With the year just about over, it's an opportunity to look back on my 2021 New Years' resolutions and see just how much I can disappoint myself.
In my next article I’ll lay out my plans for 2022. They will not be nearly as optimistic this time.
Your Turn: Please tell me you did better on your goals for 2021 than I did!
Crowdfunding (Success!)
I pledged to stop crowdfunding anything that caught my fancy and I stuck to that pledge. On Kickstarter, I backed my favorite artist who creates character portraits, my friend's Crafty Quest box to introduce kids to role-playing elements, 3D-printable puzzles and props for cosplay and gifts, and d20 fidget spinners. On Indiegogo, I backed the SCP art books and was happy with the end result. Overall, I backed products because I believed in the creator or would genuinely use the end result, and I'm much happier with my crowdfunding investments as a result.Diversifying the CAR-PGA (Success!)
I'm the Chair of the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games Association, and one of our goals has been to increase our membership. We're doing it, one person at a time, by inviting speakers to our monthly virtual panels, which we record and share on our YouTube channel. We've had everyone from Jon Peterson, author of Game Wizards, to Steve Jackson, of Steve Jackson Games. We're getting there -- we'll be producing an Annual Report to show our growth towards the CAR-PGA's goals.Finish My Star Wars Campaign (Failed)
An entire year went by and we didn't make any progress on this, at least in part due to the pandemic. That's a recurring theme.Print More Miniatures & Terrain (Failed)
This was a good idea, but when you’re not playing in person there isn’t much point. One of my printers broke and was in the shop for a few months, so that impaired my progress too. But mostly my printers get into gear for Halloween and print non-stop creating gifts for the holidays. Until I have an in-person campaign, I’m not going to make much progress on this front.Play In-Person (Failed 2x)
See above. My daughter is vaccinated now so we're making incremental progress, but not as quickly as I hoped. I did play with my kids a bit, but we're all busy these days and I didn’t play with them nearly as much as I would have liked. The one campaign we did play turned into my setting, 5E RPG: Academy Adventures.Appreciate Players
It's hard to judge this one. I try to value and cherish my online players as much as possible and send them gifts to show I care for their birthdays and on holidays. I was happy to support and spread the word about Jasper's Game and the Role-Playing Game Creators Relief Fund. Ultimately, I leave that to my players.My 2021 Score: 30%
So how did I do? Of my seven goals, I succeeded on two of them. Yikes. A large chunk of this was due to optimism on my part that the pandemic would be over. I suspect I’m not alone on that front.In my next article I’ll lay out my plans for 2022. They will not be nearly as optimistic this time.
Your Turn: Please tell me you did better on your goals for 2021 than I did!
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