So, first of all, faux pas on Clinton's part:

Clinton R. Nixon wrote: Welcome back! We're live and we thrive after three long years.

Er, that's four long years for the Forge, I believe (founded April 2001). Two years and some change for my part in it (joined January 2003).

So what's happened to me over that time? Well, at the time I joined, I was a year and a half into GMing a terrific game which I still am amazed by at times (the Vinland campaign). But that was coming out of a difficult period since my move to the Bay Area in October 2000 -- the combination of adjusting to parenthood and moving to a new city made gaming tough for a while.

Since then, I've expanded my gaming in ways inspired by but not always driven by the Forge. I have tried out Shadows in the Fog, Soap, and MLWM -- which were all great fun but haven't "converted" my core group to exclusively indie games. I've started going to conventions again -- mostly local Bay Area conventions but most notably Knutepunkt 2005 in Norway, which was a great eye-opener. I've had experiments in different directions: like plotting for the Buffy campaign; or use of miniatures and combat integral to story in my Conan RPG event.

My regular gaming circle has expanded slightly but isn't much different than it was two years ago. I've grown closer to some of them, but I think that's to be expected. So I want to get out more and try out an even greater variety, like trying out AmberCon Northwest, running a non-murder-mystery LARP, along with Dogs in the Vineyard, perhaps.