And so it begins...

Ah, the first post. A fresh slate. A new blog. Mmm... don't you love that new blog smell? I've played the blog game before. I, along with every other warm-blooded suburbanite, got hooked on Livejournal in middle-school. I graduated to Easyjournal during my early college years, trying to "express myself" but... in the end... I failed. I lost the blog game. You can only write so much about your daily activities before you realize wow... no one probably wants to read this. And so, I left those blogs by the wayside.

A few weeks ago, I had an epifany. I needed to blog. Why? Why was the blogosphere calling me? Well for a few reasons. First and foremost, I love writing. I like to think of it as one of my hobbies, if writing can really be a hobby... which it can. Quiet you! Secondarily (is that a word?) I wanted to become a better writer. And how do you become a better writer? By writing of course! Thirdly, I spend way too much time on the interwebs. SO - logical solution? Write more. Online. So... blog. I needed to blog. But what about?

Well, when we get right down to it, my previous blogs failed because I wrote about things that I felt like I was supposed to write about in a blog. Bzzz. Wrong. I realize now that I should write about things I enjoy writing about. I know... a novel concept. And so, here we begin it. My very own, sparkly and new, fancy-schmancy RPG blog. *Fanfare* In preparation for the grand unveiling of beneath the screen, I've already generated quite a few ideas for things to write about. So, here's a little preview of what's to come...

- Adventure Recaps: I'm always running at least one tabletop game. These days, they've been from the lovely Pathfinder adventure paths, and almost always 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons. I'll offer recaps of the adventures as they go, my personal reviews on any published modules I use, and so on. This will also double as a resource for my players.

- Homebrew Stuff: I enjoy incorporating various house rules into my game, along with anything and everything homebrew. When I'm using pre-published adventurers, I can't help but add in unique encounters, detailed NPCs, new spells and feats, and even the occasional homebrewed monster or prestige class.

- Reviews: I am always looking to try newer, geekier things. I'll take the leap so some of you might not have to. I'll toss reviews up here for not only tabletop games, but the occasional movie or videogame that fits in with the whole fantasy genre as well. Along with tabletop games, I also play live action rpgs (LARPs) which I'll toss up the occasional review for or recap of as well.

- Getting Published: And here we come to my quest. Turning my hobby into a job. It's a pipe dream, but it's my pipe dream. I have an idea in my head for a game setting, and have come close to magazine submissions a few times. Sadly, I've never had the wherewithal to follow through. My hope though is that this blog will gather some sort of following off of which I can bounce ideas, and receive suggestions. So, here I will be documenting my eternal quest to get paid. Maybe if I'm successful, my trials and tribulations in the rpg market will be able to provide others with some tips of what to do, or what not to do, in order to get published. Should be an adventure.

- And Everything Else: Tips for DMing, thoughts on the philosophy of roleplaying, and other senseless ramblings. It'll be fun.

So there we go. I've got the blog, and I've got plenty to write about. I'm going to enjoy seeing how this plays out! Before we begin though, I must give credit where credit is due. I need to tip my hat to Chatty DM for his recent posts about the whos, whats, hows, and whys of rpg blogging. His thoughts and suggestions on starting an rpg blog were really the stepping stones for me starting this up. He gave me the jumpstart I needed, so if anyone else out there is interested in starting something up like this, I strongly suggest you check out his tips. You can just go ahead and check out his entire blog too.

Next time, we'll get off to a running start. See you then!