2023 Hobby Goals

I have more goals than simply hobby goals, but I'm not going to talk about them here. What do I intend to do this year, hobby-wise? Let me go through a few goals, or New Year's resolutions, if you prefer.

First, my new son-in-law has expressed interest in getting a regular gaming group, including at least the two of us, going again. I'd like to do this too. Not sure yet what this will look like or who else it will include, but I'd love to run Dark Fantasy X, if it comes to that. Because I don't know what the group itself will look like, I don't know that I'll necessarily have RPers. I've decided that while I like a good action scene as much as the next guy, all combat rules from 3e on are too tedious and cumbersome for me, so I need a quick and easy way to do combat. People who really enjoy the tactical combat aspect of the hobby will be unhappy, of course.

Second, I've not played an SWTOR in about a week, and when that happens, that means that I'm likely not going to play it for a little while. But I will, actually, continue to play the game, of course. I'll likely pick it up again when the next Galactic Seasons starts, if not before. Meanwhile, I'd like to edit and post more of the videos that I've already posted in the next weeks and months too.

Third, I've made a reading tracker for 2023. At a bare minimum, I want to read 12 books, but 20 or even 30 is much more likely (I set myself a low bar on purpose, just in case.) I do have a draft list of a few books, including Five Fingers which I'm actively reading now, and Shackled City (I'm treating the entire adventure path like a single book), but I've got a stack of more than a dozen books already off the shelf and queued up to read too. The first non-gaming book on my list—an actual novel, or at least novel form book—will be Ill Met in Lankhmar. The old White Wolf compilation, that is, not just the novella, which is included within it. I've also got the Write Great Fiction series of four books on queue in the non-fiction category. I'll no doubt read much more and make many changes to this tentative list as the year goes on, and I highly expect that thirty will be easily reached before the year is over. But this time, I'm going to actually track what I'm reading and do it with a bit more planning.

Fourth, I'm giving serious consideration to using my DarkFantasyGamerX YouTube channel to come up with a podcast or video series related to gaming. I actually thought that I would have done that already, but my employment circumstances the last third of the year precluded me from really getting that off the ground. Now that I'm normally and gainfully employed again, and more quickly than I hoped, although I'm still attempting to get up to speed on the new job, I think there's a a good chance I can get this moving again. Maybe, even, if my gaming group from the first goal ends up being online, I can post actual play sessions. Although I'm certainly not promising that.

Fifth, I want to finalize my collection of gaming "stuff." By this I mean, I need to get my GM screen nailed down, get the last few sets of dice that I actually want, and just be ready to run. I got a canvas vintage-style backpack to carry all my gaming stuff in. Not that I really need, say, my DIY dice tray, or whatever, but I like having it. My GM screen needs to be re-done, though. 

Sixth, I want to finish all three of the 5x5 Fronts that I'm working on. I'm almost done with the first, but I want the other two to move much more quickly and be finished by mid-year, if not earlier.

Seventh, I've been talking vaguely about fiction writing, but I haven't done jack squat with it. I'd like to be able to create a goal for it, although I'm certainly not talking about writing a novel this year, or anything.

Eighth, on a completely different hobbyist endeavor, I have a much reduced vacation load since starting a new job, although by the fall, I will have accrued three weeks, and by the end of the year, I will have accrued another one. I'm not sure what my family responsibilities will be; I'll probably go out to Boise in the summer with my wife to watch/see the grandkids. I'd really like to make another trip out west for site-seeing/hiking, but I may not be able to squeeze the time off in order to do it. We'll see.