Mentzer Stops By!
Two not really related things today:
I really meant to post the next of my Mentzer reflections today, but went and left my Basic Players Handbook at home, so I wasn't able to compose my post at lunch. I am redoubling my efforts to work my way through the BECM sets because . . . Frank Menzter commented on an earlier post! How cool is that! I certainly recognize all Mentzer's work that went into those sets and am beginning to recognize the challenge in taking a hobbiest game and translating it into something that can be self-taught. Expect continued effort on that front. And, Mr. Menzter, you are always welcome to comment!
Speaking of effort, I've waded through the blogroll; my RSS reader is now empty. I certainly didn't read everything. To be honest, I skipped a lot of the April A-Z stuff. But it's nice to know there are those out there who can be so deadicated; it's also nice to know all of my fellow bloggers put out so much good stuff. Thanks to those who pointed me to Jeff Reint's Dragon Magazine project. That is, indeed, something cool. I also wanted to highlight three other posts I thought were interesting, fun, and/or provocative in a creative way.
I really dug (see what I did there), Christian's post about Permaculture and RPG's. Like Christian, I see a lot more people I know interested in gardening, eating locally, and trying to opt out of larger corporate food structures to some degree. Seeing this as paralleling the DIY nature of the OSR was a nice comparison.
Similarly, What the Old School Reformation is Fighting For and Against at The Mule Abides. It reaches high, comparing the OSR to the Protestant Reformation, but I think it gets a few things right and, hopefully, will warrant a full post of my own soon. It also contains this gem of a sentence:
Finally, Countdown to Game Time sent me to Real Military Videos (waring, there site has some fairly annoying video adds), which posted an OSS training film from the 1940's. Nice inspiration for the Weird War II game I will run someday, dammit.
I really meant to post the next of my Mentzer reflections today, but went and left my Basic Players Handbook at home, so I wasn't able to compose my post at lunch. I am redoubling my efforts to work my way through the BECM sets because . . . Frank Menzter commented on an earlier post! How cool is that! I certainly recognize all Mentzer's work that went into those sets and am beginning to recognize the challenge in taking a hobbiest game and translating it into something that can be self-taught. Expect continued effort on that front. And, Mr. Menzter, you are always welcome to comment!
Speaking of effort, I've waded through the blogroll; my RSS reader is now empty. I certainly didn't read everything. To be honest, I skipped a lot of the April A-Z stuff. But it's nice to know there are those out there who can be so deadicated; it's also nice to know all of my fellow bloggers put out so much good stuff. Thanks to those who pointed me to Jeff Reint's Dragon Magazine project. That is, indeed, something cool. I also wanted to highlight three other posts I thought were interesting, fun, and/or provocative in a creative way.
I really dug (see what I did there), Christian's post about Permaculture and RPG's. Like Christian, I see a lot more people I know interested in gardening, eating locally, and trying to opt out of larger corporate food structures to some degree. Seeing this as paralleling the DIY nature of the OSR was a nice comparison.
Similarly, What the Old School Reformation is Fighting For and Against at The Mule Abides. It reaches high, comparing the OSR to the Protestant Reformation, but I think it gets a few things right and, hopefully, will warrant a full post of my own soon. It also contains this gem of a sentence:
we’re fighting to prevent devaluation of the original miracle of role-playing games: the greatest way ever invented to collaboratively create ideas that soar in the mind’s eye and explode like fireworks, leaving nothing behind but memory and satisfaction.Nicely put.
Finally, Countdown to Game Time sent me to Real Military Videos (waring, there site has some fairly annoying video adds), which posted an OSS training film from the 1940's. Nice inspiration for the Weird War II game I will run someday, dammit.
I look forward to that post, Prof!
ReplyDelete- Tavis
I skipped over most of the A to Z stuff too. There were a few good ones and one fantastic blogger who did a kick-ass job but other than that, I just wasn't all that interested in a month-long blogfest, based on the alphabet.
ReplyDeleteThat said, good for them for sticking to it and coming up with things.
Time to make supper. Having more leftovers because I'm still not 100% but I'm surely getting closer. Thanks for the well wishes and Happy Weekend to you :-)
I'm not sure if the AtoZ has been a good thing or a bad thing for the OSR, but should we even care; is the OSR an entity in need of protection or a collection of like interested adults.
ReplyDeleteFor my blog, the number of views per day, is down. But I have stuck to a theme - the dungeoneer's survival guide, and when the month is up I will certainly have a resource - for whom, now that is the question.
@Ivy- glad you left a comment on one of my AtoZ posts, suggests not entirely a useless enterprise.
@ Jovial -- I've got nothing against the A-Z project. I really agree with your last sentence. I don't think it's in need of protection. It's blogging -- people can do what they want!
ReplyDeleteThe volume of posts that it generated did make it harder to jump back into my reading after I'd been out for a bit. And, of course, I think every blogger should create content with me and my reading habits in mind :)