2016

Wow.  Well, that was an interesting year.

First off, let me thank everyone who has stuck with us during the changes we've made over the last year.  Thank you.  It means a great deal to us that so many of you continue to enjoy our products and spend your hard-earned money on the things we do.  Thank you again.

Ordinarily, I am not one who goes in for these sorts of "year in review" things.  I like to put things behind me and move on to the future rather than concentrate on the past.  However, people have been asking about how things went for GKG in 2016 and, as I often say in our "Viewer Mail" segments, if a few people are taking the time to send emails then it is a good chance that there a lot of folks out there who are wondering the same things.

The simple answer is that 2016, as it was in so many fields, was tough for GKG.  We spent the better part of the year dealing with the changes brought on by Mongoose.  I won't lie to any of you and say that I'm not still a bit bitter over what happened.  Suffice it to say that I am glad that the separation happened but I really wish it would have happened in a better way than it did.  

GKG spent the first quarter of the year preparing for Mongoose's second edition only to find out the truth of the TAS program at the last second.  We then spent the remainder of the year attempting to convert all of our products over to, at first, being simply Open Game License in order to escape Mongoose and remain viable, and then switching everything over to The Cepheus Engine.   To say that GKG owes a debt of gratitude to Jason Kemp is to put it mildly.  His fine work with The Cepheus Engine truly enabled GKG (and several other former Mongoose Third Party Publishers) to continue.  We have now established Clement Sector as its own game based heavily on Jason Kemp's Cepheus Engine rules with our own changes to better match up with our setting.

As I write this, we have converted almost all of our Mongoose compatible products over to our new Clement Sector game.  Some will return in the coming year.  I'd say anyone reading this already knows this but I'll say it again: If you purchased one of our Mongoose compatible products, you should be able to go to your "Updates" section on DTRPG or RPGNow and download the new version for free. 

During all of this, I'm proud to say that we continued our goal of creating one supplement a month for the Clement Sector setting.  Creating 12 new and quality products while simultaneously re-engineering an existing catalog of nearly 48 products is a lot of work and I could never have done it without the superior skills of Michael Johnson, Ian Stead, Bradley Warnes, Stephanie McAlea (whose immense talent has changed our cover layouts), and our editor, Curtis Rickman.  I'm fairly sure we've all frayed a few nerves over the past year.

How did we do in 2016?  Well, financially, we pulled in just slightly more money as we did in 2015.  While that's not the best of news, it is certainly better than going backwards.  So far, we've improved in sales every year since 2011 and that's allowed us to continue to bring more products to you and to strive to improve those products each and every time.  

So what's ahead for 2017?  The first quarter of the year is already in production.  Quite soon you will see Ships of Clement Sector 17: Atlas-class Freighter.  Much like last year's final product, Ships of Clement Sector 16: Rucker-class Merchant, SOCS17 will detail one of the most popular ships in Clement Sector and show several variants of the class.  The final touches are being put on this as I type this as we combine Ian Stead's beautiful art with Michael Johnson's superb writing. 

For February, you will see Wondrous Menagerie: Uplifts in Clement Sector. This will detail the many uplifted animals, both from Earth and from other worlds, which populate Clement Sector.  We will go into much greater detail about uplifts you already know such as Dolphins and Bears as well as introduce you to other uplifts such as Lions, Tigers, Bovians, and Quetzals.  I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed writing it and seeing the fantastic art of Bradley Warnes.

For March, you will see the second volume of the Wendy's series.  Wendy's Guide to the Fleets of Cascadia Subsector will give you an in-depth study of the many independent navies in Cascadia Subsector from the small system defenses of Yangon to the powerful monitors of Monroe.  Michael Johnson is hard at work on this one right now.

On top of that, we've more adventures to come.  A Fifth of 21 Plots is on the horizon.  We have two campaign adventures that I've been playtesting:  A Poor Chisel and The Slide.  You'll hear more about these in the coming months. 

How do we feel about 2017?  Honestly, I feel like the shackles are off and I've lost 100 pounds.  We're ready to go forward!

Climb aboard!  Adventure awaits!