It's so easy to get caught up in the business of TTRPGs and the larger hobby itself, that we lose the forest through the trees.
The only thing that really matters is the time we spend with our friends around the table.
The systems we choose and their own intricacies don't matter as much as we think.
What's going on in the larger hobby matters little and how other people feel about the hobby don't matter.
We can learn a lot from others but if we disagree, it doesn't matter because we bring what we want to our game and omit what we don't.
What matters is the next game we're going to enjoy with our friends.
The most limited resource in this hobby is time and the people we can bring to our table. The larger hobby can affect this, and has affected it, but the details of what we spend our time on usually doesn't.
Cherish your time with your friends enjoying these games.

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If you're really into this hobby, like I am, it's extremely easy to get caught up in all the big news, scandals, conversations, and controversies that surround this (and any) big hobby. Gods know, I do.

But it's important to remember that, when it comes down to it, we're talking about a handful of books, some dice, some paper or digital tools, and the friends we have around our table to enjoy a fun game.

When the D&D 2024 books came out, I had spent a lot of brain power on it. I watched and read everything I could. I talked with friends, RPG colleagues, patrons of Sly Flourish, and other fellow fans. I analyzed and hypothesized. I tested theories. I talked about it a lot on my talk show.

In the end, I can hold all three books in my hands. That's the entirety of the game – those three books I can stuff into a backpack. That's it. Right there. That's the whole game.

We know the game is a lot bigger than that. It means a whole lot to many of us. I think it saves lives. When I'm sitting at the table playing games with my friends, it hits all the most important parts of my life – spending time with friends and loved ones creating tales of high adventure together.

That's why we get so focused on all the news, all the debates, all the ideas, and all the attention applied to this amazing game. It really matters to us.

But it's also just a game.

It's the books we pull out at our table, or load up online, once a week or so and spend a few hours away from the rest of our lives to enjoy some stories in a world beyond this one – a world we all share in our minds together.

The zeitgeist surrounding the hobby really doesn't matter that much. New products show up – some good and some bad. Some we bring to the table. Others we skip. We and our friends decide what we want to play and how we want to play it. None of the rest of it really matters.

It's very easy to forget that. I forget it all the time. I spend hours on Discord or EN World debating the hobby, the products, the business, and all the rest, almost forgetting that I have a group coming over tomorrow night and maybe it's worth spending more of that time thinking about how to draw their characters into the game.

It can be fun to dive into the hobby but remember that it really doesn't matter. Focus on the next game you're going to run for your friends around the table.