Whew! Sorry, everyone, January got away from me a bit. Between work getting busy and illness, I looked up and it was February. Nevertheless, we had several contributors to the January Blog Carnival, and I want to thank all the bloggers who took on our theme of “gaming on a budget”. Here’s a little round-up of our contributors:

Rodney has a three-point plan for gaming on the cheap over at Rising Phoenix Games. It’s a cleverly simple plan, and if you follow it you’ll come out the other side with a role-playing game library you’ll actually use. And books you will use are always a better value than books that sit on the shelf unopened.

Loot the Room looked at great RPGs with a low initial cost of entry. And by low, they mean free. Hours of entertainment for free, you say? What sorcery is this?! It is true, though, and they have four suggestions for games you could take home with a few mouse clicks.

Eric’s Gaming Pulse had some ideas on gaming on the cheap. An interesting aspect that Eric touches on that we hadn’t considered is how to budget your time as well as your money.

The Wandering Alchemist had some great ideas on how to stretch your money and make sure you’re getting bang for your gaming buck. I particularly enjoyed the discussion around which systems give you the best value. It should come as no surprise that generic systems are a much better value, allowing you to play a wider variety of campaigns types.

Cirsova jumps into the RPG Blog Carnival pool after a long absence with some Dos and Don’ts for gaming on a budget. The Dos are some excellent advice, and the Don’ts are a handy look at what you could do once you have a bit more in the way of funds.

Last but not least, I share a few ideas for the miserly gamer over at The Rat Hole. If you take nothing else from my article, remember two things: the internet is your friend, and save all the paper.

Thanks again to all the bloggers who took part this month. If you like their stuff please take a moment to drop by their sites and tell them so. And as we are well into February, make sure to check out the February RPG Blog Carnival hosted by Daemons & Deathrays. This month’s theme is “Time Marches On”. Boy, they aren’t kidding.