Dragonmeet down

Sales and monthly musings from LunarShadow Designs

It's December, it's a week after Dragonmeet and I'm ready to call time on the year. But before it comes to a close I've got my usual round up of the month, starting with…

SALES, SALES, SALES! Ok, only 2 sales.

First up is a short post Dragonmeet sale on my Etsy store where I'm offering free UK shipping until the 15th December. Unfortunately, due to the new GPSR regulations I'm only shipping games to the UK at the moment but I hope to work out a resolution to that in the new year.

Check out the sale ASAP!

If you're in the US or North America then Project Cassandra and Signal to Noise are half price from Indie Press Revolutions until the stock runs out! This is a great chance to grab a bargain from one of the most supportive indie retailers out there so please go check out their extensive catalogue!

LunarShadow Designs on Indie Press Revolution

Finally, while they're not running a sale I'd like to also highlight Beyond Cataclysm who stock almost everything I have in print alongside many other great games.

Dragonmeet retrospectives

It’s hard to believe that Dragonmeet is now departing into the distance for another year but sadly that’s the way of things. With it we say goodbye to the Novotel for the last time ahead of the move to the Excel in 2025. There was also the a surprise announcement of a mini-Dragonmeet at Kensington Town Hall in the first half of the year - while details are still to come 2 London based events are likely outside of my budget for now. Which slides nicely into my regular retrospectives - In part 1 I talk about the sales and money side of things, while in part 2 I focus on the experience, with Nick adding his own comments.

If you want the tldr - I had a great weekend but sadly it resulted in a loss as my personal share of the sales declined this year. It’s a sad truth that the cost of attending conventions can often destroy any profits but I still think Dragonmeet is extremely important to attend as a small creative.

The Words We Leave Behind

I brought the ashcan to Dragonmeet and had some really valuable conversations about the game and its focus. Core to that was emphasising the central role of the butterfly effect. This is a game about writing and changing history so I'm going to be focusing more on that as I move forward with it.

Part of that development includes a new solo mode. The core gameplay remains the same, with your Proxy creating and modifying a series of Incursions. The big difference though is the removal of the letters (you are, after all only one person). Instead we have the Lost Moment/Memory - A personal moment in time that you are desperately trying to save. You will create this moment at the start of the game and then slowly, with each incursion, rewrite it guided by the cards you have played. I’m going to be working on that update over Christmas with the aim of releasing it to early access supporters right before the Kickstarter goes live.

This month I found…

I’m planning to switch up the content of the newsletter a little in 2025, to include more recommendations and commentary on material outside of my own writing. One of those ideas is to include a short feature on a game I’ve read/played/found that month but I figured, why wait until next year when I’ve got one to get started?

Laika is a short, solo RPG about the first dog in space and the journey they endured. The story of the real Laika is one that is dear to me and I’ve read a fair amount about her short life and contribution to space exploration. This short but emotional RPG takes you on that journey and asks you to reflect on it before you say goodbye forever. I love little games like this, that can be easily played in a single sitting and are about the emotions that they invoke as much as the story that you tell. Give this a try if you understand the power of feeling sad and the need to say goodbye to a loved one.

Links Roundup

Itch goes down, then is back up

Many members of the gaming community have come to rely on itch.io for hosting their games but woke up yesterday (the 9th Dec) to learn that the site was (temporarily) gone. The culprit? An automated AI powered takedown notice on behalf of Funko Pops of all people. There’s conflicting info going around, with both itch and their hosting provider claiming the other was. Polygon has a thorough breakdown and the story continues to develop so this is one to keep an eye on.

DOTS RPG dice

While accessibility in gaming is slowly gaining ground I was surprised to learn that the DOTS RPG dice project is the first time that mass produced braille dice have reached the market. The dice are available in two different sets and feature braille numbers, an increased size to ensure readability and additional features tailored to gamers with sight loss. The press release over on Rascal has the full breakdown and link to the store.

The Wrap Up

That’s it for 2024 and another year. I hope that despite everything going on in the world it has been one you’ll be able to look back on fondly. I’m travelling over the New Year period so I’ll be back mid-January with a focus on ZineQuest projects launching in February so if you’ve got something planned let me know!

Craig