Working on a longer article but wanted to chat.

I’m doing kind of a throwback to TTRPG blogs of old. Short set of notes today about a lot of little issues. It’s just a little too quiet in the industry and in the community right now.

Is it possible I’ve cheesed off the wrong people and I’m just not seeing posts anymore? I’m combing down through my YouTube and X (Twitter) feeds and I’m not finding much to get excited about. Now my old gamer Spidey senses are tingling because it’s actually too quiet.

GAMA is this week. For those who might not know, the GAMA Expo is the premier tabletop game (board games, card games, and TTRPGs.) convention in the United States. I would give an eyetooth to be able to attend it some year. I tend to get really geeky about new games and game news. The kicker is that it’s for manufacturers first and foremost, meaning drooling fanboys like me aren’t typically invited.

TTRPG YouTube is again on my radar. I consume a lot of YouTube content every day. I recently sat through two separate three and a half hour long livestreams talking about Matt Mercer’s two short video clips on X (Twitter.) I find it laughable that these guys spent all this time on livestreams talking about something that could have been summed up in a five minute video. (They probably still would have been bigoted, ignorant, and downright hateful, but we’d have suffered less of them.)

Mercer opened himself up to these chuckleheads when he talked about depression and politics in the same video clip. Now we’ve had to listen to the far right wing nuts cry about everything from Mercer’s appearance to how he supposedly ruined Dungeons & Dragons. Here, let me help- The man can wrap himself in a shawl and paint his fingernails however he likes. Get a grip.

There’s another guy on YouTube that I now refer to as the Homestar Runner of D&D YouTube. Lemme see if I can help this dude. D&D is not a religion. Gary Gygax is not Super Space Jesus or anything of the sort. He was never visited by a blue space chicken as far as we know. If you find yourself speaking of D&D like it’s a real world religion, maybe it’s time to seek some professional psychiatric help.

I find it ironic when people spend as much time making videos mocking (Homestar Runner) as the guy in question spends making his own content. I’d much rather see people doing their own thing and talking about things that bring them joy instead of constantly bagging on this one YouTuber who probably does need some serious mental health assistance.

There is possibly a conspiracy going in TTRPG YouTube. It’s still debatable, so don’t quote me. I think anyone not covering D&D and making nice with WotC is getting buried by the algorithm. Personally, I’m seeing a lot more D&D content going across my feed ever since that video last month. It’s a little suspicious to me. Ever since YouTube released a video on their channel that equated all TTRPGs to just D&D, I have to wonder what they’re doing.

 Wizards of the Coast continues shooting themselves in the foot. Nothing new yet this week, but they sure made a mess of the Dragonlance thing. Joe Manganiello will probably never forgive them for canceling the live action TV show and I don’t think he’s still making that documentary about the 50th anniversary for them. I know I wouldn’t want to work with WotC ever again.

Anything is possible. Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you joy today.