2022, now that WAS a year.

It's been a year of mixed fortunes, and one I'm both glad and sad to have ended.

Gaming highlights: I went to UK Games Expo, Gen Con, hosted Tabletop Scotland, ran lots of games, published Horror in the Highlands, got back into board gaming at East Neuk Tabletop, and went to Dragonmeet for the first time. Compare that to any year and it's a damn good set of things.

Gaming lowlights: I missed AireCon, had to cancel lots of RPG sessions and my writing took a long detour. All largely down to issues with my ears.

As I look forward to 2023 those same issues with my ears have returned.

This is not a good thing.

Having had months of not-fun at the start of the 2022 I don't really want a repeat of that so fingers crossed the wonders of medicine come to my rescue in 2023.

But this isn't Dave's Health blog, it's a tabletop gaming one. So let's get that on track.

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The normal approach for these posts is to have a review of my Objectives & Principles, although I note I didn't do one in 2021.

These are the pillars I set in place when I started this blog way back when.

Objectives	Principles
1. Balanced gaming although originally this was Sustainable and regular gaming.	1. Only buy it if you’re going to use it
2. More gaming overall	2. Is everyone having fun? Including you?
3. More involved	3. Accept that you’re going to be the GM
4. Event Attendance	4. Change is a good thing and is necessary
5. Organise Events	5. Opinions aren’t as important as knowledge and experience

As things stand they're still very relevant and I suspect any fine tuning would largely be cosmetic. But sometimes that's what you need to refocus.

If I was to write them today though it'd probably be more in the form of user stories.

1. As a gamer I want to play games regularly with lots of different people.
2. As a gamer I want to engage with and be engaged by the hobby and communities around that.
3. As a gamer I want to both attend and organise events, including conventions.
4. As a gamer I intend to only buy something if I'm going to use it.
5. As a gamer I want to make sure that everyone at the table is having fun, including me.
6. As a gamer I accept that I will GM more games than I will be a player in, and I'm happy with that.
7. As a gamer I recognise that Change is a 'good and necessary thing', particularly when it comes to new editions of games.
8. As a gamer I value knowledge and experience more than I do opinions.

Hmmm, that's technically two less but gets the same point across.

So what do I call them? Objectives? Not really. Principles? Well kind of, but they could equally be labelled as all sorts of things. 

Wait... I've gone off on a tangent, I'm supposed to talk about where I am in meeting them.

Ok, so let's do that against these new ones.

1. I play RPGs regularly with the same people (ears aside) and board games regularly now that ENT is back up and running. I would like to play more RPGs with more people though. That's a development opportunity for 2023 I suspect, not least because we're coming to the end of the D&D AL Avernus Rising campaign so I'll have a game slot to replace with something.
2. I think I do this well. I have plans for 2023 that I can't share yet which will expand on this somewhat I suspect.
3. Having Tabletop Scotland back is a big part of this one, and I've now chalked Dragonmeet off the 'must attend' list. The plans I allude to in 2. above might mean going to more events but if there's one thing that's clear is that I don't currently have the capacity to organise more conventions. Not if I want to continue to write and run weekly games that is.
4. So this isn't quite where it needs to be. I bought a lot of stuff at Gen Con that I haven't played yet, although it's offset by a bit of a purge of stuff in the Tabletop Scotland Bring & Buy. I think the main thing here though is using the RPG stuff I've got for both in-person and online games. Retaining that Tuesday night slot every week (ears permitting) and ideally adding a _once a month_ bonus session whether in-person or online would be great for this.
5. Yep, still doing this well. Particularly evident with the return of ENT I think.
6. Still happy with that. I am getting invites to play more and more these days which is very nice and much appreciated. I think from a scheduling perspective I'm far better at doing that when I'm the GM, which is absolutely fine. I probably do need to play more though.
7. Particularly poignant given all the chat about ONE D&D right now. The fake or even completely inexplicable outrage from the fan base never ceases to amaze me. The test of any edition change is only really possible when it's in front of you and you're playing. It'll either be for you or it won't. If it isn't then you can keep playing with what you have, or try something new.
8. Aligned to 7 a bit here, but as ever I don't really care what others say about a game. I'm very happy to make my own judgements on things based on actual experience...  Same applies to most things in life after all.

So, yeah here we are approaching the end of 2022 and in my next post I hope to not be talking about ears. Instead I want to talk about a new project for 2023.

I hope everyone reading this has a fabulous festive period and that I see you all in some capacity in the New Year.

AlbaCon 2021 is soon!

 

Last year AlbaCon raised over £3,100 for a Scottish charity, specifically for It's Good 2 Give who provide amazing support to young cancer patients and their families.

Ahead of last year's event we had no idea whether people would come or indeed if people would pay to play RPGs.

Thankfully they did on both counts.

AlbaCon 2021 is raising money for another Scottish charity, this time it's Penumbra.

Penumbra are a mental health charity and in many respects it's almost the perfect match to an online RPG convention, particularly given the last 18 months where many of us have moved our games online or indeed returned to the RPG hobby to escape from the pandemic.

Every penny that we raise from events, donations and via our D&D Beyond Raffle will go to Penumbra.

We have a lot of companies and individuals supporting us by Sponsoring the convention this year and they're all fantastic humans for doing this.

Our attendees are in for some amazing offers and giveaways throughout the convention weekend.

So if you've got some free time over the weekend of the 2nd & 3rd October, please sign up for events.

If you can't make it then please donate.

If you're a D&D fan, then also consider entering our D&D Beyond raffle. We have some amazing prizes to give away.

2017 checkpoint.

I need to stop stopping this thing and instead need to keep keeping it.

So over on End The Turn we've launched a few episodes and posted a number of reviews. We've not had much feedback on how we're doing so please give us feedback.  We'd love it.

Even if it's just people laughing at +Liz Mackie shouting at me.

Our most recently published episode is Gaming Resolutions and it reminded me of my previous New Year posts on here and in turn prompted me to write this post.

So a quick checkpoint on where I'm at before I get onto where I'm heading.

Objectives :

1. Balanced gaming - Still very board / card game heavy.  That's no bad thing but something I want to improve on in 2017.
2. More gaming overall - Think I'm sustaining my ENT / DWARF attendance levels plus with a splash of other home / holiday based gaming it's getting there.  Just needs more!
3. More involved - End The Turn is a large part of this for me but not all that I want to do.
4. Event Attendance - 2017 will be the year I improve this. 
5. Organise Events - I'm going to do everything I can to ensure that Roll Against Cancer will happen in 2017. Venue selection so far has been a challenge (apply many expletives of your choice to this) but hope to make some progress on that in January and February.

Principles :

1. Only buy it if you're going to use it - Still largely sticking to this although I think my board game purchasing record is proving a challenge to comply!
2. Is everyone having fun?  Including you - Cornerstone of every time I play a game.
3. Accept that you're going to be the GM - Well this is an eternal principle but hopefully 2017 will see me be a Player Character if only in games ran at events.
4. Change is a good thing and is necessary - Cult of the new is something of a thing with board games especially. The "edition change" dynamic hasn't occurred for a while...
5. Opinions aren't as important as knowledge and experience - So this is being challenged a little via End The Turn where I'm essentially giving my opinion on things but hopefully it's an educated opinion.  I've not had a hobby related rant for a while though!

Next post will be about number 4 in my Objectives.

And we're back...

At least for now.

I've kinda drifted away from the blog for a while.  I'd say it's been the best part of a year since I really blogged anything of note.  So why am I back?

I suppose you could call it a checkpoint or perhaps something more fundamental than that but I just felt the need to say - this is where I'm at - and measure that against - this is where I want to be.

So where am I at?

Twice monthly board gaming at East Neuk Tabletop continues with the regularity of a regular thing. The community that +donjondo and I have built growing regularly. Still suffers from the retention challenge that a lot of community groups experience but it's getting there.

Irregular / not quite monthly gaming (largely board gaming) at DWARF also continues albeit not with the regularity that I'd like.  That's mostly work related but other factors come into play too.  It should improve with a few of us playing Pandemic Legacy though.  If I can up my DWARF visits to twice a month I'd be happier.

And that's it.

Where do / did I want to be?

Well... I want to play more and I want to play RPGs too.  Right now that seems a distant possibility. Largely down to available time due to Real Life stuff but also I'm not convinced I have the right facilities to do it.

ENT doesn't feel conducive to RPGs, not for any particular reason other than we default to board and card games (not a bad thing).
DWARF similarly doesn't feel like it works all the time, largely down to slot size (<3 hours).

So what are my alternative options?

The artist formerly known as Friday Night Gaming (in Anstruther) has rebranded as Monday Night Gaming.  Unfortunately that's a non-starter for me scheduling wise.  Not that FNG was a regular thing for me (especially during the colder months as the venue didn't have heating...) so it's not really a loss in that sense but it has removed an option other than in very rare occasions.

Home based gaming is something that can happen albeit rarely. I had a gathering a few months ago after a DWARF Saturday session (which I'll come back to) which was great fun.  Board & Card gaming from 9am until about 3am playing a variety of games with people I enjoy playing games with - what more could I ask for?  Other than doing it more often of course, although probably not til 3am!

DWARF has a monthly Saturday meetup, the trouble with that though is my ability to plan attending is curtailed by Real Life.  In many respects a Saturday mid-morning to late afternoon gaming is the perfect opportunity to roleplay.  Harks back to my time at ORC Edinburgh.  I think if nothing else that's the most likely of options. So long as it's not on an ENT weekend I should be able to go on those occasions when the stars align.

That's largely it and it really boils down to DWARF Saturdays.  The next one is on the 25th June which "clashes" with ENT on the 26th so unlikely but maybe...  The problem with DWARF Saturdays and RPGs though would be momentum.  I want something more guaranteed or at least semi-regular.  Although in saying that it would lend itself to more oneshot style RPGs which would work for me, especially from a prep (or lack thereof) perspective.

So I think I need to consider whether any of the above are actually viable or indeed whether I have other options as yet unexplored...

Let's see where this goes.

Expanding the tabletop horizon…

So I’ve spoke about changing how I engage with my hobby and that has a number of facets which I’m going to break down over several posts to provide greater detail than I would in 1 post.  Some of this is more “the hobby” focussed and is both aspirational and the right thing to do (in my opinion of course).

As I said in my 2015 Look Ahead post some of this may be close to the bone and I know there will be people who will nod along for about 90% of this but shake their heads at the 10%.  A lot of this may also include something akin to a “Don’t ask what the hobby can do for you. Ask what you can do for the hobby!” type of things.

1. Community Engagement – This is about engaging with the general public and presenting the social experience of gaming to them in a way that is accessible and transparent.  Will touch on engaging with Libraries, Schools and community groups in general.
2. Value of “Full Retail” – This is about understanding and realising the benefit of paying a premium to buy games in physical brick & mortar stores.  Not just why you should do it but what happens when you do.
3. Games aren’t just for kids, but should be for them too – It’s really just a post on trying to tackle one of the “stigmas” attached to playing games but at the same time also trying to avoid the hobby being badged with the stereotype.  Games are for everyone is really at its core but what can be done to improve on this?  Sort of a companion piece to Community Engagement.
4. Where to start. – This one is about helping people get on the tabletop gaming ladder but also about highlighting what goes into organising a games club like East Neuk Tabletop.  It’ll incorporate an element of a “How can I help?” type post as I’m always happy to help people get started on the path to fun gaming.
5. The Hobby - Utopia – In an ideal world, this is what the hobby would look like to me.
6. A Better Tabletop Hobby - So with all these things above, how do they change my approach to the hobby and indeed my hobby?  This post will explore that and build some targets for me to achieve.

Some of these are quite meaty (or soya-y for those vegetarians amongst you) topics and I will at times be tailoring my language to avoid slipping into full on rant / preachy mode.

What I will say though is that if you have a counter view to anything I say I’m all ears and I’m always happy to be advised on other perspectives of things, particularly in relation to the hobby at large.

Any questions or suggestions before I start?

2014 Retrospective

2014 has been full of highs in relation to my hobby and how I explore it.  There are some low points but those are heavily out weighted by the high points.

My continuing attendance at DWARF is a high point albeit there were times when that attendance was infrequent. In spite of that I think I managed to attend 2 out of 4 sessions per month on average with peaks of 3 when not impacted by Real Life™ stuff.  The key achievement with DWARF was the completion of the Beyond The Rim story arc in my somewhat elongated Star Wars : Edge Of The Empire game.  As per previous posts on RPGs I would like to have done more RPGs and maybe 2015 will be when I do that but that’s for another post.  Specific thanks would go to my Star Wars group ( John, Simon, Ross, Ant, Dougie and Scott) and a few others at DWARF (namely Brian F, Brian W, Colin, Graham, Greg and +Scott Melrose ).

The establishment and flourishing community that has been built up around East Neuk Tabletop Games is probably the high point of the year.  Not necessarily because it’s been a roaring success (although in some aspects it has) but more because it’s enabled me to help establish a local community who are hungry for gaming, specifically board and card games but with an appetite to try other things.  Biggest thanks goes to +donjondo (Alan) but also to Michael, Richard, Oliver and Martin who have consistently supported our fledgling community.

Another obvious high point was my attendance at Gen Con 2014.  Not quite a life long ambition but from a hobby perspective it was always there as a goal and one that I can now mark as complete. Whether I’ll return to Gen Con in the future is debatable largely due to the financial cost of going (not just due to what games I’d buy) but I’d like to think I will return in the next few years (although not 2015 Greg!).  Big thanks to my travel companions +Liz Mackie and +Greg Barr but also to everyone I played games with and chatted to during that amazing experience.

Other highlights are largely sub-headings under those above but in the main it’s been an excellent year for my hobby and one that’s been quite cathartic in washing away some of the negativity I’d held at the start of this 2nd Chapter.

If I was to single out any form of low point it’d be largely down to personal frustrations over available game time along with the associated balance I need to find in amongst Real Life™ stuff.
I also have some frustrations over the speed of growth and consistency of attendance at East Neuk Tabletop Games but that’s largely irrational and down to my impatience when it comes to building communities.  The Field Of Dreams adage of “If you build they will come” is very fitting here as whilst it has an element of truth to it there are always delays in realising the potential of something like building a community almost entirely from scratch.

What would I have done differently in 2014?

Somewhat positively I’m not sure there is much that I would have done differently.  I’m happy with most if not all of my decisions in 2014 and it’s refreshing to look back and see that.

If I was to nitpick though?

• There are some bridges that I feel I could have actively worked on in 2014, particularly in relation to the ex-KoA community. As yet I’ve not managed to bring myself to do that, which is largely down to the negativity I referenced above.  Whether 2015 is the year I do that or not is debatable and I’m trying to not timetable that “recovery” or indeed confirm that there are bridges that actually need re-building.  I’ve deliberately remained distant from a number of people that were involved both within KoA and as part of that community.  Some of that is due to personal reasons that I won’t divulge here but also it’s because I don’t really want to be reminded of that low period which unfortunately I associate entirely with that community. This isn’t a big deal (to me) but there are times when it feels like the right thing to do.
• I had grand plans of organising some special events in 2014. None of which materialised, with the exception of the Tabletop Day event at DWARF.  This was largely down to that Real Life™ thing again but also because I was the only one involved in making these things happen. Something I plan to revisit in 2015 with a plan forming as I type.

Other than those though it was largely a low point free year for my hobby which is itself a cause for celebration!  There were obvious low points indirectly related to my hobby, not least of which was the death of my good friend Ray Gillespie.  One of those special events that I didn’t manage to organise was with him in mind so fingers crossed I can sort something out for 2015.

So what about those guiding principles and objectives I’d set myself way back in this process?

Principles

1. Only buy it if you're going to use it. – Still largely on track with this, yes even with the haul of games I brought back from Gen Con!  Definitely helped by the creation of East Neuk Tabletop as I have more opportunity to play games now. East Neuk Tabletop has also been successful in bringing some historic purchases which have languished on the shelf onto the tabletop instead.
2. Is everyone having fun? Including you? – Yep, again partly down to East Neuk Tabletop but also due to some occasions at DWARF where I’ve ensured that people aren’t without a game to play (wherever possible!).  I’m definitely enjoying my hobby a lot (especially board games) and no signs of that changing. As I reflected in my recent post on RPGs there are things I’d like to do differently but nothing that’s preventing the fun.
3. Accept that you’re going to be the GM.  – This one I’ve been challenged on by a few people in recent times. It’s also been challenged by me at a certain level after being a player in a few RPGs at Gen Con.  I still think though that this principle stands as in the absence of anyone else looking to run something (that I’d want to play in…) I am always happy to be the GM.
4. Change is a good thing and necessary. – Out of all the principles this one is hardest to define other than in editions/revisions of games. What I will say though is that 2015 may also be a year in which I change how I engage with my hobby.  More of that though in my Year Ahead post.
5. Opinions aren’t as important as knowledge and experience. – Still strongly behind this one, if only in relation to reviews and also when it comes to community dynamics.  I’m pretty strongly opinionated myself and so this has to be there in the back of my head when I start to “rant” about the hobby, which does happen from time to time…

Objectives

1. Sustainable and regular gaming. – Massive tick in this box with the advent of East Neuk Tabletop Games.  Whether I can expand on the volume of gaming I’m doing is debatable and something I’m investigating just now ahead of my 2015 post.
2. Play more with more. – Again East Neuk Tabletop Games is helping with this as is DWARF to a lesser extent primarily through the board gaming I’m doing.
3. Home based gaming. – No real movement here but again something to improve upon for 2015.
4. Play something new at least one in every six gaming sessions. – Successfully being achieved without really any effort, thanks in part to my ever growing collection of games but also down to the growth in the gaming community that’s around me.
5. Visit more game shops. – Hmmm. Still mostly in the same space I was this time last year. Indeed since then Major Arcana in Dundee has sadly closed down.  I have continued to support Black Lion Games as my chosen FLGS and have (thanks to work) made many visits to Fan Boy 3 in Manchester but apart from those it’s been limited.  Sure I’ve made a visit or 2 to Common Ground Games in Stirling and Highlander Games in Dundee but those have been opportunistic as opposed to being part of any grand plan.  Not that this is a bad thing of course!
6. I've decided to formally add this one to the Objectives list.  Attend more gaming conventions. – Gen Con and Conpulsion were my conventions in 2014. 2015 looks to be slightly (very slightly) busier…

So what else is worth noting from 2014?  Nothing springs to mind so I’ll call it quits at that. If anything it’s probably been one of the best years in hobby terms for me for many many years.

Games that fail the Value principle.

I've completely lost track of this hence why I've not done an updated post on the value assessment of my hobby.  Plus as I said in my last post there are some games which on the value scale just haven't earned their position to stay in my collection.

So there's a couple of options here.

1. Play them.  Sounds easy enough doesn't it and in many respects it should be that easy.  After all these are games and I, y'know, play games so surely I can play them?
2. "Sell them".  I've put quotes around that as there are limited options to how this can play out.  Sure eBay is an option but I always find eBay a bit of a pain. There are Facebook groups for selling stuff so maybe that's an option instead.  Of course I could donate them to charity shops or gift them in some way.

Before determining which option is the right one it's worth looking at the games on the list of those failing the Only Buy It If You're Going To Use It principle test.

• X-Wing (plus 2 Y-Wings) - It's really a 2 player game and I have since learned to avoid 2 player games as they just don't get played.  At least not by me. Sure it's Star Wars and I am a huge Star Wars fan but it's a 2 player game and given that I've not played it for erm actually I can't remember the last time but it was more than a year ago it probably is time for it to move on.
• Star Wars LCG (plus numerous expansions) - Again it's a 2 player game (ok so it can be more than that with one of the expansions) and again it's Star Wars.  There's probably a lesson in here around my weakness for games set in the Star Wars universe.  At least I can say that I play the Edge Of The Empire RPG though and I've (so far) not bought Age Of Rebellion or Force and Destiny (currently in Beta). I had high hopes for playing this (hence the expansions) but I just don't see me playing it.
• Snake Oil - So this one isn't a 2 player game. It's a 3 to 10 player game.  Surely that means I'll play it, right?  Well actually no.  I suspect the game will never be played because whilst I find the concept and theme amusing and I'm sure it's a lot of fun it will just never reach the top of my "to play" list (not that I have a "to play" list but you take my point).
• Catan Junior - So I bought this as an impulse purchase near the beginning of this 2nd Chapter because I'd been looking for it for a long time and I believed it would be a great family game to introduce my daughter (and wife) to board games. Unfortunately (for Catan Junior) other games took that slot instead.  Specifically games like Hey, That's My Fish! have taken that slot. Plus now that my collection has grown and I have more family orientated games that I think I will play it's probably time for Catan Junior to move on.
• Panic Station - A game I bought when we went to London and at that time I think it was a gamble but I had been looking for a sci-fi themed co-operative game. The thing with Panic Station is that it feels too fiddly. Ok fiddly isn't a good descriptor. The approach of having essentially 2 characters per player to manage just feels like a hassle and whilst I can't really explain why it's always put me off.  Now out of the list so far this game might not actually go as my original reason for buying it remains - I still want a sci-fi themed co-operative game and as yet I haven't found an alternative one.
• Stonehenge - I've talked about this before here.  I am still intrigued by it but as with Snake Oil I just don't see me playing it...

So there we have it.  It's a small selection of my overall collection but they fail the principle and so I need to make a decision on how to move them on.

It's probably not a one size fits all solution here for each of these as some will likely not be that easy to sell on eBay or elsewhere.

Of course there is the other option of just keeping them...

Best Four Days in Shopping erm Gaming!

I'm going to do a few posts on my experience at Gen Con but I thought I'd do a quick one on what I actually bought.  It's safe to say that I bought a lot of stuff...

That pile doesn't include any of the 12 (yes twelve) t-shirts that I bought when there too...

So what did I buy?

D&D Player's Handbook and Hoard Of The Dragon Queen - These were actually bought at Downtown Comics in Indianapolis which was just round the corner from our apartment.  I picked up 4 D&D T-Shirts and 2 playmats at the con itself (no, I don't really know why they have playmats or why I bought them... But they'll be good for rolling dice on!).  The books are amazing to look at and I'll have a follow up post about what I thought of the game itself in due course.

At Gen Con itself I bought -

Abyss - The artwork alone is just amazing. I've heard so much positive news about this game that I wanted to pick it up anyway but the art really sells it.
Battletech Alpha Strike Lance Sets (1 each of the Assault, Battle, Pursuit and Support sets) and Ad Hoc Unit Cards - +Greg and myself played in a game of Alpha Strike at Gen Con (future post on that) and I bought these afterwards. Some of the mechs are ones I already have but that just means I can field 2 Atlas' if I want!!!  Just need to work out whether I'm going to paint them or not.  More on that later... Oh and I also bought a Battletech t-shirt.
Bigfootses - This was one of those games that I wasn't sure about. A few people have said it's a Munchkin clone and whilst I'm not a huge fan of Munchkin I do like this. Perhaps it's the theme that sells me on it, I'm not sure but we played it at the airport on our way home and I enjoyed it.  Not entirely sure why it's a 12+ game as I think it could be 10+ but it might simply be down to the hunting element of the game.
Car Wars Classic - A classic (hence the name!) reprint of one of those games from way back in the beginning of my hobby. I do expect to play this once in a while though as I remember it being a lot of fun and the stuff you get in the box warrants play i.e. the playmat maps alone make me want to go all Mad Max again plus with the new Mad Max film coming out I think Car Wars will be back with a bigger bang (edition) soon enough!
Cash & Guns (2nd Edition) - I played the original of this many years ago and it was always on my "to pick up" list as it's a fun game.
Coup : Reformation expansion - Coup is a great little game and Reformation adds more flavour to that "universe" by incorporating themes that look to be lifted from The Resistance (another great game from Indie Boards & Cards Games) oh and it increases the number of players up to 10.
Dark Dungeons DVD - Went to the première of this on the Friday night and it was great fun.  Plus JR Ralls signed my copy of Mazes & Monsters which was very cool of him.
Dragon Slayer - Another Indie Boards & Cards Games game.  In a similar vein to dice games like Zombie dice but feels more intuitive as you have a Slayer set and a Dragon set which are rolled together in an attempt to slay one of 3 dragons (Green, Blue and Red).  Quick and lots of fun.
Lords Of Xidit - Same universe as Seasons but a very different looking game.  It's based on a game called Himalaya (which I've never played) which was created by the same designer and as with a number of other games on my bought list the art is amazing.
Munchkin : Adventure Time - It's a gift for my brother Allan and his family. They're all Adventure Time crazy.  It means nothing to me.
Night Of The Grand Octopus (Link is in French) - Speaking of amazing art.  This is just gorgeous and I mean who doesn't want to play a game with gorgeous art like this? It's a game about summoning Cthulhu (The Grand Octopus) but it's not dark in any sense.  I'm really looking forward to trying this one out.
RARRR!! - You could be forgiven for thinking that this is a King Of Tokyo clone but it's not. Well not mechanically anyway.  The objective of the game is to make your own monster and then fight other monsters with it. Aimed at the younger market (8+) I really want to try this one out with my daughter.
Seasons : Path Of Destiny expansion - The most recent expansion for Seasons adds even more cards and some new mechanics.  It doesn't add any more players though :-(  I did however get a fabulous looking Seasons playmat for free! :-)
Sentinel Tactics - My primary purchase at Gen Con was ALL OF THE THINGS for this.  So I picked up the Flames Of Freedom Core Game, Uprising Expansion 1 and both sets of miniatures. It looks fantastic and the booth for Greater Than Games was packed the whole con with people getting demos of this and other games.  I also managed to pick up a Sentinels Of The Multiverse T-Shirt. I expect to get these painted by someone else as I want them done properly so might get my Battletech mechs done at the same time too.  We'll see.
T-Shirts - 6 other t-shirts were bought in addition to those already mentioned.  All of which were picked up from the Offworld Designs booth.
Shinobi Wat-Aah! - You may remember I had 2 Samurai games in my To Buy list?  Well I bought neither of those and ended up buying this one. I'll admit it was amidst the panic and I was already at the Iello booth and obviously the art is amazing.
Zombie Dice 2 & 3 - I picked these up just because I was at the SJ Games booth to pick up Car Wars Classic and also Munchkin : Adventure Time.

I also bought a giant foam d20, some large 32mm polyhedral dice and a Gen Con dice bag.  The 2 books in the picture are novels written by R. A. Salvatore.  I was asked by some friends to get his signature but I'll likely do a separate post about that experience!

Plus the eagle eye'd amongst you will have noticed the Anna and Elsa from Frozen dolls.  I've been trying to get these in the UK for my daughter for about 6 months to no avail as they're constantly out of stock.  Popped into a toy store in the Circle Centre Shopping Mall which is next to the convention centre and picked up Elsa on the Wednesday and Anna on the Sunday (was out of stock on the Wednesday). Very excited and happy 7 year old daughter achieved, in addition to getting me home again too of course!

So yeah, a lot of shopping was done at Gen Con and safe to say I don't expect I'll be buying anything any time soon!

Gen Con - My (Maybe) Buy List (Maybe)

This is really just a long list of STUFF that I've perused on a variety of websites listing what's coming out at Gen Con.

Some of this will actually be bought and some of this will simply be looked at and drooling will commence.  I'm going to fail to stick to my principle (remember them?) of only buying what I'm going to play, I know that going in but I'm going to attempt to not fail at it completely!!!

Most of this is taken from the Gen Con 2014 Preview thread over at BoardGameGeek.com.

Doomtown : Reloaded
Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG)
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/156714/doomtown-reloaded

RARRR!!!
Ape Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/133633/rarrr

The Spoils: New Player Pack – The Basic Box of Awesomeness
Arcane Tinmen
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/24947/spoils

Sheriff of Nottingham
Arcane Wonders
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/157969/sheriff-nottingham

The Battle of Five Armies
Ares Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/135219/battle-five-armies

Dino Race
Ares Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/156719/dino-race

Among the Stars and Among the Stars: The Ambassadors
Stronghold Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/110277/among-stars

Bigfootses, The Card Game
Bigfootses Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148592/bigfootses-card-game

BraveRats
Blue Orange Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/112373/braverats

Abyss
Bombyx
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155987/abyss

Zeppelin Attack
Evil Hat Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/153639/zeppelin-attack

Samurai Spirit
Fun Forge
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158900/samurai-spirit

Sentinel Tactics: The Flame of Freedom (If GTG get their shipment in time...)
Greater Than Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/146408/sentinel-tactics-flame-freedom

Plucky Pilots
HABA
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/142158/plucky-pilots

Coup: Reformation
Indie Boards & Cards
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148931/coup-reformation

Dragon Slayer
Indie Boards & Cards
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158243/dragon-slayer

King Of New York
IELLO
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160499/king-new-york

Night Of Grand Octopus
IELLO
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/154602/night-grand-octopus

Lords of Xidit
Libellud
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/156566/lords-xidit

Conan: Hyborian Quests
Monolith (Asmodee)
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160010/conan-hyborian-quests

Good Cop, Bad Cop
Overworld Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/153064/good-cop-bad-cop

Shinobi Clans
Posthuman Studios
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/145086/shinobi-clans

Car Wars
Steve Jackson Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2795/car-wars

Munchkin Adventure Time (Probably as a gift for someone...)
Steve Jackson Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/146735/munchkin-adventure-time

Incredible Expeditions : Quest For Atlantis
Voodoo Bunny Co. LLC
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/142638/incredible-expeditions-quest-atlantis

Pandemic : Contagion
Z-Man Games
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/157789/pandemic-contagion

Charity fundraising...

Many many years ago (it was either 1991 or 1989, not sure) I took part in a 24 hour RPG event to raise money for Red Nose Day.

Throughout the KoA days we had a modest but consistent charitable donation plan focussed around cancer charities such as MacMillan Cancer Support.

The ability to raise sizable funds for charities is one of the most celebrated elements of Conpulsion and other tabletop gaming events.

It's also something I'm keen to do in relation to this 2nd Chapter and I've signed up for a seminar at Gen Con to try and help come up with other ways of doing this.  There's a group who are running games of D&D to raise money called Castles & Chemo, going to try and re-organise my schedule to get in on one of the games.

So why am I posting this now?  Well it's kinda 2 fold really.

The first reason is that I have been thinking about this as part of the 2nd Chapter, specifically organising a 24 hour gaming event to raise money for charity (method and charity involved were still to be confirmed). Ideally I'd want to make this event happen in 2014 but post-GenCon to give it time to be promoted etc.  This wouldn't necessarily be 1 group of people playing 1 RPG or a series of board/card games but more mini-con in an attempt to promote the hobby and raise some funds for charity at the same time.

The second reason is much sadder unfortunately.  I learned on Monday that a good friend of mine (and former customer at KoA) passed away on Friday 13th after a long tough battle against cancer.
Ray Gillespie epitomised the Tabletop Ambassador role that I've defined previously. Hugely positive hobbyist who most definitely was there to have fun (as his win rate at games suggested!).

Ray was also one of the most thoroughly decent, friendly, engaging people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. He will be sorely missed in my life.

Taking this on board and factoring in the awareness that the wider community had of Ray I feel now is the time to start planning for the charity event I had been pondering.  A number of names sprung to mind, some less family friendly than others but there will be a reveal in due course once ready! Needless to say we're not using +Liz Mackie 's initial suggestion!

What I'd appreciate is if people could make suggestions on what we should do and how we should go about raising money.

Prize draws tend to work well but I don't want to rely on getting gifts to fulfill that.

I'm thinking of things like charity re-rolls which would work for all dice based games, charity shuffles for all deck building games etc etc.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated on fund raising and of course on what the event itself should entail.

2013 Retrospective

This has been a bizarre year in many respects and I’m not just talking gaming wise.

I’ve changed job twice since the beginning of the year and that brought with it some challenges around my free time, particularly of late.
I started this blog which when I set out to do it I was confident of achieving the post a day goal but that’s proven to be unachievable for a variety of reasons (see above), still at least I managed it for 100 posts!
My game time has solidified around the Friday night gaming I have at DWARF in Dunfermline where I think I’ve managed to attend 3 sessions out of 4 on average over the past 6 months which is great and I’ve reminded myself of the gaming goodness that’s available out there.

My Gaming Principles have been fleshed out and have largely stood the test over the past year.

Quick reminder –
1. Only buy it if you’re going to use it.
2. Is everyone having fun? Including you.
3. Accept that you’re going to be the GM.
4. Change is a good thing and is necessary.
5. Opinions aren’t as important as knowledge and experience.

I think the 1st one is probably most open to debate.  The games where I’ve not used it or indeed not used it that much are probably systematic of this hobby and my personal enthusiasm for the products that are put out by publishers.  That doesn’t mean I have abandoned this principle, more that there will always be exceptions (Star Wars LCG being the most notable one although there are others).  I plan to do a value related post to show the variance across my 2013 purchases in the next few weeks so we'll see just where the problem lies.
The other 4 seem to just be everyday parts of my hobby and also I feel they relate to the Tabletop Ambassador post I did a while back.
So does anything need revisited or added or anything like that?  I don’t think so.  I believe that these 5 principles are working for me (value aside for some things) and indeed believe that they will continue to be the core of how my hobby operates.

Alongside that I established my current hobby objectives.  Again a quick reminder –
1. Sustainable and regular gaming.
2. Play more with more.
3. Home based gaming.
4. Play something new at least one in every six gaming sessions.
5. Visit more game shops.

Apart from number 3 these are all doing fine.  Sure I’ve been restricted by only having the Friday nights for gaming but I expect in 2014 that this will change and I have some thoughts on how to do that.  The home based gaming I suspect hasn’t happened for a number of reasons.  The main one is that I just haven’t put the time or energy into making it happen.  The other is that there may be a psychological barrier going on here – home is for home stuff type of thing.  I don’t associate my time at home with my hobby so the motivation (whilst there) isn’t that strong.
I didn’t do enough of 5 but that was largely down to work stuff getting in the way.  I expect that to improve in 2014.

If I was to add anything to the objectives it would be – Attend more gaming conventions.  That’s largely driven by my plans to go to GenCon in 2014 and with the news that D&D Next / 5th Edition will be released there I’m more excited than I was previously about going.  I also have a desire to go to UK Games Expo (2015 I suspect) and Dragonmeet (2014 is possible).  Alongside those I should be at Conpulsion in Edinburgh again this year but I’m less convinced about that as every time I go I feel more underwhelmed than before…  Definitely a post needed on that topic.  Just need to ensure I’m giving constructive criticism rather than just having a moan!

Highlights of 2013

Board games.  As my gaming shelf will attest 2013 was definitely the year of board games for me.  Why is that?  Well I think in the main it’s down to being able to just grab some games and sit down to play, with minimal (or in some cases) no prep required.  Any particular games?  Sentinels Of The Multiverse, Seasons and probably The Resistance are the stand out games for me just now.  There are others that I thoroughly enjoy (Lords Of Waterdeep) but those 3 are probably the 3 biggest successes.

Alongside boardgames I’ve re-ignited my roleplaying thanks to Edge of the Empire from Fantasy Flight Games.  I expect the first half of 2014 to be loaded with EotE gaming.  I also expect some D&D Next to be in there but (perhaps predictably) that’s likely to take a less important role until the game is officially released in the Summer of 2014.

The people I play games with.  Without getting all slushy and asking for a group hug I have to say that the group of people I’m gaming with are great and the group continues to grow which is excellent.  As I’ve covered here through my posts on community this is a large, if not the largest, part of the hobby for me and it reminds me why I do it.

Lowlights of 2013

Nothing really stands out as a particular lowlight.  If you look again at the objectives I’d set myself sure there is still that home based gaming gap but other than the odd Friday when I just couldn’t make it along to play games I don’t really have a lowlight for 2013.
There was the 1st Anniversary of the closure of KoA which did hurt a little but I don’t think I’d reflect on it as a lowlight as such.

So in summary?

2013 has been a good year of gaming.
It’s difficult to say if it’s “the best ever” or whatever as I don’t think I can really compare it to anything in the 1st Chapter.  It’s definitely up there though and I hope 2014 is even better.

Cheating in games...

I'm kinda surprised that it's taken me so long to cover this topic but then again it's not something I've encountered (to my knowledge) recently.  One of my hobby principles is to have fun when playing games and I've also touched on how unimportant winning is in achieving that fun.  I however haven't cover cheating in games.

So what do I mean by cheating?

It can be blatant cheating either through fabricating dice rolls, illegal deck builds, fudging stats in games or something more extreme.

Now I'm not referring to the GM fudging a dice roll to ensure the party stays on the railroad.  That's permissible to a point, isn't it?  Suppose that depends on your gaming group and whether "dice as rolled" is part of the mantra.  I've been known to fudge a situation to ensure that the game doesn't end early as a result of total party kill or indeed to provide the party the opportunity to find something out that they otherwise wouldn't learn.  Now is that cheating?  I suppose technically it's "cheating the game" rather than "cheating the players"; unless of course that fudging results in the PCs missing out on something...

Cheating your fellow gamer is wrong and I don't think anyone will disagree with me when I say that but why do some people cheat?  I suppose it's similar to the "must win" attitude that comes with some from my fellow gamers to the point that they forget that it's a game which is supposed to be fun...

People might also cheat because of the nature of the contest.  Any game that has a "pro" circuit brings with it a highly competitive environment.  That environment is, in the main, very cordial and fair but there are some gamers out there who take the competitive element too seriously and are prepared to cheat to win.

Tolerance levels of cheating vary from community to community.  I know game store owners who ban players for life on the basis of cheating during a tournament irrespective of whether it's a first offence or not. That may sound extreme but I understand why they do that.  Similarly I know clubs who have had disruptive individuals due to persistent foul play during games and those individuals have been excluded from participating in tournaments and at times been ostracised by other gamers.

Have you encountered cheating when playing games and if so what happened?

Spoiling the Ambassador

After I'd made my post on Tabletop Ambassadors I got to thinking about when that pro-hobby stance can go too far in 1 direction almost becoming a Zealot about the hobby or more specifically a particular part of the hobby.

When does the Tabletop Ambassador go too far and tip into being a Zealot who achieves nothing other than decreasing the ability of the hobby to reach new audiences?

That's a pretty big question but then again it has to be if the role of the Ambassador is to be a real one.

Promote rather than Preach
Talk about, demonstrate and generally make positive noises about the hobby.  Do not be so enthusiastic about the hobby as to suggest that nothing else compares to it.
Something I am prone to do is provide a superiority emphasis on tabletop games over any other form of gaming, most notably video games and in particular online video games.
I'm happy to debate the pros and cons of each for reaching new players and the social interactions that both hobbies provide but I suspect that my "preach" element is something that stems from my enthusiasm for the hobby.

Show rather than tell
This is a bit of an old chestnut but it's also true.  To convince people of the merits of anything you need to be able to demonstrate it.  The beauty of tabletop games is that demoing a game is pretty easy to do.  The challenge with this from a balance perspective is to ensure that you're showcasing the pros of the hobby as a whole.  That can't be done in a oner, sure you can pick a game that's most appealing to the target audience and provide a demo of that game but to show off the hobby as a whole that needs multiple demos or perhaps something larger like a convention...
Alternatively the "demo" can be simply watching a group of gamers or indeed several groups enjoy their hobby.  This works especially well in FLGS' that have gaming space but moreso at clubs where multiple formats of gaming are embraced.

What else can spoil the role of the Ambassador?

Tabletop Ambassadors

Way way back (well ok 2 months ago) I wrote up my gaming principles and one thing I didn't put down back then is something I think might be a new principle or maybe it's something else.

So what does the post header of "Tabletop Ambassadors" mean then?  Are they some sort of political envoy of the publisher/distributor elite?  Well no, not exactly.

An ambassador for anything performs a number of roles to support the things they are there to represent.

So in the case of a Tabletop Ambassador their role is fairly simple really, "Promote the hobby as a whole" which mostly translates into -

Always speaking positively about each element (games, players and community) of the hobby.
Always consider the inclusion of people to the potential player list.  Except where due cause has existed (inappropriate behaviour etc).
Always be open minded about new formats and new products.
Always speaking positively as to why the FLGS is important for the hobby.
Always understand that people are well people and they can't all play together.

There's more to this than just what I've got above but I think you get the jist of what I'm saying.

The 5 bullets above are things I believe that I at least attempt to do when gaming and being around gamers and non-gamers.  Does that make this a gaming principle?  I don't think so as I feel it's more general than the other principles I've posted about.  So what is it then?

I suppose I relate to it in the same way I relate to a work ethic or a "be excellent to each other" mantra.  It's just how I believe you should act when participating in what is a social hobby where community is key. Trying to be exclusionary about the who/what/where/when/why elements of the hobby just ends up be counter productive to your enjoyment of the hobby as a whole.

Are you a Tabletop Ambassador?

Numenera - For me?

I was in my FLGS the other day to pick up some stuff (future post will reveal) and I spotted a copy of Numenera on the shelf.

Now I mentioned Numenera in my post on New RPGs for GenCon but didn't really go into my thoughts about the game.

Some background - the game is written by Monte Cook and if you click on the link to his name you'll get his bio.

My exposure to Monte was through his work on D&D 3rd Edition and in turn the d20 system. As I've said before this particular edition of D&D was a trigger in my previous rediscovery of my hobby of roleplaying and for that I kind of thank Monte for his part in that.

The d20 system also brought about my principle of only buying if I'm going to use it...  How? Well the "d20 glut" as it's referred to in some areas also resulted in me buying a LOT of RPG products that both never used and in many cases never even read.

So, did I buy Numenera?  No.  I just can't see me running it and so I decided to stick to that principle.  It is however exactly the sort of game that pre-principles I would have bought.

It does looks great though, the artwork is impressive and the overall product quality is excellent and I'm sure it would look great on my shelf.  The issue is that it would do just that, sit on my shelf I mean.  So I didn't buy it.

I also have a slight irritation with the name...  Numenera = New Men Era.  Nice play on words and it fits for a setting in the far future but I dunno, as a name it feels kind of rubbish...

If I was gaming more frequently and indeed up for running another RPG in addition to D&D Next and Star Wars EotE then I still wouldn't choose Numenera.  This is no reflection on the game itself (the reviews are all very positive) but I'm already running Fantasy and Sci-Fi (well Space Opera) and as I've said elsewhere I plan on picking up the Atomic Robo RPG when it comes out which is sorta Sci-Pulp.

So if I was going to run another game then I would need to increase my gaming frequency (beyond the Friday night only slot at present) and it would need to be set in something other than a Fantasy or a Sci-Fi setting.

Winning isn't everything. Fun is.

So in my gaming principle post "Is everyone having fun?  Including you?" I touched very briefly on the competitive side of the hobby. That sparked a conversation with a friend - Just how important is winning?

The thing is that all formats of tabletop games tend to involve "winning" and "losing" of one form or another; including in cooperative games where the players win/lose together.  This is fairly obvious I suppose given that if it's a game surely there has to be a winner and a loser.  Right?

When I first tried out Magic I knew I was never going to get into the competitive element of the game.  By that I mean I never expected nor intended to enter competitions other than during the latter stages of the 1st Chapter which was only to even up the numbers at Friday Night Magic or whatever.  To play any game that is by design a competition you have to consider whether winning is important to you or simply playing to have fun is enough.

I won't deny it, I don't enjoy losing and when playing in a competitive game I am trying to win, after all that's a large part of why you play competitive games.  Where the balance lies is in whether you're equating "the need to win" with "having fun".  If these are one and the same for you when it comes to playing tabletop games then I think you're missing out on what makes tabletop games great.

Playing tabletop games is about having a shared experience with other players and to quote a friend of mine "it's all about telling stories together".  Ok so that's maybe a little highbrow but I also think it's true.

"I don't want to play X because I'll never be able to win." This is something I used to hear a lot, not just with respect to Magic but in relation to pretty much all of the formats of tabletop gaming including cooperative style games.  The fun comes through playing, if you win then that's simply an added benefit.
Whilst the emotional experience of losing, especially if that's losing more than winning, isn't likely to be pleasant the only true way to learn and improve your game is through playing and the best way to learn what's not working is to lose.  So chalk it up as a learning development opportunity and learn from your mistakes.

As I've said before, not every game is for everyone. I'll go further and say that not every environment for gaming is for everyone. Me?  I'm never going to be a good Magic player because I don't have the deck building skill to do it.  I don't see the best card combinations that can be used to create a great deck. In some respects that may also be why I've steered clear of wargames too.  When I play Magic I create a deck that I think looks cool and be fun to play. That places me in the "casual gamer" camp for Magic which is entirely accurate. I've played many many games over the years where I've lost and played RPGs where all the players have lost (total party kill type events) but each of those games have been fun for a variety of reasons.

All I'm saying is that winning isn't what should be driving you to play tabletop games, having fun is what it's all about.

Opinions aren't as important as knowledge and experience.

This principle is about trusting yourself and not listening to the opinions of others to the exclusion of other information.  Pretty deep for a gaming blog huh?

I'd say I'm fairly opinionated about gaming, in some respects that's a given with my starting a blog about it. Alongside that though I think I'm also open minded and not someone who will impress my opinion as factual.

The principle involved here is around taking your own counsel on things in relation to the games you play.

How you decide what game to buy next shouldn't be decided by reviews or ratings or the opinions of others including friends.  These factors should educate your knowledge in making that decision yes but just because a review gives a game 3 out of 10 and someone you know says bad things about the same game (which of course might be based on a review they've read/watched rather than through, you know, playing it) doesn't mean you shouldn't choose to try it.
Knowledge is what gives you the ability to choose a game.  Now if there is a reviewer who you trust as they seem to like the same games as you then that's educated information which increases the likelihood that you will enjoy that game.

Does that mean you should ignore ratings on websites such as BoardGameGeek.com? Not exactly.  What it does mean though is that the people who are applying the ratings on that website might not be looking for the same thing you are.  They might not play the same games that you do.

Let's choose a game that I own. Straw is a game by Alderac Entertainment - http://www.alderac.com/straw/

The game was recommended to me during the 1st Chapter by someone who works for the publisher. Initially I looked at the BoardGameGeek page for the game and decided it wasn't something I wanted to stock based on the score it was given (6.10 currently).  The publisher representative offered me a demo of the game and (quite rightly as it turns out) told me that BGG is not the audience for Straw; at least not it's core audience.  Straw is a game which retails at £12.99 and is a fun, simple, light hearted family friendly game.  I played the demo and immediately saw that it was all of those things and knew who the target audience was.
It fits into that category of game which is usually dubbed as a "gateway game".  By that it means that if someone who is new to Tabletop Games likes Straw then they might be interested in trying something a little less mainstream like Ticket To Ride or Settlers Of Catan.

Really what this boils down to is be open minded about the hobby.  Remember not every game is for everyone but at the same time any game could be for you and those you play games with.

Change is a good thing and is necessary.

I believe that change is something that is good for the hobby and has been necessary to in keeping me interested in my hobby.

So what do I mean by change?  New rules, new versions of games, new expansions for games, new players of games, different players in the play group and everything around that.

A new edition of the core rules for any game is something that is usually received with negativity from the player bases of that game.  This is normally down to the belief that this is being done by the publisher to extract more money from the player base.  Whilst that may be the case, these are commercial companies after all, there's also another much simpler reason.
Change invigorates a player base.  Without it a game can become stagnant and dare I say it players can lose interest in a game.  A new edition of a game gives players a reason to take a fresh look at it and to try something new.  Now that's not to say that they will like the changes but it will give the players that impetus to check them out.
The same can be said for expansions to games that add new rules or change the way the game can be played.  These expansions bring additional variety to the hobby and usually result in some form of additional expenditure to take advantage of that variety.  Without getting into the value debate around expansions it's important to remember that these are just that, expansions, and are by their very nature optional.

A change around the play group itself is something that can be disruptive, especially if there are personality conflicts between the players.  That aside it is important to retain a level of freshness both in terms of the games you play and the people you play them with.  I'm not saying that during that RPG campaign you've been playing for the past year that you should parachute a new player in.  What I am saying is that to develop your play style for each game there are benefits in mixing up who you play those games with.

There's also that other change you can have in Tabletop Games.  The new game.  A game that no-one in your play group has tried before but someone decides to pick it up and give it a try.  For me this is about Board & Card Games in the main as I continue to try more and more of them.  For others this could be as simple as trying a new RPG or new War Game or trying that other game format for the first time giving you something "different" from the normal gaming routine.

So as a principle it's about embracing change and trying new things to keep my interest in my hobby fresh and also about introducing new games to new people.  Or at least games that are new to those people.

Accept that you're going to be the GM.

*Note this is written from the perspective of someone (Me!) who prefers GM based games as opposed to RPGs where the GM role is more fluid or indeed non-existent.*

So, you're going to be the GM.  It might only be a one-shot game or it might a multi-year spanning campaign but what does that mean and how do you embrace this role?

Being the GM does not mean -
You're writing a story.
You're in charge.
You're there to entertain the players.
You're responsible for the game.
You do all the work.

Being the GM does mean -
You develop the initial concept / environment.
You adapt to how the others play.
You are a player too.
You encourage interaction between players and with non-player characters.
You will have more work to do than the others.

So why does this warrant being a principle?  Simple really.  Remembering that you are only 1 person in the play group who participating in the same game as everyone else is very key to ensuring that all the players (including the GM) round the table are having fun.  To embrace the role you have to understand it and so do the other players.

This is especially key for those people who are GMs almost all of the time.  To ensure that you are enjoying that experience and that the other players are sharing in the creation of the overall story you have to be mindful of the elements of this principle.

Is everyone having fun? Including you?

The title says it all really.

Tabletop Games are just games that are played on a tabletop.  Games are an activity providing entertainment or amusement and as such should be fun.  So how does this turn into a principle rather than just happening by default?  Well...  Not all games are for everyone.  Just as not all foods are for everyone or all cars are for everyone, fun whilst playing games is a matter of personal taste.

Across the spectrum of Tabletop Games you have a lot of different formats and within those formats you have a lot of different styles of play and indeed themes for the games in question.  Given the sheer variety of choice on offer you will find that not everyone will want to play game X or indeed what to play game X the same way as everyone else.  In Robin's Laws Of Good Game Mastering there are a number of Player Types defined which help with to understand this but without reposting all of that I'm going to give examples from my own experience.

e.g. Magic The Gathering (and I suspect the majority if not all CCGs) has a variety of play styles and also has a variety of players.  Some play styles will be "aggro" based which really just means beating your opponent quickly and efficiently.  Some players will also only play that style.  Now in a competitive environment you might think that having fun isn't really part of the deal and that's where I'd say you're wrong. Yes I know the game is competitive but it's still a game and therefore should be about having fun.  If you're finding that your only reason for playing Magic is to win rather than playing it to have fun but also trying to win then I think you're missing the point.  The same goes for other competitive games and I'd suggest moreso for cooperative games.

Why moreso for cooperative?  Well if there are 5 of you playing a cooperative game and only 3 of you are having fun then the game isn't a success.  Your individual play experience might be but the overall game isn't. This can lead to people not wanting to play game X or Y or whatever simply because they see it as "Not Fun".

This principle also dips into things like "giving everyone their time on camera" which is really just about ensuring that everyone has a chance to play and isn't just sitting there with the game going on around them.

Ah but you also said "Including you?" in the title.

Yeah, I know.  I've played many games many times over the years and my focus is usually on ensuring that the other players (particularly RPGs) are having fun.  During the start of this 2nd Chapter I was reminded that I also have to have fun otherwise it kinda defeats the whole point of this being my hobby.

What do you do if the other players are having fun but you aren't?  Try something else.
Whether that be a different game altogether or if you're the GM in a RPG then try a different game style. e.g. if your players seem to enjoy "combat heavy" games over anything else but you find them uninteresting then you have a problem. This can really only be addressed through working together with your fellow players and through mixing up the styles of play even to the point of having a hybrid to give those who want "combat heavy" what they want and those who want something else get what they want including the GM.