Just About the Worst Thing I Could Do…

…is neglect my blog right now; and yet that’s what I’ve been doing. Sorry.

The REASON I shouldn’t be neglecting it is I’ve got a new book that’s going to the printer (hope-hope) THIS week (yay!) AND (wait for it) I’m hoping to have the PDF of my B/X Companion available for download as well.

Yes, yes…the latter is not due to me suddenly become any kind of techno-genius. A very kind soul has generously offered to help me out in putting the PDF into a downloadable format so that the thing can be offered on-line. Which I know will be thrilling for a lot o folks (like everyone who’s been asking me about it for two years!)…and ESPECIALLY as the B/X Companion is referenced several times within the new book.

So, yeah…lots of good stuff coming out from Ye Old Blackrazor which I should be pumping up and advertising…except I’m not really a marketing genius. My BEST form of marketing is to simply make my blog relevant (so that people keep coming back to read it) and that, I’m afraid, has been sadly neglected.

Now long-time readers will know that the purpose of this blog was never to hawk my wares on-line. In fact, when I first started this thing, writing ANY book (especially a game book) was pretty far and away from my mind. And now that I’m doing so (I’ve even got a couple more “in the works”), I’m still not very interested in using this blog as a marketing pulpit.

On the other hand, I’ve been too busy to write much of anything else on the blog.

Over the next few days, I am going to try to get back on track. I’m sure I’ve lost some people over the last few months talking about the other games I’ve been play-testing: CDF, DMI, D&D Mine, etc. A couple days ago I received a helpful email from Brian Wood of awesomedice.com regarding “edition war statistics” and how Pathfinder seems to be the most popular version of D&D floating around. Well it just so happens that I conducted a poll back in February in an attempt to gather demographic info on RPG gamers throughout the internet (I advertised on a bunch of different forums, not limited to Old School D&D sites), and thought I’d do a quick check to see if I had the same results.

[yes, I know there are people still waiting for the compilation of this data…hell, there are still people waiting for the rest of the LAND OF ICE posts…sorry, folks, life is busy!]

After downloading and perusing the first 10% or so of surveys submitted, what I found instead was the majority of folks seem to prefer B/X or Labyrinth Lord as their favorite form of D&D…like 7 out of 10. Now perhaps that’s just the luck of the draw (i.e. once I compile the other more than 116 or so surveys, I might get different results), or it might be due to ME being the one asking for surevey submissions, but the preliminary results would seem to indicate something different from these “edition wars” stats.

I should also note that the preliminary surveys I looked at were ALL for older (over age 30) gents, who cut their teeth on versions of D&D other than 3rd Edition, and that might make a difference. On the other hand, there was one 30+ year old who started with AD&D and listed Pathfinder as his “preferred edition of D&D;” I know they are out there. And hell, I’M pushing 40 and I’ve played 3rd (and 3.5) edition in the past, too, so being old doesn’t mean one lacks “exposure” to later editions. Maybe it ain't an age thang.

Well, whatever…it would appear (at least for the people that cared enough to answer my survey) that B/X is kind of a big deal (or, at least, a "preferred edition") for at least a few people…and I should probably get back to blogging about B/X (cue sighs of relief from around the blog-o-sphere). FINE. I will do so. Hopefully, I will be announcing some B/X related materials in the next couple-few days. That might well include previews of the new book (which will for sure include a summary of its contents) and possibly some compare-and-contrast regarding B/X-vs.-D&D Mine play-testing AND some book reviews (finally) discussing a nice, little B/X-compatible setting.

Stay tuned, folks.
: )