Out of the Advice Business

When I was younger, I was convinced that the world not only could be a better place, but needed to be made to be a better place. Even worse, I was thoroughly convinced that I was qualified to make that happen.

In my case, that was mostly in the realms I really knew about. Starting with the “Uncle Figgy’s…” guides (“…Guide to Good GameMastering”, “…Guide to Good Roleplaying”, “…Guide to Good Fantasy”, and “…Guide to Roleplaying for Non-Roleplayers”) in the area of TTRPGs (TableTop Role Playing Games), and then later with Bad Buddhist Radio and Bad Buddhist Video in the areas of mindset and life skills.

With all of them, some people loved them, some people hated them, and some people went off the absolute deep end with loathing. Personally, looking back, I think some of the stuff I came up with was pretty good, but I also think that some of the stuff was absolute garbage. “Uncle Figgy’s Guide to Good Roleplaying”, for example, makes me shudder at some of the truly horrendous advice I gave that I thought was genius at the time but in hindsight was just me being a total dick.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to understand that in the realm of living life the only answers I have are the answers for me, and in keeping with my own views on Right Speech, that a lot of times the best thing to say is nothing. And in the realm of RPGs, the only thing that makes anything “Good” (Game Mastering or Playing) is if you and everyone else involved are having fun.

To summarize: I’m out of the advice business. I finally know enough to know that I really never knew much at all. Besides, at this point of my life, I just want to make stuff – art, music, metalwork, fiction, whatever strikes me.

In one week – March 31, 2025 – I will be removing “Uncle Figgy’s Guide to Good GameMastering 2.0” and the “Bad Buddhist Radio Collection” from my site.

Thanks to everyone for putting up with my learning curve!