About



About This Blog

Of Dice and Pen began as a blog devoted to tabletop roleplaying games (thus, its name), primarily Pathfinder, which is the game I play most frequently. I intended to use it to review various products as well as a few other things that never materialized. Instead, the blog very quickly ended up focused on the review side of things, and I soon expanded into reviewing Doctor Who and other programmes.

At this point, I decided to focus on reviews of all kinds of science fiction and fantasy, from roleplaying games to television shows and movies to books. I also decided to throw in some social and media commentary here and there as well. So I’ve ended up with reviews of Pathfinder products, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, and commentary on media sexism (such as my immensely popular Sexism in Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who? essay) and other issues I consider important. If there’s anything you’d like me to review or write about, let me know in the comments below. Naturally, as I’m only just one person with a limited amount of time, I can’t make any promises, but if it’s something I’m interested in, I’ll see what I can do!

Who Am I?

My name is Michael Ray Johnson. I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where I make my living by teaching. My degrees are in English and Education, but I also have a heavy science and mathematics background, as I started out studying astronomy. I also write a great deal and would love it if one day that writing starts to pay a few bills. I have played roleplaying games since childhood and have been a massive fan of Doctor Who and other science fiction and fantasy for just as long, possibly longer.

Beyond This Blog

If you're looking for additional writing by me, I also write occasional posts for Nerds on Earth about Pathfinder, Doctor Who, and other things. There's also lots of nerdy stuff there by other great writers too, so be sure to check it out.

15 comments:

  1. Is it just me or can I not view the page for Sexism in Steven Moffat's Doctor Who? When I click the link then only the title appears. I can read other articles, like the most recent one but not older ones.

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    1. That's strange. You're the second person to comment on having that problem, but I have no idea why that would be the case. The article has not been taken down and should still be visible.

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    2. Hm, I suppose I could be the computer's internet settings or something. I'm using a school computer and a lot of things (and I mead a LOT of things) are blocked. But then again I can read the latest posts on the front page of the blog.

      Well in any case, pretty good and well constructed agruments in your Doctor Who posts.

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    3. Nope, does not work outside of school either.

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    4. If it's nothing to do with browser settings or a caching issue, I really have no idea what might be causing it. I'll try contacting Blogger to see if there's some way to solve the problem.

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    5. Unfortunately, I have received no response from Blogger on this issue.

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    6. Hmm, still not working. I presume you've not heard anything yet?

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    7. No, Blogger has never responded to my attempts to contact them. I actually gave up a couple months ago. Perhaps I should try again.

      It's a weird issue. That article still gets lots of hits and people continue to comment on it, so obviously most people can view it. I can't figure out why a small number of people can't. The only additional thing I can think of is there's a firewall blocking access, but if that were the case, I'd expect it to block the whole blog, not just one article.

      I'll try contacting Blogger again.

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    8. Well, I have learnt that apparently Google (which owns Blogger) doesn't provide customer service. While they provide feedback forms, they don't respond to them unless it involves someone being abusive. Instead, they provide public forums where users can discuss the problems with each other. I'm rather annoyed by this.

      Oh well. Maybe I can find help on the forums.

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    9. I know it has been a while but I did finally get to read your article. It's very good.

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    10. Glad to know you finally got to read it! I never was able to figure out what was causing the problem.

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  2. Hi Michael,

    I just read your review for Pathfinder Bestiary 5, very sober critical analysis!

    If you are interested in more content to review can I offer you one of the 3rd party Pathfinder books I have published? I think the quality of the books is quite high for a small indie publisher and your audience would enjoy them. Plus I would really get a lot out of a solid, fair, and thorough critique to help me improve my books going forward.

    You can see the books on my publisher page on drivethrurpg.com here: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/9379/Tiny-Dragon-Press

    I can't find an email for you, but if you contact me at twitter (https://twitter.com/Designczech) or facebook (https://www.facebook.com/tinydragonpress) I can send you review code for whichever book catches your interest.

    Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Hi! I'd be very interested. I'll take a look at the your offerings and send you a DM on Twitter!

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  3. Hey Michael. Just discovered this blog a couple days ago and I just finished binge reading all of your pathfinder reviews. Like you, I've been paying for several of paizo's subscriptions and have gathered quite the backlog of content, most of which will probably never see any use. Since I'll never have time to read it all, I appreciate the effort you've made in highlighting the books that are really worth diving into. Its saved a lot of time and effort, so thanks for being thorough.

    Also, I know your not particularly keen on running evil games, but are you still planning on reviewing Hell's Vengeance? I'm running it now and, so far, not bad.

    Plus it's got a guy-ad. How can you go wrong with that. :)

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    ReplyDelete