What is 'Diaspora' ?

Heya,

This is the first real welcome to my blog. This place is intended for those who are newer to RPG design and theory. Heavy stuff like “how have the nuances of vanilla narrativism affected mainstream game design…?” is out of the scope for this blog. Instead, something like “how is the term narrativism used?” is much more appropriate.

The title of this post asks “What is a diaspora?” Dictionary.com defines it as this: “A dispersion of an originally homogeneous entity, such as a language or culture.” I’ve seen this word thrown around a few times lately concerning those who participated at the Forge. For our purposes on this blog it describes the phenomenon of former and present Forge participants branching out into other forums and blogs (like this one) to continue the discussion of RPG theory now that the two main theory forums have closed at www.indie-rpgs.com.

What does that mean for me specifically and what I’m doing with this new blog thing? Well, I’m hoping to provide a gateway for people who are new to rpg design but burn with the desire to produce something- people much like myself. What it means is that I hope that what I post here has an impact, a positive impact, on new/nascent designers. I’ll be using this blog to pose questions to those who are contemplating or in the middle of designing an rpg. Sometimes I’ll give what I think are the answers; sometimes I won’t have an answer at all.

And this is where we come to something very, very important. I call it the Universal Disclaimer. Everyone who ever reads anything at my blog should be familiar with it. It states, “What I propose here is one, and only one way of doing things out of many. It is not the Law. It is not the One True Way. It is not 100% right every time for every person. It is, however, what I believe to be helpful and what I believe works.”

Sometimes people mistake a person’s suggestion that was given on a micro scale and assume it was meant for a macro scale. Don’t make that mistake here. For what I write, the world is this blog. If you choose to take it beyond this place and apply to your own life and style, be prepared for slightly different results- perhaps better results. This place is here to offer advice and help, not as a solitary lighthouse pointing the way to the Promised Land. There are many blogs, many forums, and many other lighthouses. Choose which one fits you best then stick with it, but do not mistake it as the one with a monopoly on the truth. None can lay a claim to that.

Be back soon! :)

Peace,

-Troy