But back to my point, if I really have one, the one thing I like about the OSR even if they are populated with young and old grump grognards, is how welcoming the community is as a whole. I've been blogging for nearly two years now and I think I've had one asshole comment and even then he was always a great commenter before, just maybe had a bad day. I'm cool with it and don't hold a grudge. It's too exhausting.
There seems to be a new influx of old-school blogs popping up and part of the reason why I came up the newbie award. One I thought it was funny and two its always nice to have a boost in the beginning. Just letting someone know you are reading their posts can keep them in the game.
When my wife came out with her blog, The Happy Whisk, I think she had more gamers following her than cooks or writers. She admits to liking the gamers more because 'we are funny'. She is right. We are funny. It is really cool to see these old school gamers who have my wife's blog on their blog roll. It's small things like that that I appreciate the old school group.
When I recently came out with my first old school product I received a lot of encouragement and support from the other bloggers. And I know if someone is coming out with something I know I try to support it also. Then we have all those bloggers out there who continually put out free stuff. Al over at Beyond the Black Gate has earned his own file folder on my computer. He puts out great stuff and I gather it all in one place so I can find it later on.
I almost forgot to mention all the Warhammer, war gamer cross overs we have had lately. The Angry Lurker and Porky are two of the more prolific commentators on Whisk's and my blogs. Lurker even promoted my adventure on his blog which was great to see.
Okay, I am done with my love fest. I'll make sure tomorrow I bitch about something to balance the scales.
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Oh Honey. That's some song. Funny stuff. Smooch.
ReplyDeleteAgree with everything you said. In over a year of blogging on the fringe of the OSR, I've had nothing but positive interactions with people in the community.
ReplyDeleteI've had my blog for almost two year (but admittedly, I haven't really been active on it until this past September/October). I've found the OSR community to be a very welcoming, creative bunch. I'm really digging the creative energy that the folks out there are putting into their DIY projects.
ReplyDeleteVery welcoming and creative. I agree. Great bunch. So fun.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely agree! You gave me your Newbie award and I mostly write about and play 4e! It goes to show that there's room in the OSR for all types.
ReplyDeleteDid I get here first?
ReplyDelete* looks over shoulder *
No Angry? Hurry...
I agree completely. There's an excellent atmosphere and I love the way encouragement flows and ideas get run with. It really feels like an extension of the gaming group. I especially like the mixing up, with players of different backgrounds coming together. Whisk and Angry (Happy and Angry?) are two of the biggest crossover points and it's fun to see everyone meeting up day after day in different arrangements.
For me the Newbie award and the like, and general linking around, are really important. I think the bigger blogs almost have a duty to spread the word and help get the good ideas a worthy audience. That openness and non-territoriality is another big plus.
Whisk > You bet babe! I'll sing it for you later.
ReplyDeleteRisus > You've got a great blog and I see you popping up all over the place.
Johnathan > Yeah there is a lot of great stuff going on and with you and more of the artists participating it helps. BTW, your artwork you and your wife have been doing is fantastic.
Sully > 4e, 2e, no e I am not a fan of edition battles. I love the conversations of the differences, but I am never one to tell someone their game sucks just because its not one I play. I think its important to include as many people as you can get and just have fun with it. We don't blog for a living, we do it for fun.
Porky > I know, I am shocked. You got here before Lurker. He must have tied one on last night or got tied down and forgotten. Yeah I think for the most part the larger blogs do that. I made the newbie glog award after seeing all those awards the writing blogs give each other. Ivy won like 13 in the first couple of months. I was like I never won an award. I don't remember ever seeing award. I'll make my own award. And so it was born. And I've gotten a good response from it.
Hey, I find it so natural for the OSR bloggers to be nice, fun people. We've all "been through magic and life's reality" as Ozzy said in the Black Sabbath song Supernaut. We know that we need to appreciate the opportunities to game that we've been lucky to have, especially as we get older and free time shrinks. It's been great talking to all of you out there. I wish I had more time to devote to communicating with everyone and writing more blog posts. Maybe someday, but for now, I need to focus on actually spending my free time gaming! And I also just got laid off thanks to the Second Great Depression, so I am also spending time looking for a new job. But I don't intend to let that stop me from gaming for long!
ReplyDeletePorky: Happy and Angry. Hahaaha. And look at that, you really did beat him this time. I award you a 4th bucket of rotten peaches.
ReplyDeleteTim: I look forward to that. I've still got Baby Monkey in my head from the last time you sung to me.
@ Happy - Thanks very much, but man, those peaches are really stinking up the place! I've got to think of something quick.
ReplyDelete@ Tim - They're really drowning in those awards - oh, wait... which is not to say they're not deserved of course! * looks around cautiously to check Happy still is * We need a few more ourselves I'd say, weirder ones too, like the wikipedia barnstars maybe.
I started making a food award but haven't finished it. Just a little thing to pass about without having to answer seven questions. Some of the awards come with rules. Not ours. No rules. Just fun.
ReplyDeleteI'll just add to the love fest. I hung out for years on a couple of forums and met some awesome people in the process, but don't check in at those places any longer because the signal to noise ratio is so low. I feel like most of the stuff I read on all these blogs is interesting, entertaining, and/or useful. And everyone is generally nice, welcoming, and polite.
ReplyDeleteTry publishing something racy and see how welcoming the OSR is.
ReplyDelete