Setting some goals – The Things To Do List!

Someone recently called me one of Edinburgh’s gaming celebrities. I’m kind of amused by that: I certainly don’t consider myself that way! Yes, I run a blog and may be fairly well-known around town, and I do try and keep the various gaming communities in the loop. I see myself as fulfilling more of a function than any aspiration to fame. I do have some aptitude for self-promotion though, it appears.

It’s no easy task being something of a local RPG pundit and organiser, and occupies quite a bit of time and effort on my part. Sometimes it feels like putting leashes on Tiamat and taking her for walkies. You can get caught up in things and it becomes very easy for others to expect you to maintain a certain “level of service”. There’s also a certain amount of information overload too, and trying to keep track of everything can be exhausting…

So. This something of a “place holder” post for me for the months ahead. August is a time when it’s fairly quiet at ORC, so I’ve a free weekend. With the Festival on I usually use the time to “recharge my batteries”. I’ve started to get the feeling I’m taking on too much and need to try and focus on achievable goals. So what I’m going to do below is list my current goals and priorities. They’re not all gaming-related, but it all helps. This might also be what I need to get galvanised into action (not in order of importance)…

• Actually write the damn novel I’ve been planning for years. More of a long-term goal really, but could do with outlining the plot in Scrivener.
• Finish the three Cthulhu stories I’ve outlined. They’re laid out in Scrivener.
• Begin my Open University degree – the BSc in Criminology & Psychology I planned on doing starts very soon.
• Get the bathroom of the flat redone – that’s going to hurt the cash flow a bit.
• To attempt to catch up old friends more often.
• Get the oathofshadows.net website live.
• Get the FB and Twitter feeds for Oath of Shadows online.
• Create content for oathofshadows.net.
• Get some of the more useful articles of the blog anthologised in a PDF with bookmarks.
• Get in more regular exercise. I occasionally walk for 30 minutes (about 1.5 miles) every lunchtime, do 30 minutes of weights and cycle 5km in 15 minutes. I should be doing that every day, really.
• Participating in more boardgames at [ELG] on Wednesday nights, although this may be scaled back a bit if I’m too busy.
• Participate in a game of Descent every fortnight. We start our first game tonight.
• Plan my next Achtung! Cthulhu game. Most likely Assault on the Mountains of Madness.
• Finish the Tyranny of Dragons D&D campaign. I’m uncertain if I’ll go to the second volume. I’m distinctly underwhelmed so far.
• Run Horror on the Orient Express – likely after ToD finishes. Will incorporate some Achtung! Cthulhu into it, but will be a bit of work.
• Write some new adventures for demo at Dragonmeet. I already have one for Conan…
• Research the Infinity universe. It does look interesting.
• Spend my store credit at 6s2Hit, the local wargames shop and actually play a few games there.
• Look at doing more demos of the Mutant Chronicles, Achtung! Cthulhu, Mutant: Year 0, and DUST Adventures at cons. I’m really looking forward to getting the books for MC and DUST.
• Create a Mutant: Year 0 Edinburgh setting and Ark. I’ll likely post it up here when I do.
• Be more active in playtests of the Infinity RPG, Conan, and John Carter for Modiphius Entertainment.
• Have a chat with the Conpulsion organisers after my recent review sparked their interest.
• Try and get to Dragonmeet, UK Games Expo and Q-CON over the next year, as well as Conpulsion, but to participate in more than just running games.
• Try and develop some more interests outside gaming. e.g. photography etc.
• Maintain the ORC Edinburgh site, get more folk to the pub meets.
• If needed (and given a product), playtest and write some more game reviews!
• Keep blogging – I must try and get more specific posts organised.
• Get in a demo of Firestorm Armada.
• Try to strengthen links with other Edinburgh gaming communities. This may be harder than it looks due to time.
• Get some more RPG freelance work (I’ve a few things possibly coming up.).
• Get “Special Projects” organised! I’m keeping quiet about these until they become a little more certain. One of them is a pretty big deal.

I think it might be worth checking back on this post in six months. I doubt if I’ll hit all of these goals, but I’m interested to see how I get on.