Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The Fastest Growing Old School RPG Blogs

Here's a list of 212 old schoolish roleplaying blogs ranked by the number of followers they gained between 16 December and 31 January. I am ranking the blogs using this system - as opposed to raw follower number - in order to determine which blogs are "hottest" without being biased by how long a blog has been around. My main motivation for making this list is to highlight the blogs that are currently attracting the most reader attention regardless of the blogs' age. Out of respect, I DID NOT list blogs with zero or negative growth this time. At the end of the list are blogs that I am now tracking, but did not have data for when I was making this list.

My usual blogometric caveats apply: (1) This list only has blogger.com blogs because follower numbers are not publicly available for WordPress blogs. (2) Yes, I know some blogs are missing. If your blog is on my big blog list as of today, it should be in the next ranking. If your blog is not on my list and you want to be included, please send me the link.

Although older and more well-established blogs tended to fill in most of the top spots this time, attention is due to some of the smaller and newer blogs making the top rankings, including Black Hole Diaries, Gorgonmilk, Rather Gamey, The City of Iron, and The Dump Stat. Keep up the good work, everyone - there's definitely an audience out there!


Blog Name
31-Jan
16-Dec
Change
619
561
58
783
726
57
103
57
46
36
0
36
213
177
36
171
136
35
214
181
33
32
0
32
141
112
29
201
172
29
235
208
27
288
261
27
119
94
25
28
3
25
39
15
24
34
10
24
343
320
23
77
54
23
155
133
22
111
90
21
212
191
21
126
105
21
416
396
20
122
103
19
170
152
18
65
48
17
219
202
17
188
171
17
180
164
16
180
164
16
106
90
16
91
75
16
152
137
15
30
15
15
52
37
15
44
29
15
98
83
15
14
0
14
109
95
14
34
20
14
122
108
14
83
70
13
52
39
13
31
18
13
190
177
13
196
183
13
142
129
13
39
26
13
94
81
13
115
103
12
89
77
12
256
244
12
33
21
12
124
112
12
88
76
12
109
98
11
61
50
11
36
25
11
84
73
11
80
69
11
74
63
11
147
136
11
133
122
11
60
49
11
111
100
11
90
79
11
113
102
11
24
13
11
96
85
11
86
76
10
227
217
10
25
15
10
133
123
10
53
43
10
33
23
10
151
141
10
55
45
10
20
10
10
87
77
10
54
44
10
65
55
10
240
231
9
45
36
9
63
54
9
74
65
9
43
35
8
32
24
8
80
72
8
95
87
8
69
61
8
35
27
8
67
59
8
57
49
8
25
17
8
131
123
8
49
41
8
157
149
8
74
66
8
50
43
7
28
21
7
34
27
7
65
58
7
105
98
7
49
42
7
129
122
7
53
46
7
30
23
7
52
45
7
137
130
7
77
70
7
47
41
6
22
16
6
134
128
6
28
22
6
54
48
6
18
12
6
19
13
6
45
39
6
85
79
6
34
28
6
56
50
6
154
148
6
13
7
6
110
104
6
49
43
6
69
63
6
42
37
5
49
44
5
12
7
5
34
29
5
12
7
5
15
10
5
35
30
5
128
123
5
56
51
5
20
15
5
34
30
4
37
33
4
46
42
4
82
78
4
105
101
4
45
41
4
39
35
4
22
18
4
49
45
4
113
110
3
12
9
3
52
49
3
48
45
3
22
19
3
25
22
3
46
43
3
44
41
3
23
20
3
25
22
3
132
129
3
71
68
3
69
66
3
32
29
3
47
44
3
119
116
3
61
58
3
76
73
3
16
14
2
59
57
2
38
36
2
25
23
2
93
91
2
22
20
2
6
4
2
22
20
2
15
13
2
6
4
2
37
35
2
23
21
2
84
82
2
38
36
2
54
52
2
46
44
2
28
26
2
39
37
2
46
44
2
36
34
2
48
47
1
33
32
1
35
34
1
13
12
1
13
12
1
13
12
1
18
17
1
1
0
1
23
22
1
46
45
1
11
10
1
24
23
1
11
10
1
10
9
1
34
33
1
39
38
1
31
30
1
51
50
1
11
10
1
17
16
1
7
6
1
42
41
1
4
3
1
16
15
1
8
7
1
13
12
1
10
9
1
26
25
1
34
33
1
20
19
1


To Be Included Next Time:
Forever Free Games

21 comments:

  1. I would like to thank the many people I've bribed to be my followers, without you I would not be third on this list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Somehow I got missed this time - I dropped a line sometime in December and made it onto the Cyclopeatron blogroll:

    Dreams in the Lich House

    ReplyDelete
  3. wow! Top 15. That is awesome. Glad to see that The Dump Stat made the list. Going old school continues. Thanks for adding us in.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ha, this was probably the best month for Black Hole Diaries I think. I doubt I see a gain of 38 followers in one month again.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Attracting followers is a GAME?!??!?! I had no idea. How do I play? And what are the fabulous prizes if I win? Do I get to roll dice?

    And I had absolutely no idea that Cyclopeatron was the Locus of OSR. Apparently we have an industry mag! Woot!

    - Ark (talk about a NEWB. Geez. I am a big GOOFY NEWB.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Interesting. I've gotten around 16 but am not old school. I can't play in any of your Reindeer Games (Screw You Rudolph!);)

    Also, I don't think of Christian's blog (Destination Unknown) as old school.

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Beedo - Argh! Sorry about that, my mistake... You're definitely on the list for next time.

    @R.W. Chandler - I looked at Black Hole Diaries and saw that your first post was after Dec 16. I was therefore able to go back and add you onto the rankings. Good show!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Also, I don't think of Christian's blog (Destination Unknown) as old school.

    I disagree, because Christian (1) periodically plays and writes about Labyrinth Lord and AD&D 2e, (2) has a great old school DIY style in general, (3) publishes a handwritten paper 'zine (what's more old school than that?), and (4) appeals to a lot of readers in the OSR crowd.

    Specifics aside, though, I don't really want to get into a pecking match about who's "old school" and who's not. With a list like this I am kind of forced into this role, but I don't really have the time or energy to be nit picky about it. By default I've been pretty liberal about including blogs.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh wow! That's awesome, cyclopeatron. Thank you very much. I have great folks like yourself, James from Underdark Gazette, Tim from Gothridge Manor, and Christian from Destination Unknown for somehow finding my stuff and linking me. It's amazing at some of the quality of stuff a lot of these OSR bloggers put out.

    Also, I'd have to agree that Destination Unknown is old school. Cyclopeatron, it looks like you put A LOT of work into researching these follower rankings. Great stuff, bro.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What are the requirements for being added to the list? I may not do as many posts as others, but I touch on "old school"/OSR games.
    Plus the Gazette used to be a print fanzine and I've gained about 20 followers in the past month.

    I'm sad 'cause I feel left out :-(

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is a heck of a time-consuming thing you do every month, and thanks for doing it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It would be cool if you could say a little about what the smaller blogs that are jumping in popularity are posting. For the big blogs: we're big, we get bigger, no big whoop, but a line or two about what's going on at Sorcerer's Skull or Rule of the Dice would be a nice addition.

    ReplyDelete
  13. WHOOOO HOOOO! Tied for 22nd! That's what's up!

    All about the adventure design series. Or maybe it's the sexy ladies!

    http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  14. What are the requirements for being added to the list?

    Either (1) you are lucky enough to have me stumble across your blog and I think to myself it's "old schoolish", and/or (2) you ask to be included. I take it that you're asking, so I will put you on the list.


    This is a heck of a time-consuming thing you do every month

    Now that I've put together a spreadsheet it's all pretty easy. I can quickly copy all the follower numbers off of a single blogger.com page and press a few buttons to make the list. I shouldn't get more credit than I deserve for this...


    It would be cool if you could say a little about what the smaller blogs that are jumping in popularity are posting.

    Good idea - I'll try to do this next time.


    For the big blogs: we're big, we get bigger, no big whoop

    This month was actually kind of unusual in this respect. In most previous months the top spots have been filled by younger blogs: In Places Deep, Huge Ruined Pile, Hill Cantons, Worlds of Wonder, etc. This is the first time the top slots have been clearly dominated by older blogs.

    Conversely, there are a lot of "big blogs" that aren't adding followers as quickly as they used to. I'm not sure how strong the correlation between overall follower number and follower rate-of-gain is. Maybe I'll try to figure this out later... I suspect post RATE and post INTEREST are the primary predictors of follower gain - not historical momentum.

    Grognardia and Porn Stars clearly excel on all fronts and are incredible juggernauts - good work y'all!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hey cyc:

    Please to be adding my blog to the big list--it's small and humble, but full of love and hard work!

    Zero XP Adventures

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow-I have no idea what I did to double my followers. Now watch me fall... :-)

    Thanks for compiling this!

    ReplyDelete
  17. "Either (1) you are lucky enough to have me stumble across your blog and I think to myself it's "old schoolish", and/or (2) you ask to be included. I take it that you're asking, so I will put you on the list."

    It was a mixture of asking and whining, but thanks for adding me.

    "Wow-I have no idea what I did to double my followers. Now watch me fall... :-)"

    @ Cthulhu's Librarian
    I'm in the same boat as you. I kept 2 or 3 followers for the longest time, with most hits just being people that stopped by to read a post. Then it jumped to 11 and then in the past few weeks, it jumped to 23 followers.

    My posts aren't any different than they usually are, but I did start following more blogs myself. I also have started posting more links to other sites. Those are the only things I can think of that would account for the spike.

    ReplyDelete
  18. hoy! not growing, shrinking actually, but me blog Tran Eskoor an Doon is still about. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for including us in the list, it is much appreciated. It'll be very interesting to see how this all plays out over time.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Great Gygax! That's a lot of blogs! It's gratifiying to see this many of us out there.

    ReplyDelete

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