This is going to be an article that is a bit different than normal, and probably shorter than normal, but I think it’s worthwhile to write and to reflect. 2020 has been a pretty massive bummer for so many people for a lot of really lousy reasons. And while a lot of nerdy things aren’t as “important” as the bigger things going on, but I want to say that just because nothing big has directly affected you doesn’t mean that the smaller things, the things that we are missing this year and the things that are important to our mental health aren’t as extremely important.

But we all know about all of those things, sometimes it’s just tricky to remember.

Instead, I want to look back on 2020 thus far, and call out things that I have been thankful for in the nerdy realm.

I’m thankful for finishing Gloomhaven. It took a while, but we got through all of Gloomhaven, and as much as I love that game, and as much as it’s not terrible on Table Top Simulator, I was glad to play the last few sessions in person, outside, and wrap up that game. I’ll miss playing it, but next year I will have Frosthaven eating up space on my shelf as well to play.

I’m thankful for the virtual game nights that I’ve had. I’ve done a few with different groups of people Yes, it isn’t the same as in person, but I’ve made a lot of games work via video. Ganz Schon Clever, Criss Cross, Scattergories, Cross Clues, Just One, Hues and Cues, and I’m probably missing one or two. And beyond that we’ve played Jack Box Games as well which works nicely via Zoom. We had a few months with moving where we didn’t game, but overall it has been good to do that.

Starting Tainted Grail. Tainted Grail is not a game that should work that well via Zoom. However, we made it work, getting a few rules wrong in Chapter 1, and with a slight change on my end, I think it’ll be even better for us. I’ve been wanting to play this game in a group as it was good solo, but I love sharing an interesting story with people.

I’m thankful that I got to do a few games with the virtual GenCon. Probably my biggest disappoint was not being able to go to GenCon in terms of nerdy things this year. As an extrovert that was just so incredibly fun last year. I didn’t do a full slate of things like I would have had I been going in person, but I got three games in, which was a lot of fun. I got to play Night Cage, which I was backed on Kickstarter at the time, Fruit Picking, and The Librarians, which I almost backed because of playing it on Kickstarter. It was different, but I did have fun getting to play those games and be a part of the community that way.

I’m also thankful for the Mandalorian. We haven’t gotten much in the way of nerdy things on television or in the theaters this year. We will have nothing from Marvel and DC, honestly, I just kind of ignore at this point. But we did get Season 2 of the Mandalorian which is still just as good as the first season. It’s nice having that Friday evening fun back again.

All Systems Go is another thing that I’m thankful for. It’s a little local game shop that I get my Marvel Champions stuff from and where I trade in games. It’s been nice to be able to swing in there, look at their trades and chat for a few minutes once a month or so when I pick up the next hero or villain pack for Marvel Champions. And they delivered when businesses were shut down in Minnesota this spring into early summer. So even though I might not be playing quite as many games, I still have a steady supply of them.

I am thankful for GloryHoundd YouTube channel and community. I don’t watch many live YouTube videos, but every Friday at work, I join to watch their Kickstarter stream and it’s been a blast interacting with GloryHoundd and DrGloryHogg there and on their Discord and with the other people who are showing up to watch as well. It’s been a really nice way to have community even without being able to get around people.

Finally, I’m thankful that I was able to get a D&D game going via Zoom. I hadn’t been running a D&D game for a bit, and there was a chance I was going to play in one, but with Covid, that game didn’t happen. So instead I took up running a game and I’ve been a lot of fun, I have a lot of Friday Night D&D written about it the Tower of the Gods game, if you want to catch up with where I’m at. But D&D works well via video, sometimes we talk over each other, but I’ll try and get back to someone if that happens, and it’s a good time that I’m very thankful for and thankful to have friends to play with.

So with 2020 coming to a close in a month or so, what are some of the things that you’ve been thankful for?

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