This year was more diverse in terms of gaming than I had grown accustomed to. I got excited about boardgaming after a long hiatus, published the beta version of my AWengine hack Eldritch Sigils, managed to ran a successful rpg campaign and got interested in various Magic the Gathering formats (instead of just playing Commander).
Having played much more in 2017 than in years has had a positive impact on me as a person. I have noticed even though I have struggled with some personal stuff it has not drained me as completely as few previous years. I have made my best effort to surround myself with different playing groups (though all of the players are from our Guild) so that I can have a weekly gaming night even if one group hasn’t been able to get together.
Seeing and interacting with other people has always been very meaningful for me. Even more so this year since I have been unemployed the whole year. For me seeing my friends comes first and while I enjoy gaming very much it still takes the second place in my values. Understanding and accepting this has improved (from my point of view) my capabilities of accepting hardships that life keeps throwing at me.
Annual Kiltamiitti (Guild meeting) in June.
It has also allowed me to see that I value the friendship and especially our gaming Guild more. Making new friends at 30+ years is not that simple but when you share a hobby and the passion to keep it alive it is much easier to bond with others.
And while speaking of understanding I have think I have managed to improve my understanding of games as a whole during this year.
As stated earlier Eldritch Horror was fun. In about five years or more “fun” was never part of boardgaming for me. I played them occasionally just to stay in touch with my friends but it felt like a burden. But it was Mansions of Madness that taught me to look at things from different perspectives. I think I had grown accustomed to view games just as guides to tell the story.
Roleplaying Mansions of Madness.
Since I got into playing with Apocalypse World engine I have taken part to a number of awesome stories. I love how the engine works and doubt that I will ever be free from its influence. But refinding the joy of gaming via Mansions of Madness made me see that I might have approached AWengine and game mastering from a wrong direction. Trying to fade the mechanics away works but so does giving the mechanics a chance to shine.
This was more of a personal epiphany than any “hidden knowledge”. But taking actual notice of this affected the way I perceived games in a way that is almost beyond explanation. Certainly so anyway in terms of blogging with a foreign language.
Breaking the game (rules) by using the Dread rpg mechanics on a single session of the campaign was an excellent choice that amplified the importance of the session.
But the point here is not about the change of my views. What I’m trying to say is that I encourage all players to take the time to try out different games. Even when they are not for you they might still teach you something about yourself. Simply deciding that something is not for you is also totally ok. While it means that you might miss on something it also helps you to concentrate your time to the things you like.
And that (to me) is the whole point of gaming. It’s having fun and creating memories with the people that are close to you right now or might someday be.
This text might not be my best ones (in terms of understandability at least) but I hope it at least made you consider your gaming style and gaming group.
Nevertheless I hope You had a great year of gaming that your next year will be full of amazing stories and experiences to share.
The Festival 2, second annual Solstice gaming night