The Future is Beefy

Prepping for GHC 2025

I've been a way for a minutes but A LOT has been happening! I ran 24 hours of games across 4 days for Gamehole Con 2025, the Discord server continues to grow, I launched a Patreon to support Beefy Shotgun Wizards, and more! But that's the boring stuff.

On the design side, after hours of playtesting online, at home, and on the con floor I have added a new phase, You Meet at the Gym to kick the game off and have revised how the Light it Up works.

With You Meet at the Gym, players just go around the table, introduce their wizard, share their school of magic, and say what machine they're working out on. It's a great way to get new players introduced and starting to roleplay, plus it gives the DM plenty of material to work with while letting them know what kind of players they're dealing with. Did everyone pick a "standard" school of magic from that one game? Or are their Roidomancers casting water-to-preworkout? It's a great way to kick of the zaniness.

For Light it Up, keeping it open ended ("how do you use your last spell?") was sometimes a little too freeform. I've adapted it to say, "this is where you are in the dungeon, how the hell did you get here? How did you deal with X, Y, and Z." This has been great at con games as it allows for tighter collaboration. When the players know the destination they can freestyle with more confidence, knowing where their actions lead. This also allows for more specific recommendations for each dungeon.

The new games design elements for Star Wreck of the Brain Sucking Cephalopod also proved a great inspiration as I opened my mind to more enemy abilities, leading to character sheet tweaks. The Sentient Acid attacks random gear slots, infected thralls can force a choice between the wizard taking a hefty hit or giving their wretches over to be converted into enemies, and the Brain-in-a-Jar-in-a-Death-Machine revealed that I can give absurd armor abilities to a creature (ignoring the first damage from an individual hit) and still have it get wiped out in a single round of combat (but not without firing off a crazy missile salvo).

It has been a blast, as has riffing on old tropes (oozes, brains in a jar, mind flayers) while throwing in weirdness (space dinosaurs wearing tinfoil, false-men synthetic life forms, the gravity vampire). The energy of folks playing at the table has been incredible, and it definitely feels like we're onto something with the game. That said...

Kickstarter Launch!!!

That's right folks! We'll be launching the Kickstarter in 2026! Keep your eyes on this space for the announcement. There are sure to be plenty of stretch goals and fun extras.

Beefy Wizard Con 2026

On May 1st and 2nd, 2026 I'll be hosting a modest (50-100 people) convention in the city of Madison, WI where I live. We'll be at the Madison Labor Temple. This con will be a celebration of indy RPG and Skirmish games and will seek to cultivate a community atmosphere with a sellers bazaar, kitbash contest, and more in addition to some good gaming.

That's it for now! Stay tuned to this space!!!