The Shropshire Dungeon Master Update VIII
When was the last time I did one of these? Ok, nothing since September, a fair amount has happened since then. Around the middle of October there was an incident that slowed progress a little, and with Christmas on the way there hasn’t been a great deal of time to advance a few projects that are in the pipeline – in some cases since July – but there has at least been notable progress. (more…)
The Shropshire Dungeon Master Update VII
It’s been a couple of months, and I was waiting on a few more things to come about, but there has been a great deal of progress made in the last eight weeks. It’ll be a short update, but let’s start with…
A Busy Calendar
Apologies for the late and short article, but between the recent heatwave and the workload I’ve taken on, it’s occasionally a struggle to keep up with everything, but here’s a short list of excuses.
19th July: GeekOut Shrewsbury Steampunk’d – Next Thursday, the poll for the premeet will be up shortly, there will be TWO COMPETITIONS! in case you already missed that announcement. Part of today’s job will be hastily throwing a pub quiz together, or at least starting the process. The other competition will be the “Stick Some Gears On It” Inventors Fair, present an object that has been adorned with Steampunk paraphernalia, cogs, gears, vents, pipes, and valves, then justify your invention to our panel of judges (me in different hats). (more…)
The Shropshire Dungeon Master Update VI – Upcoming Appearances

Ok, so what has taken place since last I talked on the subject?
UKGE
I also have an interview I must transcribe from UKGE, seems like an era ago at this point. I found that a lot of people with whom I discussed the matter were actually very interested in the idea of a GM for hire, not just prospective future customers, but RPG companies curious to see what suggestions they could offer on how to further the idea and how I might diversify my genre portfolio. Expect more sci-fi from me in the future, I’m starting to toy with some ideas using Era: The Consortium rules and lore, at least one game of Honey Heist.
A rather substantial number of my business cards vanished from me over the weekend, so a new design is required. On the subject…
A New Logo
Tim worked closely with me to produce a logo for the company, coming up with a core concept that I liked the sound of, and working with me to develop something to which I could refer. The coat-of-arms like template has been toned down from the initial vision which included swords and dice bags, both to keep it simple as a good logo should be, and to make Tim’s life easier as my own graphic design skills are rather lacklustre.
Then, opportunity arose for a professional graphic designer to produce a logo for me for free. So I sent along an abridged version of the conversation with Tim, his original design, and the font he found. This was what I got in return:
Still waiting on a higher-resolution version, and I’m definitely keeping both on hand. There’s no reason why – if everything goes well – I couldn’t commission variations of the logo for various genres, and dare I say animations? I do. I do dare say it. Either way, expect new business cards.
CoxCon
“But Joel” I hear you shout, I have rather spectacular hearing and can hear people shouting my name from great distances. “Where can I get one of these wonderful new business cards?”
Ok, well, first of all, they haven’t been printed yet. Second, that’s a weird thing to want, but… fine, I guess? And three, CoxCon! CoxCon is a convention for YouTubers and Livestreamers running from the 21st to the 22nd of July at the International Centre in Telford, that is itself Livestreamed on Twitch. I anticipate the standard array of traders, stage shows, meet and greet opportunities and the like, but I also expect to be surprised, paradoxical as that may be. If you’re going to be in Telford on the 22nd I will be there too, either hastily cramming in games and some casual advertising, or walking around enjoying myself and chatting to folks. I might see you there in some capacity or other.
This will be crammed in between GeekOut Shrewsbury on the 19th, Amecon on the 26th, and shortly followed by…
The Oswestry Library
This was originally going to be advertising, but two of the four games I will be running are all but full.
On the 4th and the 18th of August I will be running pay-per-head games, from 9:30 – 12:30 for the under 16s, and from 13:00 to 16:00 for ages 16+, hosted by and in cooperation with the Oswestry Library. If all goes well it might become a regular event, and I’ll be taking the idea to libraries around the county. If you would like to see me in your local library, and if you’re interested in getting a game in, ask them to get in touch via my Facebook page.
Side note: In addition to the thanks I already owe the Library, thanks too must go to 2-Minute Table Top, who is content for commercial use of his maps and art packs so long as he gets proper accreditation. This is it, thanks, love your work.
Now, the under 16s games are not attracting the interest I would have hoped for, although I admit there was a serious delay on my end getting posters prepped and ready to go into schools in the local area. I’m hoping that my recent tour of town might raise some business on the day, but still, I remain optimistic about the future of the endeavour as a whole.
And by “whole” I also mean this entire endeavour. The push to turn my hobby into a job is taxing, and fraught with the possibility of hating the driving force of my life. As it stands, I’m remaining hugely positive. But all of this merry banter is not finishing the write-up for A Parade For Thieves.
See you all soon.