Monday, September 14, 2020

What people tend to like

    I reached out on the OSR Discord server, asking what types of blog posts people enjoyed seeing. I collected a modest number of results, and here are some of my findings. This post isn't intended as a way to try and get blogs more traffic for its own sake, but with the intent of trying to consolidate what people want so you can make content people will see, find useful, use, spin off of, and all those lovely things. After all, shouting to the void is fun, but shouting with friends is better!

-There's a market for dungeons, puzzles, and their design/construction. No surprise there, as for the vast majority of people, that is the core of their gameplay.

-Monsters are always welcome, as is setting info. In terms f setting info, discrete things on the micro scale seem best. What are the coins like? The meals? The houses? The customs?

-There's always a place for heady game analysis and GM tips. In particular on these fronts, I heard calls for social justice analysis of tropes/monsters and ways to lessen GM prep (which seems oxymoronic to me, "hey, let me spend my time trolling the internet to find a DnD blog to tell me how to spend less time on DnD", but it is as it is)

-Surreal and world-grounded classes that are unique and have tight, elegant mechanics seem to be the most gooderest, but even checking a couple of those buttons should result in a class people love

-People like feedback from playtests, be they your own stuff or someone else's

-I've found that reacting to other posts, building something off another's foundation, or participating in a community challenge gets a lot more traffic, and feels fun to boot

-Worldbuilding, new mechanics, and classes are best combined and conjoined. It's great to have a class that build the world, and a mechanic that insinuates some aspect of the character's realities.

That's what I heard, but I'd love to hear your thoughts! What are your favorite posts to read? Which of your posts have gotten the most traffic, and why is that? Tell me in the comments below!

No comments:

Post a Comment