“In
a world where everyone is a publisher, no one is an editor.
And
that is the danger that we face today.”
– Scott
Pelley
The announcement of Google+’s eventual demise prompted many users to migrate to other social media platforms, a movement I explored in my last Hobby Games Recce post. Some have re-dedicated themselves to
blogs – some faithfully maintained, others neglected over time –
instead of or in addition to their engagement in social media. Part
of my satisfaction with Google+ came from others sharing links to
blogs to further inspire my own interest in adventure gaming. I
likened my Google+ feed to old-style gaming magazines, like Dragon
or Challenge, beloved print publications whose passing I
frequently lament. Although I’m still building and exploring
contacts through my MeWe presence, I find the platform lacking in
providing easily noticed updates to my old favorites and interesting
possibilities for new ones to follow (understandable in this period
of nascent gamer communities there). So I’m focusing on
re-evaluating my current browser bookmark folder for game blogs,
combing my old Google+ feeds for interesting blogs to add, and
reorganizing it for more efficient access.
New Game Content: Scenarios, gamemaster characters, settings,
races and classes, adventure hooks, and a host of new monsters, magic
items, spells, and other bits to add to games I enjoyed. No doubt
most gamers seek this kind of material when reading blogs. Dragon
often included entire scenarios – the first few years of my
subscription they frequently ran entries from their module design
contest – and Challenge was filled with short scenarios
supporting GDW’s and other companies’ games.
Gaming Insights: Player and gamemaster advice, retrospectives
on past games or trends, design notes on my favorite games,
interviews with gaming luminaries, debates on gaming issues. I’ll
always remember the debate on whether or not clerics should use edged
weapons in my first issue of Dragon Magazine.
News & Reviews: Magazine ads and review columns used to
help readers find out about new game materials and determine whether
they were right for our own gaming tables. While both magazines ran
columns touting their publishers’ upcoming releases, they also
reviewed game products from across the industry.
I keep these three broad categories
in mind while I re-organize and re-evaluate the adventure gaming
websites on my browser’s bookmarks...and consider new ones to add.
I’ve already done this for websites relating to my wargaming hobby
pursuits (arguably a far more limited field than roleplaying games).
As I clean up and prioritize my adventure gaming sites, several
creators and blogs stand out, delivering relatively regular, quality
content relevant to my gaming interests. These
provide content similar to articles I most enjoyed in classic print
magazines of yore. In the
magazine paradigm they represent favorite authors, columns, and
article types; as an “editor” or “curator” of my interwebzes
experience, I find them useful enough to share with others in their
own efforts to more easily find inspiring game content online:
Dyson’s Dodecahedron: Maps remain a mainstay for
fantasy roleplaying games, so free maps in a classic, cross-hatched
style provide great inspiration, especially for those without the
time and talent to craft their own. Dyson Logos has become a central
figure in the graphic design of the Old School Renaissance movement
(OSR), ironically through his popularity on Google+. Each week he
posts one or two maps, including inspirational notes about the
locations, though gamers can simply use the maps for their own
purposes. While they’re free to use for personal use, many he
releases with a free commercial-use license thanks to generous
supporters of his Patreon page.
Rolltop Indigo: Fans of S. John Ross and his cavalcade of
innovative game resources (Risus: The Anything RPG, Uresia: Grave
of Heaven, Encounter Critical, to name only a few) can find his
voice in this blog, along with links to past treasure troves of
material. You don’t have to love Risus to enjoy his musings
on the gaming world. He shares his game design insights through “RPG
Lexicon” articles. He demonstrates graphic design tricks for game
maps. And he reminds readers of his past, ever-useful contributions
to the gaming world with resources like The Big List of RPG Plots.
His is one of the few adventure gaming creator blogs I follow
religiously.
Trilemma Adventures: Michael Prescott
offers regular doses of free, system-neutral adventures with
absolutely amazing cutaway-view maps (powered by his Patreon page).
He also offers other game-related material on a blog, including
tutorials and insights into his artwork.
Playing at the World: I’ve discussed
Jon Peterson’s groundbreaking gaming history Playing at the
World before. Articles at his blog continue adding to the
knowledge of early roleplaying origins and development to provide
interesting insights on the adventure gaming hobby. He generally adds
a new article each month, sometimes more often as new artifacts from
gaming history resurface.
Trollish Delver:
The blog offers a nice variety of insights on gaming issues as well
as interesting content. I’ve enjoyed Scott Malthouse’s contributions on
Google+ as well as his OSR creations (Osprey Games is developing a
second edition of his Romance of the Perilous Land game).
Gothridge Manor: Although Tim Shorts runs a blog of the samename, his stores his real treasure trove at the Gothridge Manor Patreon page. Here he offers up frequent servings of
micro-adventures, locations, and NPCs suitable for OSR and other
fantasy roleplaying games. If you’re a Luddite follower of the
Albertian Order of St. Leibowitz like me, you can support him at the
$5 level and receive printed copies of his work in your post box.
They’re the perfect size to insert into any campaign and provide an
evening’s adventure.
The Dungeon Dozen: Jason Sholtis regularly delivers doses of
d12 random tables offering options from the mundane to the gonzo and
world-spanning. Just reading a few of his most recent topics and
entries offers ideas for encounters, random or chosen. In the past
I’ve found similar blogs offering regular doses of random tables on
many aspect of adventure gaming; I expect I’ll have to bookmark a
few of these to regularly read to feed my occasional hunger for
random inspiration.
Tenkar’s Tavern: Perhaps the core OSR community on the
interwebzes, Tenkar’s Tavern serves up daily insights, news, and
sometimes controversy related to the OSR and the greater gaming
scene. Like a typical fantasy tavern you’ll find everything here:
news of upcoming releases, an occasional review, podcasts, regular
chats, Kickstarter news and critiques, and a host of giveaways,
including the illustrious “12 Days of OSR Christmas.”
Zenopus Archives: Another website focusing on gaming’s past,
this one particularly on the J. Eric Holmes edition of Basic
Dungeons & Dragons (the first to condense the three little
books into some coherent system, before the Advanced D&D
hardcovers and my preferred Moldvay edition Basic D&D). It
explores and celebrates the early days of the adventure gaming hobby,
its personalities, inspirations, rules, publications, and news of its
resurgence or reprinting.
I’ve encountered all these blogs in my sojourns across the infinite
interwebzes. They’re tailored to my particular interests and
tastes. Every gamer has their own preferred list of such websites;
their utility to even a few individuals validates their
contributions. Like any good editor or curator I’m always open to
examining and following new blogs that provide inspiration and
entertainment. Hopefully my re-adjusted social media exposure will
continue to register these new blogs on my radar.
