2023

To be, or not to be. That is the question.

The current year has started with a bit of controversy in the TTRPG hobby. The corporate giant, exercising their considerable muscle and throwing their weight about, has somewhat carelessly stumbled, "apologized", stepped on sensitive toes, "made excuses", covered their electronic ears, "apologized" again and released something that was already in the public domain as a token of "good faith". All while not making any promise to "not do it all again". 

Concerning another popular IP tabletop game brand, also controlled by the same corporate giant, who accidentally shipped new product before its time and then sent "agents" to retrieve THEIR property - property that was legally purchased by and in possession of a private citizen and customer, the mess continues. All the while the corporate executives have been asking us to "get on board" with their 2024 release of their new and improved popular TTRPG.

Well, that is how I see the year to date. (Please accept my apologies for the cynicism and realize that I am no expert on anything, these are my opinions and that obviously others will see things differently.)

So you may ask, where is this rambling and generally negative post heading? Where is it heading and what does it all mean for me? That is precisely the question which I have struggled with for several weeks now and has prompted my recent silence. (Well that and my reluctance to join in on the current trend to "take sides" on virtually every issue, but here I am taking sides.)

To get to the point, vis-a-vis the tabletop gaming hobby - I find myself at a crossroads, if I may borrow the often overused travel metaphor. Putting aside the Corporate Giant's Tabletop Gaming issues, I confess that the World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game has not interested me in some time. Furthermore, the games that do interest me seem to be of little interest to the gaming groups that in recent months I have been a part of, and I wonder if I shouldn't "broaden my field" a bit. Or perhaps just find a new hobby.

Reading of both fiction and history has been a large part of my interests and forms the basis of the attraction I have had to the tabletop gaming hobby since the beginning. I generally enjoy reading - reading about games, about settings, about the history connected with the games and about gaming as a hobby. Simply put, I enjoy reading on a number of various topics, discussing those topics with others, and occasionally writing about some of my thoughts on same. 

Reading novels, history and game materials has recently filled much of the time I would have previously spent gaming at the table with friends. The drawbacks to reading is that it is largely a solitary activity, and is a mostly passive experience. In other words it is poorly suited for meeting my very human desire for socialization and for creative expression. 

I write this post today as an exercise in organizing my thoughts and putting them into a coherent statement with a hope that doing so will help me see my way forward. Also, I share these thoughts in some hope that by reading it, another person may find some benefit in knowing about the struggles I have, my attempts to deal with the current events and may find some relief in knowing that should they find themselves feeling something similar, they are not alone. 

Finally I suggest that Life can be viewed as a journey, and we don't always know what lies ahead. Finding out where our chosen road will lead is part of the fun.

Happy trails!