I suppose it seems a little weird to reflect on a year that has passed entirely undocumented on this site, but it also seems like a nice opportunity to get back to writing here a little bit. I’d kind of like to do that more, and now is as good a time as any to get started.
It was definitely a mixed-bag year for me, personally and professionally. Work seems like it was a dominating force in my life, and what time wasn’t spent at the workplace (or, insidiously, worrying about the workplace, or communicating with the workplace) was spent with my little family. That family stuff was the good part of the year, of course, but there were trials. That said, I know I have it easy: I truly appreciate that my “trials” take the form of normal baby stuff like 3 am teething and refusal to eat broccoli. Dealing with a couple midnight fevers made me feel extremely fortunate that our little one is healthy with occasional colds & such– having a sick child is one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had, mostly because I feel so utterly powerless to do anything about it. Sometimes the parenting is easy, but it often feels like the job you do when you’re not at work, and any sense of personal indulgence has to fit in the cracks between the two worlds of responsibilities. One of the big challenges of gaming is that it takes time, and I, like most parents, had a rather limited supply of it this year.
But, I managed to make some space in my life for RPGs this year, and got to the gaming table more this year than the previous one. Sort of. Our little one is old enough now that he has a fairly solid evening routine, and frequently sleeps calmly through the night, so it felt more plausible to be able to take a “night off.” But, the reality is that stuff like evening work meetings, special events, or general complications always seems to come up, making it difficult to reliably wall off that evening for a once-a-week hobby night.
Nevertheless, I managed to run a Monday night Mutant: Year Zero game for around ten sessions or so this summer! The good part is that I had planned it to be a “for the summer” short term campaign, so I didn’t feel pressure to make it permanent. The tough part is that I only had one player! I was unsuccessful at meeting new folks here in my neighborhood, but it was nice to have the weekly time with an old friend who was part of my regular gaming group from the “pre-baby” years when we were living closer to downtown. The system actually worked pretty well for a one-on-one campaign, although with just one player at the table, I feel like I had to do a little more “plot work” than I had intended. Multiple players can generate multiple “threads,” schemes, and NPC relationships with ease, and, honestly, a little bit of freestyle cross-talk between players is helpful to let the GM buy some time to either make some dice rolls or brainstorm about what’s around the corner! But, it was nice to have a regular game again.
Later in the year, in November, I was successful in meeting some new folks during a one-shot of another of Fria Ligan’s games: their new Alien RPG. It was nice to be a player, since all my “recent” experiences this past year have been from the GM seat! I’m pleased to report my android roughneck successfully escaped the doomed colony of Hadley’s Hope with some of his colleagues, “safely” “escaping” with a couple folks who “survived” face-hugger attacks. I’m sure they’ll all be fine. But, it was a fun game. I won’t try to review it here, since that’s not really what I sat down to write about, but I can give it a solid “thumbs up I had fun!” I don’t consider myself fan of the Alien franchise (nor am I opposed— I like it and appreciate it, but it’s just not a pillar of my fandom world, such as it is), but I’ll gladly play it again. It’d be interesting to try for a more multi-session campaign, rather than a one-night “no consequences” session.
So, what does 2020 have in store for me? I think one of the first things I’ll try to do is get another game night back on the calendar now that the turbulence of holiday schedules has passed, and that I’ve got my grad school applications submitted (did I mention it was an aggravating year professionally? It’s time for the next steps). At the moment, I’m thinking one of two things: old school megadungeon, or giving Modiphius’ 2D20 Conan a try.
Perhaps recruiting players for the megadungeon will be easier? I’m thinking Rappan Athuk, via Swords & Wizardry… or perhaps an unholy Flailsnails pastiche of Swords & Wizardry, B/X D&D, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Labyrinth Lord, Old School Essentials, etc. For simplicity, I’m thinking S&W, since my edition of Rappan Athuk is statted out for that system. Simple might be the best way to start!
As for Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of (hereinafter referred to simply as “Conan”), I got captivated by the game after picking it up on PDF through a Bundle of Holding offer this summer, much like what happened to me with Mutant: Year Zero Summer 2018. Initially I picked it up due to an abiding love of He-Man from my childhood, and figured I could do some recreational reading, and perhaps incorporate material into a Carcosa game. Truthfully, I didn’t have any intention of trying to get into a 2D20 game, since a few years ago I’d tried to read up on the mechanics of the system through a Star Trek quickstart, and was put off by the metacurrencies and target number chatter. I’m not opposed to metacurrencies in general, but I prefer just one on the table, kind of like a Savage Worlds “bennie” or such. As for target numbers, the idea of a trying to differentiate between what’s “challenging” versus “difficult” seemed a little tedious (at least from a GM perspective), and I’ve come to appreciate simpler systems over the years.
But, I realized I like Star Trek. I like Burroughs’ Barsoom stories. I like the Hyborian world of Conan. Why should I close myself off to what could be potentially great and satisfying gaming experiences merely because a system seemed “too fiddly” at first glance, without even giving it the fair shake of trying to play it? So, it’s something of a 2020 resolution, I suppose: try to give Conan, or a 2D20 system (looking at you, Star Trek Adventures) some quality time at the table to really get to know it. And OHHHH I just noticed: 2020… 20 20… two 20s. It’s destiny– 2020 shall be the year of 2D20. Now I’ve got to do it.
Anyway, all this is to say that as I’ve read up on it these past months, the mechanics do not seem as alien or fussy as I initially thought. I think things like Momentum/Doom spends and introducing Complications elegantly will take practice (like most things when it comes to GMing), but I’m willing to give it a try. Besides, I’m too young to start closing myself off to literal fun n’ games just because the presentation seems too slick.
So, watch this space for updates, I suppose. If everything goes according to plan, I’ll probably have even less free time in 2020 than in 2019, but that’s all the more reason to get started as soon as I can. I’ve got a lot of gaming I’d love to do (watching a few episodes of The Mandalorian at Christmas has starting to make some images of Deadlands dance in my head, and I’ve always got this perennial notion to run some LotFP adventures!)… I’m not sure I’d have the time to do it all, even if I won the lottery and played like it was my day job!