The Disoriented Ranger talks: Gaming Culture

My friend Jens, from The Disoriented Ranger, writes good, thoughtful stuff. Just take a look at the blog and you'll see. 

He just published the first part of a blog anthology. Roughly 130 pages. The first part is about Gaming Culture. I only read the first few chapters, but I'm already looking forward for the next parts (especially part 2!). Jens really knows his old-school/OSR stuff - his advice in my upcoming B/X alternate magic book (among others) has been invaluable.

(BTW, Alternate Magic is coming soon! Stay tuned!)

Complicating blog articles is a great idea, IMO; organizing is more important than creating. I hope I'll write my own someday.

It is only one dollar - click here to get it.

Anyway, here is the blurb:

What's this about?

Nothing is older than yesterday's blog ... or so they say. After 10 years of exploring "all things D&D and role-playing" on The Disoriented Ranger blog, most of it during the Golden Age of the so-called OSR (and some of it in the Silver Age, I presume), it is time to look back and see what I deem worthy of conserving.

I talked several subjects over the years, many of them about game design and gaming advice, but the most general was about Gaming Culture. How we play, why we play, consumerism, DIY, about communities in general, about where we are and where we could go with this hobby of playing role-playing games ...

I shared my takes about these and they make a good first anthology. So here they are: 15 posts on roughly 130 pages with thoughts and musings about The Hobby, all edited and prettied up for this pdf.

What's to come?

There are five more anthologies to follow in the next couple of months, so look out for:

• Part 2: D&D and the OSR
• Part 3: Musings about DMing
• Part 4: Storytelling Advice
• Part 5: DIY & Gamedesign
• Part 6: Theories in Action

Parts 1 to 3 as well as Parts 4 to 6 will also be compiled for a PoD option!

This is not a trip down memory lane, the topics presented here are still as important as they had been when I addressed them. My sincere hope is that sharing them here will encourage and inspire new readers (or fans of the blog, but with fresh eyes) to see the wealth of potential our hobby has, as well as its pitfalls.

Other than that: I can just provide the map, and even I get lost ...

Cheers,

The Disoriented Ranger

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What qualifies me, you ask?

Just so you know: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." (Hunter S. Thompson)

Definitely worth checking out!