Thank you 2017!

TAG Sessions has had quite a ride this 2017.  There have been ups and downs, but thankfully, the ups have been far more memorable and exciting. Among the highlights of this year include being part of the Cold Shadows kickstarter release, the Dreamchasers, and becoming part of the Gallant Knight Games family.  I also got opportunities to share my gaming knowledge, from giving talks at the Global Game Jam 2017, the Uber Meeples game event, and others. I found the chance to meet my good friends and gaming idols after being invited to the Strategicon event, Gamex 2017, in Los Angeles at a special guest.  While there, I had the lovely opportunity to meet with awesome friends  and gaming greats, Ben Woerner, Dan Waszkiewicz, Dustin DePenning, Stephanie Bryant, and the incredible jim pinto. It was like a gaming retreat from the world, spending three days hanging out with them and having the chance to run games for gamers who attended. Had a few featured moments as well this year, from being interviewed by IdeateTV, and featured in a few articles by GMA News, thanks to my two memorable award-related moments: A Single Moment actually was the runner-up for the Indie Ground Breaker's Best System award for 2017, and for being part of the remarkable 7th Sea: Pirate Nations book, which won a Silver ENnie this 2017.  Oh my gosh. Who would have thought that was even possible?  I also was able to connect with a lot of the local game designers thanks to being invited to the Electronic Sports and Game Summit by James and Gwen. I'm terribly lucky to have met these other creative forces. I hope we help leave a legacy of awesome games for more Filipinos to enjoy in the coming years.

As always, I have a promise to run 12 New Games each year. I completely failed to do this however, as I ran far more than 12 new games this year alone. (Check out the other games I've done for this challenge here.)

2017 New Games
1) Pugmire
2) Monster of the Week
3) An RPG Musical, using Scion
4) Black Stars Rise
5) jim pinto's soon to be announced game
6) Carcass: Exodus
7) Praxis: The Black Monk - Chapter 4
8) Forget Me Not: Florida
9) "Microscope": Star Wars
10) The Quiet Year
11) Forget Me Not: Murderhobos
12) Praxis: The Black Monk - Chapter 1
13) Praxis: Odin's Eye

14) Pendragon
15) 7th Sea: Kithai
16) Praxis: In the Flesh
17) Forget Me Not (original game)

And yes, jim pinto, clearly your influence can be seen on this list!

I also started TAG Bites, completely free one-shot open table game sessions which Rocky and I have opted to hold to help open the opportunities for more local gamers to try systems they may have not tried before.  Started last July 2017, I've so far run the following games for a host of different players.

TAG Bites 2017
July had a 7th Sea: Second Edition game and a postworld games' Praxis: Black Monk game.
August had us playing Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space and Blades in the Dark.
November had us playing 7th Sea: Kithai, and 7th Sea: Second Edition - Pirate Nations.

This 2018, I'm looking at running the following games if possible:


As always, the games will be completely free and players will have an opportunity to play a game which probably will be unlike anything they ever experienced before.

Wrapped up a number of game campaigns this year. We gave closure to the young superhero game which we rebooted as the Millennials game using the DC Heroes system. We also wrapped up the Houses of the Blooded game, Thrice Damned, and sadly cancelled the World of Darkness Vampire campaign, Sleeper, due to reasons. The currently ongoing campaigns this year include the ongoing duo 7th Sea Campaign, The Nisab Diary and Alas, Such Fates, which has reached the third act of the narrative called The Guissola. The story continues to be incredibly awesome with Rocky, Flip, Aina, Brian, Josh, James, and Che as the Heroes who have uncovered the machinations of the Novus Ordo Mundi and the invaders from Earth.  In addition, we're a few sessions in after having found the courage to jump in to play The Great Pendragon campaign!  Rocky, Flip, Urim and Adrian are the knights known as the Brotherhood of the Bear.  Their stories have lead to King Uther's meeting with Ygraine and it is only a matter of time to see where the stories go next. Also now playing as a player in Flip's 7th Sea campaign, The Widow's Nest, which has me as a former Inquisitor turned rough apprehensive adventurer.

Released a lot of new stuff this year, thanks to the help of my TAG TEAM SUPPORT Patrons from Patreon (Rocky, Rob A., David H., Mina C., Karlo L., Ryan S., and my other supporters), and the moral support from the Gallants (my little group of friends online) who offer sound advice and clear views on events, my parents (who always remind me to simply go for my dreams), and my partner for life, Rocky (who has never allowed me to doubt myself and reminds me to trust my creative voice.)

Among those released include:

This year, we're looking at a lot of possible projects. A Second Moment continues its slow rewrite. I will admit a large part of its delay was due to recovering from the events that transpired in the earlier part of the year. The same goes to TAG Sessions, Volume 1. Both are now needing extensive rewrites. With our move to BGC, I've discovered there's a lot more time to write nowadays since we do not need to wade through two-hour traffic each day.

Our place is now called Sietch Vicis and interestingly more change has come this year.
Firstly, I resigned from my day job as a full-time Game Designer at Indigo Entertainment, Philippines. After working there for over five years, I've decided to try devoting much more time to making TAG Sessions a more productive and active line.

Secondly, I've got a few talks mapped out in the future. I've been tapped to give a few talks for a number of events, and it always feel nice to be able to share my knowledge and information with others who may share or even have a greater passion for gaming than I do.

Finally, targeting something big this year. Hoping to have a fantastic moment happen this 2018 and I do hope it comes to pass. All that I need to do is make it happen and finish writing. I'm scared if it will work out and I am terribly freaked out if people will like it, but I realize sometimes things will only happen if you take a chance.  I took a chance years ago, when I messaged Josh Jordan about wanting to write for his Kickstarter game. I took another chance when I agreed to write for Ben Woerner and for Alan Bahr. Scary as it may be to take chances, one has to learn to really shut down every horrible voice in one's head and focus instead on the passion that fuels one's work.  I trusted in people I shouldn't have, and upon reflection, I learned the hard way that sometimes people you think will help you are simply out to make money or fame from your reputation and work. 

So yeah, thank you 2017 for the learning and the education.  Thank you for the awesome moments and the appreciative new friends.  Thank you for the opportunities, the mistakes, and the evolution.

Working on a Wuxia game that will be Powered by the Apocalypse, a young-audience role-playing game called Dreamscrapers, a Studio Ghibli-inspired game that can even be played alone, and of course, A Second Moment and TAG Sessions, Volume one.  Admittedly, the Wuxia game showed up out of nowhere, and delayed the development of both Muses, the Legacy RPG game, and mem:RE spy game.

This 2018, I'm taking another chance.
Here's to 2018.

Maybe it will be my Second Moment, indeed.