The goal I've mentioned already is: I want to do some deep-dive RPG design articles, and those would be fraught with fraughty things if I can't pepper them with hyperlinks exploring the terminology I depend on.
The other goal is a loftier one: I want to meet other designers of like mind, working in or near my design niche, to form a community for mutual support, friendly chatter, and the exchange of techniques.
This niche I'm in is, frankly, a bit obscure. There's no mystery why; I'm very clear on the reasons for other forms being more popular ... but this old boat is my home for larger, deeper and older reasons than those can compare to, and her popularity isn't why I signed aboard. Bottom line: she offers experiences impossible elsewhere, and I treasure those, as player and GM. I can (and do) enjoy other forms on their own terms (I still love me some Scrabble), but they're unable to provide a substitute for this form, and that means this form's endurance is crucial.
This amounts to a conscious decision to be a bit isolated from the larger RPG design community. Not because I don't love those folks; I do (and I admire their work). It's just that, at the level of craft, their techniques are largely irrelevant to my work, and vice-versa. I can talk to OSR folk about how to promote a PDF on OBS; I can talk to storygame designers about how to work around Adobe InDesign's clumsy limitations on global kerning exceptions; I can talk to my D&D friends about coloring a map that will print clearly using only black toner. And I'm grateful for those kinds of conversations.
But when it comes to building worlds, characters, adventures ... the reasons I do this to begin with ... it becomes the difference between being a people-doctor and a horse-doctor. The skills relate, the tools relate, but ... the differences limit the fruitful exchange. Different dosages. Different arrangement of organs. Different bedside manner.
So, I'm hoping to build what doesn't currently exist: an online community of professionals writing and designing in my design neighborhood: worlds, resources, and adventures designed around characterizing, creative problem solving ... tactical roleplaying in games where the visible rulebooks are spackle-caddy to the invisible ones. Traditional RPGs with rules engineered around their own relative unimportance compared to the miracle made possible by a living, breathing Game Master.
I'm by no means the Last of My Kind, but I'm one of a small number. I think it would be better if we were all friends. Drop me a line. It's Interactive Sunday, after all.
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