2010 Resolutions

I'm not a resolutions kinda guy. I hardly ever make them, and when I do, I rarely share them. However, between Christmas and New Years, I also got a year older. As I slowly drift towards another magic-number age (40!!!), it seems like a good idea to get certain aspects of my life streamlined, lest things I've always wanted to do get left undone for another decade. So, going to try the resolutions thing this year. It certainly seemed to work well for Oddysey.

Hold Fast on Gaming
This one may seem a bit odd, but I'm going to not add any new games to my schedule this next year. Last year, I ended up adding four. The original Labyrinth Lord campaign bifurcated into two groups playing in the same world. There's also a Sword-and-Planet campaign being run with 2e, and I just started playing in Erin's 7th Sea Wave game. That's four games, meaning I've got a solid night of gaming nearly every other evening. If I add any more, it'll not just dominate my social life, it'll be my social life.

While that might be kinda nice in the short term, it's not a good idea in the long run. Variety is the spice of life and the raw fuel for creativity. A wide range of experiences is necessary to keep things fresh and new, and to keep me from falling into any ruts. So, apart from one other game, which I'm already promised to (and anticipating with more than a little impatience ;) ), my RPG dance card is now officially full.

Get Fit for GenCon
The second is like unto my first resolution. 2008 was probably the worst year of my life. Too much of 2009 was spent recovering. I didn't go camping once the whole year, didn't get out as much as I'd wanted, and ate way too much comfort food. Granted, record heat over the summer didn't help much, but still, I've breached the 200 lbs mark. Not a good thing.

There are state parks within driving distance that I haven't explored yet, and familiar ones I've not been to in some time. The green belts are looking better, now that the rains have returned. Nature has always been my best muse, and now that I'm doing a lot more creative work than ever before in my life, I need to be certain I keep those batteries fresh, and my body healthy. The brain is an organ, just like the heart and liver and lungs; being healthy is a good start towards being "mentally awake."

Give This Blog Some Love
Partly, this just means making time for it, but more than that, it means working out a plan for its improvement. It needs some original art, it needs a bit of reorganization, and it needs a bit more SEO. No, I don't plan to turn it into a money-making venture. I have, however, noticed that I get hits from wide-ranging interests: art, archeology, history, anthropology, and, of course, porn. Getting the word out that RPGs are still alive and kicking via the blog probably won't change the world, but it might add a bit of fun to the lives of a handful of folks. That certainly seems worth a bit of effort.

This last year's seen some serious improvements. Probably the biggest is adding art to most of the articles. Most has come from the excellent Art Renewal Center online galleries. I've also gotten more rigorous about linking, which is always for the good. There's still much work to be done, however. I've hardly scratched the surface on getting old posts properly labeled.

I've also done a lot less of attempting to second-guess my readers. The truth is, I have no idea what you'd find interesting. I've been really surprised at the feedback some posts have gotten, and still get, long after their original publication. My style of play is odd, but apparently not so odd that there are no overlaps of interest. I need to post more, and let you tell me what you like and what is just meh.

Finally, I want to get listed on the RPG Bloggers Network. I should have done this last year, but I really wanted to get something more logo-ish on this page first. I've let myself get bottlenecked by that for too long.

Art by John Byam Liston Shaw.