Happy New Year 2023

**Birched** · #1 Jan 1st, 2023, 03:29 PM

Happy New Year!

I wish you all health and happiness in the year to come! Thank you to all our community members, and especially staff and other volunteers for an excellent 2022. I can't wait to see what 2023 holds!

Charity Drive 2022 final tally

We finished our 11th annual December drive with a total of $2,552 $2612 raised for the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. This brings our grand total raised over the past 11 years to almost over $20,000!* I'm proud that our community continues to make an impact in this way.

For those who received prizes from the drive: please make an effort to write an online review of any accessory you use to give a helping hand to the generous prize donors. I aim to finish my part in handling all the prizes during the first week of January and you should be receiving everything soon after that. Everyone who participated should have received at least one pm or email about drive rewards from me -- if you didn't, please contact me ASAP.

Some highlights from the year:

RPG Crossing put out two new issues of Explosive Runes this year, including the current issue #33 that came out this month. If you haven't checked out this free community project, you're missing out on great art, stories, gaming advice, and short adventures! Back issues can be found at RPG Crossing's Explosive Runes page. Anyone interested in contributing to the next issue should contact Admin Dirk or wodine.

At the beginning of February, Solid Snek was announced as the winner of the 2021 Post of the Year about Gotz the poet. Keep an eye on the Announcements forum in the coming month to learn the winner of the 2022 Post of the Year.

For the third year, we opted for an alternate April 1 celebration. Instead of a prank, we had another community day(s). People seem to enjoy this positive alternative, so I see no reason why we shouldn't keep doing it every year.

Also in April, we again ran a Spring Scavenger Hunt as a replacement for the Easter Egg Hunt. The winners were team "Hot, Cross Bunnies" (bananabadger, Bothers, Leviticus, Anotherdragoon, Imveros, LadyNotAGirl).

In May, Aethera announced the addition of three new games to RPG Crossing's Hall of Fame. The new inductees were Dead Suns, a Starfinder game GMed by ruffdove; Reluctant Heroes, a homebrew Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e/5th edition game DMed by Gibbon, Rasgorn, and Horseman; and Under Auril's Dark Mantle, a Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition game DMed by Jon.

In June, Bhelogan and Imveros put together a special Outplay edition of RPG Crossing Radio, RPG Crossing's podcast. Outplay, RPG Crossing's player competition, opened applications at the beginning of June and wrapped up by the end of August. In the end there was a final showdown with entries by Bushi and AnotherDragoon. In the final reckoning, Bushi edged out AnotherDragoon to take the prize.

In July, the competitors in the short story competition were judged and found to all be excellent. As far as I can tell, the judging ended in a four way tie and a discussion about how great all of the entries were.

In September, it was time for Iron DM. Check out the competition, and discover who won the final confrontation between Auron3991 and bananabadger!

In November, we added some new badges for competition judges. I think we got everyone, but if you think you were overlooked, please let the staff know.

And wow! As of the end of December, we are up to 1196 NPSG grads and going strong, with eight game systems to choose from! Thank you to everyone who contributes to that amazing initiative!

I'd also like to give a shout out to everyone who takes a moment out of their day to welcome new members to our community - thank you!

And that's a wrap! Happy New Year and good luck in all your adventures in 2022! Now go play some games!**

With special thanks to our Community Supporters and donors who provide the principal financial support for the ongoing existence of this community,

- Mark / Birched

PS If you are running something on the site that I haven't mentioned, or if you see any errors or omissions, please send me a pm and let me know! I'll add it to my note this year and for future years.

*Edited for last moment donations
**Unless, of course, you like lists, in which case you should take a look at the following just for fun, and then go play some games.

Users who referred the most new users who stuck around to make at least 10 posts in 2022. Thanks!