I am quite pleased that I've managed to stick with this blog. I haven't always felt like it, but I have had my fair share of attempting big projects and failing to see them through. This is definitely one of my better projects.
So is it popular? Compared to the top notch OSR blogs out there (see my blog roll), no, this is one of the small fry. Average hits of about 10 per day. So far I've accumulated 3,300 hits in the blog's history since I started in February. Not exactly major league.
So why do I consider it a success?
Because I am proud of my work, even if nobody else gives a crap. Kaelaross is a world that has been floating around my D&D notes in drips and drabs for about 10 years, primarily intended as a more coherent and original alternative to Mystara (whether it's actually better than Mystara is unlikely). This blog has helped me to clarify, rewrite and sometimes rethink a lot about a world that had potential. I have also added new material - about two thirds of the info in this blog was created for this blog, while the other third was created beforehand, mostly hand-written and hand-drawn, such as this map of Teiglin where it all started....
One of the things I realised after giving up on my previous blog was to put aside worries about what other people think of my blog or whether they notice it or not. I made the decision to make myself the primary audience - this blog is what I would like to see in Kaelaross, not what I think others want.
But like a lot of creative folk, I enjoy sharing stuff with other gamers. It's a secondary consideration - an added bonus as it were. But it is why this is a blog and you guys are reading it, not simply document files and .JPGs on my hard drive. It actually also helps with the discipline of adding to it every two or three days. The idea that blog readers are interested is sometimes the extra motivation I need to sit and write something and put it out here on the blog, even if I'm not in the mood.
So far it's working ok for me, and who knows, maybe I'll do another retrospective if I reach 200 posts....
Congratulations on hitting this milestone.
ReplyDeleteI think you should be proud of your work. Put what weight on it you will, but you are one of the most-linked blogs on my 'Links of the Week' series (you've appeared in 4 weeks so far, but the most is only 7 -- The Land of Nod had a series on alternately-colored dragons that I really liked).
You're one of the blogs I hit regularly when I see at RPGBA that you've got a new post up.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks for that Keith. I've just discovered and bookmarked your blog, which looks like a really good resource for exploring the rest of the RPG bloggosphere.
ReplyDelete