Sunday 20 January 2013

2012 Retrospective

So I hadn't been able to spend much time working on this Retrospective as I've been busy gaming. And once I'd been free to spend time compiling it, I found it more difficult than I originally thought it would to write. I think one of the reasons is that I've used my blog for a repository for my gaming experience, so any thoughts or feelings I've had on any games I've played have already been recorded. Hence, I feel at loss for words now that I'm trying to write this review on what I've played the past year. So I'm not going to write any synopses or anything like that beyond minor comments, so I'm going to link to any relevant blog posts I made.

Monthly Blog Breakdown of 2012

January - N/A
Feburary - GottaCon 2011
March - All Flesh Must Be Eaten, GURPS
April - Airship Pirates, Eclipse Phase
May - Heavy Gear
June & July - Mouse Guard
August - Spirit of the Century
September - D&D 3.5, Umläut
October - Ravenloft 3.5
November & December - Fiasco, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire


After some thought, I made a couple of categories my choice games of the past year will fit into:

Jerreth's Choice RPGs of 2012

Choice Core System: FATE (via Dresden Files and Spirit of the Century)
Choice Rules: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire (Narrative dice are brilliant. I love the non-binary results
Runners Up: Mouse Guard (Simple but Innovative); FATE (Easy and Flexible) 
Choice Collaborative Storytelling: Dresden Files (My group has weaved the coolest collective story that I've ever had the privilege of being apart of)
Runners Up: Fiasco (Hilarity); Umläut (Who doesn't want to play a Heavy Metal group?)
Choice Setting(s): - Star Wars or Call of Cthulhu. (I'm both a Fanboy and a Cultist) 
Runners Up: Spirit of the Century (Pulp is heaps fun!); Legend of the Five Rings (Samurai!)

I asked my fellow gamers what systems they enjoyed the past year and what they're looking forward to trying this year:

Laura: "I really liked Spirit of the Century.
Mike: "I don't know what system I liked the best. Legend of the Five Rings was really good. I want to do some Eclipse Phase but I don't know if I'm a good enough GM to run it fully. I really want to try Deathwatch." 
Fraser: "I still absolutely love Mouse Guard. D&D 4 is good in it's niche. Our group works well with convention-style short adventures. I guess I'd like to try D&D Next and Hillfolk: DramaSystem when they're out."

Speaking of the DramaSystem, I supported a few Kickstarter projects in 2012 and eagerly await their releases this year:


On a similar note, there are tons of RPGs that I haven't played; a few I own, most I don't. And with so many interesting games, I feel I can't really make a thorough list of the RPGs I'd like to play in 2013, but I will put up a brief list of games I'd like to try out from my own collection. That way if I do a Retrospective for 2013, I'll have a list I can check off!

44: A Game of Automatic Fear (A simple but interesting one-shot game)
Airship Pirates (I've run two short games of this; I'd like to play a short campaign. Also the latest supplement; Underneath the Lamplight; is now available for pre-order on PDF, with a hard copy due March.)
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (Sword & Sorcery with Mighty Thews!) 
Deadlands [Savage Worlds] (I've yet to play/run a western game, and adventuring in The Weird West seems a fun choice) 
Dread (Still have yet to find an appropriate block tower for this innovative game) 
Paranoia (I'm hoping to play this at GottaCon this year. I'd also love to possibly run a game or two) 
Space: 1889 [Savage Worlds] (Quasi-steampunk Victorians in Space!) 
The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen (An amazing collaborative storytelling game) 
The Mountain Witch (A really cool one-shot game with a neat Trust mechanic) 
Unhallowed Metropolis (The system seems a little too crunchy for my tastes, but the setting is wicked)

And finally a few RPGs I still have my eye on picking up/trying:


And that concludes my 2012 Retrospective!


Cheers! ;{١

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