Blogging is a strange beast. There are literally tens of millions of blogs on the internet. I’m sure most are inactive or are nothing more than Bot-driven post-stealing Google Ads strewn smears but it’s still a very impressive number.
Even in the restricted niche of RPG blogs there seems to be scores of blogs (my extended blogroll showcases a few, which, I realize, I must update). It seems to me that they have litterally exploded in the wake of Martin Ralya’s Treasure Tables and Zachary Houghton’s RPG Blog.
I know that many potential bloggers think that the RPG “market” is saturated. I know for a fact that this has discouraged many from trying (or continuing after a few tries).
Well I disagree. Blogging about RPG is probably the best way to check if you have the passion, the interest and (let’s be honest here) the talent to produce quality content for the hobby.
I strongly believe that the game designers and adventure writers of the future are today’s/tomorrow’s burgeoning bloggers.
This post is my first stab at a new series where I will try to share how I built a successful RPG blog and how I encourage people to do the same. This post will be about the “Why” of RPG blogging.
Before I go into specifics I must share a few truisms (repeated a billion times on other writing blogs) about blogging in general:
- Most blogs die within the first 3 months (It’s a lot of work).
- Readership does not appear spontaneously, active marketing is needed (i.e. more work).
- Making money in RPG blogs is possible but unlikely. Very aggressive techniques are needed (yet more work).
- The only way a blog will grow is if you periodically write material that people want to read (yup, more work)
- Blogging is a lot of work (well duh!), possibly even more than your current day job.
Alright, now that’s out of the way, here’s my take on the reasons behind building a successful Blog.
Why do you want to Blog?
I think the first question you must ask yourself before starting a RPG blog (or any blog for that matter) is Why do it?
If you are thinking about starting a RPG blog, chances are it’s because you:
- Have a campaign you’d like to tell people about but feel unsatisfied with the relative anonymity (or attitudes) of gaming forums
- Are an experienced player/Game Master with knowledge to share
- Have strong opinions about RPGs (Specifics or general)
- Are a fan of a specific/niche/orphan RPG and want to discuss it and/or publish new material for it.
- You are new to the hobby and wish to explore it by posting your musings and questions about it.
Or many many other reasons.
Thing is, I think you need to clearly define why you want to do it. You need to keep this in mind as you start experimenting with the media (the blogging software, the widgets, colors, banners, ads…) so you keep a focus on why you’re sinking time in this.
Not only must you often think about the why, those reasons must be focused on you, not the readers. In the early stages of the blog you have no readers (except your gaming buddies and possibly your mom) so all your reasons must remain self-centered.
Actually I believe that most of your reasons to blog should always be personal and self-focused. Pouring your passion and creative power into things you care deeply about will most likely lead to interesting posts about what makes you tick.
What’s so cool about the Internet is that sooner or later, someone who ticks on the same things will find you (I’ll discuss in a later post how to accelerate this).
Heck, I’m currently seeing a new interest in playing Retro-Sci-Fi clones RPGs. It doesn’t get much more “niche” than that. Yet I love reading about it!
Heres is my list of reasons why I started to blog almost a year ago:
- I love RPGs and being a Dungeon Master more than all my other non-family hobbies combined.
- Instead of posting long RPG-themed emails to my gaming buddies I’d do it online and make reading it optional for them
- I wanted to become a better writer
- I wanted to write about my current campaign, my preparation and how I wanted to become a better DM
- I wanted to learn about publishing web pages.
- I’m somewhat of an exhibitionist and wanted to test if I’d get noticed
Some have since changed, but I still know the reasons why I do it.
Bottom line: Ask yourself why you want to blog, and keep that in mind once you started. Focus the reasons toward your needs and interests.
From Reasons to Goals
When the blog does pick up (if it does), you can revise your reasons to keep blogging.
Better yet: Also set yourself some goals.
Goals allow you to refocus your blog’s content to fit with the feedback you get from the early readers. (Don’t let them set your agenda, but stay alert to their responses).
Goals also motivate you to do a little bit more with the blog.
- You could decide to post your campaign logs “in character”
- Create a new set of House rules for issues that bug you in your pet RPG.
- You could start a series, or a RPG-theme webcomic.
- You could also create whole adventures or encounter seeds.
There are a countless things you can challenge yourself with.
Don’t forget to be realistic, go for goals that will ask you a little more than your actual blogging load, not herculean efforts.
The one thing you must avoid is making blogging feel like a job.
But Chatty, didn’t you say 5 times in a row that Blogging was a lot of work?
Yes I did… but it mustn’t feel like it! At least not for prolonged periods of time. If you set goals that need you to spend more time on blogging than what you want, you’re doing something wrong. If you feel like you ‘HAVE’ to post, you’re also doing it wrong. Check your reasons and goals and see if they still fit your needs.
When I started having readers that weren’t my friends, I decided to give myself goals, here’s a few:
- Post multiple articles per week.
- Create and sustain a series of articles over a prolonged period of time.
- Get noticed and Interact with Game designers/writers.
- Build up a network of like-minded RPG bloggers
I hit all these goals in the blog’s 1st year and I’m currently pondering next year’s goals.
Why you should blog about RPGs.
As I mentioned at the beginning, there is no shortage of subjects to dicuss, dissect, debate, build upon and criticize in the RPG hobby. We need more people talking about them. The community can definitively absorb more writers.
Blogging can be your first stepping stone from being an unknown geek to getting your 15 minutes of fame and get the chance (and the nerve) to pitch for a gaming magazine article or postulate for a job in the industry.
I’m not afraid of the competition, I think it’s a wrong assumption to believe that the pool can become full.
Hell I’m a geek, I want to be blown away by someone’s writing!
Blogging will get you to find and meet people who have the same tastes and passions as you. One of the biggest bonuses I discovered about blogging is that I made new friends. That is hard to beat.
All right, next time I visit that subject (if there is interest), I’ll tackle the ‘How’ of RPG blogging.
I set out in February wanting to write a generic geek blog with a bent towards helping geeks with online dating. Let’s face it, I can’t exactly be put in a particular niche. My blog is as multi-focused as I am, and hey, I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Since being away from my D&D group, I have realized how much I miss writing campaign logs. *sniffle* I can’t wait to find a new group and start playing and writing about D&D again.
I have to say that having a dual-niche blog lends itself well to my writingADD – when I’m bored writing about dating, I write about D&D. When I’m bored writing about D&D, I write about dating. It’s all good.
Geek’s Dream Girls last blog post..Personal Ad Makeover: Austin (AFTER)
Thanks for the shout out : )
And thank you also for the perspective. It was the most productive conversation I have had in months!
Now it’s time to start me own ranting rag, The know how was always the stumbling block. A little hand holding will definitely help me, and many others methinks.
How’s “The fine art of the TPK sound”? The drunken dragon? lol!
Show me your power.
Good advice.
I just started my own blog a little over a month ago, so I’m getting to experience firsthand those truisms.
I wouldn’t start a blog in an effort to make money, though. That will generally be a long time coming, if it ever does. If your main goal is to profit from your creative work, you’re better off looking into creating and publishing some form of discrete product. (And where RPGs are concerned, that’s saying something.)
Similarly, I don’t know that it’ll help anyone find work in the industry. I can see how it could… but if that’s the main goal, again, I think the best strategy is just to get pitching those articles or writing those modules, or what have you. (In fact, I’d successfully pitched a couple of articles to Dragon long before starting a blog. Unfortunately, they didn’t see print — but the process of writing and pitching them was not difficult. The main things you need are a willingness to revise a whole lot, and persistence. Even actual writing talent beyond a basic grasp of grammar and usage rates lower on the list than those two.)
To some extent, blogging is actually counterproductive, if these are your goals: it takes time you could have spent writing something potentially salable.
So, my advice: Make sure, when you decide you want to start to blog, that your reasons allow you to find some fulfillment in the blog as an end, not as a means to some other end.
And if it does happen to provide you those means, congratulations! Celebrate your good luck.
@GDG (gah! I prefer to call you “e’): Multi-themed blogs are fine! Heck even mine as a minor Geek theme and I’ve been known to post rants about Cell Phones and ethanol fuel! I’ll definitively touch on this in my upcoming ‘What’ post.
@Donny: You are our ‘discovery du jour’ Donny. I’m glad we could ‘talk’ to each other. Starting a blog is a good idea (just be hella patient and link to other blogger’s posts and you’ll see reader appear… I just gave you a preview of later stuff here)
As for a Blog Name…
How about “Total Perspective Kill”? Drunken Dragon is good too… in a Kung-fu way. Donny’s Deranged & Daring or some other alliteration is definitively a possibility (it’s cheesy but people remember it well).
@Ninetails: One of the things blogging allows is writing practice for the public arena. The only way to get readers is to write quality content and force oneself to become a better writter. Plus, getting readers and comments can help self esteem issues tremendously.
For example, I’m miles away from where I started a year ago and I would consider pitching for a Magazine, something I would have never dared to do 12 months ago. Heck I didn’t even know if I had the chops to write seriously about RPGs.
My 2 cents.
Excellent advice. I’ve been blogging about gaming for 12 years, before the word “blog” was even coined, and your post calls out things I hadn’t even thought of. I’m going through a period of trying to refocus — I tend to take a shotgun approach to all things geek, and I need to tighten that up a bit — and the timing of the post couldn’t have been better for me. Thanks, man.
@ninetail “To some extent, blogging is actually counterproductive, if these are your goals: it takes time you could have spent writing something potentially salable.”
True dat. It’s also time you could be spending actually prepping for a game you’re going to run or tweaking characters you’re going to play. For a couple of years I found I was spending so much time running a website that I didn’t have time to actually sit down at a table and roll dice with live human beings. Beware the timesuck!
That’s why I made prepping an integral part of my blogging.
While posting spoiler-light thoughts on my prepping, it helps me crystalize my thoughts and clear up all the mental work… Once I’m done, I basically just need to write a paragraph per scene, chose stats and loot and I’m ready to go.
Well I made money. of course I had to beg and coerce my readers in order to make a hundred bucks.
I also got a job, of sorts. The editor of Blackgate Magazine offered me a paid freelancing gig doing reviews and interviews. Hey it’s a start.
But yeah, in my opinion Blogging is mostly a vanity thing. It’s a forum to say what you want, the way you want to.
As far as readers, well your buddies might read it, but unless you have the chops for posting regular-interesting content, even they will eventually fade off (there is just too much cool stuff on the net to waste your time on boring Blogs).
My answer was to be very visual, post regular features, and try to go places I didn’t see other gaming blogs going.
Of course my Blog isn’t really a gaming blog ( I just happen to be a Gamer). I don’t get all worked up about a new game system and I don’t take apart a game and analyze and critique every facet, its just not my thing.
My Blog is more of a pop culture thing, with me as the target audience. If other people find it worth their time then that’s icing on the cake. My blog isn’t for everyone but I just crossed 100,000 hits so something is working.
The Evil DMs last blog post..Outlander
@Evil DM: You’ll always have a special place in my heart Jeff as you were among the 1st people I didn’t know then (with Dr. Rotwang) to link to me!
I like what you do a lot… especially the Cheesecake and your Sword and Sorcery projects.
“My Blog is more of a pop culture thing, with me as the target audience.”
I think having yourself as a target audience is very important, which is the same way I approach game design: “This thing that I want doesn’t exist, so I’ll have to make it.” It’s the same reason I started Critical Hits with friends.
And since Chatty didn’t point it out, the two of us (and others from various blogs) will be on a panel about this very subject at Gen Con!
Dave T. Games last blog post..Watchmen Trailer
I was recently reading an article somewhere in a writing magazine. The article said that if an editor had two good stories from author A and B and they had to decide which they were going to publish, sometimes having a blog could be the tipping point. If author A and B are pretty equal but A has a blog, which implies they have some readers already, the editor will go with author A and look to hook in to the built in readership.
So increasingly, blogging can be a means to an end, according to that article.
My own blog is basically a chronicle of my life. A place for my friends to keep up with me.
I blog about D&D because it’s something I care about and do. And it’s nice to get feedback from my fellows.
One of the nice things about Livejournal is that I can set posts with different levels of public/private viewing. This allows me to block off posts from my players but still expose my ideas to my friends. That means that I can go out and do some adventure writing and get feedback from other experienced gamers and GMs before it ever hits the table in front of my players. It helps me iron out potential problems before they crop up in-game. And I don’t risk having my players see what I have planned for them for the next game session.
The feedback’s nice, too. The positive reinforcement of someone saying, “Wow, that’s a nifty idea,” is nice.
robbbbbbs last blog post..Yup, That’s Tolerance For You
Hey Robbbbb, Thanks for linking to my blog earlier this week.
Live Journal truly lives up to it’s name. It’s more intimate and really works well for diary type entries and discussions with friends.
I initially opened an account there… but never got to actually posting anything significant.
A lot of Game designers are on LJ. Mike Mearls, Monte Cook and several others. I think Johnathan Drain mentioned something to that effect a few weeks ago.
Something about unpublished authors using self-hosting WordPress/Blogger platforms and posting high volumes of things whereas published authors lay back and relax with infrequent more personal posts.
@Chatty: “One of the things blogging allows is writing practice for the public arena.”
That’s true. It can be good practice, and it can build confidence. I suppose I should have acknowledged that.
@Heather: “I was recently reading an article somewhere in a writing magazine. The article said that if an editor had two good stories from author A and B and they had to decide which they were going to publish, sometimes having a blog could be the tipping point.”
Interesting! I suspect this is more a case of a well-known blog gaining some credibility as a “professional” endeavor, though — in the same way as author A having previous publishing credits to his name might tip the balance in his favor over the unknown author B. In which case, the time you spend building a prominent blog could easily be spent writing and submitting other pieces.
Still, without having read the article, it’s hard to say for sure. If the mere fact of blogging is enough to influence the decision, that would be news to me, and evidence of a sort of paradigm shift. Publishing has been adapting to the internet, so it’s a possibility.
Do you happen to know whether this article is online anywhere? Or failing that, can I trouble you for the name, volume, and issue of the magazine? I’d like to track that down.
Ninetails last blog post..A Cogent Observation
I suspect it was in a magazine at B&N but I couldn’t tell you which. It was something I skimmed. I agree Ninetail, that so-called “real” publishing credit would also tip the scales. If I remember the gist of the article it was referring to someone determining between two new authors, which would suggest they did not have that other publishing credit. I would guess that if author A had published in a literary journal or elsewhere in print and author B only had their blog that A would win in that case.
I also think that both means, submitting to the market and blogging can lead to bigger things, for the reasons Chatty stated and others. The best way for you probably depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
If you think about it, Blogs are a dime a dozen, so if you manage to build a sucessful blog with a number of readers it would show editors that you work regularly, are capable of marketing yourself, and you have a built in readership. If you are just writing a personal, diary-type blog that only gramma reads, I doubt the editors would be swayed. 😀
I’ll be heading out to the book store today, I’ll see if I can track down the article but I suspect that issue is already off the shelves.
Heathers last blog post..Literature: Raccoons Can Go To School
Ah. Well, thank you anyway. I’ll see whether I can turn it up — there’s a B&N fairly near me, so if nothing else, I can find out which magazines they carry. (Assuming there’s some form of chain-wide policy on that, anyhow.)
You’re right about building a blog, I think. The characteristics you need to have in order to pull it off are pretty much the same ones you need in order to pull off writing professionally at any level. That’s a little bit of an oversimplification, because the print publishing business has structures in place that the internet doesn’t, but as a generalization it works.
On the subject of improving writing, I wanted to point out another blog I read pretty regularly, Flogging the Quill. It’s mainly oriented toward fiction writing, but a fair amount applies equally well to a game article, and some of the posts (like the recent “Creating a Really Good Bad Guy”) I’ve found very useful in designing roleplaying campaign elements. (I hope I’m not overstepping my bounds by plugging it, Chatty — if so, please, moderate away.)
Yeah, know the feeling.
I’m coming up on my first month with a daily blog. I started it partly because there were some interactions between tabletopping and writing that I really wanted to explore, partly because I figured it’d give me writing practice and help me figure out where I left my inspiration, and, I’ll admit, partly because I’m unemployed, the company I’m supposed to be working with hasn’t incorporated yet (but I can advertise once it does), and the site paid a dollar per post. And somehow trying to work up a bit more respect and higher standards in my genre worked its way in there…
It’s definitely been work; I spend more time trying to find ways to increase my audience than I do planning for my game sessions these days. But it’s resulted in finding some amazing communities, and some of the conversations I’ve gotten into about it alone have been worth the hassle. And the research–let me tell you, there’s nothing quite like sifting through old essays by a professional who thinks the way you do.
I want my niche to exist, so I will make it so. After that… well, we’ll see how things go, hm?
I think most of this is good for any blog.
Dianes last blog post..SCA Fighting in Hot, Humid Weather
I started a blog for the fun of it, for the opportunity to write, and to work out my thoughts about being new to RPGs. I game with people who started when D&D was invented. Sometimes the difference in experience makes me feel like I’m on the outside looking in. I don’t want to bore them with my “newbie” (how I hate that term) commentary. I have not found a true voice for my blog yet, so I haven’t actively sought out readers. Even my friends do not read it.
I really appreciate the insight and inspiration… You gave me a lot to consider.
Ninetail – if it helps, it was probably in The Writer or Writer’s Journal (or is it Writing Journal…something like that). They also carry Writer’s Digest (but I generally avoid those) and Poets and Writers (good but I doubt it was in there). I mostly just pick up literary magazines like Memoir, Granta, various reviews and whatnot but I will sometimes skim articles in the writing mags if something on the cover catches my eye.
Heathers last blog post..Literature: Raccoons Can Go To School
I started writing the ouline of “Part 2: How”
I don’t usually do outlines, but this series has gotten sufficient interest to be maintained and I’d like to do them as professionally as possible.
Thanks for the feedback!
Stay tuned!
Hey all. Just wanted to drop a line and say THANK YOU. I’m new to RPG blogging, but I’ve been running a small professional science blog for about a year or so. One of the hardest things I’ve found about blogging is that 98% of your traffic is Lurkers, whereas the 2% that comment are often the same few dozen people (subscribers). While this can give you the sense of a “geographic-free community” over time (to quote a line from Gibson’s Pattern Recognition), it is nonetheless maddening to stay motivated at the early stages — because, with no comments and a greater than 50% bounce rate, you cant help but feeling like you are preaching to an empty church (or, in the case of RPGs, maybe Acting to an Empty Theater would be a better analogy…)
Anyway, what advice would you have for new bloggers to stay motivated?
Jonathans last blog post..4E Conversions: The Talontar Blightlord Template
@Jonathan: Hey, thanks for the kudos.
Motivation is a hard thing to establish generically. They are linked to incentives and results. I think too many bloggers become discouraged because they depend on feedback to get motivated.
I agree that motivation is increased by results. One way to get results is to post an article that discussed what an other blogger said (with a link to the original post).
Don’t just write ‘I saw this (link) on so and so’s blog… it’s good’, that’s Echo Chamber stuff. Rather, add your own thoughts and spin on the issues brought up by the post.
The orignal blogger will see the link to his blog (we all check this intensely) and they’ll invariably drop by and see what you have to say. Since bloggers know how hard it is to get commenters, they’ll likely post something.
(I just gave a preview of my ‘Who’ post)
Another tip I give you is to subscribe to a Stats service like Google Analytics or Mybloglog and check your stats on a daily basis. This will give you a sense of how many visitors you get (don’t count your own visits though).
But it remains that the motivation/reward virtuous cycle needs to be fueled to start rolling. It seems to me that many bloggers expect the wheel to start turning by having commenters… Actually the wheel needs to start turning by having good posts… and you posting and linking to other similar blogs to bring in the attention.
That’s how I got noticed by Critical Hits, Dungeonmastering and Stupid Ranger in my first few weeks and then by other higher volume bloggers like Martin Ralya and Shamus Young later.
Hope this helps
I found this blog today, because I am starting a blog on role-playing. I have been blogging for about 2 years (since I moved to Japan and decided to record my adventures) but the role-playing blog is new, and a different focus.
The Japan adventures blog taught me that you need some kind of theme for your blogging, or you just kind of stop. And new things have to be happening, or some impetus for new ideas being formed, in order for you to keep going. I don’t know if this will happen with an RPG blog…
flashhearts last blog post..Capitalism and Warcraft
I started my blog with a gusto, I think that in the beginning you have to, but after you have some quality posts, then you can slow down to a more reasonable rate. I’ve got about 25-50 visitors a day, which I am comfortable with. A few months ago, Jeff’s Gameblog linked me and I got slammed by way too many readers for my comfort level right now.
I think that a good number for long, quality posts is 7. Once you get this number, then you can slow down. Currently I’m posting once a week, which isn’t bad. During the winter I’ll probably post more but that is the thing. I’m not out for money, or readers. I’m more interested in providing a resource for stuff that I would use. No product reviews, no industry news, everybody does that kind of stuff. I like making little mini add-ins that you can drop into any ongoing campaign, house rules, new spells, new monsters, or campaign ideas. I also keep track of my game on the blog. I suppose, in a way, it is more of a public notebook that I, as a DM, have always kept.
No doubt, some vanity is there. I am a writer and we are just addicted to the instant gratification of the internet, but that isn’t always a bad thing. And of course I owe it all to this blog, I just needed that press-ganging to get me off of my lazy butt. I am quite grateful!
Ripper Xs last blog post..Goblins: His Forsaken Children
You don’t know how happy this makes me to see people crack their knuckles and give it a honest try.
Ripper X has definitively established his style and has found his comfort level and that’s perfect. Knowing how much you can take is as important as knowing why you blog (and why you keep doing it).
All of this talk about the beginnings of blogs…good lord when I look at the stuff I wrote during the first 6 months of Critical Hits. Some of it makes me cry, because I was just tyring out random shite to see what happened! Oh wait, I still do that even today.
Bartoneuss last blog post..Report Card: Space Marine Units (Part 3)
Posting on other blogs is as much advertising I ever did (and a forum sig or dozen, but those never did much). Now I have 70 or more subscribers. No posting schedule. Arcane content some of the time, random game reports the other half.
I never assumed I’d have more than ten or so readers, but they just come from somewhere.
Is there a target audience for a blog before articles are posted? What about those poor trees that happen to fall when nobody is listening?
Tommis last blog post..WoAdWriMo
A blogger posting comment is among the most powerful publicity you can get, short of a direct link shoutout from a higher readership blog.
The target audience of a yet to be created blog will be the one that fits the themes the blogger will write about.
The Internet is wide enough that there is an audience for anything… as long as it’s well written. Trying to write for a yet to be established audience is starting with a huge handicap IMHO.
Re: Free publicity, there is absolutely no reason not to submit your quality, on-topic posts as scoops on Gaming Report and EN World. I do this for Gnome Stew articles every week or so. Both bring visitors, Google juice and name recognition.
For ENW you need a free account; GR takes anonymous scoops. I choose Community News (ENW) and Game Advice from Gamers (GR) for my scoop categories.
Proofread/test your links, don’t spam either site with scoops and learn how both sites prefer their scoops to be formatted by reading current news, and you should be good.
@Martin: I added a ‘not’ after ‘no reason’… I guess that’s what you wanted to say.
I did just that for my Keep on the Shadowfell review… I should do it more often.
Excellent tips which I’ll revisit in the What/Who post coming after the ‘how’ I’m working on right now.
@Chatty: No, no, I meant to say that no one else should ever submit their scoops, because then Gnome Stew will be the only game in town. Mwahahahaha!
Thanks for catching my slip-up. 😉
I’ve been writing the World Famous Crank Report for many years now and i’ve never run out of material. And the main reason why is because, every player i meet, every larp I do, and every con I go to, has something to teach me. It’s just up to me to pay attention and see if I can find it.
I began my blog because my brother has one and to post a comment in it I have to be a member of Blogger… but as I had an account, why not write something in a blog?
In a few weeks I had posted some entries, and then (and only then) I decided I didn’t want to write about my life, so every post I publish is about something associatted with “Geek Life”: RPGs, movies, books or the logs of my RPG campaigns.
So I wrote because at the end of the year I have the feeling of having something *real* done and completed, and not only dreams gone with the wind ;).
Best regards,
Carlos
This is a great post that really boils down why you should write an RPG blog. I have been working on my site off and on since October 2007, but things have really kicked into high gear starting earlier this year. The ultimate point of blogging is to say something that you want say. All of the tricks about SEO, blog design, and making money are for people trying to sell something.
Personally, I just want to share my views about the game and gaming as a hobby. Maybe tell some stories about my games and friends or perhaps share some of the tips and tricks that I have learned.
@Chatty Thank you so much for posting this series. In a world filled with get rich quick oriented guides to blogging we really have needed a gamer’s take on things. You have given us that.
@Alfred: Wow… Thank YOU! I’m happier and happier to have tackled this series. The response has been overwhelmingly positive for something not all that original (I should listen to my own advice eh?)
Thanks again!
Well, you can add another 4e blog that you’ve directly influenced on creating:
http://www.arcanespringboard.com 🙂
PS. How do you add the ‘last blog post’ thingy to comments?
Welcome to the Sphere. I’m starting to feel like I’m the daddy of all kinds of blogs.
Now what you must do is get a few week’s worth of posts and apply to the RPG Bloggers Network.
The last post blog thing is a plugin called commentluv. When you leave a comment, just enter your blog URL in the form and make sure the commentLuv option is clicked.