Happy Birthday Knight at the Opera: 6 Years of Blogging

I started this blog 6 years ago. Here was the last retrospective. It contains the origin story and some badly-aged advice.

In the time since then, A Knight at the Opera has slowed down pretty significantly. Its best days are likely behind it. On average, I get a fraction of the views now compared to just two or three years ago. My own habits have gotten worse. I post less frequently. My drafts folder has grown to around 60 unfinished posts at any given time. I don't cut my post's length down nearly as much as I used to (although I also usually don't allow the first draft to get nearly so long to begin with. The average length of my posts has actually decreased over the years, believe it or not).

All the same, RPG blogging kind of took over my life, and it's brought me so many good things. I'm going to take a moment to talk about that, and a few other things.

I have five items of business for your consideration during this meeting:

FIRST: Some thanks are in order. I was more or less adopted by a huge community of thoughtful and creative people. I cannot credit any brilliant marketing strategy or networking techniques or anything like that. I did it instead by just, y'know, openly being myself on the internet for a long time, until eventually people noticed. 

Just like everywhere in life, there are some serious clout chasers in this scene. It's a bit weird. I myself do a little bit of self-promo on a few parts of the internet just like anyone else would, but on the whole I feel like I haven't had to put in very much effort to clamor for attention. Instead I've focused on a different strategy: gently ask for a bit of your time and attention now and then and then do my best to make sure you feel like it was worth it. And to my surprise, this community keeps rewarding that strategy.

Every time I find out that such-and-such big industry name not only knows about my blog, but enjoys it, I kind of lose my marbles a little bit. I'm lucky enough to have my work featured in the Glatisant, Blogs on Tape, KNOCK, Bones of Contention, and a Kobold Press book. I am now even the proud owner of Gus L's ENnie award.

I want to thank all the friends I've made from this blog for being so supportive. Sharing my stuff around, defending my honor, collaborating with me, playing games with me, and so on.

SECOND: When I began blogging, there was an established Old Guard of the hobby that was losing momentum. G+ had just died. People were saying that RPG blogging was dead. But I came up alongside a new generation of bloggers who carried the torch. I'd love to spotlight some of my favorites:

• Benign Brown Beast
• Explorer's Design
• I Cast Light!
• Dice Goblin
• Mindstorm
• Prismatic Wasteland
• Mythic Mountain Musings
• Traverse Fantasy
• Gundobad Games
• Bones of Contention

Those are just the ones that I personally read regularly, but don't take that to mean there aren't other modern greats (as well as some older favorites who are still active, as well). Now spending my days on the Prismatic Waystation Discord, I watch as dozens of newer bloggers also begin their journey in this hobby, seeing it grow more popular than ever. Just read the last Blog Bandwagon round-up and you'll find a huge list of all the new kids.

THIRD: Some of my own stuff I would love to get more attention:

1. My entry for the first LEGO setting jam is one of my favorite things I've ever made.
2. That Star Wars post doesn't get linked to nearly as often as it should, dammit.
3. Did you know I had at least four more Capsule Games posts planned? Well, nobody was reading them, but I still feel like there might just be something to this idea.
4. The Least Interesting Type of Crunch, the actual best post I've ever written, and also among my least-read.
5. My brother and I have been making a wuxia tactical combat game called Rivers & Lakes. The beta is available, it's PWYW, it's gotten pretty stellar feedback from the folks who've played it, and there's lots of designer commentary here on the blog if you're into that sort of thing.

FOURTH: We're living in interesting times. I know a lot of you are struggling too, but if you can spare it and you've enjoyed my work in the past, I have a tip jar at ko-fi.com/alexdzuricky. Many of you once helped me before and saved my life. I'm doing a lot better now, but I'm still managing my finances one week at a time. Every bit helps.

FIFTH: Lastly, this is a reminder to everyone that I'm always happy when someone takes the time to read my blog. I welcome disagreements made in good faith, and in 5 years I haven't yet deleted a comment on this blog that wasn't bot spam (not that I'm above that, I just haven't felt the need to yet). I know my tone is often abrasive but honestly when I get a thoughtfully considered comment explaining why someone thinks I'm wrong about something or how their experience was totally different from mine, it really just makes my day.

-Dwiz