The New Year approaches, and with it comes the traditional time of reminiscing about the year just gone, and crystal ball gazing into the many possibilities of the coming one…

I started this blog back in January 2011, with no specific targets in terms of the amount of posting I would achieve, but a few loose goals as to the type of posts I was planning to write. Looking back, I can see that I have covered most of my key topics, with the exception of RPG Technology.

What I definitely haven’t achieved however is a consistent level of posting!! I have some mitigating reasons for this, as do many people I’m sure, but the point still stands. It was ok for the first few months, and then life intervened with long periods of no posting at all!

Thus, looking forward to 2012, it seems clear that I need to structure things differently and give myself some realistic targets to achieve. It has become apparent I don’t have the time or energy to post at the frequency so many other bloggers manage (kudos to them!!), but what I’d like to acheive is consistency and quality. I would like to post regularly at a sustainable (for me) frequency, and I want my posts to be strong in content that is (, or may be…,) useful to other people.

My new plan is that I’m going to start a small number (4?) of monthly columns, which will give me the target of a set number of quality posts per month. Any extra posts, whether on similar, or completely different, topics, will be seen as an added bonus. Hopefully, with a bit of forward planning, I’ll be able to achieve a small pipeline of posts available to cover the periods where other commitments get in the way…(we’ll see!)

Initial ideas for these columns are:

• Map of the Month – it doesn’t take long perusing this blog to work out that RPG Cartography is one of my primary loves! This column feeds straight from that, presenting my favourite efforts, discussing current projects, or highlighting some of the great work that is out on the Internet (most of which is far greater in quality than mine …).
• RPG Tech Talk – a look at the technology tools available for us gaming geeks. The column will cover the tools I use, other tools out there, and discussion of my technology wishlist!
• Content Corner – one of my main goals for this blog was to publish my own D&D content. This column will be my outlet for that. Expect new monsters, location write-ups, encounters, skill challenges etc. One idea is that I’ll get more achieved in the short term by publishing snippets of content, rather than attempting larger-scale projects.
• Campaigning with Kids – my main actual role-playing activity at the moment is running a 4E D&D campaign for my 12 year-old daughter and 10-year old son. This column will cover this learning experience … 🙂
• Wizards Watch – my opinion piece! I play 4E pretty exclusively as I’ve only got the time for one system, so this my place for reviews and commentary on what’s coming out from Wizards of the Coast.

Ok, so that’s ended up at 5!! Can I sustain 5 solid posts a month?? I realise this is nothing compared to a lot of RPG blogs out there, but I’m trying to be realistic for me.

Anyway, its a target, so wish me luck. These columns will debut on the site over January, and we’ll take it from there … if anyone has any comments, or ideas/topics you’d like me to cover, feel free to let me know!

A Happy and Prosperous New Year in gaming to you all!