Happy Anniversary

(Note: I started writing this on Wednesday 2/11 but wasn't able to finish it until today). 

Today is actually my Fourth Anniversary of blogging here at Daddy Rolled a 1. Usually I'm late on the date, and sometimes I've missed it all together. This year I actually remembered it was coming up but I have been extraordinarily busy today, work-wise, so I didn't have a few minutes to sit down and write up a post.

A few things about the past year on the blog...

My posting was more infrequent than ever since I started the blog. When I began back on February 11th, 2011, my daughter was about one and a half years old, and she was in daycare most of the week and my mom would come over to help out on the days that my daughter wasn't in daycare. Having my mom here to help was a huge help to the entire family, and for me personally it meant that on those days I could often times "work late" as I wasn't on the clock to pick my daughter up. Those days are now gone. My daughter is in Kindergarten now and my wife works pretty far away - her one-way commute takes about 60-75 minutes. So, in addition to my work-load which has gotten progressively busier, I'm also walking my daughter to school in the mornings, picking her up after school and spending a good 45 minutes to an hour helping her on her homework (since when did they start giving Kindergarteners homework?!), then putting her in the bath, helping her apply her various prescription and non-prescription lotions for her acute eczema, and then trying to make dinner and have everything ready by the time my wife gets home. All of this has cut into blogging time (and my "personal time" in general).

While my posting has been more infrequent, I'd like to think that the quality of my posts has increased quite a bit. Each year that I continue writing, I continue to feel that my "voice" is becoming more solidified and I'm less copying other peoples' styles.

I've kept up my various "topics" each day, while slightly modifying them. On Wednesdays, usually, I write about comics. Before I used to title my posts with the name of the comics I'm reviewing. Nowadays I'm much more like to give each title a "theme" about that particular book, mainly as a way of showing how you can use the setting, characters, or other ideas from that particular comic as fodder for your role-playing games. This started with my post about the "League of Anarchic Scientists," which +Charles Akins picked up and re-circulated as one of his "Best Reads of the Week!" series over on his Dyvers blog.

Speaking of comics, I've kept up my "professional" reviews over at ComicAttack and got to do some cool things in concert with that side hobby, including going to a "red carpet" premiere of Justice League: War, DC's first animated movie taking place in the New 52 continuity, and I got to interview lots of the talent and others involved in the film, including Andrea Romano who has been the main casting and/or voice directors for DC's animated projects dating all the way back to Batman: The Animated Series. I also got sent a very interesting Rocket Raccoon "costume" hoodie - click through to see pictures of me standing in my front yard dressed like a talking raccoon.

Probably the coolest "geek-related" thing I got to do last year was be a judge for Random Wizard's One Page Dungeon Contest (and be on the lookout for another post about this year's contest very soon). It was really fun to review all of the entries and come up with my Top 10 and then compare that list to the other judges, including Ernie Gygax, Steve Winter, and Sean K. Reynolds. Afterwards, I interviewed most of the other judges about their criteria, which you can read about by following the link above. I also sent out some role-playing books to two young entrants in the contest, which hopefully will inspire them to keep playing and creating.

For more "personal" role-playing, I have kept up with my Friday night Labyrinth Lord hack of S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, albeit at a slower pace due to everyone's work, travel, and family schedules. And I've also kept up with my long-running World of Samoth campaign, which will be entering its 14th year this May. Lastly, I joined a game my friend Wil has been threatening to run for years. It's a 5th Edition game and we're scheduled to play every other Sunday, which in reality means we've only played one time. I did have a lot of fun, though, and hope to play in that game again soon.

This year also saw the first "contest" here at Daddy Rolled a 1, during Movember. I offered prizes to people who donated to my Movember campaign (to raise money for men's health awareness) and then mentioned their donation here on the blog, or on Daddy Rolled a 1's Facebook or Twitter accounts. A few friends entered the contest and the lucky winner, Billy, chose a copy of Of Dice and Men, which I just realized as of writing this that I never mailed to him. That will be going out in the mail shortly. 

The year 2014 wrapped up with me posting my "Daddy's Top 10 of 2014" which did generate quite a few comments (for this blog). Here are Part 1 and Part 2 of the list.

The end of my fourth year of blogging ran through January with a review of the last Hobbit movie, me asking you what was the first comic you read, and discussing some new ideas you can use in pretty much any role-playing game system or genre

Here are some stats for the past year, per Google Analytics:

  • 9,319 pageviews
  • 1.58 pages/session
  • Average session duration 1 minutes 52 seconds
  • 77.76% bounce-rate
  • 81.16% of the sessions were from English-US readers
  • 75.4% of the visits were from new visitors to the blog
Per the Blogger Stats Dashboard, two posts from the past year are now in the "All Time Top 10 Posts" in terms of views:
Over the past month, the top posts have included most of the "new" posts but also include quite a few views of my old "My Time Working with Wizards of the Coast" posts from 2011 and my post about my first visit to the Compleat Strategist in New York.

And that wraps up my latest year of blogging. I'm looking forward to another year, and hope you are, too. As always, comments/discussion are appreciated.

Cheers!

  • Hanging: Home office (laptop - finally got my old one back!)
  • Drinking: Club soda with lime
  • Listening: "Slowly" by Max Sedgley



Comments

  1. Congrats on another year of being an awesome fellow roleplaying blogger! Rest assured that yours truly is still keeping an eye on what you're up to! Keep on trucking, brotha! And no worries about the decreased posting quantity. I'm right there with you, as you've no doubt noticed. I'm trying to create a side business that I hope to grow into my main business, while maintaining a family of four and also working a demanding day job. BUT, I've decided to try again with getting my kids roleplaying, now that they're a bit older. I just announced that on my blog the other day, if you missed it. I'm going to be chronicling our campaign coming up on the blog, so it kills a lot of orcs with one swing of the sword: getting me into GMing again, getting the kids involved in the awesome hobby, and getting me blogging more again! Triple win!

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    Replies
    1. Just read that post - somehow I did miss it the first time around. I try to check Feedly every day but sometimes I do get behind and miss a few posts here and there. Thanks for continuing to read, and for commenting. I'm looking forward to seeing how your RPG with your kids works out. How old are they?

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  2. Hey Congrats! Keep blogging and keep drinking.

    Post from: my couch
    drinking: a La Fin du Monde
    Listening to: my daughter's inane cartoon
    Trying to ignore: Trivia Crack

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Dylan. I miss your blog and also seeing your artwork and the adventures you designed. Hope all is well with you and your family.

      I've tried La Fin du Monde but I haven't acquired a palate for Belgian-style Tripels. They're a bit too malty sweet and fruity for my tastes. But then again, I used to not like beer at all. It's taken years of trying different types to figure out what I do and don't like and some of the ones I like now are ones that a few years ago I couldn't stand.

      Cheers!

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  3. Well done. Four years is a watershed mark. Most bloggers quit, or seriously reduce their commitment, around three years. I consider this proof of your passion.

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    Replies
    1. I really appreciate you stopping by to comment, Alexis. I actually read your blog every day (or if I get behind, I read a couple posts in one sitting), but have only commented once or twice over the years.

      Thanks again for your kind words - I try to find as much time as I can to blog, and it's nice to know that people are reading.

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  4. Replies
    1. Thanks a bunch, Kelvin. Like with Alexis' blog, I do read yours all the time. Mostly I'm reading through Feedly on my iPad which isn't really conducive to commenting, but I am still reading and enjoying your posts and your artwork.

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