Tag Archives: Year In Review

RPGs

2020 Year In Review

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I’ll just post the numbers of my various sites, and leave the rest of the year below if you want to read about 2020 from my perspective.

BLOG – 20,393 visitors in 2020. Best month April with 2,237 visitors. 126 different countries, the top five being: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany.

My top five pages (none from 2020) :

1. Druids and Alignment – 2,716

2. Group Name Generator – 1,811

3. River and River Encounter Tables – 1,472

4. Quick Campaign Creation Checklist – 1,246

5. Ideas for Hidden Items/Secret Doors – 1,162

[NOTE: I added the above section on January 1, 2021 when I received a report about the blog.]

Twitter – Down 32 followers to 1,060 from 1,092.

Facebook – 17 new likes and 26 new follows. Now 168 likes and 180 followers.

YouTube – Started with 490 subscribers and have 969 as of this writing, which is 479 new subscribers in 2020! Nearly doubled. I hold slim hopes of hitting 1,000 this year. This is mostly due to the popularity of my series, “Roll20 For The Absolute Beginner.” I published 18 videos in 2020. 13 of those were related to my Roll20 series. My most watched video has 40,557 views.

Anchor – Almost 6,300 listens to my podcast, with 18,673 total life time listens across all 194 episodes. I thought I might hit 200 episodes in 2020, but have not been making regular episodes for a few weeks. Some episodes had ridiculous increases from all other episodes. Others using Anchor noticed the same. Now my episodes are back to the usual number of listens. So far, I’ve only had 24 episodes this year. Most have been about the antics of the party in the Sunday game I DM.

Instagram – I’ve added 31 followers and now have 164.

Cheatography – I created a Worldbuilding Cheatsheet on Cheatography that has been viewed 200 times. I didn’t realize people could see it until I got emails that it had been viewed 50 and then 100 times. I just got the email about 200 times as I was working on this blog post.

Patreon – I still have 2 patrons. I encouraged them to leave and support others, since I don’t need the money. Only 1 person took that advice. I supposed I’ll keep Patreon since there’s a chance I’ll attract more patrons when I finally publish my card game.

TeeSpring – I made a new shirt design – a red shirt that says, “Cancer is the New Red Shirt.” I also made a mask with the Follow Me, And Die! logo and phrase with cartoon viruses. I did manage a few sales there. I’ve actually had a few sales and made about $30.

Ko-Fi – I made $12.00 from one person. This is the first I’ve made there, since I created the account a couple years ago.

DriveThruRPG [Affiliate Link] – I’ve made $303.60 after fees to transfer earnings to PayPal. The gross was 487.43. 30% is a big chunk. I had 4,603 total sales which includes pay what you want titles going for $0. I had 411 paid sales, which is just over a dollar a sale. I decided to move all my PDFs to at least $1, but want to give them a strong edit and layout makeover first. So far, I’ve only done that with one title.

I finally crossed the threshold to have enough Publisher Promotion Points to do a Deal of the Day. That will be good when I ever get my card game finished.

I now have two Copper sellers and three Silver sellers. This is based on sales over a certain threshold. I would have electrum and gold sellers if I had paid sales on all the free Pay What You Want sales.

Barring any last minute boosts in the next few days, I’ve grossed just under $600 in 2020 as a tiny RPG publisher. My expenses will eat up enough of that that I am not making enough to pay taxes.

LOOKING TO 2021

I’m not making any big plans for 2021. I plan to keep playing and running RPGs. I still have ideas for new PDFs and videos for RPGs. My plan is to keep at doing RPG and gaming related things. If I ever do well enough to negate my expenses, or even make money, that’s icing on the cake. I have ideas, some people like my ideas, so I will keep at it.

(Stop reading here if you don’t want to be reminded about 2020.)

2020

This year has had an impact on everyone on the entire planet in ways probably everyone alive has no memory of the last global pandemic of 1918.

For most of us, like me, 2020 started off full of hope and lots of plans. I made plans to go to some event of various sorts nearly every weekend. I had just bought my first pickup truck and was planning weekend events to small events within a couple hours drive, the usual game conventions, and visiting family.

My busy time of year is December and January as I support payroll and accounting software and call volume triples. Just as we were winding down in February, the news began to mention COVID-19. It looked bad, but initial reports were it was like the flu.

CONVENTIONS CANCELLED

Then the unthinkable, just when I needed to get away and unwind with a weekend of fun, Gary Con cancelled the live show and did a pivot to a virtual convention. This would repeat for all conventions, not just game conventions. Thankfully for game conventions, Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, several other table top emulators, Discord, Zoom, Skype and the like were already in place. This allowed the pivot from live to virtual.

So while we could still see our friends on the screen, it wasn’t as good as being their live. Sadly, it nearly ended the website Tabletop Events many conventions used to coordinate ticket sales. Some game publishers did ad hoc conventions to help them out. Finally, new management stepped in with an acquisition to keep that service functioning.

COVID-19 is still not under control, and while there are finally vaccines, they are not available in enough quantity to change plans for conventions. So far, Gary Con is going virtual again in 2021. There was hope of a live con, but nothing can guarantee COVID-19 will be under control in time to have a COVID-19 free convention.

HOLD MY BEER

There were lots of memes in 2020 as COVID-19 hit hard, there seemed to be some new really bad thing each month. There were so many, it’s a blur that I struggle to recall.

It seemed as if 2020 was out to show that it was large and in charge.

Many started off calling 2020 the year of the double crit. It soon morphed into the year of the GM getting a double crit – on everybody. Or everyone rolled a double fumble, or “epic fail”.

Sadly, many small businesses, especially restaurants and their employees have been hit hard. Many businesses have and continued to fail as the economic aspects hit hard. Businesses that had to limit service or shut down, have had to lay off employees. The numbers of unemployed has skyrocketed. It has gotten a bit better for some. But it is not easy for those who have no income without unemployment.

Food banks have been hit hard.

Those who rely on the gig economy like musicians, lecturers, and other entertainers have had to improvise and find a way to earn a living online. There have been some bright spots with individuals, groups, or families finding fame online since entertainment consumption skyrocketed due to limited options with COVID-19 restrictions.

Movies and television shows shut down, and some shows found a way to go virtual.

“NORMAL” TRAGEDIES

The usual things that happen every year for some with a new found health problem, loss of a family member, car accidents, and the like seem to be greatly highlighted in a surreal way. They just hurt worse since you can’t mourn or deal with it in the usual ways due to restrictions.

On top of that are all those individuals and families affected by extended hospitalizations, or those who lose a loved one due to COVID-19.

On top of all the upset to “normal” COVID-19 has caused, it also is like pouring salt on a wound with all the other challenges many have had to face.

Social isolation, cabin fever, interpersonal conflict with the family or roommates one live with, and more seem to make it even more difficult to see the silver lining or light at the end of the tunnel.

OUR OWN THING

Each of us have had our own set of circumstances we’ve been dealt for 2020. Some had all the good cards and are exercising, losing weight, trying new things, learning new things. It is great to see so many doing well. Sadly, far too many have gotten a lot of bad cards, or maybe only bad cards. I shudder to think of those who chose to end their life amidst all this turmoil.

TECHNOLOGY

Thankfully, for those of us who can afford internet, there are lots of online tools to help us stay in touch with others. Table Top emulators existed before, but saw their use skyrocket, as people can game online.

For me, that was no real change, as my weekly game play is online and has been for years. I struggle to find or keep a local game group. The uptick in use has seen occasional lag for long time players we don’t normally see.

MY THING

As I mentioned above, I had plans and high hopes for 2020. I was aiming to finally launch a Kickstarter for my card game on May 1st. Those plans were dashed as many printers shut down around that time as there were shutdowns to try to contain the spread of COVID-19.

But the main reason I halted my plans is that I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in April. That was the real screw you 2020 dealt me. I felt fine. That’s why they call it the silent killer. I lost motivation to work on the card game. Just before then I did a new test deck, and I made the graphics too small. It was something I couldn’t tell until I held the cards in my hands. I still haven’t fixed that.

I had thoughts of putting my card game out on DriveThruCards [Affiliate Link], as I try to be a forward thinking realist. I didn’t know how things would go for my cancer surgery. It was supposed to happen in June, but got pushed off to the end of August.

That long wait didn’t help my motivation. I had plans for more PDFs on DriveThruRPG [Affiliate Link] each month, but I only managed to maintain that for January and February. I did do a major editing pass and improve the layout for one PDF. I had planned to do others, but motivation is fleeting.

Honestly, I had existential dread of surgery. I had the fear of not waking up. However, my existential dread evaporated when I woke up. I didn’t have the amount of pain I expected and was only off work two weeks.

But as a realist, I made plans for what to do if I didn’t wake up. I wrote my last blog article, recorded my last podcast, and my last YouTube video. I had them ready to publish and left instructions with family on how to do so. Those were some of the most difficult things I did, but I think it helped me deal with things.

I was off work for two weeks and only missed one week of running my Sunday game, and didn’t miss any of the Wednesday game I play in. I even started a blog Men’s Health In My Perspective and shared things about my prostate cancer journey. If you want the nitty gritty, that’s where you’ll find it.

I’ve healed up really well and still have a ways to go, but all signs so far are positive.

The hardest part on top of the cancer diagnosis and surgery is that following my busiest time of year and getting a major change of pace by going to Gary Con, is that I haven’t felt like I’ve had a break.

As I head into my busiest time of year, I know I won’t be getting away for a real break for a while longer. I imagine there will be a boom of travel as those who have the means will book flights, hotels, and other venues. I get that the whole world needs a break, but I’m responsible for me.

Like the rest of the world, I am tired. I’ve had enough. I’m thankful for gaming and how it got me through. My busy time of year has already been extra busy due to changes to forms, and adding forms we’ve never done before, all due to COVID-19.

I love my family, but do I ever need a break with some real me time away from home. I get that I could rent a hotel room somewhere, but I want to be able to go places and do things. I’m in the at risk category due to health issues. So I’m stuck until I get the vaccine. The funny thing is, I live about ten minutes away from the factory that makes the Pfizer vaccine. I can’t get it before anyone elsewhere in the country or world.

I know that 2020 will lap over into the first few months of 2021. But as the vaccine is distributed and administered, the pandemic will get under control, and we will soon be as close to the old “normal” as possible. 2021 should be a much brighter year. I plan to keep at my efforts with my tiny business. I don’t know what will come of my card game, but the odds are that I will be able to release something in 2021.

Don’t give up. Keep moving forward. Even if you have to take a few steps back, we will get to getter days.

RPGs

2019 – Year In Review

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Since we’re about out of year, I decided to hurry up and put together my post for my year in review. I’ll be comparing to 2018, which you can see here.

You can listen here to my 2019 in Review and 2020 & Beyond Podcast. It’s got a slightly different focus than this post.

Conventions

I didn’t do as much playing or running RPGs or playing any games as I had hoped. While I did attend Gary Con, Marmalade Dog, Grand Con, and UCON, I had a larger challenge than normal getting in the mood to plan and run games. I did manage to submit games to run for the usual conventions I attend, Gary Con, Marmalade Dog, and UCon. As always, it went well and both I and the players had fun.

I also participated in Procrasticon I. A bunch of Anchor podcasters threw together an impromptu 24 hour online con. I signed up to run a game, but no one signed up. I played in a couple of games and had a blast. One is the Monday night game I play in now.

Barrowmaze using Delving Deeper was an online game I played several sessions. My first character, a fighter, died, carried off and eaten by ghouls. My current character is a 4th level cleric. We’re on hiatus til spring.

B/X in the Broken Lands with the Orcs of Thar Mystara supplements. I play a 4th level hobgoblin Monday nights.

Playing & Running RPGs

It wasn’t until the middle of September that I managed to get the bug to create a new campaign that I actually ran an online game. I settled on Delving Deeper, and created a campaign that I called Delvers’ Deep. The name Delvers’ Deep comes from the only thing I ever submitted to the One Page Dungeon Contest, The Dire Druids of Delvers’ Deep. I’ve run that at a few conventions. Only the name so far, exists in the campaign world. I ran it as a drop-in/drop-out game, sort of a modified West Marches. After 9 sessions players were unable to commit and then my work got busy.

Sadly, the amount of work for the day job has gone off the charts. I ended up cancelling games, and finally putting my campaign on hold until things return to “normal”. I’ve used up so much of my creativity that I also broke the pace of my regular podcast. I went from 3 episodes a week to none. I went over a month without a podcast until I had an episode on December 6th. This has also affected the frequency of blog posts and my drive to work on my monthly PDFs.

Card Game

I’ve had a hard time motivating myself to do some more hard work on the card game. Playtests have been very informative, but I haven’t done as many as I wanted. I have added some detailed notes for some additional rules based on feedback from the last few playtests. I need to build test deck 3. The amount of work that is is a mountain, that I have yet to climb. I can do it in a long day. I had hoped to have it in my hands by now. I really want it in time for Gary Con.

What about the Kickstarter? I’m really torn about this. I don’t have the new art as fast as I want. I’m also burnt out with Kickstarter, and get the impression many are. That is in addition to the way Kickstarter treats it’s workers. Also the Kickstarter user interface is very crude. I built a dummy campaign to figure out how to do what I want, and it is not easy. Part of me wants to just put the game out on Game Crafter, which is very easy. But I want to make it easily available worldwide. So I’m also considering DriveThru Cards. I need to order a deck from there to see what sort of quality it has.

Part of me just wants it done. I’m sure many other creatives hit that same wall. I just need to persevere and do the best job I can to make the rules and the cards work. I had an idea for a Halloween themed deck of cards about 6 weeks before Halloween. I’ll see about maybe doing it for 2020, if everything comes together for the game.

Publishing

This time last year, I had 5 PDFs on DriveThruRPG. Currently I have 17 since I have yet to complete the PDF for December. I will finish up my December PDF and publish it before the end of the year. This will give me my first calendar year of publishing and sales.

I now have 2 Copper Best Sellers and 2 Silver Best Sellers on DriveThru RPG. My first PDF, Locks, Vaults, and Hiding Places [Affilate Link] is only 19 paid sales away from Silver. My first Copper and then first Silver, Caravans & Trade [Affilate Link] , is 77 paid sales away from Electrum.

You can check out my full list of titles at my DriveThru RPG Publisher Page. [Affilate Link]

By The Numbers

Publishing:

  • All Time Grand Totals: 6389 total downloads for 678 paid sales $840.85 $588.60
  • 2019 Grand Totals: 5171 total downloads for 471 paid sales $585.77 $410.04 (All included in the numbers above.)
  • T-Shirts on TeeSpring – Still 0 sales beyond what I’ve bought for friends and family.

As a DriveThruRPG Affiliate, I’ve made $113.56, all but the last $25.00 spent on new purchases. Just waiting to spend it on another game or supplement.

On Patreon, I have 5 followers, up from 3 last year. I had 6 at one point, and would have 7 had 2 not had to drop off. $137.00 before fees. I’ve seen none of it since my personal and business accounts linked, it minimizes how much I pay each month for all the other Patreons I back. I really appreciate my patrons and their feedback and encouragement.

A few months ago, I decided to enable ads on my podcast. I have yet to go through the back catalog and insert a spot for ads. I’ve made a whopping $14.67.

Amazon Affiliate. I’m an Amazon Affiliate, but have yet to have anyone buy anything. They give you 180 days for a qualified purchase or they drop you. This is my second go around at this. I don’t expect to get rich, but would love for enough to negate my expenses for web space, domain name, art, etc. I’ve got 12 years give or take before I retire, and I need to achieve at least a net 0 expenses to maintain all the things I hope to be doing when I can give up my day job. Here’s a link to games. I’d greatly appreciate anyone using this link as it helps me out without any expense to you.

Here’s one for Dungeon Crawl Classics. [Affiliate Link]

[^ Affiliate Link ^]

So I’ve made $1,106.08 before fees, leaving $849.98. That does not cover the expenses it took to earn it and I waited to collect the publishing payout for 2018 until 2019 for tax purposes. It’s pennies per hour for all the effort and still less than the net of one regular paycheck. This should illustrate why it is so difficult to make money online, even just a little extra.

YouTube – 474 subscribers up 240 from last year, 71 videos up 7 from last year. With over 40,000 lifetime views. My series Roll20 For The Absolute Beginner is the most popular. I started a new series in 2019 – How To AD&D 1e. I plan to keep adding to each series. Over 425 subscribers to go until I can think about ads, since one of the criteria is a minimum 1,000 subscribers.

Twitter – 1092 followers up 372 from last year.

FB – 143 Likes up 79 from last year and 145 Followers up 80 from last year.

Reddit – Karma of 480 up 408 from last year.

Instagram – I started Instagram on June 26, 2018, but didn’t mention it in last year’s post. I ended 2018 with 67 followers and am up to 128 followers.

Blog posts 52 published posts, down 69 from last year, and 2 new drafts, down 4 from last year for a total of 25 drafts.

Total blog posts 797 counting this one you’re reading.

Podcasting

I have 11,886 total plays among my 170 episodes, for an average of 69.9 listeners per episode. 6 episodes are over 100 listeners. My first episode is at 150 listeners. I plan to do a year end podcast so the final 2019 numbers will change.

Last year’s hiatus due to work and family drama saw my podcast’s trend for growth smacked down. The proliferation of new RPG podcasters on Anchor has made it easier to get lost in the noise. No one has time to listen to all of them consistently.

I wonder how much longer I’ll maintain the effort.

Kickstarters I’ve Backed

I still backed way too many Kickstarters in 2019. 5 that should have delievered in 2018 arrived in 2019. Of 10 Kickstarters that should have delivered in 2019 that did deliver in 2019, 1 was early, 1 was on time, and 8 were late. This is the source of my disillusionment with Kickstarter. I want it when they say they’ll deliver, not months or years later. I go in for Kickstarters that I’ve never used or read the game. I know I’m not alone in this.

12 more Kickstarters are supposed to deliver in 2019, and only 2 of those appear on track to meet that goal or only be a couple weeks late.

I have 19 overdue Kickstarters. I hate to think how much money that is. I have not updated my page here on the blog where I track the Kickstarters I’ve backed. I want to help my friends with their projects, but when so many of them are late. Some do a great job of explaining things and are late for good reason, and do a great job of making sure things go at ASAP. Others do a terrible job of communicating and are late and when they do communicate, it is sometimes more frustrating than silence. I’ve learned which publishers/creators I’ve backed that I’ll never back again because of how late they were.

My Tips For Those Running Kickstarters:

I’ve backed 77 Kickstarters that funded, and only 3 that did not. So my track record of picking the ones that will fund is very good. As for picking those that deliver on time, not so much.

  • If you’re always 6 months late on delivery of a Kickstarter, add 6 months to the delivery date of future Kickstarters.
  • If you’re not good at communicating and keeping backers informed. Don’t launch a Kickstarter. If you do a Kickstarter anyway, suck it up and communicate.
  • Don’t wait to deliver bad news.
  • Do the work BEFORE you click Launch!
  • Pay the artists, layout and others as soon as you have agreed to/when the money arrives.
  • When the money arrives, pay all the bills/vendors to minimize the tax burden.
  • Get along with your team until delivery is complete. Don’t have interpersonal, legal, whatever nonsense. Get it done. Be Professional.
  • Minimize the points where things can go wrong.

Final Thoughts on 2019

I didn’t meet all my goals. That’s a realistic occurrence. However, I did well on the goals I met. I’m still here and I’m not quitting. The nature of my day job with it’s busiest time of year in December and more so in January forces me to pull back from spending time on my hobbies.

I’m also working on a review of the stats of the blog, such as the most popular topics in 2019. That will be another blog post that will take a bit to pull together.

One of the coolest RPG things I ever did was participating as a player and DM for the first ever livecast of a D&D game (5e) from Gary Gygax’s old house to benefit Extra Life. Having a video of all four games allows me to relive it a bit. Seeing how I run a game is also a helpful teaching tool to help me get better.

What’s Ahead in 2020

  • Release my card game whether through Kickstarter or directly via Game Crafter or DriveThruCards.
  • Continue one PDF a month for my Patreon that is also released on DriveThruRPG.
  • Evaluate my podcast and determine if it is worth my time to resume when work slows down.
  • Attend conventions and run and play games.
  • More regular blog posting.
    • I’d like to read more blogs like I indicated at last years round up post, but I didn’t do very well.
  • More videos on YouTube.
  • Run and play more games in person and/or online.
  • I’ve been invited back to the next round of live cast RPGs from Gary’s old house, so I’m letting ideas tumble in the back of my mind.

2019 was overall a great year. I let my thoughts and self-judgement get in the way of enjoying it as much as I should have. The older I get, the more I realize, no one else will ensure I have fun. It’s up to me.

For 2020 Gary Con, I’ll bring my card game for pick up games, and bring some stuff to run or play pick up games. I will focus on playing some wargames and a few other things. I don’t want to pack my schedule, as I want to enjoy things as much as I can with the con more crowded than prior years.

As with last year, I look forward to the changes and opportunities that lie ahead in 2020. I hope it is a great year of growth and opportunity fulfilled for all of you. May you play often, roll well, grow rich and powerful, and save or destroy the world as is your wont.