Well, hey there friends, this has been a super busy year for me. I wrote a ton of adventures. I updated some novels. I wrote a game! I’m really proud of the work I finished this year, and I’ve been really grateful for all of the support and kind words from all of you as well.
Here’s the quick rundown on “the stuff I did this year”:
2022 Gaming
This year included a lot of big adventures and a lot of little ones. Star Dragon Rage, Battle for Carrion Vale, and Orbital Vampire City (brand new as of last week!) are all huge campaign-esque adventures, with dozens and dozens of locations, and tons of original monsters and magic items. Each one could support months of gaming if you wanted to explore all the nooks and crannies in them.
At the other end of the spectrum, 13 Weird One-Shots and Imperial Vault 19 are tight little dungeon-delves that should give you a fun night with your friends.
I was also very excited to release Harthbreaker, my homebrew gaming system (rules light, 2d6, classless) that I’ve been using for the past two years with my friends (and many kids). Even if you don’t care for the system, the guide contains dozens of random tables for creating magic items, weapons, creatures, dungeon locations, wilderness locations, traps… you get the idea.
2022 Fiction
I updated two novels a bit to better describe some of the creatures and peoples that appear in Dungeon Age games and adventures. Over time, my ideas for the world of Harth have matured and crystalized, becoming more distinct in my mind and easier to describe across games and books.
For example, I originally had “dwarves” in Harth that had some metallic organs and hair, and they have now evolved into the Vrahoi, which are human-descended mutants whose bodies are laden with minerals and metals to make them long-lived, immune to heat and cold, and (of course) very heavy.
Once and Future Plans
I wish I could say that I plan to be as productive in the year ahead, but there’s no way to know. Life finds a way… I certainly have a lot of things I want to do (including a secret project I can’t talk about yet). And I’m definitely going to continue working on my illustrations, because I really enjoy doing that. But here are some things that you will probably see in 2023:
2023 Gaming
- My version of Lankhmar, an urban setting crammed full of factions and mini-quests
- A dungeon delve into a ruined city of fantasy robots
- A sword-and-sorcery solo game, in which you basically play out a standard Conan the Cimmerian -style expedition
- A necromantic solo game, because I think undead are cool
- A couple of weird one-shots
2023 Fiction
- Dungeon Age: Rogues of Carcassay – a novella following the (mis)adventures of an occultist and an assassin living in a filthy old city nestled inside the giant skeleton of a dead Titan Rat. I’m almost done writing this.
- Dungeon Age: Errant Knights – a novel containing dozens of bizarre encounters between a handful of wandering warriors and nearly every type of faction and monster I have ever invented for the world of Harth. An homage to Tales of the Dying Earth. All outlined and ready to go. Chapters will be super short and episodic. I hope this will be a big stew pot of inspiration for GMs, players, and fans of the genre.
How to find me in 2023
I am @josephrlewis7 on Twitter (as long as it still works), and @josephrlewis on Instagram, or you can email [email protected].
