High Praise

I am honoured.

DYVERS has just put out his 2019 list of OSR blogs, a much needed mnemonic for this scattered and ethereal non-community. It is a must-read filled with the creative voices of OSR bloggers linked only by our love of playing old games and bursting inspiration to write material for and about them.

And despite my low output as of late, this humble blog has made the list again. Being named in such esteemed company alone is high praise, but DYVERS has also touched me with his kind words. He writes,

Tomb of Tedankhamen: Chief Broom has been writing this old school fantasy blog for years and in the process, they have staked out a territory of dark fun that I can’t get enough of. Lately the author tends to like to mash up various systems and ideas, like Call of Cthulhu and Gumshoe, to create something fun and new. I’m not entirely sure that all of their ideas work, but they are intriguing enough that I often wish I were friends with Broom in real life so the two of us could play all the strange amalgamations they come up with each week. Just a fun blog that too many people miss out on. Well worth checking out. Updates: Three times in 2018, already triple that amount in 2019.

Dyvers' words have inspired me to try and produce more, and I have just read my entire library of backlists to retrace the conducting filament he sees in it. I hope to get another few posts about before year end, and return to full posting and gaming during the spring break. If I get around to running an online game, DYVERS will indeed be welcome to play.

The entire list can be found HERE. Do give it a read.

Perfunctory Dyvers Response

So anyway, everyone's talking about Dyvers' list of OSR blogs. Might as well jump on the bandwagon.

Charles Atkins' list of OSR blogs with mini-reviews is one of those ideas so brilliant in their simplicity you slap your forehead and wonder why you hadn't thought of it first. More importantly, OSR blogs are sometimes like icepans (as a Newfoundlander, I am familiar with those miniature icebergs and icebits that rime my arctic island homeland), old ones submerging and news ones rising, disappearing and reappearing, being sometimes solid and others treacherously transitory. It is good to have a guide like Dyvers to what is out there and where to aim your feet (or clicks in this case).

Like any blogger, I get a kick (what psychiatrist Eric Berne would classify as a 'stroke') from other people reading and responding to my blog posts. Atkins' review of this blog is refreshingly positive:

Tomb of  Tedankhamen A relatively new OSR blog (it started in March of 2013) that has lost a bit of steam due to the author's attempt to get through his thesis papers. I'm hopeful that once their through with the academia side of things that this insightful blog will pick up steam and continue to look at those little words that bother us all so much: like railroad, profile, and like. Updates: About five times a month.
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Finding your voice as a blogger takes time for most, and although Atkins' review focuses on the semantic exercises I sometimes indulge in, I don't see myself as limited to those, but will continue to write whatever pleases me. Instead, Atkins' identification of what works on my blog implies I am finding my voice and subjects that both I and others find worth writing and reading.

And that's what it's all about isn't it?

Good job Charles, keep it up!

PS: I have a few months before the (hopefully) final chapter of the dissertation, so expect more posts in the near future.