With 2023 in the rear-view, I began to reflect on the year from a gaming perspective. It turns out there are a number of things worthy of a shout-out!

1. Playing Games

I am a forever GM. I have run way more games than I've played. In 2023 that changed and I found myself playing a LOT more. It really opened my mind to various games and play-styles, and helped hone what I want in a game. This was definitely the biggest revelation and the reason for the rest of the list. If I was going to list a new year's resolution, it would have to be to just play more games. Here's hoping!

2. New Games

The game toolset of the year for me was Named. I'm a big fan of playing into a character and thus, I gravitate towards tag-based character builds. Named uses epithets called--strangely enough--Names. While similar to tags, for my money, they add more juice. I see them as things people call your character... or whisper behind their back. This is a small but important distinction; YMMV.

More interesting still is how Named handles advancement through Reflections. At the end of a session, the table talks about what each character did in the game. Did they earn a new Name? Did a name not fit or need changing? It's easily the best advancement system I've ever seen... and now it's mine; MINE! :D

I was fortunate to get the full hat-trick with Named. I played it, podcasted it and contributed to a setting for it: Skypirates of Jotnaar (that is REALLY cool if I do say so myself).

Honorable mention for Dr. Paul's Palaeolithic Voyages. You can keep your +1 swords; just gimme a good rock and some flint! I really wanna play more of this system.

3. New Genre

I played my first game of Delta Green. For whatever reason, I'm not drawn to Cthulhu games but I dig Delta Green. It comes down to the twist: characters are not trying to solve a mystery; they are trying to stop/contain/suppress/clean up a problem. More MIB or X-Files than straight Lovecraftian cosmic horror. Really fun game.

I look forward to reflecting on 2024!

#words #ttrpg