2016 - The Playlist

Well. we're almost at the end of 2015 and, as ever, I've been looking over my collection and I've been thinking about where to go next with my tabletop gaming hobby.

My gaming group will once again convene in the New Year, and at this time we're looking at D&D 5th Edition. It's a great game, probably the best iteration of D&D I've ever played, and it's something to look forward to. I'm not sure what adventure we'll be doing and it's doubtful that I'll be DMing the game, so that's something to look forward to.

Saying that, I also have the option of mixing with other groups and gamers I've come into contact with over the last few weeks. This includes a possible DM role for D&D 5th, and another player eager to run a Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars RPG, set in the new era of the Resistance, a la Episode VII. That sounds great, and I'm sure there are members of my existing group who'd be more than up for that.

As I was writing this short blog post I received a message that reminded of a game I've not played in a long time, and a game that I love for both the system and the setting - Dragon Warriors. I'd love to GM a game again, even if it's just a short adventure over a month or so, and the thought of gaming in the Lands of Legend is too much to resist. I think I'll make Dragon Warriors my priority in the new gaming year.

The thing is, there's plenty of other games we have in our group that we've discussed. There's Shadowrun, a game we played in 2014 and had a huge amount of fun with. Then there's Hulks & Horrors, the D&D sci-fi game that we were eager to return to. Then there's Call of Cthulhu that I've wanted to run for a while, especially the Dark Ages version, and of course I'd love to continue my Warhammer FRP 1st Edition game I began back in early 2015.

So, right away you can see the problem. There are plenty of games I want to run and yet there are only so many gamers, and each of those gamers (in my primary group, at least) all have games of their own they want to run. I'm also a family man these days, with a full-time job and a dog and everything, so I don't have the buckets of time I used to have.

So with little time and lots of games, how do I divide my time and get them all in? Well, the simple answer is - I don't. I'll have to choose which games I want to run and stick with my choices, and drop the ones that I'd like to play but don't have the 100% commitment that a gaming group would require. If I'm going to game I need to make sure that I'm committed, or the group as a whole will suffer if I'm sat at the table wanting to be somewhere else. There's no point in shooting lasers at alien nasties if I'd rather be crossing blades with orc meanies. That's no fun for me or the rest of the group, especially the person running the game.

I'll see what the New Year brings me once we're pasty midnight tonight, but if I had to choose a game right now I'd choose Dragon Warriors. I'm in a pseudo-historical mood right now, and I've had ideas regarding ancient ruins beneath the mead-halls of the Thulanders, but I think watching the first three seasons of Vikings back-to-back may have something to do with that.

No matter what happens, I'm looking forward to gaming in 2016. We start from scratch in January, with all new campaigns to start and fresh adventures to be had, so here's to a new year of gaming.

I raise my mead-filled drinking horn to you all. And yes, I have a drinking horn and I have mead.

Happy New Year, everyone.