I got started with RPGs back with D&D 3.5 and White Wolf games in the early 2000s. Took a break for some time, and besides some brief D&D 4E, I first DM'd a long-running game with Pathfinder 1E. At some point the stacked mechanical nuances broke my brain and I went in search of an entirely different style of game altogether. That was when I found the "OSR".
In between here I dabbled in Burning Wheel and it's spin-offs. One day...
This was pre-pandemic times when I found the OSR ("R" as in Renaissance, not Revival) and I was as equally captured by the wanton creativity and DIY attitude of the scene as I was put off by some of the published material (at the time). Systems that stood out at the time were: The Black Hack, Whitehack, Macchiato Monsters, and Legends of the Flame Princess and some associated creators.
After the pandemic, and another dearth of tabletop gaming, I check back in on the OSR. I was happy to find that there was a counter-current to the edgy and creepy elements that was also pushing even further the boundaries of the "OSR" in the NSR and Post-OSR (DIY Elfgames, etc, etc...). The sheer variety and ferocity of creativity in the assorted blog posts, zines, supplements, and across social media is so rewarding just to peruse and noodle over.
And now here we are. Despite now being a father and an otherwise busy life, maybe this blog is all just build-up to finding my way back to playing RPGs.