The year 2023 is coming to an end. I have learned to not rush into the holiday season and on to the next year, but to slow down and reflect on the year gone by. 2023 has been an eventful year for me personally. Professionally within IT and Software, on the hobby front with Games and Photography, and at home and abroad with friends and family. In this post I look back on the year of 2023 in Games.
For me ‘Games’ is board games and story games. I do play the occasional digital or online game with my kids, but when I get to choose myself, cardboard and dice are involved.
Thoughtful Games
This year I took time off from ‘real work’ to get three story games over the finish line for my game company Thoughtful Games. Projects that I had created and play tested but where I had stopped short of making them widely available.
First and foremost, my old favourite Montsegur 1244. During the pandemic I had worked on a version that would be easy to play online. In spring I released the revised 2023 edition as PDF and as print on demand. As an added bonus I was approached by a publisher in Japan that eventually led to the Japanese edition. I also took the opportunity to look back on the amazing history of the game itself.
Next I did Mars to Stay, a story game about the first humans who leave Earth for good to build a life on Mars. While I had published it as EPUB in 2021, it was nice to release it also as PDF and print on demand. I presented Mars to Stay in June at Slay beyond Slay, a monthly rpg meet-up at the technical museum of Stockholm.
Thirdly, I did a revised edition of Death of Rapacus, a fun story game about backstabbing wizards. My take on a gateway game for Ars Magica, originally presented at the Grand Tribunal UK convention in 2016. I commissioned art from Claudia Cangini. Over the summer this cooperation ended up with eight wonderful character drawings as well as an astonishing front page. With a devil in the end as an added bonus.
Death of Rapacus is available as PDF and print on demand since August.
Not paying the bills, but on the personal level it was great to work with something where I controlled the entire process from idea to product.
Fastaval and Viking Con
I visited the two classic Danish game conventions this year, Fastaval 2023 and Viking Con 42.
Back in 2022 I had been inspired to create the non commercial story game Clemency about commuted felons in Obama’s USA. I offered it for Fastaval and the game made it onto the program. A great excuse for me to return to Fastaval in 2023 for the first time since 2017. I brought a nephew and my oldest and we had a great time. Besides a few more grey hairs, everything was as I remember. Clemency found an audience. I enjoyed playing with seasoned story tellers and seeing how they blended their own experiences with the seeds from the game text.
Fredecon 2022 inspired me to do another project: Gaming weekend in Tranås, Sweden. Inspired by many fun sessions of Fusion in the past, I wanted to see if I could create a perfect blend of investigation and comedy. Two genres that otherwise compete at the table.
I offered the game for Viking Con 42 and got on the program.
After having done most of the idea generation and development mentally while walking and driving, I wrote the bulk of the text over one week in May. It was such a pleasure writing in Danish again, just for fun. It was fun to come up with all the flavour and twists, drawing of my insight into the complicated relationship between Danes and Swedes. Also, it’s a game with no villain, just misunderstandings and competing agendas.
Three groups played the game at Viking Con of which I had a blast running one of them. Very happy how it delivered at the table. I had intended also to run the game at Fredecon 2023 but unfortunately that didn’t happen.
Getting back into painting minis
Finally I got back into painting minis in 2023! Besides a failed attempt a few years ago with my kids, I haven’t touched a paint brush since the 1990ies — besides those you get to use as a home owner.
I found my old boxes with minis and terrain and inspired by YouTube creators and my kids, I got started. First terrain, then unpainted minis from my collection. When I ran out of boardgames with unpainted minis, I bought some second hand figs before finally going full price on Blackstone Fortress.
Reflections
Not a bad year actually. Quite impressive to be honest. While I set a goal to release three story games for Thoughtful Games in 2023 when I quit my day job, everything else was driven by fun and opportunity. One project after the other. While not every idea made it into a commitment, and while not every commitment happened as imagined, an amazing amount did.
I will take this to heart for 2024: Act on your ideas and opportunities but do not despair if everything does not materialise. I have ideas and opportunities but no commitments going into 2024. Let’s see what happens. Looking forward for another year of fun and play.
To everyone out there who inspired me online or at the table: Thank you for a fun 2023!