I'm moving from a newsletter to blog posts.
Published June 22rd, 2025
Free RPG Day was this past weekend!
I was at Game Kastle College Park, 3/4 gaming and 1/4 spreading the word of Oneshot Incarnate.
I handed out tokens good for a free game each, and had some good discussion around the system itself. I'll explain in a later post my views on monetization in TTRPGs and the merits/demerits of different approaches.
Games-wise, first up I played Aetherial Expanse. To be honest I didn't realize it was a D&D setting but being D&D I felt right at home (if a little out of practice). It was the first game I've played in person in literally a couple years! AE is a cool setting with a few interesting spells, it made for a smooth and familiar experience. Props all around, the party and DM made for a great time.
Second, I played Shadows of Esteren and had a blast! I loved the game system and execution of the one shot. It was amazing how much it could accomplish with 'only' 1d10. Our GM made it so ethereally horrific (horror-lite?) and the party went great together, playing exactly into the intention of the one shot. I will be playing this again for certain (at gencon!) and plan to explore more games that are especially atmospheric and friendly to theatre of the mind.
The matter at hand
So I'm changing from sending newsletters to writing blog posts (comme ça (I'm beginning to learn French)).
I originally implemented newsletter signups in January to 7 subscribers. I did 2 entrants but upon having 0 additional sign ups and 0 interaction from existing subscribers I haven't sent any more. I figured nobody actually likes newsletters, and I kinda get it. I have signed up for plenty of newsletters myself but I couldn't tell that anybody was actually receiving my updates so I just put it off until... now.
en I'll be at @gamekastlecp.bsky.social on Saturday for #freerpgday2025 freerpgday.com! Psst!: the code on this token is real (but not yet usable), see oneshot-incarnate.com
[image or embed]Oneshot Incarnate<@oneshot-incarnate.bsky.socialJune 19, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Over the weekend I handed out several (29!) tokens. Part of me expects that you participants of Free RPG Day 2025 would be the most excited about Oneshot Incarnate, but another part says you already have groups and are among the least likely to be excited. My insecurity was validated on checking this morning to see 0 additional newsletter signups. This wasn't exactly surprising but I did think of all days, this one would gather interest. I dug around in logs a bit and...
So you gotta understand
I consider myself to be more than sufficiently technically sound to make Oneshot Incarnate. I have already created a similar, somewhat more advanced, app and I know all the ins and outs of this one.
But! My personal motto being 'I do hard things for fun!', I took up this project in a more obscure language - Guile Scheme - and because of that I have to implement virtually every part myself. Guile does have an active community but it's nowhere close to Clojure (what I usually write projects using) which is a mere minimal fraction of languages like Javascript or Python. Schemes have a certain beauty that other languages do not, but that is a topic for another time. The point is, the cost of the Scheme-y beauty of Guile is I have to implement much of it myself, and (being a REPL-based language) I skimp on testing (for now only!).
Ultimately...
Shortly after implementing the newsletter sign ups I broke it with a simple regression. I could see in the logs where people sign up but it fails, though it's reported to them as success. I see 46 attempted sign ups! Had I been getting steady sign ups I would've felt compelled to keep producing newsletters, but due to my own fault I thought I was bringing this about despite the community. I could still add the 46 to the newsletter list, but I see merit in the blog format instead.
Moving to a blog format makes posts like this more easily shareable and easier to write and format. I don't yet have a bulk email integration so the actual mechanics of sending the email are a pain. The Abyss (my news section) will allow for more frequent updates, easier posts, and a better interface to past posts.
I will soon have a new homepage, account sign up, and a place for entering tokens. Behind the scenes I'm working on venue contracts that detail what days and times are available for games. There are a lot of things going on so check back regularly!