Dang it, where are all the good RPG blogs getting off to?
I’ll be honest, I use my blogroll more as a list of bookmarks of things I want to read regularly than any kind of promotional tool. But they all seem to be drying up as the folks on the list aren’t doing much any more. I’m tempted to purge the heck out of the list but don’t know what to replace them with!
Before anyone gets bent out of shape, these blogs are here in the first place because they’re my favorites. But my general quest of “I’d like to read something interesting and frequent on gaming that’s relevant to me” is getting harder.
A Character For Every Game gave up on its eponymous mission and is just posting maps, which I don’t use.
Chris Pramas of Green Ronin isn’t posting about gaming much at all on his blog. I already cut Erik Mona’s blog for the same reason.
Greyhawk Grognard almost quit but got his act back together IIRC. I love Greyhawk even though I don’t game in it any more.
Grognardia is still going strong. You know, I don’t play OSR games, but it seems like it’s only the OSR blogs nowadays that are active and actually talking about the fricking game!!! Still one of the lynchpins on my rotation.
Louis Porter is a new addition and is always entertaining, so he’s safe.
Lamentations of the Flame Princess used to be better; now it’s about 100% about the things Raffi’s publishing, which while that’s well and good is a bit to narrow to keep my attention (10 posts just on the cover painting? Really?).
I have a soft spot for goth girl Erin Palette, even though she doesn’t post about gaming that much.
The Paizo blog isn’t that thrilling as far as blogs go, but I play the hell out of Pathfinder so I follow it to keep up. It could use about 1000% more posts by the various Paizo luminaries on gaming stuff, previews, stuff that got cut from publication, etc.
I love me some Robin Laws games, but his blog really is getting interminable. Most of what could be considered gaming content is some kind of abstract diagramming of dramatic structure of Shakespeare or something. Come on man, did someone cut your balls off after you made Feng Shui and Rune? Get lively!
I like Zachary’s RPG Blog II but now he’s making noises about quitting/slowing down/just covering some Palladium.
I was following Tresca’s blog just for the Cthulhu story hour, which is great, although dementedly the blog is just a pointer and the content is posted at ENWorld.
I added the Escapist on a whim but don’t read it much.
The Free RPG Blog is on thin ice, it was gone for like 2 months there. I like its role in pointing out free games and pimping 1km1kt.
The RPGPundit has degenerated into 10 page posts on Legion of Super Heroes stuff.
I like my fellow Austinite Trollsmyth. He’s also gone mostly OSR.
I added Uncle Bear recently because I remember him from the old days but I just don’t read it much.
NiTessine – like him, but posting level is down to like once a month. To me the point of my roll is to hit it to read stuff whenever I’m bored. If it drops to less than about 1/week, then I just stop going back.
So as it stands I am thinking about cutting about half of these, and the other half certainly don’t fill my all consuming need for RPG info!
So who should I add instead? Seems like all the actual game designers I like (Laws, Mona, Pramas, etc.) just don’t really blog about gaming much beyond pretty focused stuff on the corp-sites they’re pimping but really not much even there. Unless they’ve moved gaming blogging to other blogs I don’t know about. I wonder if Steve Kenson has a blog besides the M&M site one… Or any of the Pathfinder guys… And many of the other bloggers have settled down into a sub-sub-niche and are refusing to budge (Pundit and LSH, Zach and Palladium…) If someone’s only coming out with something once in a long while, that’s what following the RPG Bloggers Network is for; I want to put people I specifically seek out and read on my blogroll.
I could add more OSR stuff I guess, but there are diminishing returns there – I dont’ use any mechanics stuff and since it’s a fairly insular community other good posts tend to get reblogged a lot so that I end up seeing them. No 4e, that gives me hives; I do have Gnome Stew and Dungeon Mastering down the the bottom part of my roll but with 4e comes a lot of posts I can’t use – not just ones that are mechanicsey, but focus on posting for noobs and products for 4e and all that, a lot of noise to the signal I’m looking for. Zak from “D&D With Porn Stars” is generating more good gaming content than 90% of these bloggers, if I can get over having a blogroll link about porn stars on my gaming blog.
I play mostly Pathfinder but that means I’m interested in real thinking and content on any D&D other than 4e, and also play/am interested in pretty much all other roleplaying games – from OSR to indie/storygame – but not to the point where I want to follow something that is totally into them exclusively in super depth… And ideally posting once a week or more! Let me know, who do YOU follow that I should add?
Geek Related 
Yeah, I’m sorry. I’ve been busy and I feel bad that I’ve been neglecting the blog, but there’s a post in the works and it should be up before Monday.
No problem man, it’s totally understandable when people don’t have time for it. But I HUNGER!!! 🙂
And here you go! http://nitessine.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/review-the-pearls-of-pohjola-from-expeditious-retreat-press/
Well, I post a fair amount of Pathfinder resources on my journal, with some general game discussion and material for other system (mostly L5R at the moment). May be of interest, maybe not, take a look.
Not a blog, or is it? http://www.necromancers-online.com/index.html (3.5/Pathfinder freebies and articles)
http://beyondtheblackgate.blogspot.com/ Oldschool blog of note)
http://strangestones.wordpress.com/ (Oldschool + games like Barbarians of Lemuria)
Heh. I’d recommend my blog as I’m a PF nut, but I only post when I feel like I have something valuable to share or when I’m inspired by some event/discovery. Not very fricking often, I’m afraid.
My suggestion, then? Instead of questing to fill the time you used to spend online, play more games and focus just on the blogger guys/gals you really like to read. It will probably inform more original content for your own blog, and you know you’re supporting the people you think are worth supporting.
But what do I know? I’m not much of a blogosphere traveler.
The question is what do you want from your blog?
My company blog posts mostly Pathfinder Rpg, on monday we post new magic, on tuesday we tease up coming products or stuff from our patronage products, on wednesdays Mark Gedak posts gothic horror, on Friday’s we post interviews or behind the scenes material. .
You misspelled your URL… But yeah, I’ll add you guys, I did download and use one of the monsters you posted.
Kettle, pot. Pot, kettle.
You’re one of the better rpg bloggers around, especially when you go after bad actors in the business, or otherwise take a broader view of the entire gamer culture rather than focus so closely on rules or nostalgia.
That said, you’ve been writing much less lately, and that bums me out! Yes, you’re right that others eventually tire and give up. But this rpg blog fan can’t afford for that to happen to you! So please, pick up the frequency.
As for others to read, whatever you think of Playing D&D With Porn Stars, he’s got probably the best blogroll around. I found several excellent new folks to follow from his list.
Sincerely, a big fan.
For some reason, I’ve noticed the same phenomenon on my list of blogs I most actively follow. Maybe we’re reaching a some sort of trough?
So I can’t really recommend anything, either.
I know that you’re not directly attacking any of the aforementioned bloggers, merely lamenting the lack of content, however the fact remains that neither of them “owe” you anything. Rather than complaining that the “blogosphere” isn’t entertaining you often enough, perhaps this is an opportunity for you to either: a) spend time creating your own content, or b) engage in different activities when you’re bored.
Read a book, do some gardening, go for a walk, paint the house, exercise, cook some meals and freeze them, take up the guitar, learn a foreign language, join a local social club of some sort, etc, etc… The world is vast and in the grand scheme of things blogs are a minuscule portion thereof.
I’m sure you’re not trying to come across as a condescending jerk, but you are.
I do spend time creating my own content (duh, look around), and I do “engage in other activities.” Wanting to read interesting gaming blog posts doesn’t equal “sits in front of the computer in the basement all day not doing other things.” However, one of my chosen hobbies is gaming, and this being 2010 I use the Internet to learn about them/discuss them. So as my previous batch of sources seems to be drying up somewhat, I’m asking what other good ones are out there. “Read a book?” Jesus dude, besides these posts I read a 500 page book in its entirety yesterday, took my daughter and her friend who had a sleepover to the pool, walked both the dogs, cleaned the house, and worked on some freelancing stuff I’m doing. So stick the homespun advice.
I tend to talk about gaming more on my EN World column, which you can find here:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/blogs/erik-mona/
As you can see, even that blog has taken a bit of a hit as far as frequency is concerned due to Paizo’s production schedule, moving, etc., but if you don’t like hearing about old pulp novels but you still want to read my sweet, sweet prose, that’s probably your best bet.
Should be something new up there in about a week.
–Erik
As if by magic, albeit late magic, I’m posting characters and house rules and general RPG stuff again to A Character For Every Game.
The maps are like a placeholder. If I’m too busy or drained to write any articles, my weekly map postings go up to keep the cobwebs from settling in over the blog as a whole.
😉
Huzzah! Welcome back to life.