Looking Back, And Forward

Reflections On Things Past and To Come

Illustration by Luis Perez

With the holidays and a rough peak season at work on top of some technical difficulties today, getting today's article done was a one of the few times that this has seemed like work. But I haven’t missed a Wednesday article since the inception of the CRB a little over a year ago, and I don’t intend to start now. I was going to write a much longer piece – which will come next week – delving into the Snow Elves of the Pathfinder universe. However since this is the last article of 2016 I think I’m going to take a moment to just reflect on my own experiences this year and what I’m looking forward to next year.

I don’t get to game as much as I’d like, meaning that I don’t get to game every day. I do, however, have a great group with whom I play Pathfinder on Sundays. This year we made it through book three and are almost done with book four of the Shattered Star AP, as well as book one and half of book two of Rise of the Runelords. So the first thing I’d like to reflect on is how thankful I am to have another GM in my group who is willing to run when I need a break. If you’d like to check out his stuff he helps curate the player made stuff thread on the Paizo Rise of the Runelords board. A lot of the maps are his and he does good work.

Shattered Star has been a blast and this year has seen some exciting moments in the AP. Without giving too much away, our halfling has had two of the most memorable moments. He grappled a dragonfly that grappled him and then flew off. It crash landed and he made a last ditch acrobatics check to end up on his feet. He also grappled a qlippoth tentacled horror, of large size. He was helped by the paladin nauseating the creature, but the visual of the halfling standing tall over this monstrous squid-like creature was pretty awesome.

This year I also killed a player. I don’t pull punches in my games as I’ve talked about before but since the beginning of Shattered Star a little more than two years ago not a single character has died. The death was a little less than spectacular, but it is going to open the door to some interesting new things. The character will most likely be resurrected and then the fun can begin. My players read this blog so I’ll leave that hanging there for them.

It has also been a joy being a player. I look forward to playing more next year as well. Book four of Shattered Star should wind up sometime in early February and then I can get back to playing my Rise of the Runelords character, Aerodus. I’ve had a lot of fun with good old “Roddy.” He’s kind of in the leadership position, even though that’s not what I intended. This is now the longest I’ve made it into Runelords, and it’s been an interesting ride. I initially saw him as a straight-laced detective but now he’s become a little bit of a excitable swashbuckler type. How characters change in game always interests me.

There was a short lived second game, although life kinda said that I don’t have that much time. But while it lasted I got to explore some of the other areas of Golarion I had yet to. The players traveled to Osirian and the Mwangi Expanse. For the first time I even used some environment hazards. A sandstorm, dehydration, and the heat of a jungle were among the many things the players had to contend with. Using aspects of the game I haven’t used before is something I always enjoy about gaming in general.

This year I also started a twitch stream for a game I run every other Wednesday evening. Running a game that other people can watch is an interesting dynamic for me. On top of being watched by other people it is also a new group of players. It’s been good so far even if we’ve hit a few technical difficulties. If you’d like to come check us out our next game is schedule for January 5th.

Looking back it has been a good year for gaming for me. I look forward to a lot more Pathfinder in 2017. 2017 will probably bring a close to Shattered Star with just two more books left to finish. I hope to make it through at least book three of Rise of the Runelords as well. The twitch stream is only 2 hours so we should finish up the first module and be well into the second one next year. All in all I’m hopeful that 2017 will be as good a year for gaming as this past year has been.

I hope everyone had a great year of gaming. In the comments let us know about your year. What games did you play? What memorable moments did you have? How has it been running or playing? What are you looking forward to in 2017?

As we close out 2016 the CRB has grown in its audience. Providing the content you love to read is like a second full time job. If you’re wondering how you can help support your favorite content provider – I am your favorite, right? – becoming a patron is the surefire best way to help. Head over to my Patreon and pledge your support. Get a PDF of the first year of Wednesday article, all nice and indexed, when you become a patron. And don’t forget to come join the CRB community on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox on all platforms is always open.

The above illustration was created by a fine artist Luis Perez. You can find him on Twitter, Tumblr, and on Instagram at luisperezart.