2009 in Review

[delericho]

This is one of the most depressing threads I have read, lots of people telling each other they are playing the wrong game.

Nobody has told anyone else that they're playing the wrong game. There's a difference between "I like X" and "... oh, and you're an idiot for liking Y."

Besides, it mostly goes without saying that we're all playing the wrong games. After all, we all know that OD&D (1974) is the one true game...

 

[Ant]

Highs

• My 5+ year 3.5e game drew to a very successful close (thanks guys!)
• New 3.5e campaign kicked off in high gear
• Got to DM a lot more OD&D than I'd dared hope for
• Gen Con Oz 09 - my first time playing in a Pathfinder game; and another chance to bring OD&D to the masses
• One of our long lost players returned to the fold

Lows

• Not much Basic D&D love this year
• Suffered some heavy DM burnout
• Didn't enjoy playing 4e at all

2010

• More old school sessions - OD&D and Basic D&D
• Some tighter 3.5e sessions
• Gen Con Oz 2010 - More OD&D and Pathfinder!

 

[Kelanen]

High Points
DDI
4e books keeping their high standards
DMing 4e


Low Point
Trying to schedule 6+ people

 

[Filcher]

Highs

• Gen Con
• Goodman Games support of 4E
• DDI tools that work
• Game Science dice

Lows

• Edition Wars
• Lack of Mac support for DDI
• Lack of more 3pp support for 4E
• Necromancer vaporware

2010

• Trying out Warhammer 3e rules in Punjar setting
• Ghengis Con
• Exhaustive Punjar campaign

 

[jaerdaph]

I just wanted to say how surprising two things are from this thread. First, many people have not only expressed love for Pathfinder, but actually are running active Pathfinder games. That took me off guard.

A lot of that depends on which forums (I meant to say fora, right?) you visit here. If you aren't visiting the Pathfinder forum, you're less likely to see the trend.

Back in October, there was one of those "What edition(s) are you playing now?" polls. IIRC, about 40 people said they were playing Pathfinder. The poll was posted in General. Around the same time, another poll in the Pathfinder forum asked if folks were playing Pathfinder core rules only, Pathfinder with 3PP add-ons etc. While not the same question, well over 100 people said they were playing with the Pathfinder core rules in that thread.

Location, location, location!

 

[aboyd]

Having to leave a few people out of my second (4e) campaign who naturally assumed they would be a part of it (having participated in the first).

I just went thru similar. Had a player quit mid-campaign when he heard that my next campaign (a year away) would be with all new people. I tried to explain that I would be running the same modules and thus needed players who were new to them, but that went nowhere. Apparently gamers mate for life. I had no idea.

I guess that'll have to be something I disclaim on my next recruiting post -- "not recruiting for all time, just this campaign."

 

[weem]

I just went thru similar. Had a player quit mid-campaign when he heard that my next campaign (a year away) would be with all new people. I tried to explain that I would be running the same modules and thus needed players who were new to them, but that went nowhere. Apparently gamers mate for life. I had no idea.

I guess that'll have to be something I disclaim on my next recruiting post -- "not recruiting for all time, just this campaign."

Ahh, yea

Mine was more like, "I don't like having these particular two people as players - they suck the fun out of it" but at the same time, they were(are) close friends, so it still sucked - but I need to be having fun too, hehe.

 

[Elodan]

Starting with the lows as the year started of shaky and got better.


Lows

• Group deciding 4E was not for us and not gaming for months

Highs

• Trailblazer
• Pathfinder RPG
• Discovering Golarion (especially the Pathfinder Companion series)
• My brother running his old d20 Future campaign after a 2 year hiatus; got the group back to gaming

 

[Erik Mona]

HIGHLIGHTS
---------------
• Selling a bajillion copies of Pathfinder and making sure I and my staff got to keep our jobs despite circumstances being slated fairly heavily against us.
• Playing my barbarian Ostog the Unslain (8 sessions and still no armor, still alive!) in James Jacobs's Sandpoint Pathfinder campaign.
• Actually getting a chance to game at a couple of conventions instead of being stuck full time in booth duty.
• Being invited as a guest of honor to a British convention for the second year in a row.
• Playing our Call of Cthulhu game more than once in the entire year.

LOWLIGHTS
--------------
• Playing our Call of Cthulhu game fewer than 3 times in the entire year.
• Didn't run an ongoing campaign of anything as GM.
• Didn't paint a single miniature all year, despite a nice "I'll buy you a Brazilian steak dinner" bet put in place by Bulmahn to get me to do just that.
• No Ptolus reunion game like last year.

RESOLUTIONS
-----------------
• Launch my long-mulled-over "Kings of Absalom" Pathfinder campaign at work.
• Keep Ostog alive and out of armor for the whole year.
• Take my first Pathfinder novel from outline to manuscript.
• Paint some minis.
• PLAY MORE CALL OF CTHULHU!

--Erik

 

[Cyronax]

highpoints:

- Continuing to DM for a stable group of mature gamers that doesn't make the rules trump fun.

- DMing a freewheeling airship centered campaign that had a lot of potential and a group of PCs and few NPCs that I really enjoyed. (see low points).

- DMing a new semi-sandbox campaign based around an old concept I wanted to try out: give starting level youngster PCs high level magic items that are in fact legacies from heroic ancestors. Got a lot of the idea for the campaign from the 1980's movie - the holcroft convenant.

- Being able to be a player in a side campaign run by one of my players. I haven't been able to be a consistent player in any capacity before or after two campaign way back in 2002-2003. My PC was a warforged swordmage who died in battle, much as he lived, by being cocksure and brash about his warrior skills.

- When the warforged died, I was able to create a PC I'm just as excited about -- a Good gnome bard with psionic and illusionist (and fascist demagogue) tendencies.

- Inglorious Bastards.

- I got back into comics (Marvel -- Avengers-related series) and have a third addiction, after D&D and caffeine. DARK REIGN!? Really --- Green Goblin as the new director of US/UN security??? Still a great year for comics.

- Living to see another decade and getting through grad school and getting a promotion at work.


low points:

- Seeing one incarnation of our side campaign collapse due to player squabbling.

- Worried about the amount of material 4E still has left to publish before a rebooted rules set becomes financially palatable to WotC. Can Martial Power 3 and other probable 2011 publications keep us going? Or will we already see a 5E by 2012/2013?

- Putting a huge amount of effort into my airship-themed campaign, only to see it collapse to do a probable TPK. I also put a lot of work into a campaign wiki web page (The Spire and the Abyss - home) which I'm still proud of.

- hybrid classes for 4E.

- The cinematic version of Angels and Demons.

- Realizing that the 3.5 vs. 4E wars haven't really abated even 2 years in.

- Underwear Bombers.

- Turning 30.


2010 Outlook

- Dark Sun and its attendant books will be on my shelf on release day.

- I'll get to keep DMing for a great group.

- Iron Man 2 - I will like it.

- Underwear is made illegal while flying commercial airlines. Passengers will also have to wear special see-through 'safety pants' for national security reasons.

- Turning 31.

- Tharizdun escapes from prison.