Introduction

First, let me start off by saying that this blog is largely inspired by Grognardia/ and
Monsters and Manuals primarily and many of the other blogs that have sprung up in the "Old School Community." Just cause it isn't mentioned here doesn't mean I don't read it. I find the exploration of D&D's roots and especially the effort to "get at" some of the core conceits of what the game originally was fascinating. I've learned a great deal about the game from the history that James has dredged back into the light for all to see, a great deal of which seems to have been either lost to the general community, or consciously buried. But that's not where we're going here.

Over the course of reading the various Old School and grognards' blogs, I came to realize more and more that, despite my otherwise rabid distaste for what can only be termed "New School," I was not by any rational measure a grognard, nor did I fit comfortably within the realm of the Old School. This is probably because the edition that I grew up is the much maligned red-headed step child of D&D, AD&D 2e, an edition that, at least at the outset, straddled the origins of D&D and the tendencies of The Hickman Revolution (and in the end, the worst tendencies of those changing forces). One might say I came to my gaming maturity just as the concept of "old" got tacked onto Old School. Before that, it was just "school."

In any case, the point of this blog is to explore that strange middle realm between the origin of the game, its roots and foundations on the one hand and on the other the newest trends in gaming and just about everything that goes in between. I want to explore that odd weave of ideas that are exchanged back and forth and create a cohesive middle ground between the two largest forces in gaming and see if the formation of a Middle School revolution isn't possible.

Regular features will include reviews of new game materials, old materials, and the various cultural influences on gaming (movies, novels, television, music, theater, etc.) and how they change our gaming perspective. Later today, I hope to post a review of Emperor's Choice new re-release of the original Arduin Trilogy in a single hard cover volume. I'll also be throwing up long rambling "articles" that focus on various aspects of the game and explore how they would fit into a quintessentially Middle School setting and milieu.

A final note in this introductory post: this is my first attempt at blogging, so please have patience while I learn how things work round these parts. As well, posting will likely be somewhat irregular as I settle into a routine where I try to steal time from the 60+ hour work schedule at the office and time with my loving family spread out across much of New Jersey and Philladelphia.