Living in the Now moment but looking ahead a bit.

Most people set resolutions; I set intentions. I intend to improve my life. I intend to increase my own wealth so I can better help others. Helping others makes the world a better place.

Let’s not let 2024 pull us backwards. Sure the election could have gone better. Yeah, it’s going to be a rough year if some people get their way in the world. We can overcome. We can survive and even thrive despite everything.

Disclaimer: This is my blog. This is how I see things and how I feel. There is little factual information being presented. If you have issue with anything being presented, please contact me privately on X (Twitter,) Instagram, BlueSky, or by email. Otherwise, there are lots of platforms out there for you to vent your feelings and opinions, too.

Enough of that esoteric stuff. Let’s talk gaming.

The first month of January is GMuary. Our friend at Elder Goblin Game did this a while back. I’m just carrying it into the new year. I’ll be posting lots of love for Game Masters of all experience levels both here and on YouTube. I intend to build people up, especially my fellow GMs.

Tomorrow is Hex-A-Day 2025 start. Conveniently, it’s also Worldbuilding Wednesday on here. I have the first hex started because I had to explain how six characters got from the Misty Vale to this new world. I have some ideas of what I want this new world to look like in terms of landscape and history, but I’ll be letting the dice make a lot of decisions, too.

I know it’s a Jovian scale planet covered in green flora and all kinds of fauna. Nature runs rampant and untended areas grow over very quickly. Rainfall is abundant. The water to land ratio might be a bit more 60:40% than Earth. Maybe lots of water in the atmosphere and underground, too.

There was definitely a bygone era on this world, leaving lots of ruins. Entire empires have risen and fallen. Somehow the tech level has never risen, as far as the characters know. It’s possible prior cultures may have reached the space age and wiped one another out or maybe up and left. Remnants could exist in forgotten underground ruins or overgrown cities.

My worldbuilding efforts are going to be ongoing all year. I have so many books with prompts and ideas. There’s also the hex crawl component. Even if I write down the grid reference, terrain, a landmark, and a few quick details, we’re getting 365 days of hexes. Tomorrow it starts with a dungeon, a village, a vague semblance of a road, and an old statue. Monday’s article introduced the Otterkin villagers.

But wait, there’s more.

I intend to get back to the Des Moines Remote Viewing Society experience in the near future. I am contemplating ditching the Monster of the Week rules in favor of something a little less abstract and a bit crunchier. Maybe Call of Cthulhu/d100 or possibly FATE, Cypher System, or Cortex could be the answer. It likely won’t be a switch to Mutant: Year Zero Engine. I love you, Free League, but it’s just not my system of choice.

Santa brought me Power Rangers: Beneath the Helmet this Christmas. I’m really itching to bring back my Lightning Force campaign now. Power Rangers is such a fun game. I want to take things in a slightly more serious direction, somewhat similar to the bootleg reboot movie or Power Rangers: Unworthy. (Please look them up on YouTube. I can’t provide the links.)

I’ve been wanting to write some GI Joe RPG adventures, but I don’t think I can sell them on DriveThruRPG because AFAIK Essence20 isn’t an open license. I’ve had a couple of cartoon ideas and a couple more that were grittier realism. I’ve been wanting to do GI Joe ever since Spycraft RPG was a new thing. Even my Ninjas & Superspies campaign was loosely based on the Joes. I’m not sure if schedule will permit a lot of tinkering with this game, though.

The one I’ve been dying to get back into.

ICONS RPG has come to the forefront of my gaming desires again because we’re anxiously waiting to see if the game’s creator, Steve Kenson, is coming back. He went on hiatus with Trump’s victory in the election. I know a lot of my LGBTQIA family are concerned for much the same reason. I think the world needs superheroes right now. We need to believe in a better world.

I have so many supers campaigns that I’ve come up with over the years. My default was Mutants & Masterminds, another Kenson project. ICONS really captures that easygoing 1980s Four Color supers roleplaying better than any other game for me. Golden, Silver, Bronze, and even Modern age comics are a passion of mine. I don’t collect any more, but I try to keep tabs with what’s going on.

I intend to put out more ICONS content and raise awareness to the game’s good name again. It’s very player focused and tons of fun as a GM. Even though it’s rules lite, ICONS is one of the most well-developed supers games I’ve ever seen.  I might even surprise The OG GM with a conversion of his supers universe someday. Regardless, look for some ICONS content here on the blog.

I know it’s only a roleplaying game, but ICONS does supers right, and I think that’s something we all need right now. We can escape for four or six hours into an alternate world where the forces of evil and near paranormal levels of stupidity aren’t as much of a reality. We need an escape to a place where good guys wear capes and people with 39+ felony convictions go to jail.

Sounds like a busy year ahead, so why not add more?

My publishing intention this year is at least one Dragonbane supplement, possibly more. I haven’t thought a lot farther ahead than that just yet. I kinda want to see what contests or writing gigs pop up in February and March. I still plan to stick with Dragonbane, Shadowdark, and possibly ICONS as much as possible.

In terms of the blog, we have more reviews on the docket. First up is the Mystica Eterna core rulebook. I also promised I’d give Along the Leyline a look. You are never forgotten. Sorry it’s taking so long.

Then there are about a dozen other reviews that I’ve been putting off. Free League Publishing titles are at the front of the line. I’m fascinated with the Walking Dead Universe RPG. I want to run a zombie game even if it’s a one shot sometime. I think survival horror could make for some interesting roleplaying either solo or as a group of like-minded players. (By that I mean people who are into zombie apocalypse stuff.) There are also several other Free League titles on my review stack.

I think that’s a plenty to be dealing with for now. I’m only on “whelmed” right now. Overwhelmed probably won’t land until February or so. (LOL?)

Ultimately, I intend for all of my friends and family to have the best year possible. Please stay safe, stay hydrated, take your meds if you need to, and meditate if that’s your thing. See you next year.

Thank you for being here with me today. I appreciate you. Keep it real, but please strive for positivity, too. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy in your life.