2020 was a hard year for so many as we, as a planet, dealt with untold tragedies throughout the world. Talking about the year with a focus on tabletop roleplaying games feels trite compared to the life altering experiences so many endured in 2020. Even though my year was nowhere near as difficult as many, I took my lumps. Even amid the challenges, there were small moments of fun detailed in the articles I wrote for EN World, d20 Radio, High Level Games, Knights of the Dinner Table, and GAMA’s Around the Table. Most of my pieces are dedicated to promoting tabletop roleplaying games, mainly the new ones coming through crowdfunding. Within the 150+ pieces I penned, there were several articles and interviews that I consider my 2020 RPG journalism highlights. Since it’s the end of this year, I wanted to look back at those articles to mark some accomplishments as I did my part to help elevate some tabletop roleplaying games and their creators in a small way.
Leaders of the Industry
One of the better moments in 2020 was seeing my Rolodex of interviewees expand as I spoke to a number RPG CEOs, VPs, and other leaders in the industry. That included Tomas Härenstam, CEO of Free League Publishing, discussing their direction for 2020 just as America was experiencing the first impacts of COVID. Monte Cook of Monte Cook Games joined me to promote his Kickstarter for Heroes of the Cypher System towards the end of the year. Phil Reed, CEO of Steve Jackson Games as well as his own game company, shared his Mörk Borg RPG zines, and the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge & Book of Dungeon Encounters. Phil has the secret of Kickstarters rolling right now and I find each of his new offerings to be a delight. Among the games I’ve covered (and recently received) include Alice is Missing. To that end, I did an interview with Ivan Van Norman, head of Critical Role’s Darrington Press and a co-owner of Hunters Entertainment. It was cool to talk to Ivan before the next big step in his career. Of course, I work for Morrus of EN Publishing so it made sense to talk to him about one of his projects, Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters for D&D 5E. This was one of the larger RPG projects EN Publishing did and it met with a great deal of success. However, probably the most important discussion I had in terms of an exclusive announcement was sharing the news from Michael O’Brien, VP at Chaosium, about selling the HeroQuest trademark to Hasbro. That act led to Hasbro crowdfunding the return of the popular HeroQuest boardgame which went on to exceed $3.7 million in pre-orders. Discussing some of the big hits of the industry with its leaders gave a different perspective on the state of gaming.
Disruptions, Conventions, Ends, Black Lives Matter
Speaking of the industry, let’s talk about some of the setbacks that RPG experienced as a result of the pandemic. Since RPG conventions (and all conventions, really) took a year off from physical gatherings with many choosing to go virtual, it changed a lot of plans. For one of the physical conventions, JordanCon, I’d arranged an interview with Christina Stiles about the Rogue Mage RPG based on the book series of the same name that she’d developed along with the novelist Faith Hunter. Faith was the Guest of Honor for JordanCon 2020 so I was glad to have an article tying into the GoH and RPG. When the convention did not happen in the real world, it was cathartic to have this article to commemorate what would have been.
Of the unexpected difficulties in gaming that I composed these interviews about, the one that feels the most unexpected was Robert Bohl of Misspent Youth giving his exit interview as he left the RPG industry behind. Losing an award-winning creator because the hobby was not giving him enough reason to stay was something of a blow to my perceptions of the industry as a whole. I was glad Robert took the time to speak with me, and that he was able to put his creation in another publisher’s hands, but it still hurts to see someone retire the publisher’s hat.
Then there’s the direct impacts of COVID on the industry as a whole. Not just the conventions or the lack of face-to-face games, but the distribution of games and the stores. For a while, earlier in the year, one of the largest game distributors shutdown which caused a major ripple across the landscape. At EN World, I spoke to Steve Jackson Games, Kobold Press, Ulisses Spiele, Pinnacle Entertainment, and Kenzer and Company (publishers of Knights of the Dinner Table) about the 2020 Diamond & Alliance Shutdown. I followed that up with another talking to more publishers like Chaosium, Green Ronin, R. Talsorian, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and, as you’d imagine since I write for them, EN Publishing. What they shared spoke to how this pandemic took its toll on the finances of RPGs, and gaming in general, as publishers could not get their products to retailers.
But, in my estimation, the most important piece I wrote about 2020 was simply a collection of links. This piece shared links to other articles I’d written over the years about black RPG creators and their projects. Black lives matter and black games matter and, from my position of privilege, the way I can help black gamers is to support their games by writing about them (Great Games: Black RPG Creators And Publishers). Talking about these games gets them in front of gamers and, I hope, lets those individuals see the amazing work that’s being created. It’s a small bit of help, especially compared to the enormity of what should be done to assist black people, but I want to believe that these simple words have some positive impact on the world.
The Happier Moments of 2020
How did I get through 2020? Like so many people that made it through this year, it was many small steps, taken one at a time. Many of those steps were taken while roleplaying. One of my favorite escapes was the Amazon series, Tales from the Loop, based on Simon Stålenhag’s art, which inspired the award-winning RPG. The series spoke to me as it did to so many RPG creators. Because of how much I enjoyed the series, I collected many of those creator’s comments at High Level Games (RPG Creators React To Amazon’s Tales From The Loop Series).
But getting by wasn’t accomplished just by watching gaming related materials, it was done by playing games. One of those RPGs was Arcana Academy. Steven Cummings (co-creator and artist of Wayward through Image Comics as well as the artist of Champions at Marvel Comics), John McGuire (author of The Echo Effect and The Dark That Follows), and I played a mini-campaign of the Powered by the Apocalypse RPG that mixes The Worst Witch and Harry Potter into an amazingly fun time. This game is a great example of how an RPG can improve put a smile on your face. It meant enough that the three of us wrote an article about how uplifting the experience was (Arcana Academy – Channeling Harry Potter and The Worst Witch w/ Steven Cummings and John McGuire).
Being in Print
While I am proud of every site I write for, writing reviews for Knights of the Dinner Table is a big win. Part of the reason for that writing for them is the fulfillment of a childhood dream as I bought a subscription to Shadis Magazine at Dragon Con in the 1990s (Shadis is where Knights debuted).
Beyond Knights, I had pieces in another print publication, GAMA’s new tabletop gaming magazine, Around The Table. In issues 1, 2, and 4, I was able to be a part of the first issues of this industry organ was quite a thrill.
But, in terms of print, my professional highlight of 2020 was something beyond journalism, it was being published in a prose anthology. Having my short story accepted for print, well, that’s validating. To promote the work I did, I talked to the authors of Tales from Vigilante City, a superhero RPG anthology from Bloat Games. [Disclaimer: Just to be clear, I wrote a short story in this anthology.]
Beyond the Industry
Let me state the obvious, I do a number of interviews, and this year offered several interesting opportunities. These next few highlights stand out because they’re with creators from outside of the tabletop gaming industry. These interviewees have a level of celebrity that made me feel like I was doing something special. I spoke to Matthew Lillard of Beadle & Grimm, Scream, Scooby Doo, and Hackers fame about his RPG accessory company and their first Kickstarter. That was a win and I want to thank Beth Rimmels and Paul Shapiro for making it happen. While promoting their latest album, Trevor Strnad of the death metal band, The Black Dahila Murder, discussed their special product offering to promote the album, a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition adventure, Depths of Drasted. One of the articles that I wrote that was, in a way, just the to the left of RPG proper was talking to Jim Zub of Skullkickers fame as well as comic books such as Wayward, Thunderbolts, Uncanny Avengers, Pathfinder, D&D, Champions, and D&D Live 2019 with Matt Mercer. We discussed the Kickstarter for his 5e adventure and adaptation for SKULLKICKERS: Caster Bastards and the Great Grotesque. Getting to talk to gamers from Hollywood, music, and comics illustrates how mainstream RPGs have become in 2020. Going beyond what I write, it is amazing to see major publications interview Mike Pondsmith about Cyberpunk 2077. In such a down year, it’s heartening to witness this level of acceptance of the hobby. With the staggering success of Cyberpunk 2077 at the close of 2020, there’s hope in 2021 for RPGs.
Welcome 2021!
I wrote many articles with many great creators and products, not all of which were shared here. While 2020 was a rough year, I hope yours had some good moments. For my end, I’m glad to move past it to the new year. I’m eager to continue to promote tabletop games and help creators where I can. To that end, I hope all of your dice rolls are crits and that you have a great 2021!
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