit, you can download the zine on Itch.io now by paying what you want (which, of course, includes FREE)!
If you’d like to pick it up in print, I’m doing a limited print run and pre-orders are available now (shipping out ASAP after I order the print run on Nov. 1st) at the new MCGW store:
MORE COOL STUFF
The complete Cloud Empress rulebook is now available FOR FREE at DriveThruRPG! I did some development work on this book, and I’m tremendously stoked with the end result. It’s such a wonderfully unique and heartfelt world and system. I’m so excited to see it grow in the future!
I was lucky enough to have a tiny hand (proofreading) in the next great Liminal Horror module from Josh Domanski and Goblin Archives: THE BLOOM! From the moment I finished reading it, I’ve been dying to get it to the table. A wonderful open world-style adventure of a small town full of interesting folks and factions slowly succumbing to a terrible new form of life.
It’s available HERE digitally and print copies are coming soon via Space Penguin Ink!
I got to playtest an early version of Maxwell Lander’s Handbaskets, and it was an absolute blast! In a future where hell has come to earth and witchcraft is very real, you compete in deadly televised games to increase your reputation and appease the gods. It’s the first PvP TTRPG I’ve played where we all had fun the entire time. Plus, there are cheat codes!
Aaron King’s latest game, In a Mirror Brightly, is out now as well (in print, it’s the other side of a flipbook with Handbaskets), and it has so much good stuff going on.
In a Mirror Brightly is a game of millenarian magical rebellion. Wake up from the drudgery of everyday life in 199X and fight for the best future you can imagine! Inspired by The Matrix, The Invisibles, and Mage: The Awakening, and using mechanics inspired by Adam Vass's CyberMetal 2012, players will fight the power with tech, hex, and sex.
I recently guested on The Weekly Scroll! We reviewed Scott Malthouse’s DARK GRAAL which despite being only 2-pages had A TON going on and almost all of it very good. We’re hoping Scott gets a chance to expand this game out into a full zine in the future.
I recently joined Tumblr, mostly to chat TTRPGs with the folks over there and to occasionally make little things like this random table. Also, I’m going to be running a Play-By-Blog of Luke Gearing’s The Isle there over the coming weeks where I write up what happens and readers decide the PC’s actions via polls! It should be a fun experiment.
As always, thanks so much for reading and for your continued support! I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for y’all! See you next month! - Christian