Updates

Updates and News

/ Renaissance Gamer / Leave a comment
The author, Brent, a large blonde beardy man with glasses, wearing a grey wizard's hat.

A cunning new hat appears!

Hello! I plan to get posts out every Wednesday minimum, so sorry for the silence. The time since my last post was rough, but things are back on track so look for me to come back to regular posts starting next week, with the second part of “Let’s Stat at the Beginning“.

This week I wanted to give some updates and news that might have got lost in the Twitter flotsam and jetsam. I’ve been quiet but still hard at work setting up for the things I want to create in 2023. So let’s talk about that.

  • I have a newsletter! I’m starting out monthly on the fifteenth; if folks are receptive it may go bi-weekly but for right now I’m starting where I know I can do the work. I’m talking about the games I think are cool, summing up the stuff I’m doing, sharing cool TTRPG news, and giving away monthly prizes. If that sounds like your flavour of whiskey, please drop your email at the link. Needless to say, I don’t share this info with 3rd parties.
  • Streaming resumes in March! I’m starting back on Wednesday nights at 6pm MST, 8pm EST. I’m staying on with solo TTRPGs for these streams, and I’ll update this post with a list of what I’m playing soon! I’m also looking at doing some early morning coffee hangouts, likely on Thursdays and Fridays, just to enjoy my morning coffee and chat with folks to help start your day and mine. Stay tuned for the detailed schedule, and if you can drop a follow on Twitch in the meantime, that would be swell.
  • YouTube videos are coming back! I’m working on some pre-recorded and edited stuff right now, and will expand that work once my shiny new camera gets here and expands my tech capabilities. I want to highlight the work of marginalized creators in the space, with deep dives into their work and maybe interviews if I can swing it. So these videos will be shorter and more heavily edited, which is a new direction for me and I’m excited to keep learning how. If you haven’t, please give me a follow on YouTube and keep your eyes pealed.

Those are the highlights for what’s coming. I hope you’ll stick around and come along for the ride, it’s going to be a good time! And I’ll see you next week with Part 2 of Let’s Stat at the Beginning!

Thursday Self Promotion

/ Renaissance Gamer / Leave a comment

Because of a friend who comes all-caps screaming into my Twitter DMs when they don’t feel I am promoting myself enough, what follows is a post of things I have recently released, am currently working on, and how you can help me do the things I do if you like what you see around here. I may make this a regular mid-month post, if for no other reason than to save my friend the trouble of messaging me.

So let’s start on this page and work our way outward, shall we? First up, I am a skilled editor of TTRPGs and speculative fiction. My rates and other information can be found on the Need an Editor? page on this site. My rates are reasonable and negotiable, so if you are looking for an editor for your next project please contact me with the handy contact form at the bottom of that page. I would love to discuss your next project with you. The page also has links to a selection of previous projects that are worth checking out.

I have recently been taking part in game jams over on Itch under my publishing imprint, Prairie Dragon Press. I have two projects available now: Game Master’s Quick Reference for the Bookmark Jam, and Editing for TTRPGs: A Primer for the Non-Editor for the TTRPG Resource Jam. Both are PWYW, with proceeds going to a fund which allows me to do free editing work for marginalized creators.  A third project, Toys Against Terror (working title) is coming at the end of the month for the Fluffy Horror Jam.

I write articles, editorials and reviews mostly, over at The Rat Hole. Articles go up on Mondays, with reviews popping up whenever my editor schedules them. There are plenty of other folx over there doing excellent stuff so the site is worth your attention. You can give them a follow on Twitter to get notified about new posts.

I am privileged to be one of the members of the Creator’s Catalyst Project, which exists to provide new and marginalized creators with access to editing, layout, and art for their projects. The link goes to our website and you can find all the information about applying there. If you don’t have a project but like the sound of what we do, you can support our efforts with a donation to our Ko-Fi. Funds raised there help us put additional resources into each project we take on, and possibly allow us to work on more than one project.

I also raise funds for Extra Life every year, and we are currently closing in on this year’s game day. I am currently at about 55% of my fundraising goal for this year, and I have a number of incentives available if you donate as an individual, or get your gaming group together to make a donation. You can donate safely and easily through my Extra Life Donation Page, and everything you give goes to support sick kids.

I think that’s it for now. There are a few things I have coming up that I can’t discuss yet and I reserve the right to come back and update as my faulty memory supplies new information. If you want to talk to me about anything here, shoot me a message using the contact form on the site, or message me on Twitter. 

Interview and Updates

/ Renaissance Gamer / Leave a comment

I will add my voice to the throngs lamenting the arrival of March already. It’s been a busy first quarter of the year, which has sadly kept me from posting here as often as I would like.

But I haven’t been idle! You can find a plethora of 2020 posts from me over at The Rat Hole. And Ben over at the Bone Box Chant posted an interview he did with me as part of his Editors series. If you’d like a peek behind the curtain of my editing process it’s a good read.

And things push ahead with Salt Bay Pirate Radio! I recorded an Episode Zero and am editing that now, and plan to record Episode One this Sunday. Plus the logo I commissioned is almost done, so I should have that in place when the first episode goes live, which will be keen.

I do miss posting here, however, so do expect me to get back to that. As I mentioned this past Monday I am revisiting my thirty year old AD&D Spelljammer setting house rules. My plan is to post a bunch of my process of updating it to 5e on here, so you can get an idea of what I love about that setting. And it will be a taste of the resource I will eventually publish.

Summertime, and the Gaming is Easy

/ Renaissance Gamer / Leave a comment

Another hot day on the Canadian Prairies, so it seemed the perfect time to sit inside with the AC and give a quick update on goings on in my life, gaming, and the site.

Big news right off the top: I put my name in the running to become an ENnies judge! It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but because I was repping one TTRPG company or another over the last several years I wasn’t eligible. This was actually the first year in a decade I could sign up, so I made the plunge. I’ll make a longer post on the day voting opens (Wednesday, July 11, so limber up your clicking fingers) to talk about why I’m invested in becoming a judge and how you can help (the hint was “voting”), but if I succeed in getting a spot you can expect to see a metric tonne of product reviews and discussions here. Plus you should just go vote in the ENnies because there is a lot of really great stuff nominated this year, and these awards are one way (besides buying the product) we can show some love to the designers.

Whether I become a judge or not, though, you can expect to see some changes around the site leading up to the fall. I took a step forward and upgraded to a paid site here on Worpress, complete with the shiny new domain renaissancegamer.ca. You can update your links as you please, but I am assured both the new and old URLs will get you here so it isn’t a panic. A paid site gives me some more options for layout and design, as well as e-commerce options which may become handy in the future. Plus it allows me to lock in the Renaissance Gamer domain name. I could have gone for .com, but I’m Canadian so .ca seemed appropriate. Plus it allows that person focusing on Renaissance era dice and card games to have their shot at a site.

I’m still posting once a week over at The Rat Hole, every Monday. Ish. Okay, sometimes Tuesday because both Dave and I are busy dudes and it may take a little while to post the articles I submit totally on time and never late ever. Between The Rat Hole and here, my goal is to post three times a week minimum, with more content if I have more to say.

Work on the Canadian Library of Roleplaying Games proceeds apace. I’m exploring database options while the collection is relatively small, so I don’t find myself 10,000 books deep in a database I realize doesn’t do what I want. I’m also building out a website so I can move the Library’s main presence off Facebook, as I’m in the process of minimizing my connection with that site. And of course I’m expanding the collection, hitting book sales when I can and following up on leads from friends who know what I’m up to. I’m also developing contacts with as many small publishers I can so I can pick up and add their work to the library. As much as I enjoy collecting the old gaming material I also want to be proactive and add new material to the collection so I stay on top of new games.

Somewhere in all that I’m also finding time to play and run games. Never as much as I like, but that is the bane of anyone who’s interests in the hobby also extend outside just the playing. I’m happy with the games I’m in and my players seem to be happy with the games I’m running, so I’m content.

That’s it for now. You’ll see a post on Monday over at The Rat Hole, and I’ll have a post here on Wednesday, with another one on the Friday/the weekend. Until then stay cool or hot, as your local weather dictates.