Reminder: Live Chat Tonight...

Upcoming Event

I will be hosting my October Mostly Monthly Live Chat here in the Discord tonight, Wednesday, October 21, at 8:00 PM ET, in the Discord server's #event-channel . Everyone with Discord access is welcome to participate. I am a little under the weather. Still. Again. Whatever. But I don't want to cancel or reschedule again. So I will probably try to keep this one on the shorter side. Probably no more than an hour.

As always with my Mostly Monthly Live Chats, a recording will be made available to all supporters at every tier within a day or three. Unlike some of my live events that I consider bonus content for higher-tier supporters, my Mostly Monthly Live Chats are how I check in with everyone who supports my work and let them know what is going on.

Topics will include the Patreon changeover, upcoming content, catching up, a discussion about what skill-based means, talking about Alternity game mechanics, and probably a diatribe on the heartbreaking loneliness of hating everything everyone loves because you're the only sane person in the world, by which I mean some recent video games I've played and replayed. Of course, if people bring quests and topic suggestions, they can probably stop me from rambling any of those topics. If you put a topic or question in the comments below, I'll check before the chat and try to address it tonight.

Ask Angry: If You're So Smart, How Do You Handle Doorbreaking and Lockpicking?

New General Access Feature

I recently dropped a comment about how modern tabletop roleplaying game systems don't differentiate between door-opening approaches substantially enough and I implied that I, sexy gaming genius that I am, could do better. Naturally, someone e-mail me to call my bluff. But I wasn't bluffing.

Read Ask Angry: If You're So Smart, How Do You Handle Doorbreaking and Lockpicking? at TheAngryGM.com

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The Third Heat (Part IV): The Third Heat Revealed

New General Access Feature

Finally! The Third Heat is revealed. Surprising no one, the Third Heat is "actual gameplay." Because this whole thing was never about the heat. Rather, it's about where the heat fits in your adventure design in a game where naked die rolls and open-ended creativity are both always possibilities.

Read The Third Heat (Part IV): The Third Heat Revealed at TheAngryGM.com

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The Angry GM's October 2026 Mostly Monthly Update

New Update

Hello all…

I’m back from my family visit and a lot of the chaos of my life these past few months is settled. Mostly. I am not going to pretend that everything’s okay. Honestly, some things are decidedly not okay. I am very anxious about a few things: healthfully, financially, and mentally. But I’ll work it all out one step at a time. None of that is why you’re here.

As I said, it’s time to get this ship righted, and winter in Wisconsin is the best time of the week to put your head down and get to work. I’ve got a lot ahead of me, but I’m just going to take one step at a time. I can’t pretend I’m not still playing catch up a little, but the only way to catch up is to show up every day and deal with the next thing.

Let me go topic by topic and make this quick and then get back to work. Except for scheduled events, you will notice a lack of firmly promised dates. That’s because of the whole “working every day until the ship is righted” plan.

• Weekly Features and Content
• Events for Supporters
• Project Slapdash Development, Previews, and Playtest
• Patreon Platform Changes

Weekly Features and Content

Obviously, this is my bread and butter. Four big ole Feature Articles at TheAngryGM.com every month, each one thrown first into Early Access for my supporters along with a recorded readaloud for supporters, then put onto the main page for General Access. For longer than I want to admit, I’ve been clumping the stuff up at the end of the month and then rushing it out with, what I feel, is a noticeable impact on quality.

Over the next three weeks, I will be putting out Early Access Features and audio recordings spaced out until I’m landing on every Wednesday. General Access Features will land every Tuesday. Audio recordings will start coming out in tandem with the Early Access Features.

I am working on a couple of particularly big projects I want to release over the next two months. That includes the complete new Time Tension Clock Pool system, a thing on searching and perception, some stuff on adventure design, and also an updated system for building custom D&D monsters based on my old F&$% CR system. Scattered in between will be some more conceptual stuff and basic Game Mastering advice.

I also have a few audio recordings left to publish from September. They are coming. They are not forgotten. As and when, kids. As and when.

Events for Supporters

I will be hosting my Mostly Monthly Live Chat on Wednesday, October 14 at 8 PM ET on my Discord server. All supporters with Discord access are welcome to attend. The recording will be made available to all supporters at every tier.

I will be hosting the next Angry Deep Dive on Wednesday, October 21 at 8 PM ET on my Discord server. These are bonus content for all Angrican-tier supporters. Basically, one-to-two hour instructional videos that amount to bonus articles with advice, instruction, and even mechanics. Those with Discord access can watch live and participate in the chat. All other Angrican-tier supporters will get access to the recording.

I will not be hosting a Slapchat this month. But that is so I can focus on launching the Slapdash Skirmish Playtest for members of Club Slapdash.

If my schedule allows, I will host something on Wednesday, October 28 at 8 PM ET. Maybe a Deep Dive. I’ll know more next week.

Project Slapdash Development, Previews, and Playtest

Project Slapdash is the working title of my in-development fantasy adventure roleplaying game system which has gone through several rounds of alpha testing, then got a massive redesign, and is now going through another couple of rounds of alpha testing before I put out a beta test packet. All current supporters at Frienemy-tier are welcome to join Club Slapdash where I preview the design, pull playtesters from, where I will eventually publish beta test packets, and where I will eventually publish the electronic basic core rules of the finished game. Yeah, if you ride it out, you’ll get the core rules for the single most awesome fantasy adventure roleplaying game ever once I finish making it.

I am currently putting together a massive alpha playtest endeavor, one of two, that will probably fill the next four or five months. I am trying to put together a bunch of online tables with as many testers as I can manage. The first test is a test of the combat engine. The second is a more complete test of the game’s adventuring systems.

In the next two weeks, I will putting a survey on Club Slapdash open to all members about availabilities for two-hour playtest sessions over the next few months. Once it is live, I will start building tables and scheduling online sessions to see if my combat engine breaks.

I cannot give firmer dates right now. This is a huge endeavor and a logistical nightmare. But I can promise you will have plenty of time to respond and I will announce the survey everywhere I speak to anyone. You won’t miss it. I will also be giving as many people as possible the chance to participate. Just bear with me. I know you’re excited.

The Patreon Changeover

Finally…

Patreon, one of the crowdfunding platforms that allows my generous supporters to keep my work going, is requiring a change to how my supporters are charged and billed. Until now, my supporters have pledged a certain amount per Feature Article and they are charged for each one I publish. Now, I am being required to change to a flat subscription model. One charge per month.

This does not change anything for anyone currently supporting me.

Because I have always published and charged exactly four Feature Articles every month, no more, no less, the changeover basically means nothing to anyone. If you pledged $1 an article, you’ve always been charged $4 a month. If you have a limit or maximum set, that will still be respected. Absolutely nothing is changing.

That said, I still have to work with support on the back end to make the change and I have no idea what that actually entails. I’ve been putting off this change for a while, but the deadline is here and I can’t ignore it anymore.

However, this change does require to adjust the way my tiers are advertised and published and, frankly, my Patreon page is kind of a mess. It doesn’t really accurately reflect what is and is not available at the different support tiers. I’ve been putting off cleaning it up for years.

Which means this is the perfect time to clean up my page and clarify my promises to supporters. What does supporting my work actually mean? What extras am I promising to thank people for their excessive generosity at higher tiers? This is good because it requires me to recommit to promises I’ve been lax on delivering as I’ve been struggling through chaos and mental illness.

But, I will admit that I am irrationally terrified that somehow, in some way, something is going to go terribly wrong and support for my work will collapse. It doesn’t help that I’ve been going through a period of financial hardship and have been hit with a few nasty surprises in the last two months which almost feel like punishment for allowing myself to take money from my savings to visit a convention and then celebrate a wedding with my family. Life sucks that way.

Likely, everything will be fine. But this is happening in addition to the pressure to just get my shit together, right my ship, get back on track, and build the single most awesome fantasy adventure roleplaying game ever alone and as quickly as possible. I feel overwhelmed and frightened.

But, still, I have a huge number of people who have stuck by me through the darkest period in my life and despite my failure to deliver on promises and slipping quality and reliability. That’s honestly the most amazing thing I can imagine. I am so blessed. And so, overwhelmed, terrified, and aching, I will keep showing up every day. I don’t know where this journey is going to end, but wherever it does, I can already say I’m pretty much the luckiest man I know.

Thank you all for everything. I could never do enough to deserve your faith, support, encouragement, and love. Which is what makes it so wonderful.