I realize I missed last Friday. I was playing stay at home dad during holiday week, so you get a Wednesday post this week instead. I think everyone who runs a game should have New Years Resolutions for their GMing. New Years is about saying goodbye to the old and hello to the new, so my resolutions are based on those concepts. Here are mine: Two endings, some continuation, and a beginning!
1) This is hardly a resolution, as I would probably be strung up for failing to do it: I will finish up the half-decade-long D&D 3.5 campaign I've been running in a way that satisfies the players. Then never run 3.x again except maybe guest GMing or one-shots. The labor involved in designing encounters took too much time, and as levels increased I spent a greater proportion of my time on combat not because there was more combat, but because prepping it took longer and longer. The second last encounter sitting in my dropbox is 14 pages long, not counting the terrain (6 pages of printed map). The players in this campaign are great. The characters and stories have been spectacular. And the system was actually really good up to around level 6 or 7.
2) Conclude the story arc for my Vampire LARP character (it's an 80s game; ask me about it in comments below!). I can see where it may end, and I will leap down that path when it comes. If it doesn't come by the end of the year, I will retire him and then decide if I want to make a new character or not (and just NPC until the chronicle ends).
3) Continue, continue, continue! I will continue trying new games. Exposure to new systems is key to staying up to date as a gamer; and exposure to new GMs is key to your success as a GM. Also, I will continue and probably complete the long format Madness at Gardmore Abbey runthrough I've started. Finally, I will continue playing all the tabletop games I'm playing. Specifically, I resolve to keep better notes in them. Now I have an iPad, I will try to type up session notes and email them to the other players or keep them in OneNote if I don't feel like tidying them up.
4) Begin, begin, begin! I will begin playing a new world of darkness LARP, run by people I know and trust to put on a good show, though they're new to some LARP logistics. But part of citizenship in a community is helping, and while I don't think I will contribute anything to their story (they totally have that covered!) I may be able to help them with logistics, if they want. I will also begin playing the Pathfinder game that follows after my 3.5 game ends, and I have put a lot of effort into making sure my character fits the GM's idea of the game's themes and direction, and will be mechanically fun to play. Finally I will start another long-format all-day-long 4e D&D game, with different players, is I can convince my wife to let me out of kid responsibilities for a Saturday every other month.
Do you have any New Years gaming resolutions? Commit to them publicly here!
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