Friday, January 3, 2020

2020 Update

Welcome to a very special update on Bearers Of The Word.

Why? Because it's been ten years since I've started doing this blog. Ten years. Let that sink in a bit. A decade of my life spent writing about games, off and on, here and there.
While I started off with some others, documenting our adventures with Warhammer 40,000, they've gone off to other things. So, now I run the show all by myself.

Since I run this solo now, the focus has changed, moving away from Warhammer and now includes all kinds of traditional games. Role Playing Games, Card Games, and even a few other Miniature Games. Whatever I've got laying around. Or some of the new stuff I pick up in the course of my adventures. 



In the past decade, the world of table top gaming has changed. It's become much more popular, especially in the last few years. It's a very weird time to be alive, let me tell you. Let me give you some background. I first started playing RPGs back in 1996, just after the Satanic Panic (look that up if you've never heard of it). I was told that I was going to Hell for playing D&D. Even a few years later, my dad was surprised that I would be willing to read one of my gaming books in public. When D&D 3rd Edition came out, I was looking at it on the bus had had someone ask me if I ever played sober. I was in high school, so yeah... Now, there's YouTube channels all about D&D and RPGs, the conventions like GenCon are wildly popular, and you can find groups or people who play everywhere you look. Not to mention the ability to play with people online. It's a wild time to be alive...
But, there's more to gaming than just D&D. It's just the most popular, and I've had fun playing it in the past, but it's not all there is. And I'd like to “Bear The Word” of these other games, be they old or new. I figure if I help one person find a game that they like, I've been successful. I also like talking about games. Doesn't matter what kind of game, if I enjoy it, I'll sing its praises. I do try to be honest and up front about any problems I find.



One of the other things that has changed since I've started working on this blog is the amount of free time I have. Which is pretty typical of the adult world. So, not only do I not have a bunch of free time, but most of the people I like to play games with doesn't have the time to play, either. So, this blog gives me the chance to get something in with gaming that doesn't consume as much time. I can usually write an article in an hour or two, with editing taking half as long. However, I do aim to have one entry out per week, usually on Friday (or Saturday at the latest), as I think that's a healthy balance of time spent. In the past, my posting was very irregular. And I'm sure you've noticed that there were very low content years. However, I've decided to make this blog more of a priority these days. But, we'll see how long that lasts. I do try to play the games I look at before I review them, but that's not always possible. If nothing else, I take a good, long look at things before I sit down to work.
You see, this whole thing is a labor of love. I make zero dollars from this blog. I don't have any sponsors (nor would I accept any). I don't have a Patreon. I don't even have AdSense turned on for this thing. I could, but I'd rather not. I have several reasons for this, including legal ones, but I don't plan on changing this in the future.



The one complaint I do have is that I almost never get any comments. It's been almost three years since I've gotten one. And it's a little disappointing. I can see that I continue get hits from all over the world on a lot of my articles. And, while I do this for myself, it's nice to know that people are enjoying the content and what about it they enjoy. I'd like to think that my articles are amusing and informative. But, if no one says so, I might just be blowing smoke up my own ass, you know? Great. Now I sound like one of those guys on YouTube...



So, what's next for the Bearers Of The World? Well, I've started several different articles. Some of them have died off (along with the games centered around them), but I'm trying to keep the rest of them going for as long as I can.
Later this year, it looks like Cyberpunk 2077 game will be dropping. As such, I'm going to be focusing one article each month on something related to that genre of fiction/games. Of course, I've already done a review of Cyberpunk 2020 (which the video game is based on), so things will get kind of out there. Stay tuned and I hope you enjoy...


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