Kingbeast's Lair

Growling about the RPG industry and my gaming life. RPG and anime reviews from a passionate fan. (Formerly John's Hero HQ.)
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My 2018 Gaming Recap

December 08, 2018 By: John Taber Category: Games, Growlings

Dice 2018 T0 2019In the past I have done blog posts with a geeky Christmas list or a review of some of my favorite geeky products from the year but this time I decided to try something a bit different.  Instead of lists I am going to do a blog post on some of the fun I had in 2018 with tabletop gaming.

SPS Has Been A Resounding Success

Starting the Sipping Primordial Soup (SPS) group was a lot of work but I am having so much fun with it!  I have met a ton of great local gamers and had the chance to run some wonderful small-press tabletop games.  I can’t wait to play more!  😀

Running all of these games has really stretched me as a GM.  I am having to come up with adventures for games that are not in my wheelhouse then run them for strangers.  The result has been a wonderful learning experience.  SPS has really allowed me to fine tune my GM skills, get better in areas where I am weak, and give me a lot more items in my proverbial bag of GM tricks.  I guess you can teach this old dog some new tricks.  Many of these sessions have been the highlight of my tabletop gaming life in 2018.

Big Bad Con 2018 Excels At All Levels

Big Bad Con just nailed it again in 2018.  This little con that is rapidly growing just does everything with thought, acceptance, and skill.  From the massive amount of indie game designers, small-press RPG game sessions, and overall acceptance and love of their guests the con was a joy to attend.  Here is a Big Bad Con 2018 recap blog post with all the details.

Tabletop Highlights

I have played a ton of different games in 2018.  Here is a rough list of ones that spring to mind.  This lists includes RPGs and tabletop games that I had not tried in the past.  These are not in any type of order just how they come to mind.  (FYI.  This list is roughly twice as long as my 2017 list!  My guess is that my 2019 list will be really massive as SPS started in August.  ;)  )

  • Monster Hunter Danger International – Finished the second campaign arc!
  • Evernight Then Hellfrost Using Savage Worlds – The boys and their friend Spencer has an absolute blast gaming in 2018.  It so refreshing playing with inexperienced gamers!  All of those old tricks are new again.  😉
  • Champions Complete Reliance Revisited – Playing in the Reliance universe was a blast from the past.  I think this might be the first game I played with Chris as well.
  • Colonial Gothic – Ran this twice.  Both times were complete homeruns!
  • Sentinels Comics RPG
  • Dungeon World in the Plague Of Storms campaign setting
  • Masks
  • The Watch With Anna Kreider – Played with the author once and ran it once.  Both total homeruns!
  • Blades In The Dark – I ran two different groups.  My old group is starting a Blades campaign!
  • Bliss Stage And Mountain Witch by Carl Rigney – Wow…Carl…wow…if you can play with Carl do so.  End of story.
  • The Pip System And Mermaid Adventures With Eloy Lasanta – Just a blast!  Want to try Infestation with my boys.
  • Spirit Island And Thornwatch – Two board games that I really enjoyed.
  • Adult Board Game Night With The Connelly’s – Really great!  We need to schedule more sessions!
  • Nefertiti Overdrive is on the slate for next weekend!

Gosh so many RPG sessions stick out to me but I will mention a couple that really rocked.  These are roughly in the order in which the occurred.

  • Evernight Session 10 – The Battle For Kingsport – This was the last session of my Evernight campaign with the boys.  It was so heroic and so cool!  I loved how well they played during this session.
  • Dark Waters Rising Session 28 – “Guten Tag!” – This session was run with just three players but it stands out in my memory.  Loved how the adventure unfolded, the interaction with the NPCs, and how wrapped up.  Fun stuff!
  • Mountain Witch With Carl Rigney – A large game but expertly executed.  Really showed me the beauty of what can be done with a game on such a focused theme.  Highlight of my Big Bad Con 2018 experience.
  • Blades In The Dark Session 2 – “Cassandra Rivaldi” – The second Blades session with the SPS group.  In this session only Wade and Chris showed up but the result was an adventurous romp with a large wrench thrown into the works for good measure.  Really adored the role-playing scenes with Cassandra and the two Shadows.  My dream would be to have all Blades sessions run as awesome as this one!

See ya on the other side!

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