My Year-End Summary and 2023 Publications

Last year, I wrote in my 2022 year-end review that: “Reflecting on 2021, this year was a time to start shedding everything that wasn’t working for me.” If 2022 was a year of shedding, 2023 was a time of restoration in many, many ways.

This year has been a time to heal, laugh, dance, and revel in my peace while reconnecting with old friends and peers. I am extraordinarily grateful for a wonderful year filled with the kinds of memories that last a lifetime.

Career-wise, my future is still a question mark and yet that beautiful whiteboard of art I want to make regardless is still full. So, I grab my scythe and cut a new path while producing evergreen content and revisiting my hobbies. (I’ve been experimenting more with watercolors, knitting, gardening, and vegetarian cooking. And, I definitely want to return to beadweaving in 2024 pending a restructure/reorganization of supplies.)

2023 didn’t incorporate a ton of publications—and that’s okay! I’m happy to share that I’ve already received word of new publications next year for both fiction and games. Onwards. Woooo!

In this spirit, I’d like to share my releases with you. They are affiliate-linked to pages where you can purchase or find out more information about them. Yep, affiliate links. Because I am an artist and I enjoy food. Hah!

Published Books in 2023

I’ve had a ton of wonderful experiences with my debut poetry collection. Thanks to the indomitable Lao poet, Bryan Thao Worra, I had a great experience reading from this collection at a poetry reading. And, the collection has been discussed by a few poetry groups as well. Was the time and effort to create this collection worth it? Yes, absolutely.

into shadow: a poetic exploration of personal fears, 2023, BookOfM

Published Games in 2023

The 2022 Level 1 Volume Three Anthology from 9th Level Games I contributed to last year was nominated for the Best Free Game/Product in the 2023 ENnie Awards. Huzzah! And, I returned to GameHole Con 2023 to celebrate the 10th year anniversary as a special guest. I had a fabulous time.

LEGIONS OF CARCOSA, The Yellow King, 2023, Pelgrane Press

NOBLES: THE GOLDEN MANDATE, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn, 2023, Crafty Games



New! Gaming Release! Legions of Carcosa Available Now!

Legions of Carcosa Cover Art features four monsters

Have your The Yellow King Roleplaying Game players grown complacent battling gargoyles, vampires, and riot dogs? Do you have a reality horror mystery crying out for a fresh and bizarre villain to drive it?

Legions of Carcosa: The Yellow King Bestiary solves your problems by helping you create some for your Belle Époque art students, Continental War soldiers, alternate reality ex-insurgents, and ordinary people trapped in unraveling normalcy.

From alien parasites to warped human conspirators, from hungry buildings to incarnations of drought, from gods torn from the pages of myth to war machines that hunt in wolf-like packs, Legions of Carcosa: The Yellow King Bestiary presents 86 new Foes to mystify, haunt and menace your investigators.

Throw icewater into your player’s veins with 100 brand new Shock and Injury cards. The book also includes all the preexisting cards you need to run these adversaries and beasties without reaching for any other volume.

Foe descriptions key themselves to one of the game’s four twisty sequences. Each entry also includes hooks inspiring you to repurpose the Foe in the other three settings.

With this book in your feverish hands, the investigators can:

* Tremble in aesthetic unease when confronted by the Living Portrait!
* Flee the blazing weapons fire of the Angel of Mons!
* Shudder at the razor teeth of the hinge-jawed Flip-tops!
* Open their apps to fall into the validating, concerned clutches of the Chirpers!
* And much much more…

Whatever hole opens up in your reality today, an antagonist from The Yellow King Bestiary is ready to slither out of it, through your mind and into your heart.

Legions of Carcosa: The Yellow King Bestiary was developed by Robin D Laws and includes the works of John Harness, Daniel Kwan, Kira Magrann, FlamesRising.com contributor Monica Valentinelli, and Sara Saltiel.



Celebrating GameHoleCon’s 10 Year Anniversary

Hiya,

I’m returning as a special guest for GameHole Con’s 10th anniversary, where I’ll be running an adventure I designed, participating in panels, and signing games. Here’s my GameHoleCon 2023 schedule!

Thursday, October 19th

10 am CST – The Cursed Citadel, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

3 pm – Narrative Design in TTRPGs

6 pm – The Cursed Citadel

10 pm – Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition Livestream

Friday, October 20th

9 am CST – The Cursed Citadel

1 pm – Worldbuilding for TTRPGs

Saturday, October 19th

10 am CST – The Cursed Citadel

3 pm – Horror in TTRPGs

Graphic version of the published schedule text

New Gaming Release! Mistborn RPG Nobles The Golden Mandate

Mistborn RPG | Nobles the Golden Mandate | Cover art of a noble on a balcony with his back to us.

Of Gilded Words and Poisonous Tongues!

In the Lord Ruler’s Final Empire, blood is destiny. A skaa birth condemns you to a hard life of labor and service. A Terris birth marks you forever as an outsider, an uncomfortable reminder of a bygone era. To be born noble is to live at the peak of political and social power, blessed with the potential for Allomancy — but it also means a life of vicious politicking, ruthless competition, and the perpetual risk of betrayal and ruin. As a noble Hero, you face the same question as all who defy this grim order: do you have the courage to shrug off blood and destiny, to stand against the brutality of this world, and fight for a better future… for everyone?

Nobles: The Golden Mandate is the final supplement for the Mistborn Adventure Game. Developed in cooperation with Brandon Sanderson and Dragonsteel Entertainment, this book dives deep into the history and intrigues of Mistborn’s most notable families, from the ten Great Houses who dominate the halls of power to the up-and-coming Lesser Houses that forever nip at their heels. This essential guide melds information from the novels with background developed for the Mistborn: House War board game to form a rich environment for storytelling in the cutthroat world of the Final Empire’s nobility.

For players of the Mistborn Adventure Game, this supplement offers extensive guidance for playing a rebellious noble Hero, adding nobles to a skaa thieving Crew, and exploring what it means to defy the Lord Ruler. Also included are new rules for creating Noble Heroes: Traits, Stunts, and a new Power, Family, which lets you bring the full power of your name to bear in cunning and creative ways. For nobles with a more daring streak, there’s also new background information and character options for playing an elite, Allomancer-hunting Hazekiller!

For Narrators, an exciting multi-session adventure titled “Thieves in the Ninth House” takes your Crew to the Eastern Dominance, where they’re hired to liberate an honor hostage from the clutches of House Urbain. This seemingly simple job soon proves to be anything but, for in the world of Mistborn there’s always another secret…

Nobles: The Golden Mandate is not a complete game. You need a copy of the Mistborn Adventure Game, some dice, and imagination to play.

Who the Book’s For
Fans of the Mistborn novels and the Mistborn: House War board game; players and Narrators of the Mistborn Adventure Game; or gamers who love RPGs of politics and intrigue like Amber, Houses of the Blooded, or Vampire.

Important Notice
Mistborn Adventure Game Digital Editions will no longer be available after December 31st, 2023. Get them now or they’re gone forever.

My Debut Poetry Collection is Now on Kindle!

into shadow | a poetic exploration of personal fears

Written by Monica Valentinelli, into shadow: a poetic exploration of personal fears is the author’s debut collection of twenty-one poems. The collection’s theme is broken into three books inspired by parts of the shadow: the umbra, penumbra, and antumbra. The fears presented run the gamut between surface-deep and existential. As such, some readers may be uncomfortable with light swearing and unsettling imagery.

In book one: umbra, twenty-one original poems expose the author’s shadow. Notes and references for each poem follows in book two: penumbra, naming her fears and how she tackled them. Lastly, in book three: antumbra, the original drafts of each poem—including improper punctuation and sloppy word choices—are reprinted in their entirety, extending well beyond the umbra.

into shadow: a poetic exploration of personal fears is now available for your Amazon Kindle!



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Looking for Monica’s books and games that are still in print? Visit Monica Valentinelli on Amazon’s Author Central or a bookstore near you.

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