This Is Me--2024 A to Z Theme

My A to Z Themes in the past have covered a range of topics and for 2024 the theme is a personal retrospective that I call "I Coulda Been" which is in reference to my job and career arc over my lifetime. I'll be looking at all sorts of occupations that I have done or could have done. Maybe you've done some of these too!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Intro to the RPG Blogger Community: A Guest Post from Shinobicow

           Today I'm a guest on the blog of Alex J. Cavanaugh where I'm talking about the origin of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.   Be sure to check that out, but before you go make sure you check today's post from my special guest from Japan.   When I noticed all of the bloggers from the gaming community signing up for the challenge I wanted to know what these folks were all about.  My guest today is going to educate us about the RPG Blogger Community.  


Intro to the RPG Blogger Community



          You may have noticed that the A to Z Blogging Challenge has attracted more than just folks from the writing and reading crowd. The Roleplaying Game community has decided that the A to Z Blogging Challenge looks like a lot of fun. Hello! I’m one of those bloggers. My name is Greg – I live in Japan and teach English at a High School near Mt. Fuji, but when I’m not educating young minds, I’m rolling dice and either playing or writing about D&D or one of many other RPG’s.




        I got my start in gaming in high school when some friends of mine introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons. I got in deep. I became the fabled “Dungeon Master” pretty much overnight and ended up running D&D adventures for the next four years, often at the friendly local game store where I worked. In college, I didn’t play nearly as much as in high school, but I got back into the RPG world when I studied abroad in Japan. During my time studying Japanese, I started writing an RPG blog called The Dump Stat. I write reviews of old and new games, advice for players and gamer masters, and I also develop and publish my own content for existing games, as well as my own RPG’s. I am not alone.



       The RPG Blogger Community is wide and diverse. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of RPG Blogs out there spanning several continents and representing a truly international group of people all bound together by a singular common interest – picking up some polyhedral dice and having a fun time with some friends. Roleplaying Games are more than just games though – I know that my skills at public and extemporaneous speaking have definitely improved as a result of my “hobby”. Mark, from the Literary Roleplaying Game Society of Westchester, a fellow RPG Blogger, likes to focus on the idea of “What can RPG’s do for me?” when trying to introduce new people to our world. RPG’s offer you the chance to hone your skills in leadership, teamwork, tactical and strategic thinking, improvisation in both speaking and acting, and not surprisingly writing. Blogging on The Dump Stat has improved my writing in a number of different styles. I get a chance to write advice columns, reviews, fiction, guidebooks, and a whole lot more.



         But, like I mentioned earlier, I’m not alone in this at all. The RPG Blogging community is a vast, strange and amazing place. There are numerous network out there which link these bloggers together – I am a member of the RPG Bloggers Network and the Roleplay Media Network. Blogs in the RPG Community cover games ranging through the ages; a host of bloggers stay faithful to the original rules of D&D and are hard at work revitalizing old school gaming. They spearhead the OSR (Old School Renaissance) and keep the original feel of the original roleplaying game alive and well. Lots of people focus on new trends in RPG’s, choosing to play and write about the new stuff making waves in the hobby.

          So, why is any of this relevant to you? Why do you care? Well, chances are, that among you, are at least a few RPG players, even if you’re not blogging about them (or reading blogs about RPG’s). If you fall into the category of RPG players that simply haven’t found the RPG Blogosphere yet, we welcome you with open arms. Jonathan Jacobs, the head of Nevermet Press, a RPB Blogger, gone publisher, has put out two volumes of Open Game Table which have compiled some of the best RPG related blog posts from the RPG Blogger Community over the last 2 years and has put them all into the same place. You might think about giving it a read through if you’re interested in finding a Blogger Voice that speaks to you (or you could just find the RSS feed to the RPG Blogger Network and go from there – the network puts out around 100 posts a day, so there is a lot of content there to read).

         But, what if you’re not into RPG’s yet, and don’t even know if RPG’s are of any interest to you; well, there is content on RPG Blogs which still may be very interesting to you as well. The folks on the RPG Bloggers Network tend to be a very creative bunch of people and have a knack for writing science fiction and fantasy. I know more than one RPG Blogger that has self-published his own novel and I am sure there are more out there that I’m simply not aware of yet. Many RPG Bloggers develop their own game worlds for their ongoing RPG adventures and a lot of these blogs are worth a read. They can be truly interesting and often bring truly new ideas to the world of sci-fi and fantasy.

         So, in closing, what are you waiting for? Go give some of the RPG Blogs a read. I could do a link dump of all of the RPG blogs I read, but that would take up several pages. Your best bet is to go check out the RPG Bloggers Network (though it hasn’t been updated in a little while) and see all the blogs that are out there. Also, if you happen to be on twitter, the RPG community is there in force. You can find many RPG Bloggers tweeting up a storm, talking about RPG’s and generally fun stuff all day long.

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            Thanks Greg!  I appreciate you having taken the time to give us this great post.  Stop by to visit him at The Dump Stat.  

            By the way, I checked with Greg after I got news of the earthquake in Japan.  He informed me that he and his family are fine.  This is a huge tragedy for the people of this great country and I hope you will keep them in your prayers and give whatever aid you can offer.

            Be sure to come back to Tossing It Out tomorrow and on Wednesday when I return with some thoughts on the subject of promotion and publicity as it applies to  the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  Please let us know if any of you are trying the publicity methods I've been suggesting and what the outcome has been.




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23 comments:

  1. Great post, Gary. Interesting stuff. I've always wondered about gaming. My prayers are with all in Japan.

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  2. I'm a RPG person! It's been a while since I played, but I went from player to Dungeon Master as well and spent years leading a group of friends on adventures. Good to know there's still lots of RPG people out there.

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  3. Nice post! I played Everquest for a while, and so my son. Lately, I came across a psychotherapist who specializes in "gamer-affirmative psychotherapy."

    Very interesting stuff. The link to his website is:
    http://gamertherapist.com/blog/

    Doris

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  4. Great and interesting post Lee, a couple of my followers have signed up.

    Have a good day,
    Yvonne.

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  5. the AZ CHALLENGE has officially conquered all the continents and is now looking to spread over galaxy too :)

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  6. I've never played an RPG, but they always sound like fun :)

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  7. This was a really interesting post. I love the internet, brings so many people together. I can see how RPGs relate to fiction writing - seems to use exactly the same creativity and plotting "muscles." I wonder if the RPG blogging community get into some of the on-line/video game RPGs, like KOTOR. Guess I ought to go exploring. ;)


    Thank you for the update on how Greg and his family are doing.

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  8. Interesting post, thanks for the inside scoop on RPG blogging - sounds pretty cool. :)

    Marvin D Wilson

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  9. Hummm.... I don't know if I'm a RPG. I'm not one for game playing on-line but I do enjoy role playing :)
    Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

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  10. Very interesting! I had no idea...

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  11. Great post.

    I am looking forward to seeing what the RPG Blog community will do during this April A to Z challenge. I am very impressed with the amount and quality of content I have seen and this challenge should up that.

    I am participating myself and I hope I can live up to it all!

    http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/

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  12. I'm not a RPG person, but blogging is a great way to improve your writing and help find your natural voice. Stay safe.

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  13. Interesting indeed. I did not know RPG moved to blogs.

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  14. Well I've learned something new from this, thanks Greg.
    I am praying for Japan.
    Love Di ♥

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  15. So interesting! I don't know why I was surprised to find out there are role playing blogs. There are blogs for everything!

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  16. Nice to meet you Greg; my son is into RPG and he has thought about writing. Maybe I will try to recruit him for my blog or the blogging challenge. I think between college n' school and RPG, too busy.
    I am glad you and yours are okay; My thoughts and prayers go out to those in Japan!

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  17. Good introduction to RPG Bloggers community, blog lists and RSS feed. I myself as a roleplaying blog writer took this challenge as an inspiration. Every day except Sundays new letter to post about something roleplaying games and gaming related, great tool for me as blogger.

    http://cradleofrabies.blogspot.com/

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  18. My thanks to Greg for standing in for me today and thanks to everyone who left a comment. I've been a bit busy today--sorry that I didn't respond to each commenter, but be assured that I saw every one of the comments that were left today. Thank you!

    Lee

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  19. Hey everyone! Thanks for all the great comments. Sorry I could be around when this came out, but, a bit busy with all the quakes here and with the nuclear power plant... it is definitely a huge tragedy, but my family is keeping its head down and trying to get through all of this. Thank you for the very warm welcome here and for all the great comments and feedback. Really looking forward to the A to Z challenge and I have some fun stuff planned already!

    Take care everyone!

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  20. I'll try to work my way through all of these comments soonish!

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  21. I think everyone understands the situation. We appreciate the post and look forward to what you have in store for A to Z.

    Lee

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  22. @Dezmond - Yep, the Galaxy is next. Currently slated for the 2012 A to Z challenge (Space Edition)

    @Jemi Fraser - well, A to Z in april might be a good time to start, RPG starts with 'R' :) There are a lot of great free games out there which you can download and play around with. Might be a fun place to start.

    @Nicki Elson - yea, they really are tied hand in hand. The original RPG's were based heavily on fantasy writing and RPG's have now spawned numerous Fantasy series. And, yea, a lot of us are into online gaming, but a lot aren't. I used to play Guild Wars and WoW quite a bit, but that's largely stopped since I moved abroad.

    @Ella - yea, why not get him into it :) it has definitely been a good use of my time.


    Again, everybody, thanks for the warm welcome here and thanks for all the good wishes for the situation here in Japan! See you in April!!

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