(No I’m not retiring from RPG blogging, no worries)
As I stand here by the seaside of Florida, I reflect on the upcoming blog merge with Critical Hits, planned to happen sometime during Sunday Jan 24th. Not so much because I’m having second thoughts about merging with Critical Hits and play the role of Prima Donna (It was my idea after all), it’s just that in a few days, we’re going to close something I built with my friend Graham (well he did the building, I furnished it and brought guests). Something that I’ve been doing mostly solo, and proudly so, since August 2007.
(A HUGE thank you to my many guest bloggers by the way, many of which were nominated in the Open Game Table anthologies 2009 and 2010)
I’m excited about the merge, make no mistake. If things go as planned, minimal changes will be inflicted on readers (our top priority). The original URL and RSS feed will autodirect to the new digs and my blog will start existing in its own corner of the Critical Hits super site. I’ll be like the grumpy old bachelor with his own separate entrance to the big family house (with full access to the kitchen, of course).
Still, I want to give this old place one last tribute.
Thank you dear website, you taught me so, so much.
I now leave you with enough knowledge of WordPress to know what I want to do and leave the rest in the capable hands of friends I trust.
I know more about my strengths and limitations than I did 2 years ago when I moved there. I love to write, I’ve got great crazy cool ideas but I so need an editor.
You helped me prove to myself that I had the skills and the charisma to capture the interest of more than one thousand readers and create a community that cares about what we build and share together.
You allowed me to meet many of my gaming heroes, most of which made me feel like I was just like them, a geek with a passion for RPGs. (Others I scared away… but at least I know why.)
I started and finished some great series over here, chief among those my Robin Laws revisited (thankfully with his blessings), my Dungeon Reality Show series, and my RPG Blog primer series. My campaign sessions remain my longest standing feature and will remain. My Friday Chat feature will also remain as it has been very popular.
So thanks little WordPress install. I’ll miss you, make no mistake. This is a breakup of the brain, not of the heart.
And thanks to Graham. I may never be able to afford all those Xboxes I owe you, but I appreciate your help beyond belief. I hope I helped you get your current job in some small way.
Now about the merger. Not everything will be quite ‘prefect’ for the first few days. I have a new banner in the works that won’t show up for some time. My old one will remain for the time being but will likely clash with Critical Hits’ new color scheme. Also, sometime during Sunday, comments will be closed while my site is integrated to the Critical Hits database. So there’s a slight chance that Sunday comments get eaten up during the move, please be comprehensive.
I plan to offer the same sidebars I had before the merge, i.e. archives, best of, blogroll and such. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to run my own “recent comments’ sub-routine (hey! another prima donna demand) but I’ll try to have a chattydm specific comment RSS feed.
As for what I’ll write once I join them… Well pretty much the same thing. I plan to do what I’ve always done, just in a different venue. Dave and I spoke of making theme weeks where multiple writers of the site tackle the same subject in their own ways and I’m all for that. We could also riff off each other’s campaigns and build posts on them.
Also, I have new ideas. By moving in a wider geek website, I plan to start writing for a wider audience, including the DMs who haven’t been doing this for 10+ years like I have. Chief among my ideas for new features is a “Pimp the Dungeon” feature where I’ll tackle a well known 4e published adventure and show how to hack it to your preferences.
All right, enough sentimentality and promises. This is it, my last few lines as a solo blogger. Thank you all for following me so far. I don’t know how most of you learned about me (but I’m curious) or what exactly made you want to stick around, but know that I value your attention and comments very highly.
I hope I’ll see you all on the flipside.
Talk to you on Monday morning from my new digs.
Peace out!
We should thank you for all your absolutely awesome articles, insights, posts and series. I guess I can speak for a lot of people when I say that you have enriched our minds with your brilliant writing.
I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now, and that’s the first time I’ve left a comment. I’m also a reader of criticalhits.com and to have the two of you together is an geek’s dream coming true. 🙂
Thanks a lot, from a fellow brazilian reader.
@Delibriand: Welcome to the blog and thank you so much. I expect no thanks from any of you as I have always done this primarily for me (as many writers would say I’m sure).
I appreciate you coming out to comment for the first time and letting me know what you feel. As a blog grows, less and less readers feel they need to comment as they see what they think come up in other, more regular readers’ comments.
Looking forward to see you again in the bigger house next week!
Best of luck with the transition! Knowing you both, it’ll go well.
I can’t wait to come back after the transition. 🙂
Hi Chatty,
I will definitely continue to follow your blog at the new location.
Will your RSS feed URL change, or remain the same?
I’ve only been around somewhat more then a month now, but nevertheless I wanted to assure you that your blog isn’t only helpful for dinosaur-DM’s.
Especially your Say-yes attitude and all it’s derivatives (rule of cool etc) have made my campaigns a lot more interesting and less frustrating for both players and DM.
This reader will follow you to your now home.
Good luck!
.-= Jonathan Drain´s last blog ..Buy D&D PDFs, Help Haiti Disaster Relief =-.
I hope that not only the site link will be redirected, but that all the links to old articles will also continue to work… Because Cool URIs don’t change. 🙂
.-= Alex Schröder´s last blog ..Small Dungeon Maps =-.
@Martin and Jonathan: Thanks guys.
@Kevin and Alex: Thanks! The RSS and main URL won’t change. The categories and archives should also work. I haven’t thought about links within articles though and I’ll ask around.
Good luck! 🙂
Good luck, my friend!
This makes me quite excited about the move. Definitely looking forward to these new ideas!
.-= Andy´s last blog ..An Examination of Epic, Part II =-.
@Chatty: If you’re moving into a wordpress setup, they should be able to keep the old URLs alive without too much problem.
By this, I mean: it should be technically feasable, and it would be very relevant traffic-wise (otherwise its a baby/bathwater-related problem).
Did you ask for you own hip-hop or rap music theme when people switch to your category?
You should totally get one.
.-= Eric Maziade´s last blog ..What the future holds =-.
@Chatty:
As a mean to place my mouth where my foot is, check out my latest post for an audio bumper example.
.-= Eric Maziade´s last blog ..Good bye ChattyDM.net – hello Critical-Hits.com =-.
Have a great time Chatty! Been here for just a few times.
Just wanna say “congrat”
.-= bee´s last blog ..Powerful Earthquake has Destroy Haitian Country =-.
How I learn about you… Humm… There was this loud mouth going to my school that was a friend of my friend which played RPG… That basically sums it up… 😛
Oooh! You mean the blog! Well you sent me the link saying look at the cool new thing I just started. Was it two year and half already!? God time goes by so fast.
Funny that we managed to catch this post in the import… now we just need to see some new posts 🙂
It’s coming, it’s coming! I wanna make sure the whole house doesn’t come down before I post.
🙂
.-= The Chatty DM´s last blog ..So Long and Thanks for all the Fish! =-.
Shew! I thought you were leaving us already, that was scary. Good thing I read this post already on your site! 😀
Alright, so for those of you who were asking:
– All your old links and bookmarks will continue to work.
– The old feed address redirects to the current feed address, still showing just ChattyDM articles. We will be posting what the new, correct, feed address is, too, for those who want to change. And all of the ChattyDM posts will now show up in the main Critical Hits feed as well.
– The old site url (chattydm.net) now redirects you to the ChattyDM mini-site on Critical Hits, so you can use it to visit the new home of ChattyDM if you want to bypass the rest of Critical Hits.
Ah, the wonders of htaccess files.
Also, Phil, I had to learn to parse regular expressions for this! You owe me another xbox! 😀
Best of luck with your continued blogging on Critical Hits.
.-= SuperSooga´s last blog ..Thoughts on the Otherworld =-.
@Bartoneus: Moving this post was bound to create smiles and ‘huh?’ 🙂 Although according to our local labour laws, I could leave within the first 90 days without advanced warning. Although I have to look at this little block of text in the Maryland legislation about ‘indentured worker’, I’m sure it means I’m automatically part of some sort of union. 🙂
@Graham: Hurray for techies! I’m discovering a few little surprises this morning but nothing that will bring the house down.
Also I don’t understand anything you said so I’ll just assume its true and add another Xbox to the list 🙂
@Graham: Regular expression are a must to software developer especially for scripts and macros, Phil is forming you to be a good software developer. 😉
Sadly, if I remember correctly your main study is something else then software. 😉
@Graham: For a second, I thought you said that Phil had to learn to build regex!
@Phil: I was almost proud there, for a moment 🙂
(Good job on the merger guys – so far, its looking good 🙂 )
.-= Eric Maziade´s last blog ..Good bye ChattyDM.net – hello Critical-Hits.com =-.
Congratulations on the succesful merger, hope it continues to go well.
i managed to stumble upon your site roughly half way through last year. I believe it was from a dungeonmastering.com link but i can’t actually remember.
Scott