Monday, January 9, 2012

2011: The Year of No Gaming

The holidays are done, the gift-wrap has been shoveled into the garbage, and a new year has begun. Taking a look back on the previous year, it struck me how little I accomplished when it came to my nerdly career. My players logged a record low number of games this year; five.




My turnout at 40K games and events was also lower than usual, and the same could be said for my participation in our local weekly card games. In fact, I've spent more time playing WoW and Minecraft in the last 4 months than I have playing D&D, miniatures games and cards all together throughout the year. Ouch!

And it's not just me. The group in which I normally play didn't get in a single, solitary game of D&D since Dundracon.

In February my family moved into a smaller place, sort of getting our financial house in order to prepare for the future. Room for storage was minimal, and even hosting D&D games was a bit of a strain on the floorplan of our new home.

Also, our daughter, who is now three, is a handful and fully occupies us all during her waking hours. When she does get to bed, the leftover energy for researching and writing new material for games, painting figures and building new decks is almost nonexistent. It's much easier to fire up Minecraft and dig for iron, or run a few short quests in Wow, or just turn on the tube and zone out. I offer no excuses!

Then, last month, something happened.

A friend of mine with children of her own reached out to me. Her son was interested in D&D and she knew that I played. I told her I'd be delighted to take him under my wing and show him around, maybe run a few games of Pathfinder for him and any of his peers that might be interested.

This sparked some interest in his siblings, and all of a sudden this last weekend our dining room was full of kids, all painting up miniatures and asking questions about the game. Even my three-year old got into the game!

Oh, and we found a new place to live, with a garage, a back yard and more space for hosting guests.

Things are looking up for 2012!

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