2023 Ends, 2024 Begins

I have done a few of these in the past (here and here). It is that time of the year, where Mariah Carey crawls her way back from the dead, we remember Sinatra was a thing, and we reflect on the year past.

This blog has been pretty quiet. That is because there has been very little gaming this past 2023. If nothing else, this drought has shown me a deeper appreciation for the times in my life were silly elf games were my biggest worry, and have reinvigorated me to make a return to them. The luxurious position to be able to revel in gaming. One day.

My free time has been reduced, and also that of my semi-regular group (The Calaveras, from which I've written before). Mental energy to arrange a new group or join an existing one has not manifested. And realistically since online games tend to exhaust me, in-person ones are a beast to arrange with my current life obligations.

Instead I have been avidly reading a decent amount of science-fiction and Russian classics. And I picked up on Magic the Gathering play, which I know is hypocrite given my distaste with WOTC to be throwing them some of my limited discretionary money. As a hobby I'm less invested. It is just so much easier to drop by the local club whenever I can make it, play and have a good time, and not drop by in the next month or two. There is less emotional investment. Less preparation. That is my personal experience.

In terms of role-playing games, my engagement was front-loaded to the beginning of the year. Covered was:

• A dip into two sessions of story games (no GM/master of ceremonies).
• Winter's Daughter by Gavin Norman. With Basic Fantasy
  
• The Sky-Blind Spire by Michael Prescott. With Basic Fantasy
• Microscope (two sessions)
• One-off sessions at the local club: one of the Knock! 2 dust jacket cover [1] adventure, another of Mork Borg (never remember where the umlauts fall).

If some sessions materialize next year, given my recent affinity with science fiction media, I could see myself taking one of {Mothership, SWN, Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells} for a spin.

Be it as it may, I wish everyone a prosperous 2024.

[1] Disclaimer: I got a monster published in that magazine, and got paid for it. They are great books, but take my opinion with that in mind.

2021 Ends, 2022 Begins

Coming to a close with 2021, and doing some reflection on my adventure, this blog, and the state of things. Here is the one from last year, in case you're interested.

On the personal side, and as can be inferred from the low number of posts and ideas flowing, I've been BUSY and STRESSED. This year felt like a constant heart attack, jumping from crisis to crisis, navigating this never ending pandemic and its burdens. I barely have uninterrupted free time, more than half an hour through the day. And the less gaming, bizarre media absorption, and idle regurgitation, the less productive and exciting the blog gets.

A note of pride is that the Pywawa monster I put on the blog a while ago got published in the Knock! magazine issue #2. I'm a massive fan of the publication and the work being put out by the team, excellent OSR.

Gaming

Of course, my involvement in games slowed down dramatically, especially so in the second half of the year:

• We finished our 5e campaign of Tomb of Annihilation, where I was playing Oswald Lach the whispers Bard. It was a satisfactory ending to a bizarre campaign (the jungle trek vs the grand dungeon contrast). Great players and GM!
• Ran about 16 sessions of a Stonehell open table using OSE. My life circumstances halted the game. Some great players, but the voice-only nature of open online game means a lot of sifting through undecided and flaky players.
• With The Calaveras we completed a full run of Skerples' Magical Murder Mansion - here my thoughts on it. It was an absolute blast! We also played a few sessions of a heavily modified B2 (on hold), and completed The Waking of Willowby Hall (want to review it). All in all, we slowed down to play a couple of times per month.
• Joined an asynchronous play-by-post game run by vilecultofshapes as Sir Jaxon the Swine, a petty knight. We are playing Cairn, and the world is oozing with flavor and character, I love it! So far this form of gaming is quite different to the usual fare, but adjusts to my hectic life quite well.
• Also played about four "sessions" of solo Ironsworn. Still getting used to this type of play.

The Blog

It is no secret. Face-to-face gaming is still burdened by difficulties for obvious reasons. I've had some slight disenchantment with the whole online gaming experience, and the difficulties of finding a reliable group with my sensibilities. So here I am. 19 posts (20 if you allow this one), and a wish to ramp up the creative front in 2022. Some of my favorites of 2021:

• d10 Bulky Treasures
• Five Inspirations 1
• OSE Stonehell Rival Adventuring Parties 

The Future, 2022

First, about my gaming. I want to find some regularity to it, which would also mean that my life situation settles down. The success of this is unfortunately not solely down to me. An OSR open table with a weekly cadence would be my ideal. But for that have to strike the right avenue and audience. Castle Xyntillan is one option. Rolling my own hexcrawl another. Then I might veer The Calaveras to try indie games instead of an irregular OSR affair. We shall see.

Second, I would like to ramp up the state of the blog. Despite the myriad of material out there, and my fear of being an irrelevant and callous voice, I find the act of sitting down and dumping and present ideas therapeutic. My aim is to beat the 20 posts of 2021.

Third, I want to publish some material from past games into the blog, itch, drivethrurpg, or another similar platform. This will prove hard, since as a solo show you either have to wear a ton of hats (layout, art, information design, and of course writing), or pay for it. One project that excites me is a bestiary based on my sister's illustrations.

As we say around here, good slip to 22!

2020 ends, 2021 begins

Well into the year by now, but the nice disconnect of the holidays has kept me away from screens and RPG games. A good number of light boardgames (King of Tokyo, Azul, Splendor, etc) were enjoyed these days with the few close family members I was able to see.

What a bizarre year this has been. I'm extremely fortunate on how good it was for me personally, but also professionally stable. And for that I'm thankful.

Gaming

This year I enjoyed some games, but the circumstances in the world have also kept others from happening:

• I continue to play a whispers bard Oswald Lach in a 5e campaign, Tomb of Annihilation. We should finish the campaign within the next months, I reckon.
  
• It saw my Knave Stonehell play-by-post tables fizzle after some slow exploration of the first levels.
• Played a couple session in IdleDoodler's Barrowmaze open table. Good fun, and still going strong. The time just doesn't fit my schedule too well.
  
• The Calaveras campaign picked up with some old friends new to gaming. Knave at first, we've moved to Macchiato Monsters.
• We had a stint at the Stygian Library with Electric Bastionland characters and rules.
• Tried Microscope for one sitting, and I definitely want to toy more with it, and Kingdom.
• Played a bit (more) of Magical Murder Mansion with Macchiato Monsters, and the guys really want to continue playing that.
  
• Played a solo session of Ironsworn and enjoyed the experience. Might blog about it in the future.
  

The Blog

31 articles published. Some with useful ideas. But more importantly a repository of them for my future reference and use. And I like the "dead" nature of blogging. Seems archaic and ancient, even in the OSR circles, where Twitter and Discord seem more predominant. Here are my four posts of 2020 I myself liked best:

• d66 Random Inn NPCs
• The town of Walfalkon
• Zinequest 2 Post-Mortem Reviews
• Knave Inventories
  

The Future, 2021

First, about TTRPG purchases. Seeing how much I play and use, I will stop buying products and backing Kickstarters. Doing so at a much lower pace. This has been in my head much before Grognardia's piece, which echoes my thoughts like a megaphone. In my future, less is more. Might even consider giving some physical stuff away, or trying to sell it.

Second, about my gaming. The 5e game will wrap up in a few months. The Calaveras campaign will continue, but most likely at a tortoise pace even if I try to revitalize it. I will try to join or launch an open table to have a weekly game in the OSR space, beer & pretzels style. Perhaps OSE and Stonehell, but who knows. I'm also eagerly eyeing Mothership, but need the right group for me to take a stab at it. Solo Ironsworn will continue as well.

Third, the blog. The stream of thought dumping in this space will continue. At what pace, no idea, 31 posts a year seems like a lot. I will keep my focus on TTRPGs, might do a stint into other media I enjoy. Blogger will be nuked by Google, but hopefully not in 2021.

Anyhow, as we say around here, good slip to 21!