What's next after Curse of Strahd: Reloaded?

Now that Curse of Strahd: Reloaded is (largely) complete, what’s next?

First, I’m not quite done with Strahd yet. As mentioned on Friday, I still need to publish the Epilogue, as well as the optional downtime arc, Arc N: Tales of Vallaki. I also intend to eventually make a number of overhauls to existing arcs, such as by making certain Act II arcs less linear (Missing Vistana and Lost Soul, I’m looking at you) and by removing Arturi Radanavich entirely. I’ll also collaborate with my editor, Maxim, to keep putting out smaller patches to fix issues or fill in gaps. Finally, I’ll add in up-to-date design notes to every arc and try to make the whole thing more friendly to new DMs. However, Strahd won’t be my top priority, and I intend to take a much more relaxed schedule on these items; altogether, it may be a year or more before I consider RRL truly “complete.”

Second, I have a significant backlog of developer blogs to get through for my beloved Silver+ patrons. Over the past six to twelve months, every time I’ve pondered setting aside Curse of Strahd: Reloaded work to publish a devblog instead, I’ve wondered: “Can I really afford to lose that writing time? Wouldn’t my patrons prefer a new RRL update over a new devblog?” Due to this perceived zero-sum game, I unreasonably slowed my devblog publishing schedule. Nevertheless, now that I no longer have any real time pressure to update RRL, I’m free to prioritize other obligations instead, so keep an eye out for a flurry of articles on Arc T, Arc U, and more.

Third, speaking of blogs, I intend to resurrect my free Substack blog, Dragna’s Den. Where my devblogs will be focused on the RRL design process, Dragna’s Den will include blog articles focused on broader concepts of TTRPG narrative and game design, including such hot takes as: "What can Honey Heist teach us about what D&D players want?", "Is Armor Class a terrible idea?", "Why are mysteries like Pepe Sylvia?", and "What is a game, anyway?"

Fourth, speaking of narrative and game design, I’ll continue to refine and expand my forthcoming textbook on TTRPG game and narrative design, currently codenamed The Dungeon Master’s Guide: Reloaded. (If you’re interested in getting a preview, Bronze+ members of the Patreon can access all existing ten chapters here.) I hope to start releasing chapters publicly by or before late summer, so stay tuned.

Fifth, I intend to continue development on Challenge Ratings 2.0, my mathematical encounter-building system, both to update it for 2024 and to expand it to cover a greater array of party and character builds.

Sixth, I intend to explore a return to YouTube. Since I don’t have the time (or interest) to do more animated videos (however low-quality my existing videos may be), I’ll likely explore more Khan Academy-style “lecture” videos, using a drawing tablet and a digital whiteboard to discuss D&D design concepts and solve user-submitted campaign problems.

Seventh, I’ll eventually share my session notes for my current IRL campaign, Chult: Shadows of the Serpent, which is a RRL-style rewrite of Tomb of Annihilation. (It removes both the Tomb and the Annihilation, and focuses on the rise and fall of Ras Nsi instead.)

Eighth, I’d like to eventually explore the prospect of creating an online, open-access research journal for TTRPG ludonarrative design. This is currently very vague and fuzzy, but ludonarrative design (referring to the intersection of a game’s narrative and gameplay elements) appears to be an underdeveloped, pre-paradigmatic field, and I’d like to do what I can to address that. (If you’re interested in contributing to this through your own original research, shoot me an email at dragnacartacreations@gmail.com, and let’s talk.)

None of these items, however, will be my top priority. That honor goes to my current ninth project, which I’ll be officially announcing this Tuesday morning. So stay tuned, and get ready.

Cheers,

Dragna