Gaming in 2019

This will be a short one, as there has been very little to tell, and the blog captured most of it as the year went on.

2019 started with one game in the works: "Storm King's Thunder" as the Work Game. This eventually came to an end with a TPK, with maybe a further 6 months to play before the planned conclusion. In truth, I wasn't too sorry to see it go - SKT has some good material, but it gets really same-y after a while. My feeling is that the adventure could really do with a good rewrite, bringing the key material front and centre, and maybe getting to the point rather more quickly. (Plus, it suffers from having too much extraneous material built into the structure of the adventure. Which is good for replayability, I guess, but then I doubt too many DMs are really going to replay this adventure start to finish.)

2019 ended with one game in the works: "The Mists of Lamordia" as the Work Game. In truth, it has gotten off to a somewhat shaky start, but it does have some real potential. My hope is that I'll get a chance to put in some work over the Christmas holiday to tighten this one up, and thus get a more satisfying experience for 2020 (and beyond?). That's assuming, of course, that the game survives long into the new year, which is by no means certain.

There will be no Christmas Game this year, so I'm officially calling that tradition kaput. And I didn't get any chance to play anything other than D&D this year, nor do I foresee anything in the next year.

In terms of purchases, this year has seen the end of the 1st Edition Pathfinder materials, and therefore the end of my Adventure Path subscription. That was good while it lasted, and I do rather miss it, but the truth is that I probably should have cancelled a long time ago - I've never run any Pathfinder, and I long ago concluded that it was not for me. I doubt I'll ever make real use of all those volumes I've built up.

(One thing I'm considering is whether I should get rid of the various 1st Edition Pathfinder books I've accumulated. There aren't a huge number of these, I've had all the use from them that I'll get, and I know people who would get some use out of them. So maybe it's time...)

On the D&D front, I purchased a few electronic products (mostly Dark Sun, and a little Eberron) and two physical products, though both of these are actually Christmas presents. So expect reviews of "Rising from the Last War" and the "D&D Essentials Kit" at some point in the new year. I did also purchase "Fantasy Mapmaker", which is probably the best and most useful product of all.

In 2020, my intention is basically "more of the same". I'll continue "The Mists of Lamordia" until it comes to a conclusion, and then regroup and come up with a new plan. I don't expect any other gaming to be forthcoming. I'd also like to do some reading into one of the settings, probably Spelljammer, but we'll see. And I might do some work to formalise the things I have been doing informally with Exploration, Interaction, and Tension Pools for D&D. (Giving credit where it is due, that last is an innovation of the Angry GM.)

And that, I think, is that.