The Myth of the Great Secret

I think I'm clear to post this now.

Earlier this year I was selected as a peer reviewer by Dr. Jonathan Jacobs for the second installment of the Open Game Table project. It's an anthology of some of the most influential essays, articles, blog posts, manifestos, rants, and reviews in the gaming community. I submitted a few of my own posts from this blog for consideration (in retrospect, I wish I'd submitted some of the better, older articles from my personal web journal. I'd like to believe I was chosen from among the applicants to be a peer reviewer because of my superior writing and academic credentials, but - let's be honest - he probably took anyone who answered his call and could string two sentences together. One of the conditions of my involvement was confidentiality - I couldn't reveal my status as an editor to avoid skewing the results, which drove me itchy with contained secrets, even though in reality I don't think I make enough noise in the RPG community to cause trouble. February 14th was the deadline for the reviews to be in, so I can blab.

Over the past month I reviewed over 40 articles, including one from legendary dungeon designer Monte Cook himself. A lot of them were from an opinionated old grognard called Trollsmyth who I'm developing an intense dislike for. The articles ranged from humorous riffs, useful advice, petty flames, passionate rants and raves, and occasionally philosophical insight. Not too much was up my alley, but it got the fire lit back under me and I'm making a big push to get SSS out in the field before the end of the month.

Here are a few of the ones that I feel compelled to share, either because they're seriously great posts that I'm rooting for or merely amusing enough that I want to give them a bit more airtime, even if I didn't vote for their inclusion.

No Silent Fan
It's Not Just About Fun
The Power of No
Pack Half
RPGs as a Teaching Tool
RPGs as a Research Tool
Every Game is an Interview
If RPGs Were Religions

If nothing else, I've got a new list of feeds to follow.