When I first created this blog, I wanted to talk about my two favorite hobbies, roleplaying games and video games. Shortly after the blog’s inception though, I felt both of the topics were just too much ground for me to cover alone. So I tightened the blog up, cut out all of the video game posts, and started really focusing on pen and paper roleplaying games. I’ve struggled back and forth between the issues of creating one blog for both, or two separate blogs each individually promoting one topic. So the question bears to be asked… Can pen and paper RPGs and video game RPGs be successfully integrated into one blog?

Now, before you say yes or no to the originally proposed question I offer another secondary question, how many topics is too many topics for a blog to cover? For example, what if I also wanted to expand the blog into talking about pen and paper roleplaying games, video games, AND comics? Or what if I wanted to add movies and television shows to those as well? If all of the topics fit your primary target audience, how much is too much? I know a lot of the roleplayers that I play with play some of the same video games. A lot of us love comics too. We often watch the same movies and television shows as well. But, no two people have the exact same tastes. There comes a point where a blog that talks about video games, Sasquatch, the 2004 Olympics, physics, and coffee just gets out of hand.

I’ve seen some blogs that cover multiple niches fairly well. They attract a certain type of reader who typically appreciates everything that blog has to offer. I would say though that successful multi-topic blogs are more of the exception than the rule. Typically the multi-topic blogs that are successful have one, primary topic that they cover with the other topics on the blog being secondary or tertiary.

I am currently working on revising the overall format of RoleplayingPro. It will involve trimming the fat out of the blog and placing focus on the more important aspects of the blog. I also want to spice up the graphics and layout. However, due to some facts that I didn’t anticipate, that nagging question of mine keeps coming up; can pen and paper RPGs and video game RPGs be successfully integrated into one blog? Here are a list of pros and cons I came up with in regards to combining the two.

PROS to Creating a Pen and Paper RPG + Video Game RPG Blog:
- I would not have to manage two blogs. I could focus all of my energy and resources into building one successful and professional blog.
- I could reach a larger audience.
- I would have more topics to talk about.
- And, even though the blog’s topics would be broadened, it would actually make the site more niche-based as there are fewer sites available that talk about both.

CONS to Creating a Pen and Paper RPG + Video Game RPG Blog:
- I could lose the audience of readers that only like one of the two topics.
- It may be difficult to design a site that caters to both topics at the same time.
- I may have to split feeds to remain in a network like the RPG Bloggers Network.

Why Am I Even Talking About This?

As I stated before, this question has been lingering in my head for a while. But I’ve recently been receiving even more confirmation to myself that this is a direction I may want to take the blog. There are other reasons that I hadn’t really come upon until well after my blog was up and established. Here is a list of things I realized or ran into well after RoleplayingPro landed on the internet.

- There is more money in the video game niche than there is in the pen and paper roleplaying niche. This may have been well apparent to other people, but apparently I’m slow…
- I’ve been getting free product offers to review video and computer roleplaying games before they come out on the market.
- I received offers from talented writers to co-author the blog with me. However, I had to turn them down because they primarily wanted to write about video and computer roleplaying games, not pen and paper roleplaying games.
- Over the last few months, I’ve started to really pick up an interest in video and computer roleplaying games again.

Risk vs. Rewards

Just like many big decisions, this one comes down to a risk versus rewards measure. Do I continue on the path I’m currently traveling with the blog? So far, the recipe has proven to be a successful one. The blog has continually been growing. I have awesome readers that participate in every post and really give back to me as a blogger (this isn’t just bullshit either, I really mean that).

Or, do I go the road less traveled and possibly risk what I have already worked hard to build up? I could possibly alienate some of my readers and complicate the overall creation, direction, and feel of the blog. But the reward of possibly blending the two topics together could potentially turn out to be something great.

A strange saying keeps popping into my head while I think about this topic. I can’t remember for sure who said it, but I think he occasionally comments here at RoleplayingPro. The saying goes, “Fortune favors the bold.” Maybe the other guy that posts on my blog can remind me who said that…

Do you know any blogs that have successfully integrated two or more topics?

Do you know any blogs that have integrated pen and paper RPGs and video game RPGs?

Would you be interested in a blog with these two topics, or driven away from it?