Due to some goings-on in real life, I will be unable to update the blog regularly for about a month as far as I can tell right now.
The long version contains personal details, so that's not an option.
The short version is I will have to be moving soon, and very abruptly.
So while I won't be able to guarantee content, I figure I could at least do something that perhaps I should have done earlier; say what the blog is really about and for in an explicit way.
The Blog
I don't like the idea of typecasting myself. Too much pressure. And sometimes I get ideas that don't fit in this mold.
At my core, though, I prefer to make things terrifying, weird, maybe even a bit deranged. The more normal they start off, the better.
But if I only did that, I would find myself in a position where writer's block is only going to happen more often. Sure, I'm more "in my element", but the air of fear is not something that naturally allies itself with anything under the sun. You have to coax it out of its shell, muse with it, wrestle it, and then, finally, you might see if the idea was actually of genuine substance in the first place.
And what's worse is sometimes the idea is playing coy. You ditch it, and then later it comes back, taunting you with a better perspective. Then you do the dance all over again. Sometimes, the little bastard of a thought didn't have anything useful after that either! But occasionally it does, and it is worth it. So you foolhardily try every option again if you rationalize it well enough.
I could take a longer hiatus. Build the concepts up properly and really hit the ground running to where I mostly function as a present maintenancer. To me, this is only a good idea in theory - without the self-imposed deadlines, writing won't happen anyway. Well, not easily.
So I decided to, instead, writhe around flailing by the seat of my pants. I'm at home in this setting, really. (This is an exaggeration - I do have a well thought out list of what to write - it's just not as built as some might think it should be)
I like spooky things. I like instilling a bit of lunacy and unsettling presence to things. But sometimes that won't come without a great struggle. So in the mean time, I've decided to utilize the other ideas I have. They don't quite fit "spooky", but I like them enough to post them, and I do put in a lot of work on them.
A good friend of mine advised me to do things on a schedule. They also gave me guidance that I took to mean "change it up a bit by filling that schedule with alternating topics". I like the look of it so far. A bit orderly for my taste (I tend towards rabid raccoon vibes), but I think it's fitting, realistic, and serves the real purpose I found myself wanting to fulfill.
The Purpose
As far as what this blog really is, the idea is now that I want this to be a three-fold resource: First, I want to provide good setpieces (be they setting, backdrop, dX list, plot, or enemy) for GMs; Second, I want to advocate for GMs (and to a lesser, but still concrete extent, players); Third, I want to have this be a place that centers around the idea of genuine discussion of tabletop topics and gaming as a whole.
It's a bit of a smattering of everything, but I guess you could say I mostly want to tackle the role GMs serve in a game, and various things that have come up in my over-a-decade of playing tabletops, while also giving something for GMs to use.
I think tabletop games might be the best games on the planet, when you get down to it, because so many of them allow for and encourage freedom of expression and roleplay. When you get the right group, I don't know of anything that could compare.
So I really want to contribute in my own small way to this.
Anyway, that's all - I hope, dear reader, that you enjoy what I put out, and I hope it is useful for your games.
I'll be back as soon as I can.