This Map is Crude

This blog turned 2 months young yesterday, so I may as well commemorate that with a summary of where we are with the Lexicon series in particular. This is a crude two-dimensional squishing of a decidedly multi-dimensional topic: my view of my niche, within the larger realm of tabletop games.

I work the orange part of town, as a writer and designer. As a player, I wander the entire map from time to time, and beyond it (I also love some card games, board games, miniatures wargames, computer games, parlor games, yard games and more). As a player, I'm an omnigamer.

But in terms of what I make, I work the orange part of town, including those areas of overlap that contain a smidge of orange ... pretty much to the degree implied by the color, and to the extent implied by the overlap.

Some gamers think of these as "camps." I consider them neighborhoods. Maybe there's not much difference, but it means that I consider everyone in every circle my neighbors. I think that's difference enough from what "camps" implies.

I also think of them as subcultures, dialects, flavor profiles, notes and octaves, depending on the metaphor of the moment.

I'm confident that the view from your window will differ from mine, and from everyone else's. I'm keen to learn what you see. The terrain blocks itself, in some ways. I suspect a more universally-agreeable map would be four-dimensional and very blurry, possibly to the point where the text must be guessed-at. Plus kind of swirly. And there'd be Dorito crumbs. Alternate angles on the same implied "question" would take other forms entirely; overlapping circles, or even spheres, wouldn't do.

And it's Interactive Sunday. My inbox, as always, is open. I'm also really keen on finding some nighttime gamers for online RPG sessions ("night-time" in Colorado might even be broad daylight where you live). Either way, hope this finds you well, and gaming.