I’ve got some bad news to share, so rather than beat around the bush as I am sometimes wont to do, I’ll jump right in.
Unfortunately, RPGWanderer’s leadership has been struggling for a long time to come to an agreement on the future of the site. Mostly on how to get there, but also where we’re going. Over time our vision for the company has diverged, and continues to diverge, and it has become untenable to continue as we had been.
After negotiations about what the next phases of the site’s life would look like, I (Aaron) have made the call that continuing as we had been is no longer working. The result of that decision is that RPGWanderer (the platform for hosting interactive GM-less RPGs), and Tides of Murkport (the universe, chapters and IP) will be parting ways.
I’ll be writing my thoughts on the subject in the days and weeks to come, but for now I’ll stick to just the immediate changes.
I also want to thank our players ahead of time (and for the wait so far) for their patience. I know our communication hasn’t always been great, and with these changes going on it was very difficult to offer concrete updates considering what those updates would be wasn’t entirely clear to us either.
What will Happen to Tides of Murkport?
Alex is free to grow, publish, re-release, or do whatever else he likes with Tides. He wholly owns the IP, and it’s entirely in his hands how he decides to move forward with it.
At time of writing Alex hasn’t given me any contact information for where you can get updates on the future of the IP, but when he decides where and how he’d like to share that information I’ll post an update with the details.
What does this Mean for RPGWanderer?
The site is not closing, and the game improvements are still under way! That’s first and foremost. Right now however, this is a game platform without a game for new players. RPGW has always supported more than just a single module, though that was the only game available.
Along with the platform overhaul that has been under way for the past months, we’ll be pursuing three streams for new content to add to the site.
In-House Content
We’ll be publishing new, for now shorter, more self contained adventures. These will vary from narrative heavy stories, to combat focused crawls and everything in-between. Several of these will be free to play (in the real sense, not in the micro transaction sense), and some will be available to purchase at price points that reflect the size of the adventure. Current customers will have their purchases applied to new content automatically at a value higher than the original purchases. More details will come on this as we settle on a roadmap for new stories.
Existing Adventure Adaptations
Already we’ve spoken to other DND module creators about porting their content to the platform. This was going to be further into the roadmap, but considering these developments the focus on those relationships will be a major priority.
There’s not a lot of details we can share about this yet, but more news will come as the plans firm up.
Community Content
Many people have asked about the ability to author content for the site, and we intend to make this a major priority as well. RPGW adventures are based on a heavily modified version of Twine and there are well known tools (Tiled for example) that are the backbone of the combat systems. Right now the tools for creating adventures are rough, but with some polish it should be extremely accessible for community members to create their own games, and share them through the site.
This requires some serious thought about pricing, what is free, and how creators can be compensated for their efforts, as well as how moderation and quality assurance will work for these creations. That will develop as plans are firmed up, and with the help of creators who would like to be involved in the alpha and beta phases of the community creation.
If you’re interested in creating adventures please reach out to support@rpgwanderer.com and we’ll get you added to the program right from the start. Landing on a fair way of providing as much content to as many players as possible is going to be tricky, but absolutely doable, and the author’s needs will be at the center of that process right from the start. It’s a very exciting opportunity and we can’t wait to get the conversation going.
Access to Tides of Murkport for Current Customers
Anyone who has already purchased access to Chapter 2, or Act 1, will continue to have access to those chapters for the next 12 months. Subsequent chapters (3, and 4) at this point are no longer scheduled to be completed.
We’ll be reaching out to customers who have purchased all of Act 1 with refund or credit options. If you’d like to get in contact for clarification before we contact you, please email support@rpgwanderer.com.
Anyone with general questions about access (or anything in this post, of course), can reach out on discord, comments here, or by emailing support@rpgwanderer.com as well, of course.
Final Thoughts
The new platform changes are going to be great, and the new content streams will be great. I can’t wait to see the transformation take place, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, but there’s no getting away from how big a disappointment it is to lose Tides. The universe and its denizens are intriguing and the story is fantastic and I’m deeply saddened I’ll have to experience whatever new content Alex creates through a different lens than RPGWanderer.
I think that expanding community involvement in development and content authoring is going to be a huge win, and I can’t wait to play the exciting new stories.
There’s a lot here to digest, and I’m extremely interested in feedback and suggestions. If you have any thoughts, suggestions or questions, please reach out on discord or email support
Life is change, and great things are coming.
