Can it be July?! As I try not to look at the Free League games sale on their store, I have opportunity to reflect on where I have got to with 2023 games. With both the D&D campaigns ending during the first part of the year, the numbers are looking a little different this time around.
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| Scores as at the 3rd July |
I’ve slipped TavernCon into the first half of the year, which isn’t entirely accurate, bolstering the numbers by a couple after a slow start in early 2023. Some scheduling problems and then an intergenum as games ended and then others started, stalled the flow a little, but 47 is a good number of sessions, and a good platform for me to average two a week by the end of the year.
As ever, conventions provide an injection of quantity, quality and variety. Traveller is the standout game for the first half, with my most regularly played game being one offered by the Dungeon Muser on his YouTube channel. Go Canada! Some of my own Cepheus Deluxe is lobbed into that slice. I’m hopeful, even with a busy holiday season ahead, that the Conan 2D20 will mushroom out to 15 sessions or so. Hjältarnas Tid has had a couple of outings and, perhaps against logic, is one that I hope becomes a regular at my table on Role VTT. The more I play it, the more I like it, so perhaps my 1980s BRP kick has found a new revitalising expression? I will need some more translations of spells and magic traditions to get me fully rounded for a longer form game.
The second half will be fab. I have high hopes of playing some more games on the Dungeon Muser’s channel and, with a fair wind, I will set up a new game to GM from late July. The front runner is Cypher’s Diamond Throne, running in Foundry VTT. This might be me having a go at going ‘pro’… I’m also likely to enjoy playing some games with my Wednesday online mates, and I’ll play whatever is offered. Some Dragonbane with the family and at Patriot Games are both likely.
There are few regrets. It’s a shame that Thursdays seem to have imploded. Such is the way of things though, and other things will bloom around the people who were involved. I regret not pushing through with Infinity, stymied due to scheduling difficulties. I think we had the makings of a good game there, and it was really nice to play with the group.
The systems may have changed this year, but the enjoyment is a constant. Thanks to all that have joined me on the journey, and have joined the conventions and played some games.