Am I the only one who is depressed by other campaign websites?

MaxKaladin · Feb 22, 2002

I was sniffing around on the web recently and I got kinda depressed. Am I the only person who gets depressed looking at the collection of campaign webpages out there chock full of stuff like campaign info, world descripions, feats, PrCs and so forth? I look at my pathetic website and think about how far I am from having anything like that amount of detail about my campaign. Sometimes it just seems hopeless as I just don't have the time others seem to. Do others feel the same way?

It's gotten to the point where I've considered trying to stuff my players off on some remote island or in some isolated valley just so I can get that level of information about *something*.

I guess I'm just wondering if I'm the only one who feels this way.

Rubeus Hagrid · Feb 22, 2002

It is about time, I think. At least partially. I've been trying to rebuild my personal website since 1988. Sometimes I get around to playing with formats before something else comes up and makes it impossible for a few more days. Most effort goes into my business website, spending time with my wife and kids, or actually running my game every week.

It may also be about inclination and software. A good WYSIWYG web editor and a fast scanner can make up for a lot of work.

gariig · Feb 22, 2002

You can laugh at mine

it might get some more work done today, not sure.

UniversalMonster · Feb 22, 2002

Just build it up one piece at a time

Start small. Detail ONE place. I based my entire first D&D3 campaign (right when the Chargen Cd came out- we didn't even have a PHB yet) in one little village. We ended up detailing the heck out of the village, and later the 'local' dungeon, and later the local temple, and then later X, and then Y.

One good way- start with a single NPC: the tavern keeper, for example. You can't write up a whole campaign website, but certainly you can do a 3rd level commoner.

Then.. maybe a couple of days later, do the tavern.

Then the street the tavern is on, maybe a blacksmith, and the shop...the blacksmith himself is an expert...

bret · Feb 22, 2002

Get your players to help you.

If one of your players is using a PrC that the two of you created, ask him to put it in an HTML file for your site.

Depending on what sort of campaign you run and how much the players are allowed to help design it, they can be a lot of help. At the very least, they can create character descriptions and journals.

BiggusGeekus · Feb 22, 2002

I agree with the above. Start small and work out. It's not like the players will be saving the world at 1st level anyway. Of course, it helps to get an insane workaholic geo-physicist to do your maps for you

Siridar · Feb 23, 2002

Try just writing one sentence about a place or location in your campaign. That' pretty much how I started mine. Now I've got a little info on a lot of places, but not a massive info on any one place.

Hmm. On second thought maybe that's not the greatest of advice. But it'll be easier to fill up a website that way.

www.geocities.com/world_of_aragesh

Ciaran · Feb 23, 2002

One trick I've used on my Ars Magica campaign website is to describe things in the words of individual NPCs. That way, I get to foreshadow the presence and attitudes of NPCs I may introduce later, and if I change my mind about something in a quote, I can attribute it to errors or lies on the part of the NPC that described it.

- Eric

exempt · Feb 23, 2002

Though I'd love to post a lot more on my site, I make it a personal rule to do only what will be used in the campaign.

If the party encounters a significant NPC or travels to a new area, I spend just as much time typing it up on a web editor as I do penciling it down on paper -- so I only do teh former. When they're done with that aspect of the campaign (and it won't ruin any spolers such as a once-eradicated NPC coming back to haunt), I post it on my site.