A New Hope

It’s been awhile, right?

Yeah, I know.  I got kind of bored with the old blog, which started out as an idea about DMing for online Play-by-Post (PbP) role-playing games but then gradually segued into a continual running commentary about my career as an amateur triathlete.  No real harm there, save that the name, Storyteller’s Playbook, was a little misleading.  Having already been through that with Proletariat Comics, I decided to do what I should have done the first time with PC LLC—just let the old idea go and re-brand myself. 

Yeah, I know.  You hate to give up that hard-earned branding, for whatever it’s worth.  I know I do.  I certainly did with PC LLC.  And at a certain point, Storyteller’s Playbook did actually have a few readers.  I can only imagine that some few of them—not the smarter few, certainly, but some—are still checking in over there every day, wondering what in the Hell ever happened to me. 

That image makes me smile.

But seriously.  Nobody’s reading this thing, right?  I mean, come on, there are stats.  I know that that’s true.  This is basically just my online diary.  And that works.  I mean, if anything, it’s better.  God knows that half of what I write tends to convince people that I’m a Communist, and the other half seems to make them wonder if I’m somehow coming unglued.  Like, whatever happened to that guy?  Didn’t his parents die?  Losing his faith, too?  Is he okay?  I mean, he used to be, y’know, sort’a normal.  Right?  Didn’t he?

And if that’s the way it’s gonna be, then maybe fewer readers is actually BETTER.  Right?

Eh.  Fuck that.  Who wants fewer readers?

Still, if you don’t know me personally—or maybe even if you do—I can see why it might seem like I’m the hardest guy in the world to understand.  I get it.  Sometimes I feel like I’m completely out of step witheveryone.  And I don’t know what to do about it.  I don’t particularly like it like that, but I also don’t particularly want to change.  For the most part, despite everything, life is good.  I’m mostly happy.  Why does it have to be me that’s out of step?  Why can’t the rest of the world just realize that they’re the ones who’re wrong?

*sigh*

Look, I don’t just think, I actually KNOW that John Huntsman was the best fucking candidate for the Republican nomination.  And if that doesn’t explain the problem, then I don’t know what else will.

Still, I get it.  Extroverted people think that introverted people lack self-esteem.  Partiers think that dedicated triathletes are insane prudes who don’t know how to have a good time.  And everyone thinks that dudes who play D&D are total nerds.  But. Y’know, sometimes being introverted means that when someone else has a problem with you, it’s their problem.  That can be off-putting to the outgoing but insecure, but it doesn’t change the essential fact that it’s still true.  And sometimes—most times—a triathlete is just a guy who happens to get off more on exercise than alcohol.  And, well, sometimes an arch-Dungeon Master is just a guy who used to write comic books but got frustrated with it, who then decided to take his writing itch out on the captive audience of his online gaming group.  ‘Course that doesn’t mean that I’m not still a big geek, but you know, I think it’s just all about context.

So anyway, here we are.  I’m winding up one of my games—it just wasn’t working for me—and looking for something new.  And somewhere along the way, I realized that, hey, I’m still getting between three and five requests for comic reviews every week.   So I thought about taking that and either going back to Paperback Reader or looking for some new review site and writing for them, but as a proud graduate Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business, I just can’t bring myself to give it away.  I just can’t write for somebody else’s site without getting paid at least something.  I can’t help thinking that at the end of the day, you’re better off working in total obscurity than you are writing for something like HuffPo, where Ariana Huffington makes millions but all the contributors who actually generated content for her site get left completely out in the cold.  That’s not at all what I want.  I mean, yeah, I know that sites like Paperback Reader and Major Spoilers don’t really generate much in the way of revenues after costs, but I don’t care.  I’m not a charity.  I’d still rather waste my time on a blog that’s totally obscure but wholly mine than get more readership but work towards an end in which I have no vested interest whatsoever.

I don’t know what else to say about it. 

This is my blog.  Welcome.  I hope you’ll come back.