So I have spent the past couple years very quietly. This year is looking to be the opposite of that. I currently have four short stories out for consideration, written since the beginning of December, and two of whom have made second round consideration. Another one is out for some feedback. That’s not much, but it is something. What it IS is this idea in my head that short story theorycraft is finally starting to make sense to me. Almost 50 years old, better late than never.
I love Dungeons and Dragons and I’ve been playing it since I was a kid. The first time I played was with my mother and her friends, I was all of eight years old. I played through 1st and 2nd editions in Jr. High and High School. And then 3rd edition came out and I was all in on that. I still think 3.5e is the best version of this game. Problem is trying to find players who want to go back to an old edition.
I recently wrapped up a 2-year Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign I was running, and my party is on a break. Wanting to capture some of the adventures I wrote to thicken the plot soup of Rime, I’ve been rebuilding them as generic adventures. I own a ton of Dyson Logos commercial maps, and between that and my friend Erin (The talented E.M. MacCallum, check out her books!) I have started building them into something serviceable. I know AI art is not a popular thing right now, but I’ve been using MidJourney to create images for the adventures.
I don’t expect to sell more than a handful of copies of these things (if any), so dishing out a grand or more for a handful of pieces and waiting months on them being completed is outside the scope of this experiment. I’ll post about them when I stick ’em up on DMs Guild.
I plan on writing a lot more this year. I wrote almost nothing last year, but I was neck deep in some personal drama. Not an excuse. Well, actually, that’s exactly what it is. It was an excuse to focus on nothing and do even less.
That’s all over with. Bring it, 2025. I’m ready for you.
J.W. Schnarr 