[Meta] Story Hour Index (development)

[LordVyreth]

This sounds like a good plan, though I recommend changing the of this thread into Story Hour Index Development or something, and then starting a second thread that serves as the actual index. I'd be happy to contribute my own story hour once the criteria is finalized. Assuming mine is large enough to warrant inclusion, send me an email or some and I'll add mine to the list.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Looking at Shemmy's post...I think we should limit it to one comment per SH. Too many makes it all cluttered and, truthfully, I just skim over that much. And, again, if I'll do it, you can bet at least a few others will, too.

And on that point, there's one other thing I want to kick in here. I like the terms used for the frequency of updates, however, I don't think they'd be the best thing to use. Wouldn't you rather read "Every day", or "Monday/Wednesday/Friday", or even "Once a Week" under updates instead of something so vague as "Frequent"? Sure, they'd be defined, but that means having to remember all these things when it'd be just easier to write the actual number of updates there with the SH itself.

I'm not sure the updates will slow down...I've had a little extra time recently...due to a bit of a bout with insomnia....but in all actuality, I'm just trying to keep up with the likes of Ankh-Morpork Guard and a few other SH authors. Those guys and gals that update once a day are impressive. That's what I want to be.

Thanks for the compliment, but I've got to jump in and say that its extremely hard to update daily. I was good at it...but I've gotten so lazy lately. It ain't hard to keep up with us if we all get lazy like I am.

 

[el-remmen]

Yeah, it certainly has to be limited to one short reader comment.

As for the regularity, I still prefer and actual average because it gives a better idea (my average comes to about every 13 days - but even then I would be hesitant to say every two weeks - because a lot of times it ain't )

As for collecting data, once we figure out what exactl ywhat we want - we can assemble a team and have the info emailed to us to collate and format and edit.

I guess we can start with an excel file and keep all the info on there until we figure out the format for putting it online - or get our hands on someone willing to deal with an actual database.

 

[el-remmen]

BTW, how can you tell who subscribes to a thread?

 

[spyscribe]

Okay, taken what’s been said, how about something like this?

Title: Welcome to the Halmae
Author: spyscribe
Number of Threads: 1

System: D&D 3.x
Setting: Homebrew note 1

Started: February 2003
Status: Ongoing
Average Installment Length: 1000-1500 words
Average Frequency of Installments: 1 per 4.062 days, (2-3 times per week)

Available for Download? No
Style: 3rd person narrative prose, with occasional winks to the underlying mechanics. note 2

Overview: The Halmae is a world where arcane magic has recently emerged and has not yet reached its full potential. Some see this new power as a good thing; others are convinced it is an affront to the gods. Although the party is usually faced with adversaries who are all too human, there are corners of the world where monsters and fey roam freely. Characters began at 1st level and have (so far) reached 5th. The campaign is ongoing.

Reader Comment: “The story itself is compelling, beautifully written, and wonderfully character-driven. The individual characters are great fun to read. And the campaign, in both plot and setting, is utterly exquisite… This Story Hour also makes me weep for the types of adventures I could run before my party could teleport, wind walk and plane shift.” – Sagiro

Special:

• Rogue’s Gallery Thread: Secrets of the Halmae, non-players only
• The story hour thread also contains sidebars with additional information about the game world, its pantheon, etc.
• The DM of this game (Fajitas) and player Wisdom Like Silence are former players from Piratecat’s “Defenders” game.

*********

note 1: I’ve omitted the name of the setting because it doesn’t mean anything to someone who doesn’t know the story hour already, something that’s probably true for most homebrews. Aquerra would be an exception because this is a logical place to put the web link to further information, although that could also go under “special.”

note 2: I realize I’ve left off a [general] tag here. Can we safely assume that anything not tagged “[mature] – XYZ content” is appropriate for a general board audience?

I’ve left off the “number of updates” entry on the theory that it is just another thing that would have to be updated continually. Between the start date of the thread, the frequency of updates, and looking at the length of the thread itself, I’m guessing that most people can get a good enough idea how long a read they’re in for. Maybe it would be appropriate to include for concluded or discontinued threads?

Also, I tweaked the order a bit so that summary and comments are together at the end of the entry, just so it’s a little bit easier to pick out all the nitty-gritty details in the “stat block” above. What do people think of that, and of the summary style? I’ve tried to keep it general and informative, rather than a hard-sell “tease,” as I know I start skimming pretty quickly over unfamiliar terms and proper names.

Thoughts?

 

[el-remmen]

SS,

I really like the format, clean and to the point -and helped to remind me of things I've left out of my own example.

note 1: I’ve omitted the name of the setting because it doesn’t mean anything to someone who doesn’t know the story hour already, something that’s probably true for most homebrews. Aquerra would be an exception because this is a logical place to put the web link to further information, although that could also go under “special.”

Recognizable or not, I still think the entry should read "Homebrew (Halmae)" or whatever, just because 1) it is informative, and 2) you never know when the name can be evocative or might have been mentioned somewhere else, as in. . . "Oh, this must be that story hour that so-and-so mentioned, the setting name is familiar" Or something.

Another question is how to do the index itself - I mean, part of me envisions links with the name of the story hour and its author that is clicked to pop-up the full entry or something like that - instead of a whole list of entries. . .

 

[Shemeska]

Looking at Shemmy's post...I think we should limit it to one comment per SH.

Agreed, and I trimmed mine down to one comment.

And on that point, there's one other thing I want to kick in here. I like the terms used for the frequency of updates, however, I don't think they'd be the best thing to use. Wouldn't you rather read "Every day", or "Monday/Wednesday/Friday", or even "Once a Week" under updates instead of something so vague as "Frequent"? Sure, they'd be defined, but that means having to remember all these things when it'd be just easier to write the actual number of updates there with the SH itself.

Have to agree here as well.

 

[spyscribe]

Thanks el-remmen.

Recognizable or not, I still think the entry should read "Homebrew (Halmae)" or whatever, just because 1) it is informative, and 2) you never know when the name can be evocative or might have been mentioned somewhere else, as in. . . "Oh, this must be that story hour that so-and-so mentioned, the setting name is familiar" Or something.

Fair enough.

Another question is how to do the index itself - I mean, part of me envisions links with the name of the story hour and its author that is clicked to pop-up the full entry or something like that - instead of a whole list of entries. . .

Alas, with this I can help not at all. I think you mentioned sortable lists earlier, which I think would be great, but how to manage the data to do that?

 

[Lazybones]

Another question is how to do the index itself - I mean, part of me envisions links with the name of the story hour and its author that is clicked to pop-up the full entry or something like that - instead of a whole list of entries. . .

I like this idea; how about a small pop-up window, like what happens now when you click on the "Replies" header at the top of a list of threads on a forum page. Except bigger, so you don't have to do too much scrolling. Except I'd have two links, one to get the pop up, and one to take you directly to the thread. Maybe there's an abbreviated forum we could use in the main thread, 1-2 lines to pass on essential information (sort of like a stat block), and then a button to get "More Information" as a pop-up. With the name of the SH itself as a hotlink directly to the forum thread where the story begins.

Not a coder by any means, but it's my understanding that you can do this without too much difficulty. You'd just need some sort of database to store the detailed entries.

 

[The Grackle]

Just found this, and I think an index is a great idea.

Another question is how to do the index itself - I mean, part of me envisions links with the name of the story hour and its author that is clicked to pop-up the full entry or something like that - instead of a whole list of entries. . .

I think a good way to do this is to have one post at the beginning of the thread that's just the names (and maybe the date of the last update) in alphabetical order. Then have them linked to the post below where all the info is. That seems like the easiest way to do it.