Let this blog be a sort of development log for the various things I'm working on at HillTown Studio (which is mostly just one person, really).

I chose to expand this writing on a blog specifically because a) what's hosted on my Mastodon server is far more ephemeral, and b) I find myself occasionally with more to say on a topic than I can fit in a Mastodon-length post. Sure, since I host all of this, I could change the post length, but then what? If I feel that's not enough? No, it's better to fork off the longer thoughts here, where they can pool up more slowly and deliberately, unfettered from the constraints of the microblog.

So what AM I working on?

From its inception, I envisioned HillTown Studio as a place to host my creative outputs, usually those involving TTRPGs. So that's what I'm working on. I am unlikely to sell anything, at least in the short term, but I am fortunate in that I don't need to sell things I do as a hobby in order to eat.

  1. Schismata is the core action resolution system I have been developing, which powers several other projects. While I hope Schismata can be a game in its own right, it is provisional outside the action resolution mechanics themselves.
  2. From Schismata, I am developing two more complete systems, each with a different feel. The first of these is (MMM), which stands for Muscle, Moxie, and Magnetism, is a rules-lite TTRPG with an implied setting. The second is Weardcynn, a nominally eco-punk game in the OSR tradition, in many ways modeled after other retroclones. I am using the development of these additional systems as feedback loops for Schismata, especially where the building blocks of a player character are concerned.
  3. I am continuing to develop a campaign setting I've called Yer Shar, which started some fifteen years ago as a smattering of ideas and grew into the longest running D&D campaign I have ever been involved in (it ran from early 2017 to early 2020 and took player characters from level 5 to level 18). I am not, and never will be finished with it.
  4. Within the world of Yer Shar, I am also continuing to develop a campaign subsetting, one that has served as the basis for several one-shot adventures already. This one is called Underscourge, and is centered entirely on a subterranean city situated in a volcano.
  5. And finally, along with one of my children, I am developing the Empire of Rodentia as a place where he and his friends can adventure as sword-and-whiskers style adventurers.

From time to time, I will post updates on the progress of these systems and settings. Whether I will split them into their own blogs or otherwise differentiate them remains to be seen. When I complete something or think I have something near completion, I will post that output as well.

Meanwhile, I am always reachable at @aaron@hilltown.studio

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