Blog - web log: a shared on-line journal where people can post diary entries about their personal experiences and hobbies; "postings on a blog are usually in chronological order". (source ordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)
Community - A feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals (source google.com)
Troll - (bold is added by me) In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory[citation needed], extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. (source Wikipedia)
I know this has been said to death, and everyone has been putting in their 2 cents in the past couple of days, but I need to say my little piece on the matter. I don't have the prose of others, and as we've seen my poetry can be a bit forced, but I'm going to borrow a minute of your time anyhow.
Why are you here? Why do you read these gaming blogs? If you blog yourself, why do you blog?
Probably because you enjoy all of the above, or you wouldn't be doing it. I highly doubt anyone is getting paid to read or write this stuff (not counting the lads and ladies that are actually publishing - heck, many of them aren't getting paid either). No one is forcing you into the blogosphere. You are here because you enjoy the community, the camaraderie, the attention to some extent, the joy of giving to others of yourself and your skills.
So why the fascination with shitting on people? Not all of us. Not most of us. Way less then some of us. The aberrant few. The type that kicks puppies and tortures kittens. The type that sets a fire, then waits for the fire department to respond and watch them put it out as they risk their lives. The type that would rather watch someone trapped in a car accident then help - not out of fear for their own safety, but the joy of watching the suffering. I've dealt with the above in my career, and they are not wired like normal folk.
Online communities have the same types of aberrant individuals as normal communities, but in far larger numbers. Anonymity. It lowers inhibitions. Those that would never act out on these impulses in their "real life" are more apt to do so online. A "troll" in your community, amongst your neighbors, would not last long. Online, "trolls" have the ability to regenerate like an AD&D Trolls of old.
Of course, online communities also allow those that are painfully shy to open up. Anonymity. It lowers inhibitions.
The blade cuts both ways.
If this were a forum, a strong hand by moderators would keep the "flame wars" and "trolls" under control. In this community, the OSR Blogging Community, there is only us.
We are not friends, at least not most of us. Online acquaintances at best. But we share a hobby and a community. A good, healthy community pays dividends on a daily basis. I'd like to think this is a good, healthy community.
K, done preaching. Off my soapbox. Carry on, nothing to see here!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Tenkar's Tavern is supported by various affiliate programs, including Amazon, RPGNow,
and Humble Bundle as well as Patreon. Your patronage is appreciated and helps keep the
lights on and the taps flowing. Your Humble Bartender, Tenkar
Blogs of Inspiration & Erudition
-
-
Create Servant abuses - Someone asked about abuses of the *Create Servant* spell in Here a few things people used *Create Servant* for that I did allow: - touching basically anyth...9 hours ago
-
Arneson Gaming - For whatever reason, this little game I wrote has suddenly become of interest around the world. Creators has translated the game into Portuguese, Czech, I...12 hours ago
-
New Release: Myths & Monsters Vol. 3 - Lilith & Lilim - Walpurgis Night has given way to Beltane. But Walpurgis Week continues. Today I return to my roots in AD&D and bring the next in my Myths & Monsters ser...19 hours ago
-
Planets of the Foross Sector: Sarhat and Kion - The Foross Sector is located near the edge of Known Space, at the outermost point where the regions of vhen and enkai colonial influence meet, and give way...1 day ago
-
Victorious Rpg & Wretched Epoque rpg campaign Session Report One - Franco Prussian War Legacy - "Gaslight street lamps pour fitful illumination through the fog-shrouded streets of Victorian cities. Menacing figures lurk in darkened alleyways. Despera...1 day ago
-
Danse Macabre - By Luiz Eduardo RiconHexplore PublishingOSRLevels 3-5 There’s something strange in the neighborhood of Duskenville. Suddenly, not only are people not dying...1 day ago
-
Background Mutations for Paranoia - After last week’s holiday I’m taking a little break from Mythic places, but I’ll return to that series at some point. Let’s go back to Alpha Complex. ...2 days ago
-
Meta Monday: Psychedelic wizards, living on Earth-Prime, and the D&D Cartoon - Fr. Josh has continued to indulge me in working his way solo through my first Monstrous Matters campaign. At some point I'll probably get it in my head th...3 days ago
-
T-26 Beutepanzer - This is my 1:100 scale model of one of the myriad WWII German conversions of captured equipment, in this case marrying the Soviet T-26 light tank hull ...3 days ago
-
Companion Chronicles #14: The Adventure of the Thunder Knight - Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, The Companion...3 days ago
-
Adventure Writing Session Turns Into a Hex Crawl - Last Thursday I got on to do another Adventure Writing Session and Paul Turner joined me. We decided to use his zine, Critical Hit to roll up a hex flowe...5 days ago
-
How many editions of D&D, Part II - Back in July of 2022 I made a frivilous post on my thought regarding how many editions of D&D there really were. I came up with 8. Since then I have ent...5 days ago
-
Hexcrawling for Ethyria pt 3 - d100 Treasure - This is some Greek-themed petty non-magic treasures Will do a weirder magic list next My players are robbing a tomb no...5 days ago
-
[BLOG] News on the March! Episode VII. - This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and setup...6 days ago
-
-
Are Artists Even Human? (False Machine News!!) - Ordinary humans have literally zero idea of what it takes to develop and create an image, meaning they treat it as a kind of magic, and adopt towards it ...1 week ago
-
A Brief History on the Development and Design of the Planar Cosmology in AD&D - I was reading a good discussion a couple of months ago (in February 2025) about the nomenclature for the power levels of different types of demons over on ...1 week ago
-
Blogs on Tape season 6 has begun! - Hi everybody! Its been a minute. How are you? Everything is awful all the time? Horrors never cease? You’re being driven mad by the weight of the unfathoma...1 week ago
-
More Beautiful Development Sketches for The Great North - Tom Kilian continues to excel himself with the artwork for *The Great North*, now heading towards completion. As an Easter present, here is a work-in-pro...2 weeks ago
-
Tariffs, CanCon, and You - In 1972 the CBC asked listeners to complete the saying "As Canadian as...", to match "As American as apple pie." The winner was "As Canadian as possible ...2 weeks ago
-
Should you PAY your GM? - Let's start with the conclusion: GM-for-pay is okay. In other words: there is nothing wrong with paying someone to run a game for you, or charging people f...2 weeks ago
-
Noodle Bar & Industrial Scatter Terrain - This past weekend I got a couple of solid hours to paint when I wasn’t dead tired, and decided to spend it on the 3D printed Flatline City Noodle Bar tha...3 weeks ago
-
A Surprising Look at Murderhobos... - So I asked a question on Facebook this week. What did people do with the humanoid women and children in the Caves of Chaos, among similar adventures, persu...4 weeks ago
-
36 units sold on day one - Not big Kickstarter-type numbers or anything but still pretty personally gratifying to me, because 1) it'a more copies than the first book sold on its fi...4 weeks ago
-
Praise for Songs of the Dying Earth - Among my favourite works of fantasy fiction are the *Dying Earth* stories and the *Lyonesse *trilogy by Jack Vance. I’ve read the *Lyonesse *trilogy three ...4 weeks ago
-
Gary Con XVII - I attended Gary Con this year. Last year, I was supposed to go, but something came up and I had to cancel. This year, I ran a scenario I created called The...5 weeks ago
-
On the Success of the VOTE - You voted for it, and it's here! All the prices on the books I sell on DTRPG will be rising in price, 40-50% so I can maintain the same margin as now! ...1 month ago
-
Lexicon of Klarkash-Ton, Hierophant of Atlantis: Lupanar - This time, we follow the good High Priest to the far future, to the final continent of Earth, Zothique, for a a tale of ennui and love: Morthylla. Witho...1 month ago
-
Fight On! number 16 is out. - The new issue of *Fight On!* has been out for a bit. You can get copies via drivethru or lulu. I haven't finished reading my copy, but I'd like to reco...1 month ago
-
Wandering through the Majestic Fantasy Realms - It's time for another Bat in the Attic update! I am halfway through the first draft of my upcoming project, Into the Majestic Fantasy Realms, the Northe...2 months ago
-
The Hungering Dark - Go into the earth, and reality will walk alongside you. Walk further, and you will eventually be walking alone. The world is plastic down there. Tar Lat...2 months ago
-
Hobby Bingo 2025: January Progress - Welcome back to the Vault! I've painted a few bits and pieces in January and made a dent into my Hobby Bingo card! First up is a Chaplain in Terminator ...2 months ago
-
NTRPG Gaming Weekend - [image: NTRPG Gaming Weekend] This weekend was a "game day" for North Texas RPG Con, held at the same hotel the con is held at. I haven't slung dice since...3 months ago
-
Into the Wild Blue Yonder: A Journey Through Blackmoor's Dark Realm - *We have been thinking about you.* *We know what you want from Rob Kuntz.* You want more than another brand-new RPG module. It has to be a *First Edition ...3 months ago
-
Articulations - Creating house rules, custom rules specific to a local group or campaign, has been common throughout the history of D&D. What makes an effective house rule...3 months ago
-
A Fiftieth Anniversary Year - The 50th anniversary year of *Dungeons & Dragons *is drawing to a close. A number of projects I'd been planning for this year finally came out, and I ...4 months ago
-
A Quick Look at The Wizard’s Scroll II - October of this year saw the release of The Wizard’s Scroll II, the second issue of a White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game (FMAG) zine whose first ...4 months ago
-
Writing playlists for all occasions - Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction pieces...4 months ago
-
The Tarot of Pips - Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a secr...4 months ago
-
Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report - Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from “off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic item rese...4 months ago
-
Welcome new Greyhawk Fans! - With the publication of the new Dungeon Master’s Guide, there are doubtless going to be a lot of new D&D players interested in my favorite setting, the Wor...6 months ago
-
It's been a bit - Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and other st...11 months ago
-
*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace - A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or more w...1 year ago
-
Last move - to self-hosting! - As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to self-hosting. I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at) Blog: ht...1 year ago
-
Osamu Tezuka (1928 - 1989) - [image: Osamu Tezuka - Shonen Magazine Cover, 1970]Shonen Magazine Cover, 1970 [image: Osamu Tezuka - Shonen Magazine Cover Illustration 1970]Shonen Maga...2 years ago
-
This is an Important Game Mechanic - *"That's the GM's Regional Map from my AOWG. And it's a damned good regional map. It's not a good map for a Simple Homebrew Campaign. It does some s$&...2 years ago
-
Clean Your Room - Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it was ...3 years ago
-
-
Steve Jackson Interview - James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and upcomi...4 years ago
-
The Hero’s Journey 2nd Edition, Campbellian roleplaying at its best! - (this review done using the reviewers own purchased copy) I have been a James Michael Spahn fan since he wrote his Swords & Wizardry Companion. His writing...4 years ago
-
ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman - Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack. Using the monster tables in th...5 years ago
-
More Arden Vul Art - Another great piece from Del, this one's the Forum of Set: a place that the PCs may spend quite a bit of time within.5 years ago
-
OCHRE SAND - Init +0 Ranged Atk • fire burst +3 (1d14+1, 20') AC 17 HD 3d6 MV 60 Act 1d24 SP 'breath' weapon, sideslip, perfect silence, morphing Fort +5 Ref +8 Will...5 years ago
-
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie - When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there was a strang...5 years ago
-
New Map of the Elf Empire and Southern Isles - I’ve been having fun developing a new map-drawing style that I think is finally reaching a certain level of maturity. And yeah, it owes a lot to Matthew Ad...5 years ago
-
The Faithful - An Optional Archetype for Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells Revised Edition - Work on the revised edition of Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells is moving along. This will be a hefty tome, with a LOT of tools and new options to customiz...5 years ago
-
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule - *As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in Warren...5 years ago
-
Fiction in Airhde - On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by the T...5 years ago
-
-
Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map - I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots of redu...5 years ago
-
And Now the News Draft Download on Patreon - It's self-styled Throwback Thursday and *having just released the 34-page draft booklet of Hill Cantons news to my Patreon backers* I am going to indulge m...5 years ago
-
The Withered Crag available now - I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be available startin...5 years ago
-
Annihilation Rising Goes live - The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019! ...5 years ago
-
James's Celebration of Life - We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined us tod...6 years ago
-
Trap Tuesday: A step back - I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on Facebook I talked ...6 years ago
-
Let's Talk About Pacing! - The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player was...6 years ago
-
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2 - This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release, along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a Saint 8000...6 years ago
-
MIDDLE DUNGEONS LEVEL FIVE 158 STAIRS. - 158 STAIRS. These stairs descend thirty feet to Area 79 on Level 6.6 years ago
-
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask. - A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's *not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to promote...6 years ago
-
New website! - Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that site wil...6 years ago
-
Please Update Your Link! - If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is out of date. Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is h...6 years ago
-
Total Sales for WB:FMAG - Hi Folks, It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game. *LULU* Print: 396 PDF: 433 *OBS*...6 years ago
-
How can We Destroy this Campaign World? - d12 1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute of Annihilation* 2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...6 years ago
-
Mord Mar - Session 5 - We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers: Moira, the Magic-User Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?) Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...6 years ago
-
Yodeling For Yokels or The Further Misa(d&)dventures - This is the one of those posts that points out the lack of current posts. Over the last week or three, there has been postponed Labyrinth Lord (twice, one...7 years ago
-
Bundle of Fantasy Age - Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy Age RPG ma...7 years ago
-
New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults - A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex Zisch, a...7 years ago
-
Session XCIII: One Pissed Off Dragon! - Our ongoing Swords and Wizardry sandbox campaign... *Current Player Characters:* *Thenus* (Ranger) *Wang Du* (Monk) *Wolfheir* (Viking) *Arg* (Half-orc) ...7 years ago
-
Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6 - Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals, a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our next ...7 years ago
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI know why I write my food blog. I need a place to store my recipes is an easily-searchable, easily-edited format.
ReplyDeleteI know why I write my surf blog. When I'm old I want to look back on all the places and times when I was younger and stronger.
I like my garden blog because I like to track progress in the yard over time.
In all honesty, I don't know why I continue with my game blog. Sometimes I look at all of my old zines and miss the quiet diligence of sending people mail.
It is hard to ignore forum trolls, even with web-sites that allow you block some users. But this blog thing, ignoring them is so easy and the best approach.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I blog? Because I love writing game material, reviews and fiction (I don't do the journal thing). I love comments but have no hesitation in deleting comments and denying the free-speech of trolls.
I have a healthy respect for those of you who do this as a journal or put your personal lives into what you write. I love reading these journal-blogs and commenting, but I think you'd have to have a much thicker skin than mine to do it.
Christian, I read all of the above of yours and still enjoy the snail mail deliveries too ;)
ReplyDeleteWoops, finally broke down and made a blogger account just so I could comment on Blogger blogs.
ReplyDeleteI like to read stuff published by people playing games and the experiences they have. I despise those who attempt to position themselves as better than the next guy. Most of them are not or ever will be.
I blog mostly because I just can have fun doing so. Let a bit of the crazy out of the brain. Not too much.
I don't get people shitting on others either. I read a lot of stuff I do not agree with. Mostly, I just move on to read another blog. Everyone plays games differently. I have never understood the fascination with trashing someone else's thoughts just for the sake of doing so. People get a rise out of it. Being an ass just for the sake of being hated draws attention. That attention, I believe is the heart of the matter. They thrive on it.
Good topic.
I don't have the prose of others
ReplyDeleteWell I don't know Tenkar, I thought the above was very well said.
@austrodavicus - I have my moments, don't get spoiled on me, they can be few and far between ;)
ReplyDeleteMy blog is more a campaign notebook in online form so I can keep it easily organized, and eventually compile the notes, formatted and in good order, into a hardbound copy for myself, but if some other folks get some enjoyment out of what I put up, then good for them. I enjoy reading what others playing old-style games are doing, too. I don't like the "Gygax might have done this or that" stuff that gets posted so much - this is about moving forward, not backward. We should move forward with these rulesets, play the games, and have some fun. If we take the fun out of it by taking it all too seriously, then our Dungeons Are, indeed, Suck.
ReplyDeleteI am actually a sentient program in the Matrix. Everything I have ever said is a lie, wrapped in an illusion, trapped inside an enigma, designed to confuse and obsfucate the truth so that I can turn you into a duracell.
ReplyDeleteFuck! And here I thought you were a friend! Goddamn sonofa...
ReplyDeleteHeh... get back to work he of boundless creativity :)
Well, I blog because I enjoy it. I read other blogs because I find them synergestic, and they help inspire me when my creative well is dry. As far as being anonymous, now that I'm running for a spot as an ENnie judge for 2012, my anonymity is gone, which is fine with me. I have nothing to hide.
ReplyDeleteI said it on your blog and I'll say it here: Congrats Z!
ReplyDeleteI blog here because, honestly, who else is going to read this game stuff I blather on about?
ReplyDeleteI have a hobby I enjoy; I have found others who are the same. YAY! Not only that, I found others who shared many of my own experiences of growing up as an imaginative escapist and creative person.
ReplyDelete