Stargazer's World » Blogging

The Penny Arcade Expo

Posted by Youseph | Posted on 02-09-2010

Category : Blogging, Guest Post, RPG, Site News

I am so excited to be attending the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Seattle this year! I have never been to a gaming convention before and I am looking forward to this epic adventure! I hope to come back with inspiration for new posts and maybe even a write up of my experiences at PAX.

I will be traveling to Seattle with my fiancé for this event. PAX is from September 3rd – 5th. We are both excited to see as many games and talks as possible. We are both interested in checking out what Wizards of the Coast has going on for Dungeons & Dragons related events. I am hoping to find a Green Ronin booth and maybe talk with someone about the new DC Adventures RPG.

My fiancé and I will be treating this trip like a vacation for us. After PAX I will be spending a week in Washington State visiting family before returning to Juneau Alaska. I am not planning on doing much writing while I am on vacation, but please feel free to follow me on twitter (@nicap) as I am sure I will be posting updates and pictures from PAX.

4 people like this post.

Unlike

How I traveled to another world… A Stargazer’s World!

Posted by Sunglar | Posted on 04-08-2010

Category : Blogging, Random musings, Savage Worlds

I know I’ve been a contributor to Stargazer’s World for a short time, but it already feels like home.

Friends had asked me why I wasn’t blogging before and I usually answered that I wouldn’t. Not because I couldn’t write (I believe I can do that passably) but because I felt that those things I felt passionate about were either, of little interest to other people, or sensitive subjects (like politics and other issues) and writing about them might affect my work environment or even future job prospects (don’t worry I’m not that radical, just very opinionated). So I had pretty much given up on blogging.

Then one day while I was doing a Google search for information on the Savage Worlds RPG I got a link for Stargazer’s World. I honestly can’t remember which post it was. I do recall I loved what I read. The style was friendly and very informative. The blog looked nice and most of all I felt the writer cared for what he was writing about. This was a labor of love and it showed. I do remember clicking on home and readying various other posts. After that I was hooked and bookmarked the page.

I found myself coming back every day to read the new posts, and clearly remember the disappointment I felt when I came to the blog on a Saturday and realized this Michael Wolf had the audacity of taking weekends off! I wanted posts and I wanted them now. Stargazer’s World became the place to go for RPG information. I began leaving comments and not long after that actually contacted Michael and we began to talk.

When he told me he was considering having other people contribute to his blog and asked me if I was interested I was so thrilled. He made this look fun (and it is) and had a contagious passion for blogging and gaming in general. I had read other blogs, but none that captured me like this one, and that I think it had a lot to do with what a great guy Michael is!

I owe a debt of gratitude to him, and my friend Daniel Perez, both of whom pushed me to blog and changed my mind about blogging. My first official contribution to Stargazer’s World was published February 19^th, 2010. Roughly six months and fifty odd posts later I am so glad to be here. I’ve met so many wonderful people, made amazing friends and discovered a vibrant active community of people that feel passionately about gaming.

Happy 2^nd anniversary to Stargazer’s World, I’m happy to be here. Thank you for the opportunity to write about what I love. If they have me, I hope to be here for many anniversaries to come!

PS – To get the full effect of the nightmare inducing picture accompanying this posts you have to imagine me singing the song like Marilyn Monroe did for JFK’s birthday! Now roll to see how much Sanity you’ve lost…

3 people like this post.

Unlike

The Most Unread Blog on the Internet. Ever.

Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 20-07-2010

Category : Blogging, News, Reviews & Culture, RPG, Random musings

Tommy Tommy Brownell’s blog has a very interesting mix of topics: roleplaying games and wrestling. I have to admit that I know almost nothing about wrestling and so I won’t comment on his wrestling posts here.

But I think I have some knowledge when it comes to pen & paper RPGs, and I have to admit I really like what Tommy has to say about those. And that’s why I really think I that his blog doesn’t deserve to be the “most unread blog on the internet”. So, let’s change that!

Especially his reviews are extremely fun to read.If you have a couple of minutes you should at least check out “Tommy’s Take on: Gnomemurdered 2e". I can also wholeheartedly recommend his posts about the Star Wars Saga game he runs for his son. Even if you’re not running a game for kids yourself, it’s always interesting to read about other GM’s games.

In my opinion, “The Most Unread Blog on the Internet. Ever.” is definitely worth checking out, even if there’s a bit too much wrestling stuff for my tastes. But as always, your mileage may vary. That said, Tommy’s post are definitely worth reading and if you like his stuff, don’t forget to comment on his blog!

5 people like this post.

Unlike

Growing the Hobby: The Horticulturist Way!

Posted by Sunglar | Posted on 20-07-2010

Category : Advice, Blogging, Just my two cents, RPG, Random musings

Mad Brew Labs is hosting this month’s RPG Blog Carnival and the topic is an interesting one, how to help the growth of the hobby? This is a topic I’m very interested in since over the last year I’ve tried to take an active role in the gaming community where I live.

I think the best thing we as individuals can do to help the hobby grow is take a cue from horticulturists, we need to prep the soil and help new plants grow, that means getting more people to play, be they lapsed players who’ve drifted away from the hobby or new people interested in role playing games. But how do we do this?

First of all I think it’s a matter of communication, getting in touch with other fellow fans, people who’ve heard about games and want to learn more about them. The internet is the obvious answer but I think we need to explore beyond the traditional places where we communicate. Company forums, established RPG communities are good, but the people you meet there are already hobbyist; I really believe we need to reach out. Social media networks like Facebook or Twitter are a great place to tell people about your hobby and invite them to play. Some people who use these web services may be casual fans unaware of more specialized sites and establishing a conversation may be the first step in getting them to play.

If you are lucky enough to have local stores that carry games, be it a comic story, a hobby shop or a large chain bookstore, this is an excellent place meet other role players. I see teens in Borders looking over the books and I try to strike up a conversation, ask then what they play, where they play. If they are interested in playing I want to see how I can help to get them to play, which brings me to my next point…

If you want to see the hobby grow, then you need to play with more people! This may sound like a no-brainer, and your experience may be different form mine, but ask yourself, when was the last time you played with new players? I play a regular weekly game with a very stable group so we rarely have the opportunity of having new players join us. And my gaming time is limited so I can’t really plan more games regularly. What I’ve tried to do is plan special activities through the group we’ve created in Facebook and have activities were players can get together, meet, get to know each other and hopefully establish new gaming groups. Also the group has organized demonstrations at local mini-conventions were we offer to teach people how to play. There is no greater satisfaction than seeing a new player roll dice for the first time.

We need to encourage people to play and give them the tools to do so. Forget about which system you play or which game you think is more or less balanced. Leave behind preconceptions and grudges and teach someone how to play! They will thank you for it…

5 people like this post.

Unlike

Lovecraftian Week: Roundup post

Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 03-05-2010

Category : Blogging, Call of Cthulhu, CthulhuTech, Gumshoe System, News, Reviews & Culture, Other Systems, RPG, Random musings, Site News

Last week we brought you several post on gaming inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. But all good things have to come to an end, and so the “Lovecraftian Week” concluded with a Lazy Friday Video Post featuring Lil Cthulhu.

The success of the event was overwhelming. We had 6,298 page views last week and Cody from “Kingdom of Geeks” joined us and wrote several Mythos-related posts as well. Perhaps we should have these themed weeks more often!

But now let’s have a look at the contributions to the “Lovecraftian Week”. I want to start with Cody’s posts here:

But he haven’t been lazy over here at Stargazer’s World, either, so without further ado, behold our contributions:

While the "Lovecraftian Week" is technically over, I’ve heard that my friend Roberto has still one unpublished post on the topic up his sleeves. Stay tuned, it will go live when the stars are right again!

4 people like this post.

Unlike

The Stars Are Right!

Posted by Stargazer | Posted on 26-04-2010

Category : Blogging, Call of Cthulhu, CthulhuTech, Feature, Gumshoe System, Other Systems, RPG, Site News

The Stars are right We’re having a special event this week at Stargazer’s World: Lovecraftian Week! The majority of the articles this week will be about gaming inspired by the Cthulhu mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Call of Cthulhu is probably the best known roleplaying game based on H.P. Lovecrafts works, but in the recent years several games inspired by the Cthulhu mythos has been released. Take Cthulhutech for example which is a clever mix between the supernatural horror and the mecha genre. Another pretty recent game set into Lovecraft’s world is Ken Hite’s Trail of Cthulhu which makes use of the GUMSHOE system.

And even in some Fantasy game that are don’t refer to the Cthulhu mythos directly, influences of Lovecraft’s work can be found. Green Ronin’s Freeport is an example of a setting that contains cults, gods and creatures clearly influenced from the Cthulhu mythos.

So, stay tuned for some Lovecraftian goodness each day here at Stargazer’s World! And if you want to join the fun, just write something fitting the theme on your own blog, link back to this post and leave a comment here. It’s like some mini blog carnival this way. And feel free to use the logo I created (The Cthulhu artwork was created by DeviantArt user The-First-Magelord and was used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License) for that purpose.

Now there’s only one thing to add: “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.”

2 people like this post.

Unlike