Things are Changing Around Here
Gnomestones Prospectus 2026
Greetings fellow gnomes and a warm welcome to all friends of gnomes as well. It has been several months since my last post, and there’s been an influx of subscribers in my long winter’s absence. It’s past time I gave you an update.
Over the past year I’ve had a great time posting and plotting and discoursing and discording and throwing dice with the lot of you. But then circumstances occurred that impact my ability to participate in this web of community. To specify and elaborate:
I started a PhD program on nature values and forestry. I moved to a new town and had to set up my streaming and publishing desk for a new workflow. I pre-wrote 1.5 posts for the interim since I knew the new program would take my focus away, but they weren’t quite done in time to publish, and I might have a problem with perfectionism. This is one of those posts.
I might still have some time to contribute, but not at the rate I did before. As the audience you probably don’t mind that much. But the Substack algorithm minds. And before my un-unemployment kicked in, I was already struggling with navigating the landscape of indie OSR gaming blogging and community building on social media, and I had to figure out how to communicate it. In truth, the trend in commodification and efficiency-maxxing had been keeping me up at night. It’s especially bad on Substack, as the algorithm rewards a certain type of unrelenting engagement. I was going to have to change my participation one way or another.
This would be the place for a rant on the commodification of oral narratives in TTRPGs and the transformation of self into consumption space through the projection of worth onto perpetually-shifting captilistically-informed structures and logics, but you heard it all before, or you haven’t and it won’t change your mind, etc, etc. In the end I blocked a dozen content creators, and Substack has seemed much more benign in the months since then. This is combined with the circumstances that I no longer consider TTRPG promotion a basis for my own livelihood. I guess it can be a simple hobby after all. Well that and a bellwether for the trajectory of our society’s morality.
I thought about quitting, but I’ve decided that I would regret it later. But there was one more existential threat to the world of Gnomestones.
As many of you noticed, gnomestones.fun has been deactivated. Several of you let me know, and I am grateful for the support. Of course I knew, I’m highly aware of the heart being ripped out of the core of the Gnomestones universe. All the maps, the stories, not to mention the Link Farm and the calendar system, gone. Was this to be the end of this particular fantastical universe?
The problem was Wix had decided they were going to triple their monthly rate to host my beloved website, and I think that’s bullshit. At some point last year I wouldn’t have been able to pay, now I am able but I don’t want to. The conundrum inspired quite a bit of navel gazing among the gnomes. I’m bothered by the idea that the world of Gnomestones pays virtual rent.
I view my financial relationship with Wix to be one of monopoly-informed parasitism disguised as consensual exchange. I will keep whatever money I can from falling into pre-invested equity funds, but it causes me to reflect on whether there is any reason to keep the site up at all. If the main value offered to me by the website was as an ego-fulfilling cry for recognition, then I would basically be letting a corporation inform my sense of self-worth, paying a tax on my own ego like so many influencers before me. We can’t let that happen.
While I won’t pay Wix to fuel the self-indulgent legacy of Gnomestones, in the end, I appreciate the ability to share this world, a part of my life, with my friends and family and you. We’ve built some whimsical scapes together, and I think there’s value if we dig deep enough. In my TTRPGs, relationships with others are what’s important, and that presents a resilient profit stream for my digital landlords. In the end, love is surprisingly easy to tax.
What I mean is that I paid Wix to reupload the site. After navigating their byzantine subscription plans, I was able to get a similar rate to the one I paid originally. In addition, the click-haggling process opened up a new possibility, so we’re also moving locations. www.gnomestones.fun is over! Long live www.gnomestones.com! No the irony is not lost on us. The irony is never lost on a gnome, yet most of the time we lose it along the way anyhow.
Thanks for listening. We still have time for the 2026 Prospectus. Here is new and improved list of Gnomestones priorities (priorities may or may not be included):
Finish The Potato Game. The problem was inertia presented by paying for artists and finalizing the script. I will try again. I think to keep in my values I will have to give away the PDF for free.
More Substack posts, continuing Gnomepolean and more
Participating in a jam or two
Hopefully attending the Between Two Cons event, hopefully with The Potato Game in hand
Not capitulating on controversial topics in the name of vague acceptability
Sharing the recipe for spiced dirt cakes
and the Council of Gnome Philosophers meets in the shadows…
Until next time.
