August 7, 2008

The RPG Carnival #1, Resurrection

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The RPG blogging community is no doubt a fantastic source for gamers across the globe. This community has brought together gaming minds from all over the globe - and is no doubt going to be a source of inspiration, tips, advice, concepts, mechanics, and material for game masters and players of PnP RPGs everywhere. Our blogs serve as a permanent source, for all time, of creative effort bent on making gaming better.

So, today I would like to propose we start a blog carnival. If you are not sure, a blog carnival is a collection of blog posts that focus on a chosen topic over a short period of time that are then summarized on the blog hosting the carnival. There's an excellent discussion of blog carnivals over at A Blog Around the Clock, a science blog I follow.

My plans for The RPG Blog Carnival are small. I basically want to host the The RPG Blog Carnival for 1 month, summarizing the content at the carnival's conclusion in one big post, and then pass the carnival off to someone else to host. In this way, the RPG carnival can be something that we all take turns hosting. Each blogger who hosts The RPG Blog Carnival will have the freedom to choose the topic area for each carnival as well. Heck, maybe even the RPG Blogger Network will participate in some way (hint hint).

Now, this idea (IMHO) is a good one, but it will fall flat on its face if there's no participation. The RPG Blog Carnival is a revival because I think one of the the first attempts at this sort of thing did fall flat. I don't know why (I wasn't into bloggin at the time), but it seems defunct now. If it is not defunct, then can someone please let me know?

As far as topics are concerned, they could be simple topics like castles, fairies, trolls, weapons, new powers & abilities, new monsters, wilderness encounters, unusual locations, artifacts, etc. Or they could be more complex topics such as how did you get into gaming, your most precious gaming memory, the longest journey for gaming, history of a game, opinion about this or that, predictions on the future of RPG gaming, why play fantasy/scifi/horror/genre, etc. etc. The main point here is that each RPG Blog Carnival will have ONE topic, chosen by the host of the carnival. And then, hopefully, everyone chimes in on the same topic and offers up their own slice.

OK, if you have read this far then you are probably thinking "Hey, this might be a good idea..." Well it is, and this is how it is going to work.

Guidelines
  1. There's no submission guidelines per se. Simply blog about the chosen topic (see below) on your own blog, and leave a comment to this post letting me know that you would like your post to be included in the the carnival. If you don't have a blog, make one.
  2. Limit your submissions to one post, so make it good. This will encourage people to write well and offer a wide variety of authors.
  3. This carnival closes on August 29th, 2008.
  4. Once closed, I will post a summary and linklist of all the carnival's submissions and announce who will be hosting the next one, what the closing date will be, and what the topic is.
  5. If you are interested in hosting the next (or any future) carnival, please send me an email or leave a comment here so that I can sign you up.
  6. I'll maintain a list of who will be hosting each carnival, and the order in which they will hosting them. I'll also make that list public as soon as I have it.
  7. Other than the chosen topic, that's about it.
So, whats the topic of The RPG Carnival #1? It is of course...
CHARACTER DEATH, RESSURECTION & THE UNDEAD
CLOSING DATE: August 29th, 2008, Last Friday of August.
How do you handle character death in your game? What about character resurrection? Have you ever had characters come back as The Undead? How have you incorporated The Undead into your game's adventures? What are some new Undead monsters, diseases, or other Undead afflictions of your game world can you share with us?
Take the above topic as a general guideline for your post. When you have written something that you want to have included in the first of the newly resurrected RPG Carnival, please leave a comment here linking me and the rest of the RPG blogger community to your post. On the following Monday, after the closing date, I'll post the RPG Blog Carnival #1 here at The Core Mechanic. I'm looking forward to reading all your posts!

Happy Blogging!

26 comments:

  1. I like this idea. Is there a way the players can contribute too; or this a game master's resource kinda thing? Another question... Is there a way to have a table of contents link for the carnival so you can check out topics long gone?
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  2. Yes, players can write as well as game masters! and this is and should NOT be just about D&D - any PnP RPG is welcome.

    I've created a new blog to serve as a place holder for all the RPG Blog Carnivals as they close. It can be found at

    http://rpgcarnival.blogspot.com/
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  3. There are a few blog carnivals that cover RPGs floating around, but they never seem to have infiltrated the blogs I read. I'll try to dig some out later. I know I've been in a tabletop game carnival that covered both RPGs and boardgames, and that was through Yehuda's blog.
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  4. cool idea, with a lot of promise. Propose 1 week of every month carnival week. I only suggest this because a whole month of one topic could conceivably get pretty lame.

    The "host" picks label, we submit to RPGcarnival...or something like that. Don't like the idea of ANOTHER compilation site, sending readers in too many directions and such.

    Just my thoughts.
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  5. @ DAVE : Great! Its good to know that _someone_ has tried this before in the RPG community. The same is true for me though - I haven't found any that are active right now. Post the links, if you can, maybe this thing can evolve into something better.

    @ Donny : Hey hey! I think the idea for a 1 week carnival is a great one; but my worry would be that word would not 'get out' fast enough and some people who might want to participate would miss the ticket. One article from each blog, over the course of a month, is not too much to ask - at least it doesn't seem so to me. If, and when, this carnival takes off then a 1 week window may be more doable. My experience with carnivals on the science side of things is that they usually run for about a month or so; then the host blogs about it. The rpgcarnival site would mainly be for maintaining a record of past carnivals all in one place.

    I also agree - I'm _not_ trying to send readers in too many directions. I also hope that no one is thinking I'm trying to compete with RPG Blogger Network. Not at all. If anything, a carnival would would work well with "The Network", not compete with it.


    So, Dave and Donny - either of you up for writing a piece on death, resurrection, or the undead? Maybe something from your archives? (old material is good too).
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  6. I think I'd be willing to give it a whirl, especially since the first topic includes one of my favorites - The Undead.
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  7. @madbrewlabs : Hello and welcome! You're our first volunteer! Schweet! You get a gold star. Let me know here when you've got something to contribute, eh? Until then... GAME ON!
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  8. My submission will be there too.

    ^_^
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  9. SCHWEET! Thanks for offering to pitch in!
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  10. Here's my submission I'd like to kill Wordpress' autoformatting though!
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  11. I like the idea. It's a good way to share advice and general information. I've created a post about PC Deaths. Here's the URL:

    http://fantasticate.wordpress.com/2008/08/13/dd-handling-character-death/
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  13. thanks for sending in your contributions guys! spread the word and lets make this Carnival huge! A good start could make this carnival a staple of the RPG blogosphere.
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  14. Here's mine:

    http://neitherworldstories.blogspot.com/2008/08/carnival-post-character-death.html
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  15. Sorry to change subject a little, but does anybody play dnd 3e, or 3.5e online? AIM, perhaps? I'm desperately looking for a game. It's been a while since I've played. I need some dnd. I've only played 3.0e, but I'm willing to learn 3.5e. I know this isn't the best place for it, but I'm hoping for some help, here.
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  16. Yes, a bit off topic - anyhow: I'm playing 4E with my group. I know there are websites out there that host organized play by email or play by post games. Can't find the links right now (i don't play PbE or PbP games, so I don't have them book marked) However, I can say that I've lived in about 4 or 5 different cities in the last 16 years, all of which I've eventually found a group to game with - the trick is to be willing to introduce the game to new people (most of the other people I gamed with had never played D&D before). Of course, since I'm a DM it makes things a bit easier I suppose, but there's nothing that says you could do the same. Maybe a good idea would be write a post for your blog that is about how to find a group - and then in it add that you are also looking for one. Sort of, self advertising. best of luck - JJ
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  17. Thank you for the return comment. Sorry about the post. I can't wait for the final tally on this RPG Carnival.
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  18. This comment has been removed by the author.
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  19. It's a Dead Man's Blog Post.

    Thanks for starting this carnival, Jonathan. Fun stuff.

    If I get inspired I'll throw together an undead themed playlist before the dealine too. I've got over a gig of Halloween music lurking on a disc or two somewhere...
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  20. Lovin' this.

    Here's my contribution, about Death and Superheroes: http://blog.microlite20.net/2008/08/15/blog-carnival-death-and-superheroes/
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  21. thanks all! this is going to be great. Hopefully participation will continue and we can get this Carnival to be a regular staple of the RPG Blogging community.
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  22. Voila:

    http://vestibule.innocence.com/2008/08/19/the-wages-of-death-are-sin/

    I'm willing to host, too.
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  23. @ Bryant : Welcome to TheCoreMechanic and wohoo! thanks for contributing to the Carnival. With your contribution I've instantly 1) found a new blog to read, and 2) found another host for the Carnival. I'll add you to the list and be in touch soon about details once the first Carnival comes out around the 29th.

    THANKS AGAIN!

    (now I'll go read what you wrote...)
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  25. NICE.. NICE!!! This is the awesomer awesomeness! THANK YOU! I wasn't expecting such a good turnout for the carnival, especially since I'm somewhat of a newb in the RPG Blogger community. OK, now I'll go read it. =D
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