A few days ago A Paladin in Citadel asked if readers like how he keeps separate blogrolls for Canadian vs. non-Canadian blogs. This got me thinking about the game blogs emanating forth from within my own major geopolitical region: The California Republic. Off the top of my head, the list would include (please let me know if I missed any):
Castle Dragonscar
Cimmerian Chronicles
Cyclopeatron
Destination Unknown
Dungeon Mistress
Frothy Friar
Playing D&D With Porn Stars
Telecanter's Receding Rules
Temple of Demogorgon
The Moldy Vale
This is a pretty good number with a definite bias towards Southern California. While this regional richness is interesting, it's also sadly irrelevant because it doesn't represent any sort of real gaming scene. I've only met two of these other bloggers in person: Celestial (Dungeon Mistress, my niece) and Cimmerian (Cimmerian Chronicles). Unlike Paladin, who groups together blogs sprinkled across a vast area, a lot of us California bloggers apparently live within an hour or two of each other - especially in SoCal.
It would be great if at least the SoCal contingent (and others in close proximity) could organize to attend a local con some time to hang out and roll dice! SoCal Old School Mini Con III is coming up Aug 14 and Gateway 2010 is coming up on Labor Day Weekend (Sep 3-6), it would be good fun to have a bloggomaniac meeting of the minds and achieve critical mass to run and promote some cool RPGs!
Your comments regarding the lack of a So. Cal game scene are spot on. With the region's massive population, you'd think that it'd be easy to find gamers. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, especially here in L.A. This is a sprawling city full of people from other places who pretty much hate everyone around them.
ReplyDeleteEven when one does find gamers, gaming seems to be a priority after work/school, family, non-gaming friends, partying/clubbing, outdoor activities, watching TV, playing console games, shopping at Whole Foods, being stuck in traffic and shopping for iPhones or clothes. Gaming is waaaaaay down on the list.
Stupid transplant population and perfect weather! Argh!
A get together would be a lot of fun. I could carpool with Kevin from Temple of Demogorgon or even Zak from Playing D&D. It would be a total nerdgasm and therefore perfect!
I'm interested in Aug 14th.
ReplyDeleteChristian and Telecanter, it would be great to meet you guys! If either of you, or anyone else, is interested in the mini-con weekend of Aug 14 shoot me an email via my blogger profile. It's a pretty informal event, so it would be nice to get a head count to plan activities. Also, I may be running Gamma World at a game store RPG day on Aug 15 as well, so we could potentially roll dice all weekend.
ReplyDeleteI'm game for a meetup. I'll see if I can swing August 14th. It sounds like it could be fun.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking my blog btw!
That would be really nice if all you people could meet up face to face. Here in the UK I believe Daddy Grognard is planning something for next year. We are such a tiny island, not really given to long-distance journeys.
ReplyDeleteIf random strangers can meet in taverns and complete impossible quests than damnit a community of bloggers can organise a get together.
I think august 14 could work for me. It would be very cool to meet and throw some dice. :)
ReplyDeleteKrusty The Clown: I heartily endorse this product and/or service.
ReplyDeleteThere are at least 4 bloggers in Calgary, it would be cool to try the same thing here!
Thanks for listing these blogs btw, there are probably a couple that I am not following, and should be.
Nick, Telecanter, Christian: I will post more details on the SoCal gathering as soon as I get them. It's looking like we'll have a high-level AD&D game by Trent Foster, then possibly afterwards, an Urutsk game by Cimmerian. It remains to be determined what the other games will be. I'm guessing there's going to be a Boot Hill game and also a low-level Classic D&D game.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Aug sounds good to me. Please keep me posted.
ReplyDelete