More looking ahead to 2014

Distractions, great and small

One of the factors gumming up the gaming works in Q42013 has been, in addition to the work and family I mentioned last time, some unexpected problems that came up.  For one thing, I got hurt to the point of needing medical attention.  Twice.  First, I sprained the MCL in my right leg in an accident in mid-October, which was a painful injury that had me limping around for several weeks with a knee brace.  Then, just as the MCL was feeling better, I had a second injury.  I severely sprained my left ankle in an accident, resulting in an avulsion fracture in the ankle (that's when the tendon is pulled so hard it rips off the tip of the bone where it is attached) and broke my fibula clean through.  I've been in a cast for four weeks and will hopefully be moved to a walking boot today, God willing.

The other thing is more personal, and I've learned the hard way that a public blog is not really the place to air private matters. There has been a lot of stuff going on, some long term and some that has just cropped up in the last few weeks.  Again not really needing or wanting to go into detail, but if did not already have a good physical reason to lie around on the couch with my feet elevated, I would have had to fight hard to overcome the emotional drive to do just that.

So what now?

I have been thinking a lot about what is really the right fit, both for me and for the group. The factors involved in the group are that there are many players involved, and many of them can not commit to regular attendance. In fact looking ahead it would be safe to assume that the group will be less regular because of things like starting families.  So I need a game that can be flexible about the "party," both in terms of the size of the group each session and can cycle people in and out easily. 

For me, I have to be honest about my biggest shortcoming: my scattered attention. Sometimes I want do something with fantasy, sometimes science fiction. I get bored when stories go too long but also like doing more than single adventure sessions. 

Now, this isn't the first time I've thought about this, and frankly I know the answer already: superheroes. It's flexible, I love the genre, and hey, I'm already doing it. What's more the group likes it and this whole thing falls under the "if it is not broke, don't fix it" category.   What I'm really wondering about is the system.  I've considered investing in Hero Lab as a way to help the creation of Mutants & Masterminds characters easier.  Maybe for Christmas...

One blog to rule them all

One old idea that I am kicking around is the notion of colsolidating the three blogs into one. For one thing, I don't consistently do one blog concept consistently but jump around a lot. There is also some stuff I find interesting that doesn't fit into the RPG or wargaming or zombie blog easily. So I could update a single blog more often, on a broader range of topics, but risk alienating some readers. I'm continually stunned that the zombie blog gets more traffic than this one, which is updated a lot more often.  That being said, I'm not exactly generating massive traffic to begin with, so it really doesn't matter too much.  If I change, I'll let everyone know.