2023 Retrospective: Love Mutants, Pinball Wizards, and the Soothing Sounds of Chaos
by Michael Curtis
This rock we call home has swung around the Sun yet again and it’s time to look back at the Year That Was. We’ve come a long way since the Terrible Years We Don’t Talk About, but that doesn’t mean 2023 was any less interesting than previous years.
Proposed changes to the OGL sent ripples throughout the RPG industry, stirring up emotions and making some people rethink their game of choice. What might have been a misstep for some was beneficial to Dungeon Crawl Classics; gamers who may have not otherwise looked outside their comfortable gaming bubble starting investigating new games and many of them discovered (or rediscovered) DCC RPG. We sold out of rulebooks in no time and fresh, friendly faces began popping up on social media with plenty of enthusiasm for the weird little game they just learned about. The DCC RPG fans, proving they’re the best out there, welcomed these newcomers to the fold with open arms and fistfuls of funky dice. I’m glad you fine people found a home around the DCC campfire and I know I speak for the community when I say we’re looking forward to hearing your stories about funnels gone awry and the often-ridiculous ramifications of spellburn and Mighty Deeds.
The DCC RPG line was extraordinarily busy in 2023 with some HUGE crowdfunding projects. In the last 365 days, we successfully launched the Dungeon Denizens, Xcrawl Classics, and Grimtooth’s Old-School Traps campaigns, while also delivering Crypt of the Devil Lich, DCC #100 and DCC Dying Earth to backers and retailers. As I write this, we’re in the finishing stages of getting OAR 7: Dark Tower off to the printer, with XCC close behind. There’re some even cooler projects on the docket for 2024, but I can’t talk about those…yet.
But it wasn’t all big, prestige products this year. In addition to great crowdfunding campaigns, we released a slew of smaller books, some of which had been in the works during the pandemic. DCC fans old and new picked up DCC #103: Bloom of the Blood Garden, our amazing Valentine’s Day adventure Love Mutants of Castle Heartache, DCC Dying Earth #9: Time Tempests at the Nameless Rose, the usual Free RPG Day and DCC Day releases including Piercing the Demon’s Eye, DCC Day #5: Crash of the Titans, and the 2023 DCC Day Adventure Pack. Members of the DCC Road Crew received special access to the second Road Crew Pit Stop Caught in the Mouth of Chaos, and Goodman Games even formally took over production of the long-running fan favorite, the DCC RPG Reference Booklet. Whew! What a year!
Despite these accomplishments, we’re not ones to sit at home and rest on our laurels when there are conventions to attend. We did the rounds of the usual cons like Gary Con, Origins, Gamehole, and PAX Unplugged, plus an ever-growing list of smaller regional conventions. Gen Con was outstanding, with DCC RPG becoming the third-largest TTRPG being played in Indy this year. Plus, we debuted our new DCC Funnel Experience that gave newcomers and old fans alike to take a chance at surviving a brand new DCC funnel. We also ran our usual tournament, this time set in the fantastical world of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth. And did I mention vintage pinball games at the booth or a jumbo-sized dice tower spitting out oversized d20s down at Lucas Oil Stadium? Every year, Goodman Games gets crazier and crazier at Gen Con. Start planning for 2024 now!
DCC RPG also had a banner year for extending its reach outside our national borders. Goodman Games returned to the UK for the first time since the pandemic when we attended the UK Games Expo with a ton of game books and dice in tow. We also announced our partnership with Spiral Galaxies in opening a UK-friendly online shopping portal, making it easier for those on the other side of the Atlantic to obtain DCC RPG and other Goodman Games products. As of this writing, that online portal has expanded to serve parts of the EU, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden.
What does 2024 have in store for DCC RPG? If anything, the last three years have taught me it’s impossible to predict the future. However, that doesn’t stop us from already planning some amazing things in the year ahead. I look forward to bringing those plans to fruition and I thank each and everyone of you for supporting Goodman Games and helping us bring awesome games to tables around the world. I hope to see you folks around the ziggurat in the year ahead, and, to each of you, I extend a sincere Happy New Year. See you in the future, everyone!
