OLG Forum

[Henry]

I like it since it does make it easier to find subject matter specific to those games. The biggest drawback is that the D20/OGL forum does seem to have less traffic. That might be a lack of interest, or a lack of exposure, I am not sure.

I think it's symptomatic that D&D is the first interest to the comunity, non-D&D-tied-in d20 second. As for exposure, from my perspective, it's fourth on the Forums list, and can't get more exposed, short of being placed above the D&D forums.

Funny AU is mentioned - AU's got an interesting position in that it's probably the second-or-third largest d20-mechanic game gamers have ever heard of, short of D&D itself, and Mutants and Masterminds. It's right on the axis of being a D&D supplemental line - without being a D&D supplemental line. As a result, about one-quarter of its conversation seeps out of the OGL forum into General Discussion and Rules, because its as often intermixed with 3E as it is played straight.

Very few other OGL threads have that happen - heck, not even Conan gets that much love in GD or Rules!

 

[BSF]

I apologize, I was unclear. I wasn't referring to exposure on EN World. I was referring to the general exposure to the game systems. I think fewer people have any familiarity with the D20/OGL systems that are not Dungeons & Dragons. Though, it could be that there are a number of people that are familiar with the systems, but have little interest in discussing them.

I do think EN World provides good exposure for D20/OGL product. So my comment wasn't specific to exposure on EN World, just general exposure of the products to gamers.

 

[Belen]

I'm not trying to be a jerk about this, but I do want to be clear about why we have the categories set up this way. If you have any questions, let me know.

- Kevin

Actually, I have to question this one. Personally, I never visit the d20/OGL boards. I run a mixed DnD/AU campaign. The systems are fairly interchangeable.

If we are going to have a 'general' discussion, then should it not be an actual general discussion on gaming. As it stands now, it sounds like what general needs to be call is "General D&D Discussion."

I think we lose a lot of flavor in the general discussion because gaming in all forms cannot be discussed.

Also, for non-d20/OGL games, then that should probably be placed in OGL forum. Allowing them in the general forum allows them to get a much broader "face" time with far more members seeing threads about them than the d20/OGL games.

I think this is a slight disservice to the d20 people since ENWorld is THE place for d20 online, so if we're discussing D&D only in general, then the non-d20/OGL threads should go to the smaller forum, just to be fair.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Umbran]

I think we lose a lot of flavor in the general discussion because gaming in all forms cannot be discussed.

There's a very simple problem with that thought. If you actually allow all types of gaming conversation in General, that would effectively eliminate everything but the Sci-Fi and Meta Forums. That would make the thing so unwieldly as to be unusable, with too much darned traffic in one place. Sure, it'd have lots of flavor, but you wouldn't get much of a taste of anything in the mish-mash.

The forums must be broken up, for reasons of practicality. The thread Monte indicated was mostly a rules-question, not a general one. You'll note that the General forum is pretty clear of distinctly rules-based questions for D&D, too. So they are reasonably even-handed in the policy.

 

[Staffan]

Actually, I have to question this one. Personally, I never visit the d20/OGL boards. I run a mixed DnD/AU campaign. The systems are fairly interchangeable.

If we are going to have a 'general' discussion, then should it not be an actual general discussion on gaming. As it stands now, it sounds like what general needs to be call is "General D&D Discussion."

The thing is, we do have an OGL board. It's supposed to be for games based in the SRD, but being stand-alone. Now, there are different levels of stand-alone. Mutants & Masterminds is about as far as you can get from D&D and use the OGL. Arcana Unearthed is pretty darn close to D&D, it even tells you to use the D&D DMG and MM (probably not using those words though). The thing is, if you're gonna have a separate board for OGL games, you need to draw the line somewhere. "Being a stand-alone game" is as fair as any, I reckon.

On the other hand, AU supplements do feature the d20 logo, so they might fit well in General too. I do think AU is right about where the line should be drawn - the question is which side of the line it's on.

 

[Belen]

Right now, there is an Ars Magica 5th thread and a HARP thread in general. Both of those games are "standalone." If we're not going to allow standalone d20 games in general, then standalone non-d20 should not be allowed either.

The HARP and Ars Magica thread should be moved to the d20/OGL forum. It's a smaller forum where people discuss standalone games.

I think it is wrong to punish standalone d20 games by banishment from the largest forum on ENWorld, yet allow threads regarding non-d20 games. All in all, the non-d20 and d20 standalones are more similiar and should be in the same forum.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Olive]

The HARP and Ars Magica thread should be moved to the d20/OGL forum. It's a smaller forum where people discuss standalone games.

No, it's a smaller forum to discuss OGL/D20 games.

I spend a lot of time in OGL/D20 myself. It's a good forum. Put HARN and Arms MAgica aren't OLG/D20 games and theads about CoC D20 would get even more bloked up if all CoC threads went into OGL/D20.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Right now, there is an Ars Magica 5th thread and a HARP thread in general. Both of those games are "standalone." If we're not going to allow standalone d20 games in general, then standalone non-d20 should not be allowed either.

The HARP and Ars Magica thread should be moved to the d20/OGL forum. It's a smaller forum where people discuss standalone games.

I think it is wrong to punish standalone d20 games by banishment from the largest forum on ENWorld, yet allow threads regarding non-d20 games. All in all, the non-d20 and d20 standalones are more similiar and should be in the same forum.

Just my thoughts.

With the growing community, and the fact that many people here have multiple intrests, and adding in the fact that the Ennies have been expanded for all RPG's I think a new sub forum should be added for any/all non d20/OGL RPG's..

From Ars Magica and Harp, to Vampire the Requium, Larping, and Startrek...

 

[Umbran]

With the growing community, and the fact that many people here have multiple intrests, and adding in the fact that the Ennies have been expanded for all RPG's I think a new sub forum should be added for any/all non d20/OGL RPG's..

A new forum isn't just about topic. It's even more about traffic. It isn't about being fair and gving the exact same and equal to all games, it's about making the forums useable. It's about how people use the forums.

When a topic has some traffic, but not a lot, forcing the conversation off into a sub-forum kills the topic. When the topic gets so big that it starts clogging up General is the time to think about a new forum, and not before.

 

[Piratecat]

With the growing community, and the fact that many people here have multiple intrests, and adding in the fact that the Ennies have been expanded for all RPG's I think a new sub forum should be added for any/all non d20/OGL RPG's..

Which part of "They don't have enough traffic to warrant their own forum (it would be a lonely and low-volume forum indeed!)" wasn't clear?

Umbran's got it right - there's not enough traffic to warrant its own forum, and not so many non-d20 threads that they clog the main forum. We're keeping an open mind, but I've seen no compelling reason to shunt non-d20 game threads out of General RPG Discussion. At best we'd consider merging them in with d20/OGL games, but frankly I prefer them in General Discussion. It helps stop the main forum from getting too insular and D&D-centric, and slightly minimizes additional stratification of our users.

I know some folks aren't going to know what I mean by that, but it makes sense to me.

I like non-d20 games, and the more exposure they get the better. Anyways, this thread isn't really about shifting non-d20 games out of General Discussion, it's about shifting AU games into it. It's about perceived parity between d20 D&D supplements and games which can't claim this but really are anyways.