Hey all, Mark Della-Croce, Lore Link Product Lead here. Spooky month is upon us, so I’d better get this going before the ghosts of games unscheduled catch up to me!
First up, the biggest news of September was, of course, the release of the Lore Link Data Refactor. You can read more about that here, but in short, we’ve added awesome new features just about everywhere in Lore Link. Linking Lore is easier than ever, and more meaningful than ever with Named Relationships. Image Maps for Galaxy and above members can now be used on every type of Lore and point to any type of Lore. Plus, all Lore can now take advantage of hierarchies, making it easier to sort and share data between Lore. If those sound interesting and you don’t already have an account, head over to Lore Link today and sign up to get access to those features and more!
The best place to see all of these new features in action is on our Twitch Channel. We’ve got actual plays, discussions with indie creators, video games, and of course, planning sessions using Lore Link. Recently, in our Indie Creator Series, I talked with Deny Trudel about his solo journaling TTRPG You Were Made, and even ran through a few journal entries in Lore Link. His Kickstarter has successfully funded, but you can still get in with late backing here. After that, Mike talked with Chuck and Adam from Cannon Otter Studio about the inspiration behind their unique TTRPGs Skin City and Teenage Oddyssey. You can check out their games on their website! But it isn’t just TTRPGs; I also spoke with Kristen Gielecki about her English-to-Elvish glossary Toranag ise es Tobrim, and how adding a unique language for your players to encounter can increase their immersion. Check out her books in her online shop as well as our conversation. Finally, with it being Spooky month, just this week we played through the cyberpunk game Bite the Hand with its creator, Alex Vigna. Bite the Hand uses the Mothership Panic Engine which gives a quick and easy way to create a fast-paced, tense dystopian adventure for your players. Be sure to check out that adventure and more over on the YouTube Channel.
Speaking of adventures, we got to see one of our staffers get behind the GM screen for the first time in a long time as our Communication Director, Tony Troxell, planned out and then ran a game of Star Trek Adventures Second Edition for us. We enjoyed saving civilians, toying with the Prime Directive, and not deliberately blowing up a planet. Check the video archive of that stream on our YouTube channel here.
Still to come in October, I’ll be taking a look at how to use Lore Link to take your game out into the Wild West in Western TTRPGs, followed by playing some co-op video games. Finally, on Halloween, the Lore Link Players will be playing Monster of the Week to celebrate Spooky Month. All of that, plus a few more Guest Streams, will all be available on our Twitch Channel, so follow us over there to get all the updates.
Thank you to all of those who caught Mike out in the wild at PlaythroughGC in Raleigh or who happened to stop by my panels at Loofi-Con in nearby Rushville, Indiana! As always, it was great meeting with you and discussing Lore Link and TTRPGs in general. Coming up, we’ll be sponsoring tables at Acadecon in Dayton, Ohio. You can track where the Lore Link team will be via our community page, and if you have any suggestions on awesome conventions we should visit next, let us know!
Well, that’s all for me. I hear the spirits of projects yet undone knocking on my window, so I should go. 'Til next time, may your players fail their sanity and panic checks at just the right moment!
