This year I have quite a bit to be thankful for, but I’m going to stick to a big die six list.
- Meeting every other week for four hours going on years now. A big challenge to running an RPG campaign is even getting a time set. My game group has consistently played every week for four hour sessions with occasional breaks or reschedules due to emergency, vacation, or holiday. We are consistent.
- Six players who show up every other week. A GM who successfully plans a game night may show up to find no one there or maybe everyone cancels ahead of time. My players show up every other week after every other week with only sickness or unexpected overtime keeping them away.
- Our hosts who cook dinner for us. Chad and Melia open their home to us to game (they get to play and no babysitter is required but still, it is a big deal to host game night all the time). Melia also cooks for everyone, and we share a meal as a group which is an even bigger deal. Chad is using his 3D printer to create minis for every PC again for this campaign. I have gamed in an unheated building before in the winter with just a space heater. This style of gaming is a big step up. It connects our game group together and creates a shared esprit de corps. Thanks Chad and Melia!
- Amazing Adventures that has so much potential. We play a lot of RPGs and I try to run a campaign for several months. We just wrapped Forbidden Lands Bloodmarch and have started Amazing Adventures. The first adventure had some hiccups (people get tired) but now interest has increased. Players are starting to write backstories and many players have added their character name in our Discord group, a sure sign of interest. The rules for Amazing Adventures are familiar old-school D20. But there are great twists like Fate Points and firearms that make it more interesting. And the classes are varied and fascinating. One PC has a tiger and another is a Zen archer and everyone is exploring different options. Just enough options to be fun, but not so many to be overwhelming.
- The 1930s were a rough decade but what a time for adventure. My players have never played in the 1930s. It was a tough time in the world with the Great Depression kicking things off and the start of World War II ending the decade. Our campaign starts in 1937 and world events are worsening. But the PCs can make small differences and save some people if they try.
- The supernatural threat is real but can be defeated by heroes. While the real world horrors of WW II still happen in the campaign, we are focusing on opposing supernatural threats. Amazing Adventures encourages a style of play using the Cthulhu Mythos called Yog-Sothothery. Yog-Sothothery includes all the mind-bending horrors of Lovecraft and his fellow writers, but the PCs punch and shoot back instead of going mad and getting eaten (well, they can go mad and get eaten but that isn’t the default!). The PCs are heroes and fully equipped to take on the darkness. They investigate the dangerous unknown, confront eldritch cults and alien monsters, and win the day for freedom and humanity.
