Current projects

So we’re about halfway through 2024, and it’s time for a progress update. I last did one of these back in October, and I find it useful to look back and see what I’ve achieved.

What have I done?

Since October I have:

• Published Hazelwood Abbey (a Hillfolk playset inspired by Downton Abbey) on Itch.io. I ran it successfully at AireCon.
• Created an epub version of Writing Freeform Larps and added it to Itch.io and DriveThru
• Published All Flesh is Grass (a freeform larp) on itch.io.
• Written and run The Stars our Destination (a 14-player freeform larp set in the same universe as All Flesh is Grass).
• Published A Purrfect Murder (a cat-themed murder mystery game) at Freeform Games.
• Helped build Freeform Games’ new shop.

Ongoing projects

Right now, this is what I’m working on.

• I’ve formatted and developed (with the author) Backstage Business, a 1980s hair-metal band murder mystery game for Freeform Games. It’s currently being playtested (I'm running it at Continuum) and should be published over the summer.
• I’m building a new website for Freeform Games. We’ve been going since 2001, and our website is a mix of hand-coded pages and two instances of Wordpress. So we’re streamlining everything. It’s a lot of work, but should give us several benefits. With a fair wind it will be live by the end of July.
• I’m taking the feedback from The Stars our Destination and getting the game ready for Consequences in November.
• As I’ve mentioned recently on the blog, I’m running The Dead Undead for Other London: Desk 17. I’ll publish it when we’re done and I’ve incorporated any changes.

The first two of these have demanded a lot of attention and have been particularly draining.

Currently on hold

• I started reformatting Court in the Act for Freeform Games, but put it on hold when Backstage Business landed in my inbox. Court in the Act is an old game and is still in our original game format.
• The Department for Irregular Services for Liminal is on hold. This will expand on this blog post with more detail, three investigations and some pregens. The first two investigations (The Hairy Hands and Hardknott Roman Fort Ghost Realm) are complete, but the third (The Wherwell Cockatrice) is still in pieces. I need to reassemble the pieces and playtest it.
• Inspired partly by Backstage Business, Success2Soon is a band-themed Hillfolk playset that I need to playtest. I may bring it to Furnace.
• Getting Children of the Stars ready for publication and starting to write episode 6 in the series, which follows The Stars our Destination.

Hopefully I’ll get back to these in September.

I think that’s enough to be going on with.

Current projects

I did a progress report in Feb. Here’s an update. I should do these regularly – they’re useful places for me to record what I’ve done and talk about what I have planned.

What did I achieve?

Since the last progress report, I’ve completed:

• Writing Freeform Larps
• Way out West format update (for Freeform Games)
• Other London Volume 4: Tales of Terror
• Count Magnus’ Descendent
• The Roswell Incident (for Freeform Games)

I also completed the formatting for Night Train and The Highgate Club for Peaky Games, but thanks to some technical difficulties, neither is yet available.

Current projects

I’m currently working on several projects, but I seem to work best by working on a lot of things at once. It stops me from becoming tired of any one thing. And if I hit a block, I can work on something else until inspiration strikes.

Freeform Games

Freeform Games is my main source of income, so these are my main focus.

A Purrfect Murder: A new game by Karolina Soltys and set at a cat fancy show. It’s currently being playtested by some of our customers, and when I’ve incorporated the feedback, we’ll put it on sale.

Court in the Act: Once I’ve put A Purrfect Murder to bed, I’ll start to bring Court in the Act up to date. It’s the last game in our old format.

I’m also thinking about starting a vampire/werewolf/urban fantasy murder mystery that we can sell for Halloween (our most popular period). I’m not sure about the details yet, but I’m sure it will come to me.

The Department for Irregular Services (DfIS)

I wrote about the DfIS a while back, and I used the DfIS for Count Magnus’ Descendant (a gloomy Cthulhu Dark adventure).

However, I created the DfIS for Liminal, and I’m expanding the idea with some pre-generated characters and a couple of adventures. I’ve written an investigation based on the legend of Dartmoor’s Hairy Hands, but I need to playtest it. 

Other London

I’m currently working on two investigations for Other London. Well, when I say I’m working on two, I’ve paused one while the other has taken over.

The Dead Undead: A vampire is found dead in a nightclub, and Desk 17 investigates. Before this, I didn’t know what happened to vampires when they died.

The Orphan Room: A room with no doors is found in a hotel complex. It contains a desk, and on the desk are severed heads preserved in jars. It’s a job for Desk 17, but the author has been distracted by shinies and will get back to it in due course.

First contact freeforms

I am writing and running a series of first-contact freeforms heavily inspired by classic science fiction. The series starts with The Roswell Incident (now at Freeform Games) before continuing with All Flesh is Grass, Children of the Stars and Messages from Callisto.

I am running Children of the Stars and Messages from Callisto at Consequences in November. Events that unfold in Children will affect Callisto, and three players are playing in both (two of whom have played earlier games in the series). 

So I’ve given myself a headache working out how to manage the potential different pieces of information for Messages. I have a system in place, and it means that players won’t receive some information until just before the game starts (because until Children finishes, I won’t know what to tell them). I have my fingers crossed that it all works out as I hope.

The Stars our Destination: I’m also starting on the fifth episode, in which an alien spaceship lands on Easter Island.

Other projects

Hazelwood Abbey: I enjoyed running Hillfolk so much at Continuum that I created a set of playbooks inspired by Downton Abbey. I’m running it at Furnace (and I’ve pitched it for Airecon). Assuming it doesn’t break, I’ll make them available for download.

And that’s about it

For now, at least.

Progress report

Okay, time for a quick status update on my various projects.

Writing Freeform Larps

Writing Freeform Larps, my book about how I write freeforms, is nearly done. I had a first draft ready in January, and I asked the uk-freeforms mailing list for anyone who wanted to comment on it. I got a good number of responses and a lot of great comments. I’ve worked through those comments (I took on board about 80%, I think), so I’m now close to publishing.

I’ve decided I want this in book form, but I’m not precious about getting an ISBN. So I’m using Lulu, plus there will be a pdf download on Itch.io.

I’m currently working on the cover – a minimal design and back-cover blurb. As cover design is not my strong point, the best I am hoping for is legibility. Maybe one day it will have an awesome cover.

With luck, this should be ready in March, and then I will have to promote it.

Way out West

Updating Way out West is my current project for Freeform Games. Currently, Way out West comes in several forms:

• A free version for 10 players
• A free version for 10 players for kids
• A standard version 
• A standard version (10-14 players) for kids
• An expansion pack with ten extra characters
• An expansion pack with ten extra characters for kids.

This is too many and is painful to manage; I’m simplifying it:

• I’m folding the expansion pack into the main game – so Way out West will be for 10-24 players.
• I’m removing separate kids and adult versions. The differences were minor – we removed most of the drinking references and changed “saloon girls” to “waitresses” for the kids’ version. As that’s just a terminology change, I’m using the kids’ version as a basis.
• I’m updating the game into our latest format as I do this.

When I’m done, that should leave us with two versions:

• A free version for 10 players
• A standard version for 10-24 players

I imagine this will be finished in April.

Other London

I’m pleased with how Other London has gone. I’ve discussed this previously, but this is where I am now:

• Other London: Desk 17 is the setting and background.
• Other London: The Fallen is a free investigation.
• Other London: Murder of a Templar is a second investigation.

These are available on DriveThruRPG and Itch.io. (Or they will be soon – as I speak, I’m waiting for DriveThru RPG to approve Murder of a Templar.)

Next up is Other London: Tales of Terror, a collection of Tales of Terror suitable for Other London. I’ve just started this, so it will be a few weeks before it’s ready. 

Turning Other London into a physical book (through DriveThruRPG) is still on the to-do list, but I will probably have to wait to upgrade my laptop.

Count Magnus’ Descendant

My scenario based on MR James’ Count Magnus (discussed previously) is pretty much complete. I am testing it and assuming that goes according to plan, I will upload it to Itch.io and DriveThruRPG.

The Roswell Incident

After Retcon B’s successful run of The Roswell Incident, I am putting it into Freeform Games’ format. We don’t have any alien games at the moment, and while it isn’t strictly a murder mystery (although it could be…), it might sell reasonably well.

I’m also interested to see how our customers react to a more-freeformy game. But first I need to get it ready, and this has meant quite a few changes, such as creating a newspaper for the game as background.

Messages from Callisto

Messages from Callisto follows on from Children of the Stars (itself following All Flesh is Grass and The Roswell Incident). It was ready shortly after Christmas, but thanks to needing to prepare for Retcon, I’ve only now started thinking about when I will run it (online). And looking at the calendar, it will not be until after Easter.

The future

All Flesh is Grass: I want to take the feedback from Retcon and update the game files, then put it on Itch.io. It’s so heavily based on Clifford D Simak’s novel that I don’t think I can charge for it. 

The Highgate Club: I’d like to get this freeform in a presentable state so I can put it on Itch.io.

Preparing for Consequences: I plan to run Children from the Stars and Messages from Callisto at Consequences in November. They will need tweaking.

The Orphan Room: The next Other London scenario is a pile of notes that needs bashing into shape.

Beyond Callisto: I will start planning whatever happens after Messages from Callisto – although I think I need to run that first and see what happens.