Squarehex 2021 Review and 2022 Plans

2021 Review

Considering the the ongoing impact of Covid, I'm pretty pleased with how things went in 2021. Sales of The Black Hack were solid, but we ran out out of print copies in June and so funded a reprint with a Kickstarter campaign. Stock of The Black Hack will go back on general sale in early January 2022 and we should have enough stock to last another 18-24 months. The Black Hack in PDF form clicked up enough sales to become a DriveThruRPG Adamantine best seller, which is quite an achievement when you consider that only 136 other titles have managed to reach the same status.

We ran 2 other Kickstarters during 2021. The first was an intentionally small project to print some Dungeon Geomorph mapping pads. The second (Dungeon Master's Little Black Book) was also intended to be a small project. However, it smashed its goal and went on to get over 1800 backers, which is more backers than we've had for any previous project. The welcome success of that project generated a lot of extra work. I did have another small project ready to go, but I had to shelve it to focus on The Black Hack reprint.

2021 saw a tentative return to conventions. Squarehex had a stand at both the UK Games Expo in August and Dragonmeet in December. We were anxious about returning the the shows, but thanks to the rules in place we felt safe at them. It also helped being part of an island block of stands with our friends at All Rolled Up and Patriot Games.

2022 Plans

The first job of the New Year is to put The Black Hack books and boxed sets back on general sale. At the same time I'll attempt to tidy the Squarehex webstore up a little. There's also a fair bit of admin work I'd like to do including a full stocktake and reorganising our storage, show stock, and getting new convention signage.

We'll be back with more Kickstarters. My list of potential projects now runs to several pages, and there are at least 8 that could potentially be selected to run this year. In no particular order they are:

• Another dungeon geomorph project
• The Lichway
• The Black Hack Classic Characters book
• A small notebook project
• A Black Hack adventure/s
• Another Little Black Book
• A game box project
• 2.5D Dungeons

I expect that we'll run 2 or 3 from that list and there's always a chance that something else will come along that manages to jump the queue. I'd also like to print some more mapping paper pads, but the rising cost of Overseas postage is making it increasingly hard to distribute them.

Italian fans of The Black Hack will be interested to learn that we have signed a license deal for an Italian Edition of the game. I'll share more details about it when it's ready to launch.

If they run, we'll be back at conventions in 2022. We've booked a stand at the UK Games Expo in June already. We also hope to be at Continuum (local to us in Leicester) in August, and Dragonmeet in December.

Thank you to everyone that supported our work in 2021, I hope we can tempt you back with something new this year.

Dungeon Geomorphs Project is Live!

 I just launched 7 day Make100 Kickstarter project. Over half of the rewards have already been snapped up so if you want in better be quick!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/dungeon-geomorph-pads

Dungeon Mug on Sale Now!

I've just received a batch of my new Dungeon Mugs. I intend to take these to sell at conventions, but when they arrived I was so pleased with them that I decided to put them up online too. They feature a map depicting a series of tombs. Each mug also comes with a paper copy of the map so you ca populate and run it as an adventure.

Get them from Squarehex here: https://squarehex.myshopify.com/products/dungeon-mug

If they sell well I'll add one or two more designs in the future.

I've also got a few decks of Inked Adventure's Map/Dice Playing Cards in stock. These are the redesigned full-size cards. Also on Squarehex here:  https://squarehex.myshopify.com/products/map/dice cards

Trap Geomorph Contest Entry

Here's my entry for the latest round of Inkwell Ideas #GeomorphMaContest.

It's called Block Runner. Here's the blurb for it:

All the entrances of the geomorph open into a large chamber. Running along the length of the middle of the chamber are 8 giant blocks. In the floor, beneath each one, are channels that run the entire width of the room. In each corner, there is an alcove. Inside each alcove is a large metal lever. As soon as someone walks 3 squares into the chamber from any direction each block begins moving rapidly along its channel. The blocks start moving in the direction shown by the arrows, and then change direction when they reach the end of their channels. The blocks move 1d6 per round. Any character hit by a block will take a lot of damage, but you may allow a saving throw or similar and let them dodge a block that crosses their path.

There are alcoves in the middle of the perimeter walls that offer some respite from the sliding blocks. However, two of the levers in the corner alcoves have the potential to make them just as deadly as the blocks.

If the levers are pulled they have the following effects:

Lever 1 - Doubles the speed of the blocks.
Lever 2 - Halves the speed of the blocks.
Lever 3 - Pushes spikes through the wall at A and B.
Lever 4 - Releases poisonous gas in a 20' radius at C and D.

The trap resets 10 minutes after all movement (other than the blocks) in the room has ceased.

Water Geomorph #2 The Fishbowl

I've finished my second Water Geomorph for the +GeomorphMapContest. It's called The Fishbowl.

"Years ago the Dwarves discovered this natural cavern while mining, and found that it was plentiful with fish. Now the Dwarves are gone, and goblins live in the once splendid Dwarvern Halls. The goblins don't fish in the cave's waters though. Something terrible now lurks under the water. Long, suckered tentacles lie coiled beneath the surface, ready to snatch anything that dares to cross the bridge above. The goblins use the bridge as a test to initiate young warriors. Arrows are fired across the bridge and the goblins dash across to retrieve them to earn their places as warriors of the tribe."

I might do a full write-up of this one too.

Water Geomorph #2 Work in Progress

This the second Water Geomorph that I'm working on for the +GeomorphMapContest. The original pencil sketch can be found here.

For this one I actually drew the bridge on a separate sheet, scanned it, and placed it on the main outline. Next I'll print the combined drawing 6up on a sheet and sketch details multiple times. Then I'll scan the best versions of the new elements, clean them up, and drop them in one-by-one.

Finished Water Geomorph

I've finished the first of my water geomorphs for the +GeomorphMapContest. I posted the pencil sketch of it a couple of days ago here.

I redrew the basic layout in pen the scanned and added flat grey fills. I then drew a collection of items on a separate sheet so it wouldn't matter if I made mistakes. This also allowed me to carefully move objects around until I was happy with their positions on the map.

It features a baker's cellar that houses a large water wheel that drives a stone to grind wheat. I've not decided whether the Baker is aware of the cultists that meet next door, and the secret passageway that connects the two cellars. I'll probably write this up for the next issue of Oubliette.

Water Geomorph Drafts

Couple of drafts for the water round of the +GeomorphMapContest Both drawn in the park this afternoon while my Daughter and her friends were playing after school.

The first one features and underground water wheel where a baker grinds flour for bread, completely oblivious to the cultists that meet next door.

The second is a subterranean, water filled cavern with a pretty treacherous rope bridge crossing. I'll do pen versions of these over the next few days. The contest is running until Monday.

Geomorph Using New Template

I've drawn one of the previous three Geomorphs again using the new template. It took about twice as long to draw, but I think it was worth the effort. The lines look a lot straighter, yet it still looks hand-drawn.

Here's a scan of the drawing:

And here it is cleaned up ready for printing.

Geomorph Template

Using arcane knowledge gleaned from the long lost Games Workshop Dungeon Mapping Sheets, I've created a handy geomorph template with a double line grid. I've left the entry/exit points as single lines so they are easy to spot. I'll draw my previous three geomorphs on these and see how they look.

Three Geomporphs

I've decided to redraw all my beermat and other old geomorphs in a uniform style and size. The three pictured below are drawn on 7mm grid paper (cut from one of my larger pads). I'm going to print a couple of alternative grid sizes and draw the same three tiles. I'll then scan them all and see how they print at different sizes.

I'd say there's about a 90% chance that I'll have another geomorph related Kickstarter before the end of the summer.

Geomorphic Beermat Poster

I didn't have time to make a big display for the Geomorphic Beermats at the UK Expo. Since then I've been scribbling a few geomorphs each evening. The end result is the poster below, which contains 48 geomorphs (24 full tiles and 24 edges/corners). I'll be taking this with to shows in future to promote the mats.

The Beermats are all now live again on the Squrehex site ready to order, so if you missed the Kickstarter now's your chance to grab some.

https://squarehex.myshopify.com/collections/square-hex-pads/beermats

Shrine Geomorph Contest Entry

I'm really enjoying the bi-weekly Geomorph contest run by Inkwell Ideas. I'm using the contest as catalyst for not only spending more time drawing maps, but also to try out new ways of creating them. For my shrine entry, I created the whole map using Scribus (free DTP software). There's not a single bit of drawing on it. Everything is just lines and shapes added one-by-one.

The map is called The Shrine of Collected Confessions. Worshipers place a coin in one of the fonts situated at the corner, and the door opposite opens as if by magic, to grant them access to one of the shrines four private chambers. They can then say their prayers, and confess their sins. Of course they are blissfully unaware that anything juicy that they reveal is recorded by the scribes in the secret chamber at the centre of the shrine.

Last Minute Lava Geomorph

I just finished my second Lava Geomorph for the Inkwell Ideas #GeomorphMapContest.

This one is entitled Hot Rock Crossing I created it by drawing the initial black border by hand then scanned and added a fill of lava colouring. The other components (computer generated chains and hand-drawn wooden walkways) were then created as new images and dropped on to the main drawing one bit at a time.

Geomorphic Beermats Latecomer Options

The Geomorphic Beermats campaign really whipped up a storm, raising over £3,000 in just 6 days. If you missed it, I'm still happy to accept latecomers right up to the point that the Kickstarter funds are transferred. If you want to join as a late backer, please send an email stating which reward you would like, along with the country they need posting to, and I'll send you a Paypal invoice. My email address is oubliettemagazine AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk

Sewer Geomorphs

This is the last call for the Geomorphic Beermats Kickstarter which ends in about 3 hours. I've really enjoyed this campaign. Just one week ago I hadn't even considered it as a campaign. The beermats were just a little test print-run. Now it looks like I'm going to be ordering over 25,000 of the things!

My last sample maps are some of some miniature-scaled sewers. They're pretty similar to the mines I posted earlier today, but show another potential use for the mats.

Mine Track Geomorphs

The Geormorphic Beermats Kickstarter ends at 10pm (GMT) tonight. I'm hoping to get a couple more sets of sample tiles completed before then. The first of them show how the tiles can be used to create miniature-scaled mine track geomorphs.

These took me about 5 minutes each, so it wouldn't take too long to produce even a complex map for a game. I haven't cut the borders away as I want to get on with another set of different tiles to post before the end of the Kickstarter.

Beermat Castles

The Geomorphic Beermat Kickstarter is now in the final 33 hours. Today I want to show another possible use for the mats as very quick, modular castle tiles.

The example below is simple castle that was put together using just 5 beermats (without the extension for the drawbridge it would have been 4). As the pieces are still drawn as geomorphs you can make a castle as big as you like. I've left the central area clear, but in use I'd probably draw a central keep on its own card that could simply placed on the map.

12 Tile Beermat Map

Today I wanted to show how my Geomorphic Beermats may be used to create a larger map. I've stuck to the standard 8 entry/exit point layout, but with the addition of half and quarter tiles for edges and corners (I think Dyson used a similar layout last week and I it was really effective).

The map is based on an adventure idea I've been thinking about for a while. It is essentially a large underground necropolis, with the added bonus of a tribe of Goblins tunneling into it from the south-east.

The Kickstarter for the Beermats is entering its final 48 hours soon. If you still haven't taken a look here's the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/geomorphic-beermats

When I write it up I may do a new version of the map but I think I'll keep most of the elements presented here.

Below I've included the rough pencil version of the map that I drew out and about earlier in the week, and also the beermat (12 beermats used) components cut ready.

Lava Geomorph #1

I've finished a lava themed geomorph for the next Inkwell Ideas Geomorph Map Contest.

I thought it would be fitting to draw it on one of my new Beermats (currently on Kickstarter). I've retouched it a little after scanning, and quickly added the colour using an airbrush tool. It's as yet untitled, but the idea I was going for was slave traders meeting at a bridge over the lava filled chasm to do business. The second image shows a photo of the tile before any retouching.