Oh Captain(s), My Captain(s): To The Men Behind The RPG Bloggers Network

If we as RPG bloggers are ships on the vast sea of the internet, we have the board of the RPG Bloggers Network to thank for bringing us to the places we have seen and helping us achieve the things we have achieved.

But yeah, that’s a shitty metaphor.

These men were our lighthouse.

They kept us alive as we sailed the seas of the RPG web.  They didn’t care if you were a popular cruise ship or a tiny dinghy, they shone the same bright light on everyone, allowing us each to be seen instead of being lost to the waves and the darkness like so many bloggers before.

To Phil, the Chatty DM

You’ve been one of my favorite people on the internet since we first “met.”  I’ve loved watching you grow from a mere blogger to one of the big thinkers and writers in our niche.  Getting to play Saved by the Grell with you was one of the highlights of GenCon.  Your special brand of tact – perhaps a Canadian thing? – has defused many an argument.  You’re a fantastic DM and one of my favorite creative minds.  Heck, your special brand of genius has even leaked into Mielka’s D&D game!   I can’t wait to read all the great books that you’re going to write and hear about the children whose lives you are going to touch through your amazing kids’ adventures.  You’re doing the greatest service to our hobby – ensuring it carries over to the next generation.

To Graham

This blog wouldn’t have survived this long without you.  Heck, I think there are probably 30 or so blogs that wouldn’t be here without your technical skills.  RPGBN certainly wouldn’t have grown to what it came to be without your constant, unpaid work, all done while finishing your engineering degree and while neglecting your own blog.  You’re a champion in the fight against ignorance all over the RPG web and it’s no surprise that some of us refer to you as Graham the 4e Paladin.  (Even though yes, we know you defend the honor of other systems!)  Thank you, thank you, thank you for being the (mostly) patient recipient of many a panicked IM and for always doing your best to make it all better.  You’re like emergency medical care for code and you do it all with great bedside manner.

To Danny, aka Bartoneus

Every captain needs a first mate, and you’ve been all that and a whole lot more to Dave.  You’re a graphic designer, a writer, a thinker, an interviewer… all this while being content to remain relatively out of the spotlight.  Your sense of humor had us all in stitches at GenCon, whether it was in the hotel room or around a table at a meal or a game.   We need more people like you, folks who are the constant companions and staunch supporters that make the world go round.

To DaveTheGame

You’re more than just my boyfriend.  My respect for you pre-dates our relationship.  Critical-Hits has always been a bastion of journalistic excellence in the RPG community.   It’s the place I have always gone first to read about new D&D books, the place I link to when people want to know the best place to get their news, and if I had to cut my blogroll to just one blog, yours would be it. I know the spirit with which you started RPGBloggers.  It was a grand dream, to have a place where even the littlest RPG bloggers could overcome the hurdle of months of no traffic, struggling to gain readership even if their content was great.  Well, that dream was realized.  There are blogs everywhere that got their start because of RPGBloggers and there are bloggers who have been motivated by that traffic to continue writing great content.  Your donation of time and talent has allowed creative and talented new voices the platform to be heard.

To the Board

Always know that we will see you as the fathers of the RPG Bloggers Network, the ones that got it all started and slaved away your free time so that others could succeed.

If we have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.  Thank you for being those giants, oh captains, our captains.  Thank you.