What Were 2024’s Resolutions?

I just did Board Game ones which you can read here.

Play Unplayed Games – I did okay with this one. I played quite a number of new to me games last year. I played 81 new games, so that did put a dent into my unplayed games. However, that is also going to include games from Gen Con that I played. And there are certainly games that I added throughout the year as well. So we’ll call this one a wash, I did some but I could and can do more. And I did say that my target for unplayed games was 75 to play, so I hit that number.

Buy Trading Cards/Games with Store Credit – I won’t lie, both of these fell off fairly quickly. Now, not completely. I do feel like I purchased fewer games overall without store credit. But there are certainly a number that I did purchase. Also trading cards, not so much. But I managed a couple of good sales of games through trading them in or through a board game sale.

2025 Nerds-Year Resolutions

So let’s talk about this upcoming year. What resolutions do I have, or goals am I trying to set for myself when it comes to nerdy things. Let’s be clear, it’s mainly going to be around board games, but I want to give myself some different challenges than previous years.

Prototype Game Idea/Work On Other Idea

I have two game ideas that I want to continue to work on. Both of these are of course board games. I have stuff to prototype one of them. i just need to get to it and get some prototypes into the wild and get people playtesting them. Because I would love to get a board game created at some point in time. Even if it’s just something that I use Game Crafter for, great resource by the way, and have fun with. Plus I have a bigger idea that I want to keep working on, it’s going to be a big passion project if it ever get completed, but I want to try.

Learn A New Game Per Week

Thanks to Board Game Arena this should be pretty easy for me to do. But I want to learn and play a new game on there, or in person, per week. Now, this is going to be different than last years goal. Last years goal was simply to play new games. With this I want to be intentional about learning something new. This is the first full week so a great time to start this one.

Watch Seven New Anime

I think this is setting the goal low for me. But I want to watch more new anime. I am pretty sure that I crushed that resolution this past year. But I want to keep it up. Especially since I know that I will have a lot anime returning in 2025 that I want to watch. So if I want to get to this goal of seven, I need make sure that I make time to watch new stuff as well.

Read 100 Marvel Comic Issues

This one is probably going to low again. But I know myself. I go in runs with this, and I want to be very intentional about it. I want to read more comics this year. That said, I am off to a solid start by reading a bunch of Ultimate Spider-Man comics by Brian Michael Bendis. So I want to keep on building on that.

And a sub resolution to this one. I want to put out comic book content videos on 10 Minute Marvel. Basically, with this reading, I want to use it to help grow that channel and see that continued growth be around news, rumors, comics, and more, but the additional content being around what is in different books, and what is worth checking out or themes and stories worth checking out.

Four Videos a Week on 10 Minute Marvel and Four on Malts and Meeples

So this is changing up the numbers slightly from what they were last year. I ended doing three on Malts and Meeples and five on 10 Minute Marvel. I still want to do five on 10 Minute Marvel. But that might be for the channel and if my co-host does one per week, fingers crossed that habit gets started, that can mean I do four. But also, I want to start doing more not live content on Malts and Meeples. I love my live game plays and that schedule will stay the same, but one uploaded video per week is my goal beyond the live stuff.

How About You?

What are your resolutions around nerdy things for 2025? Let me know in the comments section below.

I definitely set a few more harder/more challenging goals this year. In particular around videos, but I hope that I can hit some of them and at least start off strong with them. Because I want to keep this website growing and the YouTube channels as well.

I did drop off some this year around Gen Con because my goal is just to go, play games and have fun. And that’s going to be my goal for a long time. We’ll see if I make it any other cons, but I don’t want to assume or overextend myself with them.

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Just looking back at 2019, I streamed more than 20 times and I got 40+ books read. The watch 5 anime to end of their seasons or wherever they are, pretty sure I got to that one, but I didn’t get games I bought in 2019 all of them played. I think I have a few for streaming that I haven’t gotten to yet.

So let me make a new set of resolutions:

1. Always be reading a book. What do I mean by that, I mean that I want to always have a book that I’m actively working on. If you don’t read for a week, that’s fine, but if it goes longer than that, I want to be reading more.
2. To go with the first one, I want to get a big dent into the books that I own but haven’t read yet. Some of them are going to be fast to read, others are long, but I want to get through a number of them.
3. Stream a game the whole way through. Not sure what it is going to be, but Folklore: The Affliction is high on the list, and so is something like Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth or some of the games that I have coming in.
4. Don’t miss a week of #10MinMarvel. This will be tricky to end the year, but I’m hoping not to miss a week, because I want to make it a successful podcast. So to do that, I need to be consistent in what I do, plus if I miss one week, I’ll make an excuse as to why I can miss future ones. And, I suspect there will be a lot of fun Marvel news this upcoming year.
5. Finish the chronological Marvel watch through. We made it through a number of them and are up to Winter Soldier, but for #10MinMarvel, I want to get the rest of the way through them. Ideally before Black Widow, but we’ll see if that happens.

Then let’s talk about the Nerdologists website. We got moved over to a new hosting site last year and it has made a big difference in speed. I don’t know that we’ll see any massive changes on the site, though I might start looking at updating the design later in the year.

And let me look at some stats. I just want to say thank you to everyone who went through some of the hiccups that we had with the system earlier in the year and show off how the numbers are compared to last year through the same time period.

So last year we had 40950 users with a whopping 415% increase from the previous year where we had just under 8000. But more than that, we had 151,942 page views as compared to 27,751, over a 440% increase. The amount of time people spent on the site increased and the bounce rate, people leaving the site fast, decreased.

Malts and Meeples Youtube/Twitch Channels were started for solo gaming content. Only 3 subscribers so far, but I got up 33 videos and some of them have better than I expect view numbers. Still not many people joining live, but that’s one thing I want to get better at, having a consistent streaming time for people to join me.

10 Minute Marvel was also started. I’ve gotten a couple of ratings and reviews, and in the time it’s been up 278 listens. The listens are also slowly increasing which is what I was looking for. If you haven’t checked it out, please do so, and let me know any feedback you might have.

So what do I want to do new now in 2020?

A few of my resolutions are also for the site, keeping up streaming and podcast are the big two.

I hope that in 2020 I can do some new things as well in terms of content. Not sure what it might be, maybe interviews, maybe patreon, whatever it might be, it’s going to probably be a surprise for me as well as you. But If we can continue to see growth into 2020, that’s awesome. I doubt that we’ll see 400% increases, but I’m hoping that it’ll continue to increase.

But, let me wrap this up just by saying THANK YOU to everyone who checks out the site, I’m so glad that you do. Hopefully some of the new content, the streams and podcast interest you, and I look forward to writing a lot more content that hopefully you’ll continue to enjoy. If you have any suggestions for the site, please contact me one of the ways below, and I’ll consider it and dialog with you about it.

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I think the biggest reason that there aren’t more of them is because publishers and writers want something that feels familiar. A writer can feel like it’s their own unique twist on something that is familiar and safe, and a publisher can look and see how well things have sold. Now there is plenty of variety within the standard epic fantasy that we often think of and that we see published most often, but there’s always some medieval feel to it that feels normal and allows us to jump into a world quickly and pick up the edge cases about the world that are different from others.

What are some of the tropes of fantasy that are used often?

While it’s less the case now, it often feels like fantasy is the clear good versus evil. Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are both clear examples of this where there is clearly a good side and there is an evil side, and there really isn’t ground in between. Sometimes you really want that delineation, but fantasy can lean too much so into the good versus evil and it simply being that and nothing more.

Also there is the medieval feel, or what we attribute to a medieval feel. There are going to be knights most likely, though they might be called something else, a king, either good striving against the evil forces coming to the lands or evil keeping the people oppressed so a rebellion must rise up and there’s not all that much in between. Lots of castles, sprawling forests, and generally a lot of what you’d expect from Robin Hood shows up in your standard epic fantasy. Even in urban fantasy, there is often some leftover feel of the medieval period. In the Dresden Files, the wizarding council holds old traditions, in Harry Potter, Hogwarts is literally a giant castle.

Finally, while it’s not in all fantasy, there is very often some form of magic. This is often where fantasy diverges the most as different people use different things for magic. It could be that the magic comes from the divine, it could be that magic is steeped heavily in ritual and must be done at ritual locations, or it could be a quicker and dirtier magic that can be done on the fly. Magic can be fine and precise wielded like a scalpel or it can be swung around like a club, bludgeoning everything. So there’s plenty of leeway for magic, but it is something that is commonly found in fantasy.

That’s epic fantasy, is all fantasy like that or are there different types of fantasy?

While that might be the type that people think of when they think of fantasy thanks to Lord of the Rings, it certainly isn’t the only type of fantasy out there. There’s paranormal fantasy, urban fantasy, low fantasy, dark fantasy, or even steampunk would qualify as a different type of fantasy. Probably the biggest growing type of fantasy falls into that area of urban fantasy. The Dresden Files series is one of the biggest or Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman are two of the better known. But TV shows like Grimm also fall into that Urban Fantasy sub-genre of fantasy.

There are a few that I really want to call out, though, the first being Urban Fantasy. This is one of my favorite genres of fantasy as taking a modern world and putting magic not just into the world as a whole, but a densely populated area and really focusing the story down into that world can be done so well. In all of Neverwhere, Grimm, and The Dresden Files, there’s a grittier side of the world that you don’t a lot in fantasy. That grittier side of things is what sets it apart from contemporary fantasy which would qualify as something like Harry Potter where it’s in a modern setting, but doesn’t deal as directly with the modern nature of the world.

Another one can either be modern or not, but it’s a non-standard medieval fantasy. That’s a long name, but basically, it’s looking at fantasy that really goes outside of the normal sword and sorcery that you can see and takes us to another world or part of our world than London or the medieval European equivalent. An example of this is the Daughter of Smoke and Bones trilogy. Those books are set in Prague, so different location than normal, but they also deal with a very different subset fantasy with how they talk about a number of fantasy tropes, which you can see from above, and the creatures that you see. You don’t really have your standard goblins, trolls, and faeries. It’s often a bit jarring not to have your standard fantasy tropes, but it’s also refreshing to see fantasy step away from it’s roots and branch out into new areas.

Finally is a sub genre of fantasy that I want more from, and that’s the Weird West. But this can also fall somewhat into historical fantasy as well, so I’ll use that genre so I can talk about  more things. But in the Weird West genre, you’re getting something that we’re familiar with, because of westerns, and adding in some mix of magic, steampunk or advanced technology, aliens, or monsters. The movie, Wild Wild West is an example of what Weird West can be. But when you expand it to look at other parts of history, you see it around WWI and WWII, even something like Wonder Woman which falls under the umbrella of Superheroes, but the movie was as much an alternative history fantasy movie as it was a superhero movie because of Wonder Woman’s backstory and Ares being a Greek god.

Now, there’s so much more you can go with into fantasy. And a lot of what I’ve talked about with world building before for RPG’s or just in writing in general you can pull into fantasy as well and use it to help shape your thoughts around fantasy. I’m going to be doing a follow up article soon on magic and high, medium, and low magic as well as different ways of using magic that I touched on here in this post.

But I’ll leave you with the question, what are some of your favorite genres inside fantasy, and some of your favorite books or TV shows or movies in that genre?

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So, for those of you who aren’t friends of Kristen and myself, I can’t remember if I posted anywhere on Twitter or on Facebook for Nerdologists that we’re expecting our first kid. Which is super exciting, stressful, and life changing. One thing that I’ve been thinking about is how that’s going to affect the website, playing games, D&D, anime, movies, books, etc. I mean, clearly it’s going to affect it, but how much is it going to affect things.

First, I think that the Dungeons and Flagons podcast is probably going to take a bit of a break. Though I’m not sure about that, it’ll depend on a number of things, but at least a little bit of a break and more so than it has. We did just record recently, but once the baby is around it might be more of an official break.

However, I don’t want to get away from my nerdy roots and stop doing things that I’ve loved doing the past few years for the website as well as just in my life. I’ve found that a lot of these things, like playing Dungeons and Dragons, going to AcadeCon, starting up board game night and playing games like Risk Legacy, Gloomhaven, and Charterstone regularly have been great experiences. They also help me because I’m an extrovert  and being around people keeps me energized and ready to go as well as keeping me in a better frame of mind.

So what are some tips and tricks for this? How do you balance wanting to do nerdy things and having a kid?

I don’t have a ton of answers for this, and for every person, it’s going to be different. But I think that there are a few things that I’ve been thinking about, that may or may not work, but that I think we’re planning on trying.

1. Be fine taking the kid places. They have to get used to being at other peoples places, and while we have to take care of their needs as they arise, just because they want something, doesn’t mean that they are going to get it right away. Also, with our friends, we have friends, who are already modeling this some with taking their young children to our place another others places. There just has to be flexibility with Kristen and myself, as well as with others, because things aren’t going to run as consistently with a board game if Kristen or I have to step away to check on the baby, feed the baby or change the baby.
2. Be fine having people come to a messy house. Small children and babies are horrible messy monsters, or something like that. But seriously, it’s going to be hard staying on top of cleaning when there is a small child who needs a lot of attention and makes a lot of messes so our house isn’t going to be as clean as it might be normally. And Kristen and I aren’t over the top and think that our house has to be completely clean when people come over, but we do try and keep it neat. It just might be a little less neat until the kid can pick-up after themselves several years down the line.
3. Make intentional space for nerdy things. Now, with this, some of it is creating physical locations for these things where we can kind of keep board games separate from the baby by me finishing cleaning up and getting my games sorted and set-up in the basement or the corner of the office set-up for retro video gaming. But it’s also time wise, keeping going things like board game night or the Wednesday nights of playing Charterstone and Risk: Legacy or the Tuesday nights of Gloomhaven. But being flexible with them, which we already are, but trying to keep those things on the calendar will be important for me. And for Kristen, helping her keep time where she can play Breath of the Wilds or Dragon Age: Origins.
4. Find faster nerdy things to do or fit them in where we can. Right now, I will probably watch a couple episodes of an anime before Kristen gets home from work. That might not be as possible in a few months, but watching one during down times and being intentional about those things is going to be how we can get in some more nerdy things. Probably won’t be able to play Arkham Horror every night, but getting in a quick round of Sushi Go! Party with Kristen after the kid has gone to bed and before we do, that’s certainly possible. Let those every day nerdy moments still happen whether it’s reading while in bed for a little bit a new fantasy book or watching an anime or sci-fi show.

So, I’m not sure how well most of these will work, and how much brain power Kristen and I’ll have on nights without a ton of sleep. But these are ideas that I wanted to get out of my head and into an article now, because otherwise, while I’m sleep deprived, I’m probably not going to remember any of them.

Do you have kids, or know someone who does, how do you keep nerdy things going yourself or with those people? What changes in nerdy things have you made, and what opportunities has it opened up? I know I’m excited for a few years down the line when I can start playing board games, not the normal kids ones, but some of the new kids games with our kid or introduce them to D&D or some RPG for the first time or until they can do better than me at Mario (that last one probably by the age of one).

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I’ve talked before about managing your time as a nerd, but I want to take a more in-depth look at a trick that helps me maximize my free time, set goals for the things I want to tackle next, and even get a better sense for which of my many hobbies I most value and want to devote more time to. While your mileage may vary with this tool, I’ve certainly found it useful enough to want to pitch it to other nerds who might find themselves having the same difficulty I do.

I call it…the Hobby Calendar!

Lackluster name aside, I’m of the opinion that it’s one of the better ideas I’ve had in a while. The concept is simple, but I’ve found it really helps me stay focused and keep from being paralyzed with indecision every time I have a moment’s free time. I find myself thinking, “I could do anything…anything at all! But what will I choose?” and then end up waffling endlessly over it and consequently wasting a sizable chunk of that precious free time, without making progress on anything whatsoever.

Last year, I decided I’d had enough, and that it was time to take charge. So I sat down, opened up a new spreadsheet, and made a list of my main hobbies in one column. In another, I listed the months of the year, and then proceeded to arrange the hobbies by month in a way that I felt made sense. Here’s what I ended up with:

As you can see, there aren’t many moving parts, and there’s nothing to regularly record (yet, anyway); it mainly serves as a reminder for what’s coming up next. Unsurprisingly, choosing what to put where was the hardest part. Some of the choices were arbitrary, but there was a method to my madness for others — for example, November is National Novel Writing Month, so naturally, that one had to be writing. And I know February is always the month that I end up feeling apathetic and really bogged down by winter, so I picked video games for that month since it’s low-key, doesn’t require much work, and allows me to hibernate.

You’ll also see that some months are doubled up — instead of breaking my hobbies down into twelve different activities, I chose to keep things more broad so that, while the calendar removes the “blank canvas” effect, I still have some freedom to decide what “crafting” or “writing” means to me on a given day. However, this is another spot where you can change things up to work for you. Maybe you work better when things are parsed out in more detail, or maybe you like the freedom that comes with broader categories — either method can be useful; it just depends your preference.

I’ve been using my calendar since June, so I won’t come full circle until May, but so far, this method has been really helpful — and even eye-opening — for me. One thing I’ve realized is that the thing I most often wish I were doing when I’m doing something else is crafting. This tells me that when push comes to shove, if I really had to narrow it down, making stuff would be my top priority. Knowing this, I can proceed with planning future months accordingly (whether that means setting aside more time for crafty activities, or keeping more variety on the list so that I’m more likely to branch out and learn new stuff).

As I more or less expected, some months have gone better than others — for example, reading month was easy, since I can pick up a book for just a few minutes and still make a little progress, which isn’t something I can do with, say, a story I’m working on or a show I want to watch. And sometimes months just end up being really full and I don’t end up with much free time at all (Artwork month just wrapped up, and, well…let’s just say there are a lot of ideas in my head that haven’t made it to paper yet).

But regardless of what I accomplish in a particular month, the sense of focus I get from the calendar means that I still get more done than I would have otherwise. And beyond getting rid of some decision fatigue, the calendar helps me put aside the guilt I’d normally have while working on something, wondering if my time would have been better spent in another way. Say in February I spend an afternoon playing Legend of Zelda, and the thought strikes me that maybe I should be getting more done on the craft languishing on my shelf instead. But when that thought comes, I can just remind myself that it’s video game month, and regardless of what else I could be doing, this is what I’ve chosen to do, and therefore, I have permission to not feel bad about it. In fact, I can enjoy it even more because of that!

So, what do you think, friends? Would you give the hobby calendar a try? What are some other tricks you’ve found helpful in your quest to do All The Things?

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