So, almost a month ago, Bob at Cyclopeatron spotlighted my blog as an example of, well, a grognardling. That felt really awesome, but I couldn't help feel that I was getting a disproportionate amount of attention just because I had a mini-manifesto over on the right. I've been trying to figure out how to give a similar boost to other grognardlings. I don't have nearly the readership of Cyclopeatron, nor do I do enough browsing of newer blogs to be able to highlight new blogs like Cyclopeatron did for me.
After toying with other ideas, I hit on this: I'll populate my blog roll entirely with other blogs whose authors self-identify as grognardlings. If you read the description of "grognardling" on the right and think you qualify, if you have a blog and if you want to be added, let me know in the comments and I'll add you. If you know someone who you think qualifies, send them this way; I'd rather not add people without them self-identifying themselves as opposed to having someone else sign them up.
What's the point? Well, it's two-fold, I think. The first is to give grognardling blogs more exposure. Most blog rolls, mine included up until today, have the same big, really good blogs on them. There's nothing really bad about that- it helped me find those blogs when I first started lurking- but we could probably use more blog rolls that shine the spotlight on other blogs too. Some blog rolls do that by including huge amounts of blogs. I find that really daunting, though I've certainly found my way to new blogs through some of those huge blog rolls and I've also received traffic from them, so they absolutely are a good thing too. My aim is to tighten the focus of my blog roll compared to the huge blog rolls to just one theme: grognardlings.
The second point? Well, I figure if anyone wants to prove that there is a generation of us grognardlings out there, they can just point people to my blog roll, simple as that. This should put to rest any question of whether we exist or not, assuming anyone wants to sign up.
Exploring games that were published before I was born - and the games inspired by them.
I qualify at 80%: overwhelmed by enthusiasm I bought a white box on ebay, among with the core first edition manuals and a Rules Cyclopedia I eventually sold a few months later (didn't like it.)
ReplyDeleteBut it's a great idea! "With great power comes great responsibility", y'know...
Sign me up! I still run 4e but I do it with as much old-schooliness as I can sneak in there. The OSR has been very welcoming to me and I've been mining their collective brilliance for plenty of ideas for my game. But yeah: late twenties, just starting to learn about all my role-playing roots. Love the term "grognardling"!
ReplyDeleteHttp://packofgnolls.blogspot.com
Well, I don't post on my blog much, but I certainly amongst the grognardlings :)
ReplyDeleteOh, link: thegranduniverse.blogspot.com
Cool! You've all been added.
ReplyDeleteAlso, so far as I'm concerned, how I described myself in the explanation is only a sub-set of possible grognardling experiences meant to get the idea across, not a hard-and-fast limit to what a grognardling is. If there's one thing I've learned lurking about the OSR, it's that hard and fast definitions about who we are tend to start drama, which is why I'm leaving this open to anyone who self-identifies. (Unless they're obviously trolling.)
So, yeah, anyone else out there, if you're reading this and worry that you haven't had exactly the same experience as I described, don't worry about it. If you feel like "that's almost me," then you probably belong. Sign yourself up!
I'd say I qualify. Sure, when I started role-playing (c. 1998), OD&D and AD&D were still in print in some form. Barely. And so we played 0e and especially 2e quite avidly for those two years where TSR was bankrupt and quickly fading into history's dustbin. Then we jumped right on the 3e bandwagon as soon as Y2K rolled around.
ReplyDeleteBut I didn't start collecting "old" gaming materials until I switched from 3e back to 0e, around 2007; prior to then, I had never owned a Red Box or played 1e. (We had a copy of the 1e PHB, but we only kept it so that our 2e games could include monks and ninj--*ahem* I mean assassins.)
ludandi.blogspot.com
I think I have the perfect name for a post of my own:
ReplyDelete"The New Blood of the Old School"
I'll work on that with links to here and I'll double check that everyone is listed at Eternal Keep.
I've been saying all along that the Old School has more young people coming into it than people think...glad you could confirm this for me :)
Though I've been a grognardling for a good long while now, I haven't had a blog dedicated to it until today. =)
ReplyDeleteWeekly-on-Fridays type of blog, at least for now. When I build up a good backlog of content I might make it more frequent.
I cheat a little bit; I co-own an RPG company, Silver Gryphon Games, so I'm re-using a bit of old content from our dead ezine for the first few posts.
One Winged Wyrm: http://onewingedwyrm.blogspot.com
J.D. and Ben, you're added!
ReplyDeleteADD Grognard, thanks!
Late to the party, but:
ReplyDeleteNew grognardling reporting in. 20-something, started in 1993 with 1991 Black Box Basic, played a lot of 2e, bought a fuckton of 3e products, ground myself to a nub trying to make 4e work like the D&D I remember, now just starting out making an OSR compatible setting. Only 2 posts so far, but I plan on putting something up every single day until I look respectable ;p
swordsinthemightycedars.blogspot.com
Another enlistee. Blog here:
ReplyDeletehttp://untimately.blogspot.com/
Love your blog. Am in the process of reading from the beginning. You have pointed me to more good resources than perhaps any other blog save Grognardia. I also particularly enjoy the work-in-progress style "foray into dungeon building" posts.
Thanks, Brendan! Added!
ReplyDeleteI'm seventeen and I have an oldschool D&D blog, so I think I probably count if you're still adding these.
ReplyDeletehttps://alonzocredanzo.wordpress.com/