RPG goals for 2021

Continuing the discussion from Gaming Goals for 2021:

I didn’t do very well on the RPG front in 2020. My one announced goal was to play HindSight at least once, and even that didn’t come to pass. Must do better this year.

So, leaving aside writing goals having to do with getting my SFRPG setting Flat Black into a usable state¹, I’m setting myself the following goals:

  • GM or play in at least two face-to-face RPG sessions with people in person
  • Design at least one well-prepared self-contained adventure like the ones I used to design for Pheno, and run it over an Internet videoconference.
  • Set up and run one regular Internet videoconference campaign.

¹ The Players’ Introduction is in a usable state, but I need to finish drafts at least of Forty Exotic Worlds and either The Effectuator’s Handbook of Interstellar NGOs or The Imperial Servants’ Handbook.

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Glad to see this thread.

My goals include

  • Start a campaign (initially by videoconference) for players in eastern Kansas who have a prospect of playing face to face someday.
  • See my two current GURPS books through to publication.

I don’t have an overarching goal in mind for the campaign I’ve been running since 2014, but I need, among other things, to figure out game stats for the Rings of Lead and Iron (magical rings created respectively for the races of trolls and ghouls).

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That would also be a goal of mine, but I have no control over this. I will have an rpg session as soon as the public health experts decide it is safe to do so (and my gaming group agrees).

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I got to run Cyberpunk 2020 in 2020, which wasn’t a goal exactly but seemed like a good idea.

I’d like to get at least one more independent GURPS publication into the pipeline.

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Continue our twice weekly D&D Tomb of Annihilation campaign on Roll20 and see if we can make a second, weekly rpg session via virtual means stick as a habit, even when we are allowed fraternisation in person.

We are actually close to finishing Tomb, so picking a new campaign is probably on the list, may be D&D, may not be, but availability on Roll20 probably a defining factor. I am trying to repurpose Traveller’s Pirates of Drinax, for roll 20, but it’s a lot of work!

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Get the campaign I started developing a couple of weeks ago ready to play: it’s semi-historical, and there’s quite a bit of research to do.

Continue with existing games. Those include one that started because of lockdown, but I hope it will continue when the pandemic is over.

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  1. Play more than 1 session a month.
  2. Play face to face with people in person (assuming the bloody pandemic ever ends).
  3. Go to a gaming convention (ditto).
  4. Try to get organised and write some new adventures for online gaming conventions.
  5. Write more of my Aliens for RPGs article thing (not holding my breath on this one, given lack of progress in 2020).
  6. Write more Squaddies scenarios (ditto not holding my breath).
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  1. continue the Edge of Empire game I’m running by zoom for my friends to a satisfactory conclusion.

  2. run the Raid on Innsmouth scenario for Call of Cthulhu.

  3. when public health allows run something that is not D&D for new to me people face-to-face at the local game store.

  4. play in an rpg as a player.

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Yes, please! I re-read them as entertainment. The cynical, understated tone is great fun.

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2020 was the year I finally stopped reminiscing about role playing, and got “out there” and did it.

In late 2019 I dropped in on an impromptu session of D&D and that totally restoked the fire, but it also opened something of a Pandora’s box. I hadn’t done any regular role playing since the late 90’s, and even then we (my group) held onto our AD&D 2nd Ed. books—3.5e had long been out by the time we all split for college. My other experiences were even further removed from modern systems: Top Secret/S.I., 1st. Ed. R.I F.T.S., and the original Marvel Superheroes RPG, a little Battletech on the side. I was relatively certain I didn’t want to invest into D&D, but looking into systems in a post-internet era presented… A LOT!

A little good timing meant The Ultraviolet Grasslands caught my attention on Kickstarter, and what started as a bit of an artbook indulgence quickly became a swan dive down the OSR rabbit hole. Suddenly I was looking for the right system with which to run this weird pointcrawl.

Yada yada… (ongoing)

A fun (if ultimately failed) attempt at a PbP escape room using All Outta Bubblegum, and a great session of Container with some of the fine folks right here showed me what PbP could do. It has obvious limitations but some wonderful perks as well, not least of which is the ability to play asynchronously; I had a kid in April, so this is incredibly attractive.

Meanwhile Troika! entered my life last fall and I fell head over heels all over again. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: I’ve been running a game of Troika! over Discord with a few other dads since December, and while it’s been slow going, it’s also been a ton of fun and I don’t want to stop.

So, we’re finally there: in 2021 we just keep this train rolling. I’m hopeful my group will be keen to keep going once our scenario is through, and I’ve got nothing but enthusiasm to indulge them. If they make it out of the well, we’ll see what awaits…

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I really didn’t expect to enjoy Cyberpunk 2077 on PC as much as I did, but it has certainly made me want to try Cyberpunk Red . This is the new edition of Cyberpunk 2020 updated to the 2077 lore, there’s a starter kit out now and the full version is on the way. I’m thinking maybe zoom sessions in 2021.

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I need to engage more with the games I’m playing, after a few sessions where I’ve felt I wasn’t so much 'phoning it in as delivering it by telegram. Nothing to do with the particular games, GMs or players either, simply my own recent issues.

Actually running some games also needs to be on my list, especially getting back to my sporadic Forgotten Futures adventures. Ideas for FF constantly bubble up in my head and yet I play it so infrequently. Fancy having a bash at Pugmire too.

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