by Jon

The five members of 3d6 Down the Line have enjoyed a great year of gaming, and we’ve been privileged to shepherd in substantial growth for our channel and brand. Make no mistake, we’re still criminally under-watched, but a great deal of our success can be attributed directly to the actions of our stellar community of fans, followers, and Patrons.

Mike, Ted, Matt, David, and I extend our heartfelt thanks for your continued support and engagement. Without you, we would have an audience of precisely ourselves, and there has been no more satisfying achievement than knowing that your recommendations and praise have brought many new people into the OSR and NSR. 

Jotting down the milestones that we’ve achieved this year, I’m actually quite surprised by the sheer amount! I don’t know how our growth compares to other Actual Play channels, but I am very pleased with the current state of 3d6 Down the Line. Despite all the new developments, perhaps the aspect of which I’m the most proud is that we play our campaigns week to week in the same manner we have for literal decades before we ever hit a record button. We acknowledge our audience on air more these days, but our style of play remains unchanged. We continue to derive the most enjoyment from the actual game play, which of course is the entire point.

Let’s take a look at how much XP 3d6 DTL has earned this year:

• We have our own website! You’re on it right now! It’s fairly bare-bones at the moment, but it’s a one-stop shop for everything 3d6 Down the Line, with repositories for all videos, podcasts, house rules, bios, blogs, character sheets, links, and a fantastic gallery of fan art.

• We started two new campaign-adjacent series – Delve Detox and Tack-on FX. We’re very proud of both titles, and feel that they add a great deal of value and context to the main Arden Vul campaign. We have post-session discussions every game (just like everyone does), and we had a moment where we said to each other, “Why the hell aren’t we recording this?” I’m under the impression that the Detoxes have limited reach due to the spoiler warnings all over them (which really do need to be in place), but I’m confident they contain really great RPG discussion and debate that is often divorced from the specific event details of the previous session. I’d really like for them to garner more attention than they do.

• We’ve soared past Episode 50 of our Halls of Arden Vul campaign, a major accomplishment for us. That’s basically a year’s worth of weekly games, and it easily puts the Halls of Arden Vul in the elite tier of one of our group’s longest continuous campaigns. There are not many games that last this long, and we’re still going! One of the side benefits of having a community that enjoys our gameplay is that it makes us very reluctant to skip a week. That means more gaming, more engagement, and more enjoyment! 

• I recorded the Dolmenwood Deep Dives with the blessing of  the game’s creator, Gavin Norman. These videos were incredibly difficult to produce, but also very rewarding. I learned a TON during the process of recording and editing these videos. It has become evident that many folks’ first exposure to Dolmenwood is through our original 22-episode campaign, and I wanted to make sure that I gave the game the proper overview it deserves. 

• Similarly, we were granted exclusive access to a working draft of Gavin’s new Dolmenwood adventure, The Redcap’s Cauldron. This was a real treat for us, allowing us to take a breather from Arden Vul and hop back into the setting that put 3d6 DTL on the map in first place. We can’t wait for this game to get into our hands, and it has been an honor to be recognized as one of the game’s main proponents. 

• We announced that our entire group will be reuniting in person at Gary Con in March 2024, and I’ll be running two sessions of Old-School Essentials while there. We haven’t played together in person for many years, so we’re most looking forward to just seeing each other once again! We’re also super excited to meet and chill with some of you, and we hope to do a little bit of face-to-face networking, something new for us!

• We published our first written work, Feats of Exploration, and it has succeeded far beyond my wildest dreams. It’s currently a Gold bestseller on DrivethruRPG, and remains on the front page of that site at the time of this writing. Thank you to all of you who have purchased a copy, and I truly hope that you find it useful in your home games! I’m very proud of my first stab at layout and design, but I know I have a lot to learn. Nevertheless, I’m thrilled that so many people are responding positively to it.

• We created our public Discord community server. This was a huge milestone for us, and something that was on our agenda for a long time. It turns out, it’s not as simple as pressing a few buttons! We wanted to have strong rules and permissions in place from the get-go, with clear organization and fun channels to discuss our favorite games. Thankfully, those of you who have joined (way more than expected, by a long shot) have brought your positivity and enthusiasm to the server and have made it your own, in the best way possible. We couldn’t be more proud of the community! We also crowned the one and only Eric Vulgaris as our first moderator, and we truly don’t deserve him! 

• We launched our Patreon shortly after the debut of our Discord server, and in a similar manner, we were blown away by the response. Hopefully, the benefits have proved worthwhile! The income gets funneled right back into the channel.

• Lastly, and without much fanfare, we have incorporated! We are officially a Limited Liability Corporation registered in the state of New York, and we are muddling through all the red tape and expenditures that entails. Everyone knows that tacking an “LLC” onto your name makes you super important and legitimate.

I don’t know if we can top 2023 for sheer volume of expansion, but we’ll do our darndest in 2024 to make 3d6 Down the Line your continued destination for some of the most enjoyable and engaging OSR gameplay the internet has to offer. We hope everyone has a safe and merry holiday with family and friends, and we’ll see you soon in the Halls. 

Keep it old-school,

Jon

3d6 Down the Line