Five hundred blog posts. Wow. Time flies.
It’s been almost a year and a half since I wrote my Four Hundred blog post. Obviously, my output has slipped. I’m going to have to think about that, and see if there’s something I want to be writing about but am not. I know that this summer, I was really slacking on the posting, and then there was some downtime as I reworked the site. Since then, I’ve been posting a little more regularly, and I want that to continue.
Anyway.
Over the past hundred posts, by far the majority of what I’ve been posting has been play reports from my campaigns. Maybe not the most interesting stuff in the world, but I try to spice them up with thoughts about what’s working and what’s not. They get some solid traffic, so I’m assuming that someone out there ((Beyond my players.)) is enjoying them.
Of my new posts, the biggest draws seem to be reviews – this makes sense to me, as word of the review usually gets broadcast further than my normal reach allows, thanks to the publishers, authors, fans, etc. People are obviously interested in my reviews of games and books ((So much so that I’ve posted my review policy here.)), so I’m going to try and do more of those, I think.
The biggest draws on the site are still – and I think this is a testament to how good the game is – my articles about The Dresden Files RPG. It’s gotten so that I can tell when a new group is starting a game, because of the spike in page views on campaign creation and character creation posts. I’m pretty pleased that the game is going strong, and glad that I’m able to contribute to people’s enjoyment of it in my own way ((If you were around when this all started, or if you look back into the misty past as represented by the blog’s archives, you will recall (or discover) that without DFRPG and the cool folks at Evil Hat, this blog would not exist, so the game will always have a special place in my heart. Thanks again, Fred, for your brilliant Disclosure Policy during the playtest!)).
So. Five hundred posts in five and a half years ((Five years, ten months to be a little more precise.)). Daily traffic that averages around 300 page views per day. Nine different campaigns I’ve wonked on at length about, four of which are recorded from start to finish in the play reports on this site. And a number of good friends made through the blog.
Thanks to everyone who reads the blog. Extra special thanks to everyone who comments, or who comes up in person to talk to me because of the blog – it’s nice to know I’m not shouting into a void.
Thanks to the publishers who have said nice things about the blog, and who always treat me so well whenever we interact. Special mention goes to Evil Hat Productions, Margaret Weis Productions, Atlas Games, and Pelgrane Press. These folks all treat their fans with great respect, care, and friendliness. And the make great games ((I don’t have sponsors or advertisers on this blog, and I never plan to. When I recommend something, it’s because I think it’s good, and no other reason. So, take me seriously when I say these folks deserve your dollars.)).
Most of all, though, thanks to my friends – my fellow gamers – who let me use their game sessions as blogfodder. They are good people ((Except for Erik, who is a great big freak. And Chris, who is my nemesis.)), and I appreciate their tolerance and indulgence, especially when I go into one of my weird, experimental phases.
Now. Something I don’t normally do. I’m going to open the floor to suggestions. Is there anything that you folks out there would like to see a blog post on? Can’t guarantee I’ll do it, but I am curious to see what people are interested in. Toss your suggestion up in the comments.
And I hope you’ll stick around for another hundred posts, at least.
*shakes fist*
*does festive dance*
Delurking to say hi. I’m one of the someones out there who enjoy your play reports. I like seeing how other people use systems, particularly ones I’m not familiar or comfortable with. Your Armitage Files game was probably my favorite so far; I’m lousy at running the mythos.
I really appreciate the detail in your reports, in system, story, and GM thoughts. Hope you keep ’em coming. Thanks!
I really like you insight into what’s working for you and for your players. Especially because it seems quite candid – you talk about mistakes you made and try to improve.
Another thing bringing me here is that you tal abotu a lot of systems that either (a) I play/run or (b) I want to play/run. The second category is more than just vicarious fun, it also help my understanding of the differing foundations for the systems. For example, you try to run Dresden/FATE/FAE like 4e and you’ll find a poor fit – you won’t be playing to the system’s strengths.
Finally, it seems as if you also run immersive, character/story/RP heavy games where the character actions can throw everything for a loop like I enjoy, so what you write resonates well with me. This goes back to the “(b) want to run/play”, as you’ve introduced me to some games like AW or Fiasco that probably wouldn’t have caught my interest enough for my limited gaming time otherwise.
In terms of things I’d like to see:
I really liked your breakdown series on Dresden after running several campaigns in it. That level of exposing the nuts-n-bolts of actual play (rather than just a readthru and few sessions of play) was excellent and vanishing rare. I’d love to see more of those for other systems, though I can appreciate that it was a mountain of work.
Along the same lines, if you end up house ruling systems I’d love to read an article about what you changed, what you were looking to accomplish, how well it worked/did you have to tweak it, etc.
You’ve good a good series on your gamemastering and plotting techniques, I’d love to see the occasional “behind the campaign curtain” where you talk about long term plotting and such for your ongoing campaigns, both where you’re going but also how your previous plans adjusted to the how the campaign unfolded. But since at least the first part of that would need to be “players keep out”, I’m not sure if that would be a good fit, and you already do talk about that to some degree in the playtest reports.