Ynas Midgard wrote:

I mostly watched movies of past eons (from the 2002 wuxia masterpiece Hero to the romantic trilogy Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight) and played a lot of League of Legends, so nothing really 2015-ish there.

No worries! You are still welcome to say, "Most enjoyable movie moment this year was X, from 19xx, because blah blah blah."

Ynas Midgard wrote:

IAs for RPGs, we had quite a couple of fantastic moments, but the best one was the "Epic of Archie" in our Dwimmermount campaign. Archie was a simple torchbearer the party hired around their first or second delve. In my games, hirelings always start as nameless NPCs and they "earn" a name after their first successful adventure, so he became Archie, and then later Burning Archie to reflect his torchbearer status, even though he was promoted to become a first level thief (with 1d4-2 hit points because of his poor Constitution). After several delves into the megadungeon, the party was fighting this large group of kobolds. One of the party members threw a flask of flaming oil into the fight - natural 1, of course. We randomly determined whom he hit straight, and it was Archie. So he burnt to death. It was hilarious and sad at the same time. Sadder than a player character dying, to be honest.

Nice! In my AD&D game that ran from 2011-2013, we had some memorable hirelings. I can relate.

Ynas Midgard wrote:

IA close contester would be the death of Aresius, a second level cleric. The second random green slime in a row that surprises the party and randomly attacks the same character. The first one he survived. The second he did not.

Oops!

Ynas Midgard wrote:

IBest music of 2015 for me was Aldgillissoan, the new album by Dutch band Baldrs Draumar. Fantastic metal music, and I love listening to Frisian (well, all Germanic languages give me the chills, to be honest; maybe not English, but that's because it's so abundantly present in my life).

I'll have to check these guys out. Thanks!

Ynas Midgard wrote:

IEDIT: Oh, and even though boardgame of the year would be definitely Kill the Overlord, the best boardgaming moment this year I had was just yesterday's Condottiere. Three of us were contesting our last region to win the game and everyone was just dealt a new hand. My totalled army was something like 40, while everyone could muster a potential 60+ points - but they were so afraid of someone bishopping their largest cards they played it safe. The second round I won by playing a Surrender card so I won - with only a single Mercenary of strength 5 on the table, nonetheless. Everyone was so mad at me :D

I don't play enough boardgames, maybe I will give these two a look. 
 

Some 2015 highlights for Ghul:

* Iron Maiden's "Book of Souls" double album
* Hyperborea Adventure Three-Pack Kickstarter success and fulfillment
* The epic series finale of "Falling Skies" (yes, I'm aware of the show's plethora of plot holes, but I still enjoyed it)
* The new show "The Last Kingdom," which I hope continues
* Running Corey Walden's "Anthropophagi of Xamboola" (a future AS&SH adventure) for my crew
* My son making the middle school basketball team 
* My daughter starting the viola and taking to it like a fish in water
* Sam Adams Rebel IPA
* Moving into a new house and loving it
* The Patriots winning the Superbowl

The worst of 2015:

* Blowing the engine of my car 10 days before Christmas and having to drop a used motor in it for a ridiculous amount of money


 

Highlights:
My new job
Rush's R40 concert: man, they can still flat-out play
Meeting Ghul, Handy & Big Perm at Sticks and Stones, playing in AoX
Showing my 9-year old how to paint miniatures and having him state "Dad, isn't this good father-son quality time: painting miniatures and talking about D&D?" Yes, yes it is...
Monday Night Brewing's Bed Head: IPA + Coffee = my only 5-star Untappd beer
And because it bears repeating, the Patriots winning the Superbowl: oderint dum metuant 
Lowlights:
My old job: they'll regret it to their dying days, should they live that long.
Deflategate: a bunch of hot air over hot air, but in the end I suspect someone is lying...

Handy Haversack wrote:

Ms. Haversack and I have been playing a lot of Splendor two-player and Spartacus when we have a person or two over. Both excellent board games.
.

Nice, I thought Ms. Haversack enjoyed Splendor upstairs in the Zoo that day. She seemed to have a knack for the strategy involved. It is the most frequent game requested by my wife also, on the rare occurrence she is the one suggesting we play a game.
 

Yes that was a very sad moment. That night me and my friends went strait to the bar and ordered a Jack & Coke in his honor.

Highlights:
- Gary Con, my very first Con. Had a blast meeting everyone and letting them know what a tyrant Handy is. I mean +0 swords, come on.
- Sticks and Stones Con. My second Con.
- Playing D&D and board games with my 8 and 5 year old sons. My 8 year old is becoming a fierce board gamer. Like Rhialto's son said, "good father-son quality time".
- Handy unleashing his twisted/fabulous imagination in our regular game. What a blast, we're lucky to have him as a DM.
- Only getting in 19 home games this year. Guess this can be put in the "First World Problems" category.
- visiting family in Texas and Virginia
- finally joining that kick boxing gym I've been meaning to join for the last 5 years.
Lowlights:
- Not reading nearly enough, will rectify this in 2016
- Over hearing my 5 year old's friend asking if I was his grandfather. Damn this luxurious gray beard.
- Some long time gaming buddies moving to California
 

lige wrote:

Highlights
-Getting to visit Angkor Wat, Bagan and Borobudur. 
-Seeing all my old friends and meeting new ones at Garycon. 
-Getting to run two campaigns at once
-Finally getting my wife to play a game (though she was one of the more hostile players I've ever had!)
 

All very cool, lige! Looking forward to gaming and drinking again this year!

BigPerm wrote:

Highlights:
- Gary Con, my very first Con. Had a blast meeting everyone and letting them know what a tyrant Handy is. I mean +0 swords, come on. 

You have no idea how much stink I'm going to put on your dice this weekend. There's going to be so much DM coming off them they won't even let you in a dice store. Years from now, D&D players will tear themselves out of nightmares where all their dice rolled only negative numbers, and your name will echo in their minds.

Also, no more +0 swords for you.

BigPerm wrote:

- Handy unleashing his twisted/fabulous imagination in our regular game. What a blast, we're lucky to have him as a DM.

OK. One more +0 sword.

BigPerm wrote:

- Over hearing my 5 year old's friend asking if I was his grandfather. Damn this luxurious gray beard.
- Some long time gaming buddies moving to California

I hope your premature aging didn't drive them away. I miss those guys!

Ghul wrote:

* Running Corey Walden's "Anthropophagi of Xamboola" (a future AS&SH adventure) for my crew

Wow, high praise indeed. Thanks!

Highlights:

— Finishing my Master's Thesis and being awarded first class honours.
— Presenting my first academic paper.
— Winning a travel competition, thus allowing my wife and I to get back to the States for Christmas/New Years.
— Doing LOTS of gaming and related writing, including finishing the playtest booklet for Tombstone (thanks Joseph!), releasing a few low-key adventures independently, playing in a Fallout-inspired Savage Worlds game, running the aforementioned Hyperborean adventure/campaign, running OD&D, playing Star Wars sci-fi, playing Labyrinth Lord in a G+ game.

...so very good year.

Resolutions:

— Begin my PhD.
— Publish two academic articles.
— Read and write everyday.
— Finish a certain adventure for Jeff ;)
— Finish Tombstone (thanks Joseph and Seb!)
— Continue with a new project.