blogs

The RPG Blog community is awesome. I have found a lot of really wonderful, supportive folks out there with their own blogs in the 7 months I’ve been doing this thing.

I bring this up because it is the theme of this month’s RPG Blog Carnival. I thought I’d let you all know what blogs I like to read so you can discover some other cool people if you aren’t already following them. It’s all about the love and support. Reading these blogs gives me ideas for posts of my own and has allowed me to meet a bunch of new friends.

• Dice Monkey Hosting this month’s carnival, the blog covers everything from comics to D&D. Mark Merdith reviews, designs, inspires, and creates. He’s prolific, smart, and kind. Check him out. He’s even got a lot of great products and supplements up on his site. Odds are if you’re playing a tabletop RPG, he’s written about it.
• Sly Flourish If you’re a DM or GM, Mike Shea‘s site is for you. He has all kinds of great tips and advice which run from system specific (including Fate, Dungeons and Dragons, 13th Age, and more) to general DM advice. He’s actually the guy who inspired me to start blogging and podcasting so I can’t recommend him enough.
• Gaming As Women I’m a feminist and a nerd. I can’t say enough how much it irks me when I see hateful comments and brohams trolling women in gaming. People, isn’t the gaming community marginalized enough as it is? So do yourself a favor, check out this blog. Gaming As Women is a great blog full of interesting essays, where women talk about their experiences in games, studies done in the industry, and review products. The many authors on the site are all women and as a man who plays mostly with other men, it’s great to see things from a different perspective.
• Newbie DM Enrique the Newbie DM has been playing D&D for years, but only really began DMing when fourth edition came along. He has some great advice on his site for new DMs and old alike. He also comments on the news of the day with a wise eye and swift pen. I’m looking forward to the return of his fabulous minicast with the release of fifth edition D&D. So check him out already!
• Old Dungeon Master Another great blog for DMs and GMs out there. Ronny Hart has been a DM for 30 years and right now he’s covering the release of fifth edition beautifully, giving us an inside look as his game and dolling out sage advice.
• Gaming Ballistic People of the world, Douglas Cole is here for you! My man is mainly a GURPS guru, but his blog covers a wealth of topics! If you need someone to really break down an idea or concept, you cannot beat Mr. Cole. He does deep dives into all sorts of ideas, including some he did for the new edition of Dungeons and Dragons. He also does in-depth interviews with people in the gaming industry, including this one he did with me:

• Dungeon Fantastic If you like old school dungeon crawls (and who doesn’t?) Peter V. Dell’Orto is your man. His system is GURPs, but his ideas and advice are universal. He loves hacking things and taking traditional fantasy ideas and turning them on their head. Check him out! This is a great resource for all fantasy RPG DMs.
• Sarah Darkmagic She’s written for Gaming As Women, but this one is the fantastic Tracy Hurley‘s personal blog. Her passion for equality amongst all people knows no bounds and her blog posts make a person think twice about their own games. I can’t say enough good things about Tracy and her blog, so do yourself a favor and check it out for yourself. I bet you come away more thoughtful and open-minded than you did before. She’s also a Wizards of the Coast insider, so you get a good behind-the-scenes look into the industry and the folks who make D&D.
•  5 Minute Workday Do you like your RPG news, reviews, and GM advice with a hilarious web comic? Then you have to check out Jester David‘s blog. He’s a man you can trust and does his research. His pen is solid, people. Check him out, especially if you like Pathfinder and D&D!
• RPG Musings I share a similar philosophy about gaming with author Sam Dillon – play the game you want to play. I’ve never met a person who can really evaluate and see an issue from all sides the way Sam can. If you like level-headed, even-handed, brilliant GMs, check out his blog for advice and thoughts on D&D products. If there’s one GM out there I want to experience more than any other, it’s Sam the man.
• Acts of Geek In the style of Nerdist, Acts of Geek covers everything in nerd culture. Check out their column by Joe Lastowski, Draggin’ Through Dungeons, to keep up with the latest D&D products. Joe’s reviews are thorough and tend to highlight things I would miss on a first read, so keep this page bookmarked and be sure to check back whenever a new D&D product arises. When he isn’t writing about products directly, Joe is commenting on the rules and giving us an in-depth look at fifth edition!
• The Gaming Blog of General Tangent If you want to hear the musings, advice, clever game designer, this is the blog for you. The posts are generally shorter, but packed with solid information. General Tangent hits hard and fast, so check out the blog and enjoy. It’s really good, especially when you don’t have time to read a long post from somewhere else.

Also, if you’re out there thinking of starting you own blog, be it about RPGs or anything else, let me say this – do it. It’s free and it’s rewarding. Even if you only post a few times and decide it’s not for you, hey at least you tried it out and won’t be wondering. For me, it’s been a super rewarding experience and I have found a whole new community of folks who talk games with me! What could be better?

If you like what you’re reading, please check out my podcasts on The Tome Show, follow me on Twitter, tell your friends and share this blog post, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!