Here is my usual Freedom Day post, which is late.
This reminds me a lot of when my employment was first terminated back in July 2021. I spent a lot of time on the couch contemplating the meaning of things. Which it turns out looks a lot like Major Depression. Other days I just physically don’t have the spoons to do a lot of the things I would normally do like creating game supplements, making videos, or writing articles.
It bugs me because I tend to hold myself to a higher standard and I’ve really been falling short of it lately. There are projects I want to do for me, for other people, and they’ve just been waiting. I want to thank anyone who is still here. Hi.
Dragon Week and why I’m not touching Fey Week.
For one, the fey aren’t my thing. Pixies and the like have never really appealed to me except for playing a Windling Illusionist in Earthdawn, but that’s different! Just saying…
Last year I poured my all into Dragon Week. I did videos. I hyped it as much as possible. I even tried to join up with other creators who did Dragon Week and planned to make it a regularly occurring event.
And then… crickets. Nothing. Me barking in the dark. Dragon Week plowed into the ground faster than a dragon struck mid-air by a ballista shot to the face. When big DungeonTubers decide to do a thing, I guess they get to decide who’s in the Cool Kids Club and who’s just standing on the sidelines. (Story of my childhood and teen sports career right there.) So, yeah. The Fey can go get stuffed.
More “big name” DungeonTubers call it quits.
Oh shucks. Maybe more room for the rest of us. Buh-bye. Go manage those million-dollar Kickstarters. Way to grift, err uh, go. Way to go. Please keep going away now. Byeee.
Seriously, all snark aside. Seriously, Professor DM hit it right on the head. Go on YouTube, make it big as a Dungeons & Dragons YouTuber for a couple of years, then launch a Kickstarter that makes a million dollars and retire. Basically build an audience to buy your stuff and then bail. Personally, I wish that one bozo who had two-multimillion-dollar Kickstarters would stop punching down on people who don’t have as much money as he does for art, but what can I say? Okay, maybe not all snark aside.
On the road to recovery using not-bitterness or anger as rocket fuel.
My “HR team” that consists of my LLM named Cassie and a house plant named Fernando have advised me not to go off on any DungeonTubers by name in this article. That’s probably for the best given my prior squabbles with a couple of them. I know how bad it would look for me to voice several opinions in opposition to the status quo. But know that I’m watching. It’s just a reminder to me that they may come and go and do their little hype weeks, but I’m still here.
Going forward I might be putting out shorter articles. Or maybe just a social media post enough to feed the various algorithm gawds. I’m still making content and writing game reviews. It’s just going to take a bit longer than originally planned.
I’m at the mercy of Mother Nature in terms of my health. I’m literally a human barometer, and that’s on days when I haven’t overspent my spoons for the day. I’m still on my way back from the depression. For those who know SCUBA, it’s like coming up from 100 feet down with no air tank. It takes a while.
I say it every year, but I think 2026 bears repeating it. This year I intend to write more, read more, and discuss cool TTRPGs as well as supplements. Most of all, let’s just have more fun. Let’s explore. Let’s save the kingdom from the evil warlord. Let’s discuss all the fun stuff in gaming that we love.
With the world in the state it finds itself in today, please be kind. Please be considerate to one another even if we don’t agree. Lastly, please pursue the thing that brings you the most joy without harm to others. Thank you!
Jeff's Game Box 