To some my 2024 of tabletop RPG play may seem a decent haul of games, and I expect for others they remain rookie numbers. At over 150 sessions for the year, I am happy with the volume, it has felt an engaging and absorbing part of my year, and I wonder if a lot more would start to overwhelm the other parts of my life. It’s great to have so many diverse opportunities to play, and I have found a number of welcoming communities that are now an important social outlet for me.
Let’s dive into the meat of things with an overview of the RPG systems that I have played this year. I have filled out the list with the games that I’ll be playing over the Xmas period. The three standouts speak of the continued pattern of playing and running ongoing campaign style games.
The top runner is Mongoose Traveller 2e, strongly bolstered by regular fortnightly play on the Dungeon Muser’s YouTube channel. Backed by a Discord server community, it represents one of the key places I go for some RPG escape. The game itself is an ongoing and RP heavy play of ‘The Borderland Run’ adventure and now into the edge of the ‘Pirates of Drinax’. This year has seen a completion of my character’s story arc, wrestling with the trauma and stress of a black ops past, only to find purpose and redemption in the service of an Aslan noble’s retinue. One of the most satisfying character progression journey that I have played, and particularly satisfying to see an end that continues off camera. I’m enjoying playing a very different character, as the camapaign continues into 2025 and, potentially, beyond! Tom’s ‘Darrian Academics Exploring the Reaches’ game is a refreshing change of pace.
I predicted early that Dragonbane would be an important game for me, so no surprise that it figures large in the numbers for this year. In addition to some sporadic face to face play, including family Xmas RPGs, Dragonbane has become the vehicle for my Trudvang campaign that has continued to run throughout this year. A BRP game at its core, the mechanics reach back to my youth, with a number of Free League flourishes. Although rules ‘too light’ for some in the group, I think the engine has adapted well to the dark forests and soaring mountains of Norse and Germanic inspired Trudvang. Our company’s journey is reaching a climax against the insidious return of the Snow Queen. I’d like to return to Trudvang once this epic is complete, either with Dragonbane or another.
Dom’s Achtung Cthulhu 2D20 has machine gunned its way through 2024 in a series of pulp explosions, that takes our group ever close to the complete artefact of doom, chased by Nazi agents across the globe. A fun game that is also nearing its special effects laden conclusion. I have already started to think how I might fill the void once we have saved the world, or fumbled its messy ending. I was going to suggest a desire to break from the 2D20 system for me, until I realised that the game after my Trudvang will be Simon’s Star Trek Adventures!
Two further notables include an Age of Arthur 2e playtest series of adventures and a Tripod powered Moorcock tale at LongCon. The variety of other games attests to my covention attendances and pick up games with the Dungeon Muser. These have introduced me to new ones and opened fresh vistas of play for 2025, the subject of a separate post.
It’s been great to have a healthy 2:1 balance of player to GMing throughout 2024, with an opportunity to experience many a GM at conventions. As much as I love to GM, my style is traditional and overly prep heavy, which limits my outings to the table. Recognising some great advice on lightening this load, and opening more improv style play, I am happy and comfortable with the way I run games and will probably stick to my approach.
As has been the case since the days of lockdown, the majority (3/4) of my play is online. Face to face gaming is especially lovely, with the immediacy and completeness of the shared table, emotional responses and surrounding social experience. However, I also really enjoy online play, allowing me to play with folks from across the globe and to save on travel and extraneous time around the session.
Roll20 predominates due to its use by many of the GMs that I play with. You can play a perfectly good game on this platform, though I prefer Foundry immeasurably, and have been delighted with the way it promotes information exchange through its journaling system and the excellent webcams through the LiveKit module. 2025 will see me creating and GMing extensively on Foundry. I’m unlikely to pursue interest in Alchemy, as pretty as it looks, and I think my PlayRole days are much more limited, as much as I like the approach of ‘webcams first’.
A backbone of continuous campaign play, laced with interesting episodic and one shot adventures, played with a wide variety of people and places has made for a very good hobby year of gaming. With my convention organising and game writing also featuring throughout the year, it is safe to say that I am experiencing a rich and fulsome peak of my hobby now that I have retired.
I’ll be attending my first Contingency in January, which will serve as both a break from routine, some beach walks, some play, and a writing retreat for Age of Arthur. I’m looking forward to it a great deal.
The GM response to AireCon Harrogate in March has been staggering. I’ve filled virtually every table I have been given, amassed more than player 600 seats over the weekend, and the submitted programme of games is top notch. My Garricon events are looking good and hopeful for 2025. North Star and LongCon will be launched over the Xmas period, which prompts me to wonder if I should return to running something all weekend. I have an idea… Revelation has ‘surged’ and will happen with a full programme. Furnace in October is in its 20th Year!
More to relect on and plans for 2025, but for now I’ll make myself a cuppa and appreciate all the good hobby things that have happened in 2024.