Things I like to read on blogs
So, with the Bloggies happening again there was talk on discord regarding the nominees and what it is people actually want to see in blog posts.
Idraluna Archives made a post on his blog regarding this, and it inspired me to think about the topic as well. So, in no particular order, here are things I like reading about in blogs.
Session Reports and Campaign Retrospectives
Of the 106 posts on my blog 52 (so almost half) are either session reports or retrospectives on campaigns. Needless to say, these are things I like and I like reading more of them! I find after action reports to be a very good way to see just how much actually happens in a session, and if the report is written well, how much work went into doing that too.
The recaps of people's games are nice, but they are for me the least interesting part about these types of posts. I like the observations and thoughts from the writer about the session itself.
Campaign retrospectives tend to be especially valuable for this and often are some of my favorite things to read, as they usually dispense with a lot of the faff of actually recounting events and just get into the nitty gritty about what worked, what didn't and so on.
With that said, here are some I really like:
Crow's session reports of their B1+B2+Mike's World DCC campaign. - I really really like these, Crow does an excellent job at condensing the posts so as to not get too out of hand (like mine do...) and keeps both parts engaging. It just sounds like a banger of a campaign!
Zygo's session reports of Devil's World Heroes. - I really wish he had kept up with these, because these are just wonderful to read, and I've been in the sessions he recaps! He puts in an insane amount of effort into these, moving beyond a recap into just someone telling you a story and also sprinkling commentary as necessary.
Idraluna's postmortem on his Castle Mordengard campaign. - A campaign retrospective post, outlining what worked and what didn't, and also collecting all the session reports and adjoining other writing into a single easy to access list. A very very good one.
Chris Kutalik's wonderful campaign stats for the Hill Cantons. - I love these. I love these so much that I now keep stats for basically every campaign I run, and I've posted those here too. The only thing that makes campaign stats better are campaign stat infographics!
Rutskarn's posts "Boot Hill and the Fear of Dice" and "The Swords, Sex, and Military Bureaucracy RPG of 1975". - I have read both of these so many times that I've lost count at this point. And yes, these absolutely do count in this category and are to me a good benchmark to aim for when going over what your gaming experience was like.
History and Trivia
Another thing I enjoy deeply is the history and obscure facts of things I like. To me it is just as enjoyable to learn about the history of TTRPGs as it is to play TTRPGs. Hell in some cases (like pro wrestling) I actually am infinitely more fascinated and enjoy the history and behind the scenes stories than the actual final shows themselves.
There are plenty of people who write RPG history on blogs, and narrowing it down would be nearly impossible. There are also people who simply dig into specific topics or bits of RPG lore or books, go into the trivia of what is actually going on with those texts. These are posts like people going through the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide or the Monster Manual and so on. I am going to list a few here that I have enjoyed, but there are many, many more out there should you care to look.
Most of Jon Peterson's writing on his blog Playing at the World would count, but I am actually going to single out an essay of his on Medium called The First Female Gamers. It is a chunky bit of writing, but I have read it beginning to end at least 4 times and it's always worth the reread.
Blog of Forlorn Encystment's numerous posts on AD&D 1e.. A particular favorite of mine is the one on The Monster Economy and the numerous ways killing monsters intersects with gaining money.
Ben L's Google Plus Mix Tapes series. 1, 2 and 3. - Man I really wish he'd go back to writing the rest of these. This is just wonderful writing and wonderful recounts of games and a culture of gaming. Hell the Savage World of Krul post and the planned future ones even kind of intersect with the campaign retrospectives category above!
Practical Advice
I enjoy posts that offer actual useful information, be it advice on how to do stuff for your game, or just advice on how to...like make shit. The important part is that this needs to be something that comes from actual practice and actual experience, not just brainstorming or coming up with weird ideas and gimmicks just for the fun of it. Those are indeed fun, but there's no weight to it.
Bateman's Manual of Unmannery Fighting. - This is, legit, one of the best player advice posts about dungeon crawling ever written. This shit slaps and the fact that it didn't win its category in last year's Bloggies means that the entire venture is meaningless and worth nothing! (I'm kidding....or am I?)
Bateman's post on running good fights. - The other side of the coin, how to set up good and interesting and fun fights for players to apply the tricks and tips they got from the previous post. I still await his proper post on "Boss fights", which I am sure will come eventually. Some day.
Mr.Mann's post on player mapping. - In most of the games I've played with him, Mr.Mann ends up being the primary mapper for the group and so he has some good advice in this post. This is what I am talking about above - good practical advice comes from actual good practice. Truly revolutionary thought there, I know.
Ben L's two posts on zine making. - Really solid and in depth advice on selecting paper and printing and constructing zines. I own all issues of Through Ultan's Door and those booklets are absolutely gorgeous and wonderful physical artifacts.
There are many other things I also enjoy reading of course, but I figure three categories with plenty of examples and links for you to read through are good. And I guess the last part is a suggestion - Write a post like this yourself. Don't just link to stuff you happen to like. Think about why you like it and formulate that into meaningful groups and then give examples.