Thursday, January 31, 2013

An Open Offer to GROGNARDIA readers

Hello!

I want to extend an offer to the many, many readers of the Grognardia blog.

Like you I have been a fan of James' writings from the early days of his blog.
Like you I have also noticed a visible lack of presence in my Google Reader and blog rolls.

Well today I would like to offer you something of consolation.
Please subscribe to my blog, the Other Side.  Go ahead and click that "Join this Site" button there on the right. Just scroll down a bit.

We all know that James has been going through some tough times and is really busy with real life and getting his magnum opus Dwimmermount done.  I wish him all the best and hope it lives up to all the hype and beyond.

I am not asking you to replace Grognardia with the Other Side by any stretch.  I am giving you something extra to read in the interim.

Now why should you read my blog when have been to this point reading his?  That is a very good question.  Here are some points in favor for my blog.

- My age and background is very similar to James.
- We began playing around the same time. We have had similar experiences.
- He does retrospectives and I have done them as well.
- He has done Ares and Imagine, I am doing White Dwarf.
- We both have ties to the early masters of the game.  My DM in the later part of 1986-87 was a guy that had learned from Gary himself (his name was also Gary), that year I played D&D straight out of the White Box.
- We both do reviews of products.
- We have both published a number of books.
- We both have written for WotC. Granted James has done more of this than I have.
- Chicago (where I live) is a lot like Toronto (where James lives).

In my favor:
- While I have played a lot of *D&D I have also played tons of other games too.
- I like every edition of D&D and can find something good in all of them.  No edition wars here.
- I make it a point to post at least once a day, some days twice.
- I read a lot of blogs so I know what is going on in that realm and I am friends with a lot of designers and freelancers.
- I write about more games. Granted I have a few I really like, but I have a few more that I have never mentioned in the queue ready to go.
- I actually liked Ratatouille.  (ok that one might be a low blow).
- I give stuff away! Well, it has been a while, but I should find something to give away in concert with this.  Though I do provide a Downloads area of some free stuff.
- Kurt Wiegel at Game Geeks has only reviewed two games more than once.  One of those was mine.

So until he comes back, give the Other Side a try.

Like the great sage Stephen Stills once said:


Don't be angry - don't be sad
Don't sit crying over good times you've had

And if you can't be with the one you love honey
Love the one you're with

If this sounds like a thinly veiled attempt to gain more followers then I failed. I was looking for a more heavy handed one. ;)

14 comments:

Rhonin84 said...

Knowing you as I do, how about the new Witch Book, that might be a nice give-away!

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Hey Greg, yeah I gave away a copy or two already. I should find something to do to give out another copy.

HMMM...

I'll have to think of something.

Ideas are welcome!

ERIC! said...

OF course I follow your blog, it's one of my favorites!

James M. has been a bit of a disappointment for me, but I get it I guess, real life and all.

ERIC!

Jeremy said...

I think Tenkar's Tavern has taken Grognardia's place. And it's a good way to see posts from various OSR blogs (including yours).

Tenkar said...

@Jeremy - I don't see The Tavern taking Grogdardia's place. James made Grognaria something special.

I just do my thing.

Glad you think it's working ;)

R.J. Thompson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
R.J. Thompson said...

Um, Tenkar, are those "Grognardia" typos deliberate or have you been at the tap house again? :)

Tim, how about hooking up with Will at Ramblings of the Great Khan and doing a witch themed contest in the future? His March adventure design contest is about Celts, so it could be a nice follow up.

Tenkar said...

strangely enough i just came back from the pub with my wife when i typed that ;)

Timothy S. Brannan said...

I have to admit while my prime motivation was humor and to get more people, I did want to do this before everyone DID go over to Tenkar's. ;)

I DO see Tenkar's Tanvern as becoming one of the go to blogs for 2013.

R.J. Thompson said...

Erik, awesome.

Tim, I agree. Again, I think maybe you should talk to Will about doing a witch based competition of you are serious about giving away another copy.

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Does sound like a good plan.

Timothy S. Brannan said...

I have to thank all the new followers! I will try not to disappoint.

Michael S/Chgowiz said...

The blog that used to be Grognardia, just like my blog and a whole lot of other blogs that did some heavy exploration of the older games... I think they are past their expiration date. I read this somewhere, but I agree that now that a lot of mining has been done, it's time to move to the playing and moving on. Reviewing old mags is not the stuff that made the older blogs interesting... it was the opinions and analysis.

Enjoying the shitty weather? :) We had that one day of 50s in Jan and now it's really a Chicago winter.

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Shitty weather? It's Chicago weather! That is why we live here. At least that is what I tell myself.