Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Fastest Growing OSR Blogs of April and May: GAIA GAMMA and GROGNARDIA

Here's a ranked list of 245 old schoolish roleplaying blogs ranked by the number of followers they gained between April 1st and June 6th. I rank 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 DO NOT list blogs with zero or negative growth.

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 I am following your RPG blog 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 email me the link through my profile. If I made a mistake please let me know - I am not consciously trying to exclude anyone.

Tied for first we have Grognardia and newcomer Gaia Gamma! I assume that I don't need to describe Grognardia to anyone - it's consistently one of the biggest, fastest growing, and most influential blogs in town. Gaia Gamma, on the other hand, is a new blog focused primarily on creative content related to propietor Thomas Biskup's post-apocalyptic RPG design. Fans of games like Gamma World and Metamorphosis Alpha should love this blog. Great great stuff!

In second place we have another newcomer: Grognardling! This blog is all about straight up old school D&D and is remarkable because it is one of the few blogs written by a younger gamer who didn't actually grow up playing the game.

In third place is Strange Magic, one of a very small number of blogs focusing on Weird West gaming. This blog features frequent well written posts and lots of cool YouTube links. Nice work, Stuart!

In fourth and fifth place we have the venerable and widely-read blogs Playing D&D With Porn Stars and LotFP: RPG, respectively, which, like Grognardia, need no introduction.

Here's the whole list. You can link to any blog by clicking on its name:

Blog Name
6-Jun
1-Apr
Change
76
0
76
924
848
76
65
3
62
116
55
61
737
684
53
420
371
49
120
77
43
190
150
40
193
153
40
213
174
39
486
448
38
299
263
36
151
115
36
537
502
35
300
265
35
127
92
35
112
77
35
144
111
33
121
91
30
79
49
30
129
100
29
293
264
29
282
254
28
291
264
27
186
161
25
96
71
25
134
109
25
25
0
25
102
77
25
169
145
24
187
163
24
198
174
24
71
47
24
347
324
23
224
201
23
56
33
23
51
29
22
53
32
21
131
111
20
250
230
20
170
150
20
127
108
19
151
132
19
199
180
19
208
190
18
143
126
17
64
47
17
60
43
17
71
54
17
79
62
17
75
58
17
173
156
17
122
105
17
37
20
17
49
33
16
65
49
16
123
107
16
74
58
16
92
76
16
76
60
16
104
89
15
196
181
15
137
122
15
188
173
15
101
86
15
48
34
14
68
54
14
210
196
14
52
38
14
14
0
14
286
272
14
56
42
14
95
81
14
121
108
13
50
37
13
67
54
13
124
111
13
77
64
13
62
49
13
48
36
12
194
182
12
131
119
12
68
56
12
90
78
12
37
25
12
22
10
12
122
110
12
55
44
11
91
80
11
88
77
11
44
33
11
246
235
11
92
81
11
58
47
11
100
89
11
60
50
10
105
95
10
100
90
10
96
86
10
164
154
10
28
18
10
45
35
10
139
129
10
63
53
10
226
216
10
60
50
10
76
66
10
56
47
9
70
61
9
169
160
9
68
59
9
Newschool RPG
9
0
9
35
26
9
136
127
9
85
76
9
17
8
9
58
49
9
85
76
9
10
1
9
19
10
9
181
172
9
42
33
9
143
134
9
30
22
8
Cimorra
16
8
8
103
95
8
47
39
8
152
144
8
41
33
8
63
55
8
10
2
8
40
32
8
9
1
8
133
125
8
111
103
8
103
96
7
71
64
7
58
51
7
GAMMA WORLD WAR!
7
0
7
29
22
7
209
202
7
48
41
7
37
30
7
110
103
7
87
80
7
17
10
7
213
206
7
130
123
7
123
117
6
125
119
6
25
19
6
65
59
6
26
20
6
150
144
6
154
148
6
47
41
6
33
27
6
71
65
6
54
49
5
15
10
5
49
44
5
5
0
5
63
58
5
34
29
5
34
29
5
29
24
5
53
48
5
83
78
5
38
33
5
37
32
5
28
23
5
112
107
5
148
143
5
99
94
5
25
20
5
85
80
5
59
55
4
180
176
4
40
36
4
63
59
4
66
62
4
25
21
4
40
36
4
66
62
4
132
128
4
28
24
4
4
0
4
133
129
4
34
30
4
58
54
4
36
32
4
57
53
4
56
52
4
12
9
3
33
30
3
32
29
3
71
68
3
145
142
3
78
75
3
69
66
3
128
125
3
17
14
3
15
12
3
56
53
3
206
203
3
29
26
3
51
48
3
67
64
3
18
15
3
44
41
3
92
89
3
44
41
3
32
29
3
41
38
3
14
11
3
54
51
3
67
64
3
17
15
2
59
57
2
40
38
2
22
20
2
29
27
2
67
65
2
14
12
2
44
42
2
147
145
2
68
66
2
11
9
2
The Evil GM
18
16
2
30
28
2
17
15
2
29
28
1
50
49
1
49
48
1
12
11
1
47
46
1
27
26
1
26
25
1
32
31
1
27
26
1
56
55
1
48
47
1
25
24
1
42
41
1
73
72
1
63
62
1


23 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, this looks like a lot of work. Amazing. Thanks, as always, for the post. Great to see so many increasing their readership.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah! The list! The list!

    - ARk

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  3. Am I blind or am I not in the list?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Am I blind or am I not in the list?

    Good question! It looks like I missed your blog in my spreadsheet because it changed names.

    Blog name changes really make things hard for me. I think there might be a few other blogs on the list with similar problems, but I frankly don't have the time and energy to comb through the ~300 blog list to trace down all the name changes. I'd appreciate any help with this!

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  5. @Greg - Problem fixed. Your blog is now on the list. Many thanks for alerting me to the mix up!

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  6. Can I request to be added?

    Yes, you will be on the next list! Thanks for letting me know about your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for keeping the list. It's always interesting. And wonder of wonders, I made the top 10 again! Whee!

    Extra congrats to Strange Magic. His blog has been one of my favorites lately.

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  8. Congrats to Grognardling for his shot at fame! It's a nice little blog he's got going there and I've enjoyed it since I started following.

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  9. There must be a way we can aid you in this so it's not such a burden. The list must take hours to compile. Suggestions)

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  10. Thx dude. Sorry bout the confusion

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  11. @cyclopeatron: Wow! Thanks for the kind words and for taking the time to crunch all these numbers. :)

    @Risus Monkey: Thanks man!

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  12. WooHoo! I climbed to the top 10!
    40 new followers is very cool.

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  13. I would also like to submit my humble blog for addition to the list:

    http://unto-the-breach.blogspot.com/

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Could you add mine to the list as well:

    http://backtothekeep.blogspot.com/

    Thanks!

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  15. Hi Pete. Thanks for adding me back onto the last after I dropped off the map for a bit back in January.

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  16. Thanks for putting the immense amount of work into the list. I'm proud for my Gaia Gamma blog.

    Please also add my other new OSR blog - http://www.thefantasygame.org - to your list. There I attempt to write (yet another ;-) ) OD&D clone from the viewpoint of early 1975.

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  17. If possible could I have myself added as well. Though growth has slowed considerably.

    quagkeep.blogspot.com

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  18. Hi Cyclopeatron - another request to add a blog to your list. Thanks!


    http://daddyrolleda1.blogspot.com/

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  19. Thanks everyone for alerting me to your blogs! I will put them on the list for the next round of rankings.

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  20. Just wanted to point out, that my blog listed up there has no link on it, but its the evil gm @ http://theevilgm.com

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  21. i don't think I saw mine there. http://gmkeros.wordpress.com

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