Today we'll discuss 2012, a pivotal year in the history of Goodman Games. But first, if you're a fan of Erol Otus (as we all are, right?) - make sure you check out our latest video!

I have known Erol for many years and had the opportunity recently to visit his home studio. He was gracious enough to bring out the full assortment of paintings he has completed for Goodman Games over the years. This video is quite long but very interesting if you enjoy hearing a legendary artist discuss his work. There is a lot of art to discuss!

As a reminder, if you like Erol's work, make sure to add on The Old-School Art of Goodman Games. There's an entire chapter of Erol Otus art in there!

Now, back to the year 2012. It's an important one, as both my firstborn son and DCC RPG were born that year. As Stu writes: 

DCC RPG wound up hitting shelves in early June, 2012, just ahead of that year’s Free RPG Day. The hope was to have the book in stock so stores could capitalize on FRPGD’s large crowds, and it worked! Sales were enthusiastic. The Goodman Games website logged around 500 pre-orders, a huge number for 2012; those orders got a copy of DCC #66.5: Doom of the Savage Kings tucked in the cover as a bonus.

The real consequence of the delay, though, was that Joe found himself sidelined by life events. His first son was on the way, due to be born early in 2012 (then spent two weeks in the NICU after he was). Joe’s wife wanted to be closer to her family in the San Francisco area, so Joe started looking for Bay Area jobs. He wound up getting one at a small company called Apple, which offered to relocate him, though that meant living out of a hotel for a few months. That’s where the DCC RPG proofs arrived. “My wife got me all these books about how to be a father,” Goodman says, “and I'm good at reading, but I was not good at reading those books. Years later, I flipped through one of them, and the opening line was something like, ‘The three most stressful things in any people's life are changing jobs, moving and having a baby. Never plan to do more than one of these in the same year.’ So, I moved, started a new job and had a baby in a six-week period and released the biggest title Goodman Games probably ever had shortly after. It was a whirlwind and a blur, but it was also exciting.”

Because of all the goings on in his personal life, Joe couldn’t handle the extra commitment of a Gen Con booth. Doug Kovacs still had his art booth, and Harley Stroh set up camp there. “People would find Doug and I at his art booth and ask us where to get the core book, but it wasn’t on sale at the show,” says Harley. “Best game you couldn't buy!”

It was a crazy year but an awesome one. Before we all had iPhones, some important photos survived.

Tell us in the comments - what are your memories of those early DCC RPG years? And/or your favorite Erol Otus pieces!