# RPGaDay 2026 - 06 - Reach tags: #thoughts #thoughts/RPGaDay/2026 ![[RPG a Day 2026 (illo).jpg]] It seems like anytime I go online, somebody somewhere is trying to sell me something. That's true, whether it be flipping through Amazon Marketplace or popping onto X to see the latest tempest in a teapot discourse within the Western, Japanese, or Korean TRPG communities. Everybody is trying to go viral, not because they had a good idea that everybody likes, but because they want to go viral to piggyback and sell their book or their lessons on how to be a great GM or the next really big game that's exactly like the last 17 really big games. To do that, of course, needs something very important: reach. That's why they are trying to go viral. That's why they are seeking the blessing of the masses. They want that reach, that influence away from wherever they're standing. That's fine and all. It seems perfectly reasonable that people want to make money, eat indoors, and sleep in something softer than a pile of hay. I'm willing to grant that's a worthy goal. But the constant high-pitched shilling, when really what you want to listen to is the low rumble of people talking about things that they are intimately pleasured by, makes it less than an ideal circumstance. Sometimes it feels more than a little dirty to wade into the mess that is modern social media. People aren't reaching for you, they're reaching past you. Believe it or not, things were not always this way. Back in the old days before the internet, or at least before the World Wide Web — yes, I am that old — people would generally talk to one another. The conversation would proceed as if they were talking to someone, not a generalized audience of potential purchasers. As part of that conversation, they would carry on at length, maybe even address one another's points. That's not to say the world was any less vociferous. In some ways, it was a cruel universe where your ideas must enter the arena to engage in absolute bloodsport. It was more interesting. In most ways, it was a better experience. Reach is similar to money for very obvious reasons, not least because it's not money that's the root of all evil, but the love of money that's the root of all evil. It's not reach that is the root of all evil, but it's the love of reach that's the root of all evil. Sticking your hand out, not for a handshake, but palm up, empty, looking for your two pieces of silver. Not with the attitude of an exchange well done, but with all the entitled attitude of a pink-haired nose-ring harpy who demands that you give them what they're due, and mayhaps you'll get something you can tolerate in exchange. This actually seems to have turned out a little darker than I intended, which is probably exactly to be expected. Reach, then. What are you, as someone who wants other people to enjoy what they do and say on social media, to do? It's fine to reach out. The whole process of engaging with social media is the act of reaching out to other people. Otherwise, you would just be journaling in your own blog at home, happily content to hear your own thoughts. The problem is not the reaching, the problem's in the grasping. Stop trying to sell things to everyone who reads you. Stop tying everything into how you're solving someone's problems for a tiny donation of $19.95 with regularly scheduled expansions coming at the end of Q1 and Q3. If you've got an idea, hand it around. If something's legitimately new, be proud of it. Be willing to talk about other people's work and why it's good or bad. Engage in a conversation, not just making noise to get eyes pointing at your product. Let not your reach exceed your grasp, but also do not let your grasp exceed your reach.