William Brandes Stoddard
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A Fourteenth Year of Blogging
🕑 Added 2024-11-22 22:12:16 +0000 UTCThe actual anniversary of my blog was a few days ago, and I was just so buried in other tasks that I’m only now getting around to writing this. Every year I like to talk about what I’m playing, what I’m running, and otherwise what I’m enjoying.
Games I’m Running
1. Aurikesh is still going strong after 12 years and 156 sessions. The PCs completed a huge story milestone back in September, and then my schedule blew up and we’ve only played one online session since then. The highest-level PC is 14th level! I have big plans for the future of the game, and still haven’t decided what the 2024 rules mean for this campaign.
2. Dragon Heist has now run 83 sessions, and the PCs are just starting a new adventure in the northeastern part of the Sword Coast. They’re 9th level and will probably advance to 10th at the end of this adventure.
3. Citadel LARP has now run three playtest events and one fundraiser event. Our first “real” three-day event, the actual campaign opener, is February 7-9 at Booker T, in Tennessee. We have a lot of writing to do between now and then, but it’s a ton of fun.
4. I ran one session of Ultraviolet Grasslands 2e with four players, and I’m excited to run more (…schedule permitting) with the rules in the Vastlands Guidebook.
Games I’m Playing
Three different LARPs I was involved with concluded this past year—Altera Awakens, Eclipse LARP, and Calamity! They were all incredible works of art in their own way and I am overjoyed to have been part of them. LARP-running is hard and I have the greatest possible respect for gamerunners who manage to bring games to a satisfying conclusion.
1. Alliance Atlanta—I’ve now played for a year, and plan to continue. Still playing Cathal Airdh, an elf spellsword of Blackstone Company.
2. Resurgence LARP is a new game that has just finished its first season. I play Dante Haziron, a Steelbound fighter. Good fun so far!
3. The Tombsday Night game finished its third campaign. A different player picked up DMing duties and we brought together characters from several previous campaigns to continue a new high-level arc. I’m still playing Skara of Luskan, a level 14 githyanki Hexblade… and now I have a spelljamming helm and an artifact that lets my spells affect the ship and crew together (useful for things like Invisibility, Dimension Door, and Plane Shift).
4. Stands-in-Fire has had really tough scheduling challenges for his Tree of Potential game, but we played a few weeks ago for the first time in a full year. I hope next year will be easier. Harrow, 7th-level eladrin Scribe wizard.
5. Ethan is still running his 13th Age game, and we’re playing in the epic tier, trying to survive in the Court of the Queen of Birds and get the better of our hated rivals, the Ascending Flame.
6. As a backup to the 13th Age game, Ethan runs a 4e game where we are members of the Death Mantis guild, which is goth af. I am the revenant swordmage Sangasu, Who Rends the Word. I’m having a great time with that, and it runs a lot more often than 13th Age lately.
7. I finished Inscryption recently. Holy heck what a great game, and I expect to play more of Kaycee’s Mod.
8. I have been playing Peglin as something I can have a limited play session of and then put down.
9. Balatro is a straight-up amazing game and I can’t get enough of it. It is an act of incredible will not to have it on my desktop where I do most of my work.
10. Iris and the Giant is another great roguelike deckbuilder. If games like Slay the Spire speak to you but you want a more puzzle-forward experience, Iris and the Giant is worth a look.
Games I’m Observing
1. Oh wow, I’ve only listened to 22 episodes of Critical Role since this time last year. I’ve slipped a good bit further behind. This campaign just doesn’t click with me like the first two did.
2. How We Roll continues to be a favorite. They’re doing a lot with Call of Cthulhu, MORK BORG, and Alien RPG.
3. Wards and Witchcraft finished a major story arc back in May. Listening to it makes me want to go back to Mage: the Awakening so very much!
Thanks for reading, and I hope that my work can bring you some welcome distraction and joy in the difficult times ahead.
