2014 Gaming Resolutions
Ah, January. A time to look back on failed resolutions of the past and make well-intentioned but soon-abandoned attempts to set new goals. I had four main avenues of gaming in 2013: conventions, Nerd SoCal game days, and regular games ("weekly" Pendragon nights and gothic Stars Without Numbers by Google Hangout). Lets review my gaming resolutions for 2012...
Two of these failed and one succeeded; the other two will require some investigation. I completed two drafts of The Sprawl and created a web presence for it (#2). I definitely didn't run games with pre-gens at very many (if any?) cons (#3), but I did run a lot of high-prep games, mostly design prep. I also didn't submit an SDC entry (#4). From this vantage point, despite a greater range of gaming avenues this year, gaming seems to have been a generally lower priority than I can remember for a while because of the one-two punch of career and relationships. In truth it was patchy, with low ebs in March/April and right now.
Last year I almost managed a convention a month. This year I went through definite phases: retracted my commitments a bit. Here's what I ran at conventions:
January: Nothing.
February: OrcCon 1 2 (The Sprawl: The Flint Termination, The Regiment: Colonial Marines, Dungeonhearts) [All were new; Dungeonhearts had pregens.] I also played Sagas of the Icelanders for the first time.
March: Nothing.
April: Nothing.
May: Gamex (ΚΡΑΤΟΦΑΓΙΑ, Tonight We Slay a Dragon or Die in the Attempt) [Both were new, ΚΡΑΤΟΦΑΓΙΑ had pregens.] My personally new games at this con were all board games. The only RPG I played was FATE's Black Agents. Nerd SoCal May Game Day (I played Doctor Chaos for the first time.)
June: Nerd SoCal June Game Day: I ran The Sprawl (an on the fly game that became The Chen Conduminium)
July: Go Play NorthWest (The Sprawl: Bubble the Bay, Dungeon World) [The Sprawl scenario was a playtest of the Reporter, so was new and mostly on the fly. It almost had pregens in that I wrote the Reporter playbook for it.] My new game was the new diceless version of Undying.
August: Gateway (The Sprawl: The Dark Zone, Mission Boston, Call Me Brede) [All were new to me; Call Me Brede involved modular playbooks and a reasonable amount of system hacking, so was almost pregens.] I played tremulus and Fantasy Heroic Roleplaying (the MHRP hack). I also ran Undying and played The Sprawl, both for the first time at August Game Day.
September: Nerdly Beach Party (Tonight We Slay A Dragon Or Die in the Attempt, Dungeon World); I played Beat to Quarters... kind of.
October: I haven't even written up Big Bad Con yet. I ran The Regiment: Colonial Marines and The Sprawl twice: Dark Zone and an on the fly scenario that became The Swan Rescue. I played the Drama System (from Hillfolk) for the first time. I also ran Mike Sand's The Meddling Kids in: Too Many Draculas scenario for Monster of the Week and played Empire of Dust at the October Game Day.
November: Nerd SoCal November Game Day: I played Mike's Sparks Nevada playtest of Thrilling Fate.
December: Nothing.
So except for the month where I didn't do any gaming, I managed to play a new game every month. I almost averaged a new game every month with 11 total. So I'll call #1 a success. I offered a new-to-me game at just about every con as well, although many of those were scenarios for The Sprawl, so I'll call #5 a wash. I was actually doing okay on #3 and 5 until July, albeit with fewer conventions in all.
All in all, 2.5/5. Better than previously, I think.
So this year? I'm not sure yet. I'm in a low (rpg) gaming ebb right now as my mind is most definitely elsewhere. I'd like to have The Sprawl finished this year, so I'll just make one gaming resolution for 2014.
Until next year!
- Play one new RPG every month.
- Finish a complete draft of The Sprawl.
- Offer a game with pre-gens at every con.
- Submit a game to the 2014 Kapcon SDC.
- Offer a new game at every con.
Two of these failed and one succeeded; the other two will require some investigation. I completed two drafts of The Sprawl and created a web presence for it (#2). I definitely didn't run games with pre-gens at very many (if any?) cons (#3), but I did run a lot of high-prep games, mostly design prep. I also didn't submit an SDC entry (#4). From this vantage point, despite a greater range of gaming avenues this year, gaming seems to have been a generally lower priority than I can remember for a while because of the one-two punch of career and relationships. In truth it was patchy, with low ebs in March/April and right now.
Last year I almost managed a convention a month. This year I went through definite phases: retracted my commitments a bit. Here's what I ran at conventions:
January: Nothing.
February: OrcCon 1 2 (The Sprawl: The Flint Termination, The Regiment: Colonial Marines, Dungeonhearts) [All were new; Dungeonhearts had pregens.] I also played Sagas of the Icelanders for the first time.
March: Nothing.
April: Nothing.
May: Gamex (ΚΡΑΤΟΦΑΓΙΑ, Tonight We Slay a Dragon or Die in the Attempt) [Both were new, ΚΡΑΤΟΦΑΓΙΑ had pregens.] My personally new games at this con were all board games. The only RPG I played was FATE's Black Agents. Nerd SoCal May Game Day (I played Doctor Chaos for the first time.)
June: Nerd SoCal June Game Day: I ran The Sprawl (an on the fly game that became The Chen Conduminium)
July: Go Play NorthWest (The Sprawl: Bubble the Bay, Dungeon World) [The Sprawl scenario was a playtest of the Reporter, so was new and mostly on the fly. It almost had pregens in that I wrote the Reporter playbook for it.] My new game was the new diceless version of Undying.
August: Gateway (The Sprawl: The Dark Zone, Mission Boston, Call Me Brede) [All were new to me; Call Me Brede involved modular playbooks and a reasonable amount of system hacking, so was almost pregens.] I played tremulus and Fantasy Heroic Roleplaying (the MHRP hack). I also ran Undying and played The Sprawl, both for the first time at August Game Day.
September: Nerdly Beach Party (Tonight We Slay A Dragon Or Die in the Attempt, Dungeon World); I played Beat to Quarters... kind of.
October: I haven't even written up Big Bad Con yet. I ran The Regiment: Colonial Marines and The Sprawl twice: Dark Zone and an on the fly scenario that became The Swan Rescue. I played the Drama System (from Hillfolk) for the first time. I also ran Mike Sand's The Meddling Kids in: Too Many Draculas scenario for Monster of the Week and played Empire of Dust at the October Game Day.
November: Nerd SoCal November Game Day: I played Mike's Sparks Nevada playtest of Thrilling Fate.
December: Nothing.
So except for the month where I didn't do any gaming, I managed to play a new game every month. I almost averaged a new game every month with 11 total. So I'll call #1 a success. I offered a new-to-me game at just about every con as well, although many of those were scenarios for The Sprawl, so I'll call #5 a wash. I was actually doing okay on #3 and 5 until July, albeit with fewer conventions in all.
All in all, 2.5/5. Better than previously, I think.
So this year? I'm not sure yet. I'm in a low (rpg) gaming ebb right now as my mind is most definitely elsewhere. I'd like to have The Sprawl finished this year, so I'll just make one gaming resolution for 2014.
- Finish The Sprawl. Maybe two.
- Enter Game Chef 2014. Okay... three.
- Have fun.
Until next year!