The Hopeless Gamer One Year Later

A year ago this time The Hopeless Gamer was just a twinkle in my eye. Although our true one year anniversary will be August 1st, I know with all the ramp-up to Gencon 2010 (just a few days later) I'm not going to have time to devout much space here to look back on what we've acheived.

Yeah, it's a little premature, but there's no time like a Friday to get all misty-eyed about the past. I looked back at my first post from August 1st, 2009 and noticed just how packed August was with content - of course Gencon is the cause, but it's still a great way to start a blog! I wanted to check out my first post which had little to do with gaming and lots to do with my motivation. Let's take a look at the post and see how we're doing almost a full year later:

Welcome! I've reached the point, that I believe all gamers inevitably reach, in my short gaming life where I have realized the utter horror of too many games, too little time. A part of me would like to put the blame out there on others, but what good would that do?

It turns out that the answer is "a lot." I've decided that there are several parties to blame in what I will kindly refer to as my "gaming addiction." You see, I need the stuff; I need to think about killing dragons or orcs, about following the trail of the mysterious old codger down the street, I need to build a story around adorable, but vicious and honorable, small mice just trying to protect their homeland.

The main culprit of my ailment, I would say, is that of www.rpg.net. No doubt I was seeking an output for my own ideas and an avenue to explore new ideas before I was even on the internet, but it wasn't until recently when I began exploring the forums and reviews of rpg.net that I was struck with the vastness of the rpg world. I grew up playing miniatures games and was used to war and stats and lots of small, pre-painted warriors fighting for their lives on a tiny 3' x 3' field of green felt. There were mighty battles to be had, and I hope to someday relive the glory days of strategic mini warfare, but that is not what these entries are going to be about.

No, my friends and I have greatly expanded our horizons and now look to bigger and (less expensive) better things. RPG.net was key in helping me find out more about what's out there. I've learned about games that, unlike their miniature brethren, are abstract and give more freedom for the players to influence the world they build together.

From time to time I will post reviews for games that I'm interested in (although may never play). I hope this will give me an outlet for those games I'd love to play, read about, even plan campaigns for, but will never see the light of day in my gaming group. These may be full-fledged, comprehensive reviews, but sometimes I may choose to break a book down by chapter or content areas and further explore some of the ideas and my reactions.

Other entries may just be filled with random tidbits of gaming fun or odd little thoughts that creep up on me from time to time. I may listent to podcasts and try to inform you about them, visit websites, or discuss different projects I've been thinking of working on, gaming or otherwise. My interests vary greatly, and I have a hard time thinking of a genre I don't find interesting.

For now, I want to thank anyone that comes a long and may be interested, I'm glad to check out other blogs and am always looking for some good discussion!

Boy, look how naive that poor schlub was... he had no idea what terrible, terrible things were ahead of him. Of course I kid, but seriously, looking at my first blog post ever, I feel awfully good about the product we deliver here on The Hopeless Gamer. I know we still have a long way to go, but we made some real strides this year in our content and coverage, and I'm getting incredibly excited for Gencon 2010 and the start of year two here at THG. Thank you so much for taking the time to read the blog and I hope we can continue to entice you to come back for more.