Happy New Year, Friends and Neighbors! (a post in which I promise nothing)

There you go, the year is done. It has been a tough one, I guess. Somewhere in the past I promised I'll stop leaving loose ends behind ... Guess what. I'll have to leave so much new stuff in 2016, that the new year will keep me quite busy without me trying to hard. Here's some of it:

A list of things that probably won't happen

Honestly, I'm done predicting what will happen on the blog or when. There's things I'm aiming to do and I'm willing to share those. So this is what I see happening in 2017:

• Monkey Business will be the first thing I'll put energy into. This will happen and it's almost done ... I've just been kept busy with other stuff ... Argh!! Anyway, more about this soon.
• More publications in general. I aim to put some energy into getting more stuff out there and through other channels as the blog. It's about time. I have dungeons, mini-games, DM tools, all half finished, all about to get finished.
• Lost Songs of the Nibelungs is in hibernation right now. There's a couple of sub systems I need to get done, the magic system being the Big Bad among them. We want to relaunch the play-testing in February. If I want or not, I'll need some results by then ... I'll keep you guys posted when I get there. This will be the third year of developing this game and I'm mighty proud of the result so far. Maybe 201 will see a release of the full set of rules. There might also be some online testing in the works. We'll see.
• The Grind is still a thing ... "D&D-esque steampunk dungeonheists in a gritty world dominated by monsters", I still want that. And I already got a lot for this game, just not a system to run it with. I'll still be aiming for an action/splatter rpg with tactical puzzles and I'm starting to think that I want to go and use cards all the way for it. Just don't expect any fast results. Getting there is half the fun, right? Right? Hey, where is everybody ...
• The blog will see some of the old and some new. People seem to like when I write about game design and philosophy, so I'll crank that up if I can. Expect more about the Rules Cyclopedia and old school D&D in general. I want to write more about free stuff that's floating around and I had fun writing reviews, but I never get to write them (if anyone out there is still reading and has a suggestion what I could review, I'd be happy to give it a shot). And I owe you guys a last part for that series about Escapism (blame google, because they are at fault here ... fuckers they wouldn't let me use my account, no matter what I did to proof that I am, indeed, myself). Also some development posts as I inch forward completing my games ... So much for the usual.
• Here's some of the new: I started to read Vampire: the Masquerade again (first German edition, before all the bloat) and it's still a brilliant game. Reading it 20 years later has been very interesting and I'm thinking about making it a post or a series of posts. So that's something. I'd also like to participate more in community project, but I seem to miss them all, all the time. We'll see what comes up. I also have an idea for a play-by-post thingy that could be done across some blogs ... That and a bit more about history.
• I'll also try to post more. But real life has a word there, too.

So you see, I got quite the program. Mostly stuff I managed to neglect or didn't get around to in 2016. I'll try to be a better blogger, but I'm sure other things will come up and things will, again, deteriorate.

All the best for 2017!

And that's that. I wish you all a good start into 2017 and wish you all the best for the coming year. May the dice be with you and so on. Keep fighting the good fight, write and play if you get the chance ... We'll see and read and write each other, maybe even throw some dice together! I'm looking forward to it.

A card from the 15th century, wishing you "Ayn gut nev Jahr"
(a good new year) [source]