Issue 1 - Welcome to the Hearth!

The first post, wherein I explain just what I'm intending with this blog...

Well hello there!

Welcome to the first issue, post, article — whatever you want to call it — of the Harrigan’s Hearth RPG blog. I’m John, but I’m more commonly known to a scattering of people in some niche RPG online communities as Harrigan, so that’s the moniker I’ll be sticking with here. That name goes back a long, long way, which I’ll prattle on about in the blog’s aptly-named “About” page. For the curious among you, clicking over there will reveal more.

For now, know that you have found…

So. What’s all this then?

It’s earlyish 2024 and I’ve been struggling for more than a year or two now to find a creative outlet for the RPG Thoughts that often flood and course through the worn channels of my brain. I run and play in weekly live RPGs, I engage with some pretty great communities online, I attend virtual and in-person cons, and I play more play-by-post RPGs than seems healthy. (Seriously: a lot of PbP RPGs.)

But it’s not enough. So I pondered firing up a podcast. Mused about starting a YouTube channel. Dallied with the notion of writing zines, or of publishing adventures for my favorite games. Contemplated approaching those already involved in such endeavors to partner up and do something together.

Finally, I thought… what about a blog?

Very 2009, aye, I get that, but there’s something about the format that really attracts me. The written word, taking time with a subject, the ability to memorialize my thoughts — at least to a degree. One of the things that’s been bugging me about Discord lately, and mind you Discord is a platform I’m a huge fan of, is that everything is so ephemeral and hard to find after the fact. Especially if you’re a good citizen and tuck your conversations into channels and threads that seem to vanish for the rest of the server overnight.

A blog will give me the outlet I’m looking for when it comes to the wide variety of gaming topics that flit through my mind on a daily basis. If you’re to return here and follow my exploits, what can you expect to see?

What Harrigan’s Hearth Will Focus On

• First and foremost, the RPG hobby. And when I say RPG, I mean the table top roleplaying games that have traditionally been played with pen and paper, and that are now increasingly becoming more and more digital. You know — Dungeons & Dragons, Traveller, Call of Cthulhu, GURPS, Champions… and even some games that aren’t forty or fifty years old. Despite being a fossil from a bygone time (I started playing AD&D in 1983), I actually tend to prefer games with more modern design principles, and that do a better job of conveying what they are supposed to be about. Games that teach people how to play them well, and that support the genre, the players and the GM with mechanics, frameworks, and advice.

• Many different genres and flavors of games. There are a billion and one OSR blogs, but I’ll still talk about that stuff from time to time when the mood strikes, especially if the subject is Conan-style sword & sorcery, die-in-a-ditch miserabilist OSR, or gritty mud and blood low-fantasy. I have a real soft spot for White Box games, and a lot of different neo-OSR / NSR systems as well. But don’t be surprised to see the sights turn to some lesser-covered stuff, like superheroes, spies, mecha, horror, pulp, pirates, bird crime, hard sci-fi — all kinds of different things.

• Reviews — of systems, adventures, supplements. This will range from full-on breakdowns of games I go through carefully, to quick impressions I offer after skimming or lightly delving into a game.

• Deep dives into specific game mechanics. One thing I don’t see a lot of out there in Online RPGlandia is a thoughtful and thorough breakdown of specific game mechanics — mechanics that are often intended to accomplish something very particular for the setting or vibe of the game. I believe that’s a strength of mine, so I’m hoping to spend some time in this lonely space.

• Asynchronous play by post RPGs — a deep love of mine since I discovered them in the mid-1990s. I’ve been playing them steadily since then, and never plan to give them up. In fact, in some ways… I prefer them to live games. But that’s a topic for another day.

• There will be a random assortment of dross at the bottom of the pile as well, I’m sure, when this is all said and done. Posts on RPG theory, industry news and trends, breakdowns of the conventions I attend.

Anyhoo! I’m hoping this will generally be a warm, comfortable and inviting space to foster productive and engaging discussions about RPG topics with like and less-than-like-minded folks. A space kind of like this:

Mmm, cozy, right? I’d get you a beer or put the kettle on if I could… but I can’t so save that for if we meet in person someday.

In closing, you should know that I’m an enormous fan of Sean P. Kelly’s¹ Be a Positive Force in Gaming mantra, and will do my best to follow that blazed trail here. That is: minimal drama; no shade. I won’t always be completely successful. Those that know me in meat space or online know that I often struggle to hold my tongue, and that I have… opinions that I feel need to be heard if there is any amount of ridiculous spouting off going on. But I will try to keep my criticisms constructive and any analysis I conduct as fair and impartial as I can. I have my biases (we all do) and will sometimes spray a bit of vitriol for entertainment’s sake… I suspect you’ll be able to tell when tongue is firmly in cheek.

Thanks for reading, and till next time, I’ll close with the refrain that my first AD&D players always used when they survived a night in the Greyhawk wilderness:

Break camp, mount up and ride off!

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1. That would be the Sean P. Kelly of the former and long-running Gaming and BS podcast, and current YouTube sensation, where he runs the RPG Sean channel. Also, hot damn, Substack has proper footnotes!