Happy Blogiversary to Me!

Yes, folks. It's a year to the day since I launched this blog. But this isn't so much a pat on my back, as it is for the community. I so enjoy being around (even though virtually) others who share the passion for old-school gaming. So here are my thanks, in no particular order...

Thanks to the approximately 120 followers of this blog!
Thanks especially to some of my earliest adopters (like Tim at The Savage Afterworld and Trey at Sorcerer's Skull.) A shout out even goes to the the handful of followers I picked up during the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge who have absolutely no interest in old-school role-playing, and probably never read this blog but collect blogs like some kind of digital friend hoarder. The size of my clan puts me solidly between "maven" and "pundit" on Trey's Old-school Blogger Advancement Table, but I do have aspirations for "pundit."

Thanks to all the folks who've helped me bring the "big plastic boulder of nerdiness"
(the d30) back to the forefront of the gaming table!
My first post a year ago was about trying to write a d30-based RPG system. That slowly became the d30 DM Companion, and now the d30 Sandbox Companion, with eyes on a potential d30 Encounter Companion. I really just wanted to put out a product that I would use (I know I use it!), and I cannot express how much I appreciate your patronage, with digital purchases at RPGNow topping 100 (type "d30" into the search box and I'm the first result!), and Lulu print copies nearing 50. And thanks to Matthew Schmeer for his recent d30 sound bite, "Your d30 stuff puts the old Armory books to shame." (I'm going to use that if I create a trailer for the release of the d30 Sandbox Companion.)

Thanks to the approximately 4,900 people and counting who have downloaded The System!
It's been floating around for about a year-and-a-half (since February 2011), and had just hit 2,000 downloads around this time last year. Then, over the last year or so, another 3,000 folks have downloaded it, not counting a downloads from a few places that host the PDF independently. I'd also like to thank Chris's Compendiums of Free Role-Playing Games, John Kim's Free RPGs on the Web, and Rob Lang over at 1KM1KT (1,000 Monkeys, 1,000 Typewriters), all of whom have taken on the vocation of helping rule-makers and home-brewers to get their work out there. If you want the story behind The System, and why the number one search result that brings googlers to this blog is "velo binding," you can get the story here, from last October's post.

Thanks to all the folks who download my stuff!
Between 1) an internal urge to create, and create, and create, 2) my ADD (not ADD&D),
and 3) the need to "take breaks" between projects (since I'm lucky enough to work at home), I've put out over 60 individual downloads (PDFs, etc.) like the Monster Indexes, the Old-school Adventure™ items, as well as the various record sheets and worksheets. All of the notes and comments letting me know how much you like them and use them is greatly appreciated!!! Chris Creel commented back in July, "Wow, you may be the Hardest Working Man in the OSR!" I'm lucky that I'm a passable writer, a well-versed graphic designer, and a moderately-capable illustrator; it all means I can organize and produce quickly, so it really looks like I'm doing more than I am. And I can't stress enough how much work I get accomplished during my morning constitutionals. Mostly, I thank God for the talents and aptitudes he's given me.

Thanks for a great first year, and here's to a great year to come!