Well, 2023 is here, and it’s time for a look back at last year’s resolutions and what I accomplished; then it’ll be time to set some new ones. Last year wasn’t great, in particular I had a pretty crappy third and fourth quarter, to be sure. Still, I managed some things better than others. So, what were my resolutions, and did I meet my goals? And what do I want to do in 2023?
More Roleplaying Stuff: Goal met. I wanted to post more stuff about RPGs last year, and I did. I posted a couple of Character Studies for Call of Cthulhu and Star Trek Adventures; I started a review/repair post for old adventures that I want to continue, starting with the Call of Cthulhu classic “Trail of the Loathsome Slime”; I started my own homebrew game, The Hub, based on 1970’s street crime movies like Taxi Driver and Dog Day Afternoon, set in Boston; I wrote a post about the utility of swapping systems from games to use in other games, and I bitched and moaned about censorship, the double standard and general hypocrisy over at DriveThruRPG.
I wanted to do more, and in the coming year, I will.
As far as actually PLAYING RPGs, 2022’s gaming plans didn’t turn out the way I expected. Out of five one-shot games I planned to run, I ran exactly zero. That’s not to say I didn’t run games (I did), they just weren’t the ones I planned on running. Instead, I ran a couple of Star Trek Adventures sessions to introduce the game to new players. I ran a Call of Cthulhu scenario for Halloween, and I even ran a couple of sessions of my own homebrew 1970’s Boston street crime game, The Hub. I ran a short-lived Mutant: Year Zero game for some friends before I came to my senses and decided I don’t enjoy being aggravated (and I don’t mean by the game); but the main thing I ran was a monthly Witch Hunter-themed campaign using Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
I plan on running a new campaign and more games this year, and I have posted my 2023 Gaming page; so check it out if you’re interested in playing some RPGs. I also opened up my Discord server to new players and hobbyists. (Yesterday, I even got to have my first Discord conversation with none other than Dick Garrison himself, Roger Webb! I know, pretty cool, right?) Drop me a line if you’re interested in joining the server.
Painting Challenges: Goal met (kind of). I took part in Fembruary, Forgotten Heroes, and Deadcember (over on Instagram); and I hosted Monster May(hem) again. Then the world went to shit for me smack in the middle of Dave’s Season of Scenery, and I had to bail on it completely, after first abandoning my idea to finally build my Deep Space Nine model. The one challenge I’m amazed I was able to complete (and on time, every time!) was…
One Character a Month: I didn’t host it this year, but I took the opportunity to paint all old-school metal miniatures for this challenge. I’m pretty happy with the results.
Here’s a group shot. Top left to bottom right: January through December.
January: Lord Gunthar Uth Wistan, (Fighter)
February: Arianna Moonshadow, Enchantress (Druid)
March: Cloaked Assassin (Rogue)
April: The Cimmerian (Barbarian)
May: Adventuring Cleric (Cleric)
June: Half-Elf Ranger (Ranger)
July: Mistress of Darkness (Sorcerer)
August: Bard with Bagpipes (Bard)
September: Dark Lord (Warlock)
October: Half-Elf Sorcerer (Wizard)
November: Amberlynn, Dragon Slayer (Paladin)
December: Jolly Friar with Dog (Monk)
This year, I will absolutely host Monster May(hem) again, and I hope to take part in all the other painting challenges from last year, including the Season of Scenery, dammit. In addition, I am continuing the Character of the Month personal challenge, but this year I’m making it all demi-humans! Tom is also hosting the challenge again (he calls it #paintanadventuringparty); but his take is a bit different. Remember the old Ral Partha 3-stage characters? He’s doing that: paint a character as a rookie, experienced and veteran version. That’s a bit too much for me to commit to, given my other projects, but YMMV. Drop him a line if interested!
More AARs: Goal not really met. I started my Star Trek gaming project, The Pawn, all the way back in March. The premise of the project was to tell a story based on the results of games played. Well, I definitely told a lot of story so far; but I only managed to play ONE underwhelming AAR before I took a break and never got back to it. We left Lieutenant Barclay in a precarious position, pursued by Romulans on the ice moon of Varuna 3; and we left the rest of the Enterprise-D heading back to that system after almost starting a war in the Neutral Zone. Will I get back to it? I sure hope so. I have a lot more story to tell. Just need to find the time. You can enjoy what I did manage to write thus far if so inclined. All the posts are tagged “The Pawn”.
I also planned on getting back to my Green Hornet game, and even a new Christmas scenario featuring The Crimson Hound again…but you see how that turned out. This year I want to return to both those games and some Super Mission Force; but we’ll see what the cards hold. In the meantime, I’m living vicariously through Matt, who posted a shit-ton of AARs on his site last year!
Personal Projects: Goals partially met. I had two: paint my Star Wars: Imperial Assault miniatures and make 2022 the Year of Pop Culture. I managed to paint The Bespin Gambit and one expansion (Bossk), but I still have a couple of expansions to paint before I can call that set all done; then it’s on to Hoth or Jabba’s Palace for 2023, I’m not sure which one yet.
As far as the Year of Pop Culture is concerned, I painted a lot of pop culture miniatures in 2022; but nowhere near what I wanted to. So, the Year of Pop Culture continues into 2023; where I suppose I should consider renaming the challenge, since it’s more than a year.
Nah, fuck it. Who cares? Bring on 2023!
Great achievement on the goals you managed to meet Keith, and on the others there is always this year( maybe build the DS9 model ready for the challenge ! LOL) Hope this year goes a lot better for you mate, and look forward to seeing all that you do. Will have to do a meet up on discord at some point to.
Absolutely, Dave. Very much looking forward to meeting you “in person”, my friend. As for the DS9 model…we’ll see. 🙂
You may not of hit all your goals mate, but you sure wrote some cool stories, posted some interesting posts and painted some seriously cool miniatures, (I just been re-shocked at how hot that Mistress of Darkness is!! yes I need help ).
I loved our talk the other night, I’ve never done anything like that before (I know living in the seventies or what!) sorry I didn’t have a camera, but trust me you aren’t missing anything! Would be great if we could arrange a bit of a group discussion going one day with a few of us discussing painting and the world and passing on tips etc… don’t know if this is possible but it would be awesome!
Best of luck with your 2023 plans mate, they all sound good to me, cheers Roger.
Thanks Roger. That’s exactly what I’m hoping for with the server, to meet and interact with more of my fellow hobbyists. It doesn’t have to be a set date and time (although it certainly could be). It’s my hope folks will drop by the Paint Pit and hang out. If you see someone in there (especially me), then stop in and introduce yourself! I only invite people to my server who I think are cool people.
You gotta get a camera, man…I’d love to watch you and Dave sculpting sometime. Then we can all watch your “support sausage” skills at work.
Oh I really don’t think the internet is ready to see my sausage supported or not!
Cheers Roger.
Nice post, though getting out here to Central Mass for a game is absent from your 2023 goals!!
Seriously, would love to have you – check out TotalCon in Marlborough in February, RIGHT up your alley game wise.
Happy New Year!
I will, Mark! Thanks as always for the invite, and the Oz project is very cool!
You need to get Mark and Luke on Discord mate, they’d be great in the paint pit!
Cheers Roger.
They’d both be welcome! But could you handle TWO Boston accents? Between me and Maaaaahk, it’ll be a pissah Discord servah! And Luke is 16 hours AHEAD of me…so it would take some creative scheduling; but I’d love to have him drop by. If he brought Scabrot with him, it would be even better!
Don’t tell him but Sacbrot was the one with the talent to be honest!
Cheers Roger.
Well, yeah. Scabrot is destined for bigger and better things!