[The following is an excerpt from my ttrpg book, The Artificer’s Guide to Magic Items available here on DM’s Guild. In its first week it has already achieved Copper Bestseller status!]
Dearest Devs,
I know I have engaged in some light critique in this guide, but in all sincerity, I hold all of you in the highest respect. None of my comments or implications here are intended to be mean spirited or insulting. You have labored long to produce a game that millions of people across the world play and enjoy on a daily basis, myself included.
As you can see from this guide, I love the Artificer class. Thematically, it fills a gap that I’ve wanted to see addressed for many years. I must admit, however, that I’ve been disappointed in how the class has been supported since it first appeared in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. There have been a few new spells added to the Artificer’s spell list as new sourcebooks have come out, but none of them have been exclusive as far as I’ve seen. D&D Beyond has greatly expanded the list of items that can be replicated, but that’s about it.
Apart from that, it has received no additional infusions, no alternate class abilities, unique magic items, or new subclasses the way that the standard twelve classes have. It is a class that rarely appears in virtually any D&D merch, such as the gorgeous, officially licensed enamel pin set. A few of its class features, such as the 9th-level ability Armor Modifications, don’t work correctly on D&D Beyond, and it seems unlikely that the class will ever appear in Larian Studios’ recently released Baldur’s Gate III game, or indeed any other D&D-themed video game in the near future.
Perhaps it is too soon to tell, but it concerns me that there’s been very little about the class in the One D&D releases or interviews. When the Expert classes were released, the Artificer was listed in a footnote as being part of that type of class, but it was not explored the way that the Bard, Ranger, and Rogue were in the playtest materials. This leaves me wondering whether the Artificer class will have a place in the game moving forward.
I hope that it does.
So, Wizards of the Coast, I challenge you to give the class the consideration it’s due. Make it a legitimate part of the game instead of a strange, often-overlooked curiosity. It may be easy for me on the outside to say this, but when it comes to the Artificer, give us more and give us better. The potential for the class is there, so please do what you can to see it fully realized.
It’s time to look back at the year of 2023 as well as look ahead to 2024. Right up front, I have to admit that 2023 was a creatively challenging year for me. There’s really no two ways about it — my day job started to infringe on my creative space in a big way for most of the early year.
I’m normally pretty good at keeping the two separate, but this time my work/life balance collapsed in its entirety. This continually compounded on itself, putting me further and further behind on my goals.
I look back at the State of the Sector Address for 2023 and just sorta sigh. When you’re a creative, not every year is going to go your way, and 2023 went way off the rails. (And definitely not in a cool, Ozzy, Crazy Trains kind of way.)
So, while certain parts of this address will be a bit of a downer, I’ve tried to look at 2023 as an off-season, a year of preparation to put me into a better place for 2024. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how 2023 went for Sector M.
The Good News
The Artificer’s Guide to Magic Items: In a year with so many misses for me, this one landed, and is so much better than I could have hoped. I wrote about it in more detail here. While it took a bit to find a team that was capable and willing to take on a project like this, when it came together, boy howdy. I give full props to Gabby (the editor), Natalia (the designer), and Miguel (the artist). Each one of them brought their A-game and elevated the project above and beyond what I thought it could be. At the time of this writing, I am waiting for the final proof from the printer. If all is well when I get it, we’ll be ready to launch. UPDATE: The book is now available here. Enjoy!
Sector M Games: There is a new section to the Sector M website aptly titled “Sector M Games.” It has a listing for the Artificer’s Guide there now. As I add more game projects and titles, this will be the place to find them. I also created a dedicated Twitter/X handle: @TheSectorMGames. If you’re still on Twitter/X, please go give it a follow.
Baldur’s Gate 3: So, by June/July of 2023, I was starting to recover from months of stress and burnout, making slow progress back towards the light. Then I found Baldur’s Gate III, starting in early August, which I detailed here. While it’s true that I suddenly wanted to spend all hours saving the world next to Karlach, Shadowheart, and Minthara, it did actually help reignite some much-needed creative energies. For me, playing a game like that is almost meditative, acting like a freestyle association exercise for the mind in contemplating the genre it occupies.
Besides that, being able to immerse yourself in a world with so many well-developed characters, each with incredible dialogue, is a good way to jump-start your muse. Even though I’ve had multiple playthroughs at this point, my second one (an evil one), still lives rent-free in my head with its implications and repercussions. While BG3 didn’t necessarily help me reach my word-count goals, it did put me on a better trajectory once I was able to return to writing. And you know, I’ll take that as a win.
Blog Delivery: In spite of everything that happened, I was able to keep my blog schedule, give or take a day or two here and there. Twelve blogs promised, and twelve blogs delivered. It’s my intent to keep going with the one-a-month schedule. See below.
A New Fiction Project: Last year I said that I was pivoting away from science fiction for the foreseeable future to focus on fantasy. While that’s certainly true for the books I’m shopping around to agents, just when one story stopped talking to me (see the next section), another started forming at the edges of my mind. Considering I spent much of spring and summer rewatching all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it’s no wonder that the science fiction part of my brain couldn’t help but be reactivated.
So, I’m back to the universe I’ve been developing for years now, this time with a new approach, new characters, new environs, and a seemingly impossible challenge that the protagonist will need to overcome. I’m about 9,000 words into it at the moment. It (probably) won’t be a full novel length, but right now I’m shooting for around 50,000–60,000 words, putting more in line with a novella. I am tentatively hoping to finish it around April/May of this year.
The Not-So-Great News
Cyberpunk Novel on Pause: When things became unbearable at work, I had to put down Book #7, and it broke my heart. Previously, things had been thrumming with it. The story was really speaking to me. I was doubling or tripling my average word count per writing session on a regular basis. I was at about 135,000 words when I just lost the thread, and it was tantamount to crashing into a brick wall. It wasn’t writer’s block, per se, since I was working on other projects without issue. But as far as the novel’s narrative was concerned, it simply went radio silent. It hasn’t come back. I have a few projects I need to finish and deliver, but I’m hoping to try to rekindle this thread later this year. It won’t be easy, but then again, nothing worth doing ever is.
Board Game Still In Development: The board game that I’ve been developing for a while likewise had to go on hiatus. I was able to get some traction on it, especially in acquiring some initial artwork and completing the demo. I now have a fully playable demo set that I’ve playtested a few times. These playtest sessions were able to shine a light on some of the weaker elements of the play structure. I was in the middle of introducing a new mechanic when it also had to be put down as my mental bandwidth ground down to nearly zero. It’s still on my radar, and I hope to get back to the next iteration at some point this year.
Strange Reports Re-Release: To complete the anti-trifecta of projects, I had planned to release and revamp my anthology of short stories, Strange Reports from Sector M in or around May. That obviously didn’t happen, but is still something that’s on my list for this year. I’m clearing space on my schedule around June to get back to this and give it the attention it deserves.
The Road Ahead
The Knights of Solamnia Revisted: The next project I have in the works for the DM’s Guild is (as the name implies), a second look at the Knights of Solamnia as they appeared in Dragonlance:Shadow of the Dragon Queen. This supplement give players the option of playing a Solamnic Knight as a full fighter subclass with career paths that represent all three Orders of Knighthood: the Crown, the Sword, and the Rose.
I am over the moon to be able to write something for the Dragonlance setting, which has been a favorite of mine for a very long time. More on that here. This will be a much shorter entry than the Artificer’s Guide, short enough that it won’t have a print-on-demand version. That will greatly simplify the publishing process since as soon as we have a PDF ready to go, we can move forward. I have the manuscript ready for editing, so watch for that around the end of March/early April timeframe.
Blog Rollout: My blog topics are fairly eclectic, and that’s definitely going to be the case with 2024’s slate. Some of them I’ve been wanting to write for a long time now, so if you’ve enjoyed what I’ve done the last year or two, 2024 will build upon that. The dates the blog will drop will by and large be the third Friday of each month.
Of course, if last year taught me anything, it’s the futility of trying to plan too far ahead. So, the following are my intended blog dates, but there could be some slight variance to them. My current dates are:
I’ll link each of the blogs to the date above once it has posted. So, if you miss a blog along the way, you can just refer back to this post to get the links.
Recap from Above: To summarize from the points above, my additional goals for 2024 include:
Finish up on my new sci-fi novella — April/May
Relaunch of Strange Reports from Sector M — June/July
Circle back to Book #7 — August/September
Support Sector M
In closing, if you would like to support what I do, here are some of the ways you can help. If you have previously bought one of my books, one of the best things you can do is leave a review. It doesn’t cost money, it can be as short or as detailed as you like, and it will help with the algorithm that decides who gets to see what’s what.
2023 may not have gone the way I thought it would, but it has set up this year to be something of a clearing house for projects that have been waiting in the wings. I like to think of the phases of my creative journey as stepping stones. So, I believe that 2024 will, in turn, become a way to set up 2025 for something entirely new. I am certainly looking forward to that.
So, that does it for the State of the Sector Address for this year. If you’ve been here a while, thank you so much for sticking with me. If you’re just now joining us, welcome aboard! In any case, I appreciate you all — each and every one.
Back in January, in my State of the Sector address, I mentioned that I was working on a Dungeons & Dragons supplement for the DM’s Guild. In my ignorance (or perhaps hubris), I thought it would be ready in March. Oh, you sweet, summer child.
But here’s the thing: While I may have grossly overestimated how long it would take to produce said supplement, I’m glad it came along in its own time. It allowed me to really make it great, thanks largely to the editor, designer and artist on this, Gabby, Natalia and Miguel. Now I’m proud to be able to introduce The Artificer’s Guide to Magic Items.
What is it?
The Artificer’s Guide is a supplement for Dungeons & Dragon 5e for both players and Dungeon Masters. The book serves both as an expansion and fusion of the crafting systems found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. It takes a layered approach to item creation that ranges from mundane, non-magical items to powerful artifacts — and everything in between.
I would hardly be a copywriter if I didn’t include a list of features and benefits, so here you go:
Expanded item creation rules for non-magic items, magic items of all five standard rarities, scrolls & potions, sentient items, and artifacts.
Improve the value of gems and art objects, add new abilities to existing magic items, transfer abilities between items, and design new magic items from scratch.
Hire help in crafting or enchanting items, or engage your fellow party members in the process to create cooperatively.
Explore special crafting environments, tools, and components that can supercharge any player’s ability to craft — especially if they are an Artificer.
Discover ways to integrate Artificer class abilities into item creation, granting additional time savings and reduced creation costs.
9 new spells exclusive to Artificers to unlock their crafting and creative potential.
15 optional rules to fine tune the crafting and item interaction experience at your table.
22 new magic items that include crafting aids and ways to give all four Artificer subclasses an extra edge both in the lab and on the battlefield.
Includes handy worksheets with step-by-step instructions to keep track of all the numbers.
Why is it?
I am a big fan of the Artificer class that debuted in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. I love the idea of a character that uses magic to create stuff. It fills a gap that I’ve wanted to see addressed for a long time. Unfortunately, I feel that the class hasn’t been given the same attention and support that the other core classes in the game have received. There just feels like there’s something missing from it.
What’s worse, you have a class that’s devoted to making things, but the item creation rules in 5e feel half-hearted and don’t grant the Artificer class any advantages in crafting. According to the rules, if a Barbarian and an Artificer were both trying to create a staff of thunder and lightning, they would be on equal footing.
To me, that doesn’t fulfill the core fantasy of being an Artificer. It would be akin to a Bard not having the edge in drafting an epic poem, or a Paladin being equivalent to a Rogue when it comes to navigating the seedy underbelly of a crime syndicate.
So, I did something about it. I created a crafting system using the framework of existing elements from both the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. In this resulting system, any class can craft items, but the Artificer has the chance to shine brightest. The system also integrates Artificer class abilities into the mix to give a little extra oomph to creating items.
Where is it?
You’ll be able to find it on the DM’s Guild soon. ‘Soon’ being in the next few weeks. Right now, the layout is done, and we’re in the process of getting a print-on-demand version sorted out. That’s right, there will be a hard-copy version of the book available at launch! UPDATE: The book took slightly longer to launch than originally thought, but the book it’s now available here!
The PDF version of the book is $4.99. If you want a hard copy, that version is $17.99.
Final Thoughts
The Artificer’s Guide is the first supplement that I’m releasing under the Sector M banner. Pretty soon, there will be a new part of my author website for Sector M Games. You’ll note that everything under the games banner will feature a green version of the classic Sector M logo.
So, yeah, this is my first release under Sector M Games, but I’m hoping it won’t be the last. I have some other projects in the works that I hope will soon join the Artificer’s Guide on DM’s Guild or on my website.
The Sector M 