Hi {name}!

In this update:

• Definitions of success
• Making braille widely available
• The ultimate planar travel resource

How successful do you feel?

This morning, we sent our tax documents to our accountant (a lot earlier than usual! 🥳). Organizing those documents and accounts also allows us to reflect on the past year financially. Looking at that final “Net Profit” number summarizes the year, and when I break it down, while we finished in the black, I realize that I could’ve made more working fast food. That’s not a great feeling. It feels like failure.

That said, we’re still a new company, and on average, businesses take two to three years to become profitable. We’ve been a business for 2.5 years, and financial success in the TTRPG industry is nearly impossible, so we’re thankful that our bills are all paid thanks to some other income sources. Our kids ask, “What’s for dinner tonight,” not, “Will there be dinner tonight?” We have good medical insurance. And the “Net Profit” is smaller partly because we’ve invested a lot back into the company so we can make some very cool resources soon.

But more importantly, we’re able to work from home and meet our kids’ disability needs. I get to spend every day with my amazing wife by my side. I get to spend every day working on D&D designs and call it “work.” (OK, last year, I spent 42% of my time on design and the rest on other tasks, but that’s still about 1000 hours.) I got to pay several disabled, neurodivergent, and mentally ill artists, writers, editors, and consultants for fantastic work. I got to talk to lots of cool people. And I got to work with all of you to make lives better through TTRPGs! That feels like success!

Pursuing success can often feel like the Chases rules in the DMG (Chapter 8) — a bit complicated and dependent on a lot of die rolls. When you accomplish your goals, it can feel more like luck than accomplishment. When you don’t attain those goals, you might feel like giving up.

But like D&D, it’s not about “winning.” Like D&D, gold has its uses, but it has limits, and experience and personal milestones give you a lot more. And in your daily life, like D&D, if you benefit from the game along the way and help others do the same, you don’t have to wait for a year-end report to feel successful.

But even on those days when you roll one crit failure after another, you’re still valuable, because as good as success can feel, your value doesn’t come from success. You’re important before you even roll initiative on your day. Because just by being here with us, you make our lives better, and we’re honored to have you at our big table.

Q: How many TTRPG books are available for purchase in braille?
A: None. While the DOTS RPG Project does volunteer conversions for local lending libraries and organizations, and several companies are working on braille transcriptions, none (to my knowledge) are yet available for individual ownership.

We want to change that. 

I have already converted one adventure (Time Is of the Essence), ready for feedback from braille readers before public release, and we hope to do the same with all of our other published products. And we are committed to full digital braille (BRF) versions of every new product at launch moving forward, starting with our upcoming Ready to Roll: Feyweather Friends Kickstarter. Once we get that process going, we’ll provide tutorials for other companies to encourage them to convert their content as well.

If you are a braille reader and can check our conversions for readability, we will send you a free full copy of the finished product when published and credit you in the book. We also hope to make physical braille versions available soon and will need people to test those as well. If you’re not a braille user but have low vision or are blind, we also hope to add tactile embossed image options and will need testers for those as well.

If you can help, sign up with this form.

And if you’re sighted and not a braille user, DOTS RPG is looking for help with image descriptions and other needs. Check out the DOTS Guild for more information.

WotC's recent Planescape adventure left a lot of people, myself included, wanting a true resource for traveling the Planes of Existence. And since they didn't make that resource, our friends at P.B. Publishing did, and it's beautiful!

It doesn't just guide you through the planes — it equips you for them!

The book includes nine planes with corresponding subclasses (108 new subclasses total!), species, spells, and feats!

I have not seen a resource this useful on any of the known planes, but maybe it's because I didn't have this book to guide me!

Thanks for your support!

Dale