Well! Well well well! Well well well well well!!!! It’s been a week and a bit since the beginning of Kiwi RPG week. A week of wonder and amazement, chock full of streams, episode releases, interviews, blog posts, announcements, discussions, friendships, and of course, the blogging team’s gradual descent into chaos and insanity (and I mean really, that was kinda to be expected).

But really, holy shit! And I mean the sincerely holy sort of shit. Our first foray into Kiwi RPG week has been pretty epic. We had an immense amount of support from all across the Kiwi TTRPG-Sphere from podcasters, streamers, writers and creatives from all walks of life. We had the excitement of the Monster of the Week Announcements, we had the absolute chaos of Kiwi creatives collaborating copiously, several new Kiwi TTRPGs being released (here, here, here, and even here), and even Kiwi TTRPG bundles going on sale (here and here!), to name a few of the highlights of the week.

Warm and Fuzzy Insides

But really, what set this last week apart, in my opinion, is the sincerity and wholesomeness that brought together our community. I’ve never before seen such love and care and earnest joy being put into something for the sake of the community and for one another. There have been individuals who’ve been instrumental in Kiwi RPG week who have done so without any expectation of reward or even recognition, people who’ve jumped on board and changed up their release schedules or general life schedules just to make time for Kiwi RPG week, and people who’ve gone above and beyond doing their very best to promote and get this whole thing into the internets and beyond.

And I think that that speaks immensely to what kind of community we’ve built and fostered. People ask and joke and wonder what distinguishes Kiwiness in the TTRPG sphere and I think Kiwi RPG week pretty succinctly depicted exactly what it is that sets us apart. Is it the absurdity? The humour? The accent? Well… Yes. But it’s more than that. It’s also the community, the vibe, the care and the support.

I think it’s important to realise that this whole thing—all the blog posts, the events, the collaborations; everything that you may have seen happening this week—all started with a simple message on a Facebook Group asking for any interest in an idea—just a simple nice idea—to do some kind of thing to showcase Kiwi RPGs. What started off as an unassuming post turned into something that I personally consider a pretty god damn amazing success. What started as a single hashtag (#KiwiRPG) turned into something more; something that we can all look back at and smile about.

Some Shameless Name Calling

The amount of support and excitement we received from the community was unparalleled. I cannot and will not even attempt to name everyone who contributed and went above and beyond for Kiwi RPG week. But, I will be a bit shameless and name three individuals without whom I sincerely do not think this would have come as far as it did.

Firstly, we’ve got the Magnificently Motivated Morgan Davie (also known as Morgue; and I think should also be known by Momo, Morgalicious, Morgtastic and so forth). That Facebook post I was talking about before? Yes, that’s right, it was him. The push, the marketing, the reaching out, the organisation, the idea, the push (electric boogaloo), the patience, the blogging, and the website? Yup, all him. Morgue, if you’re reading this (and I really hope you are, cause if not, holy shit who’s doing the QA on this chaotic post), thank you for everything. Without you this would never have been possible and I just cannot express the sheer level of warmth everyone in the Kiwi TTRPG community feels towards you.

Secondly, we have Blogger Extraordinaire, Lyndon Hood (also known as… Actually just that, but he should also be known as the Lynster, Lyndon the Don, Don Lyndon, Don Hood, Hood Don? DonLyn the Hood? I’m… Really bad at this…). He also had a hand in pretty much everything that needed doing. The organisation? Yes. Blogging? Heck yeah. The website, the push, the excitement? Yupsicles, his hands went places. Lyndon was there from the start. Without Lyndon, Morgue and the rest of us would have had a mighty hard time getting everything done in time. Kudos dude. If you’re reading this (and again, really hope you are cause QA and stuff), thank you. Thank you for taking on so much, for being so impassioned through and through, and for being the awesome person that you are!!

And last, but not least, we have the Marketing Maestro, Liz Parker (Lizarooni, Liz the Lambent, Lucky Liz, Legendary Liz, Liz the… I should stop….). Liz may not have there from the very beginning like Morgue and Lyndon, but damn did she bring it when she started. Not only was she immensely helpful in the social media and hype aspects of things—retweeting and posting and sharing and creating lists and all sorts of things—but she also joined several streams and events and brought her absolute best to everything she did. If you’re reading this Liz (are you? Will you? Can you?), thank you. Thank you for everything you’ve brought to Kiwi RPG week!!

Is it time to panic?

No. No it is not. I’m sure you’re thinking, “But Azul, how can we not panic now that we don’t have the Kiwi RPG goodness that is oh so required for us to survive?” Well… I have some good news. If you squint hard enough, believe in the heart of the cards, and then grow your heart by three sizes that day, every week will be Kiwi RPG week! Yes, you read that right. Every. Single. Frikking. Week. Because we’re all still creating! We’re all still releasing! And we’re all most certainly mostly alive!!

So yes, every week can be Kiwi RPG week for you. You can go listen to the many many podcasts/streams from Kiwiland. Or read up on some articles or advice. Or play a game or two or three or four from Kiwiland!! There’s so much you can be doing to bring in the delicious (and occasionally spicy, but the good spicy, not the bad kind) goodness of Kiwi TTRPGs. And I mean… 52 weeks of Kiwi RPG!??! I dunno about you but that sounds pretty damn scrumptious to me.

So ask yourselves. Will Brad Zimmerman start a podcast with actual babies? Will Morgue finish his quest to be the One True Morgue? And will you allow the sexy-accented fruit-appropriating anti-gardening-fanatics of Kiwiland to take over your lives and then the world? Yes. The answer to all these questions is yes.

—Azul, with apologies to… Everyone?