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A couple of updates
A few updates tonight. Just a couple small things I’ve been working on.
Campaign Quick Jump
A constant source of pain for me is trying to get to a particular campaign. I’ve heard grumbles from many of you as well, so I decided to simplify things a bit. I’m not sure if this is the permanent location, as I may move it around somewhere else, but the campaign quick jump bar is here to stay. Just choose the campaign you want to jump to and you’re there.
Requesting new dynamic character sheets
We want to know what systems are the most requested for dynamic character sheets. I have my theories, but I thought I’d set aside my guesses and leave it up to all of you. Now you request a DST for any given system. I’ll keep an eye on the votes, and we’ll be offering cash bounties to anyone willing to make one of the more requested ones. More on that later.
Email Notification Tweaks
When I started playing with this I had no idea the rabbit hole I was heading down. Now, after further complaints, I’ve modified it so that if you’re editing a page and set it to gm-only, then it will unselect any non-gm to receive email notifications. You can re-select them if you wish, but then why are you setting it to gm-only if you want people to know about it?
That’s it. As always, we’re constantly moving and never sitting still. Every time you log in, something’s a little bit different. It keeps things exciting, to say the least!
Become an Obsidian Portal Emissary
With convention season in full swing, it’s the perfect time to let the rest of the gaming community know about how great Obsidian Portal is. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), we’re not a huge mega-corporation that can afford to set up exhibits and hire booth babes to represent us everywhere. Instead, we’re going to rely on you, our awesome users, to get the word out. We want you to represent Obsidian Portal at your favorite conventions as an official Obsidian Portal Emissary.
Bringing illumination to the savages
First things first: we’re not asking you to stand on a corner handing out fliers. Instead, we just want you to go to your favorite conventions and meetups and play games like you always do. If there’s a good time during the game to mention Obsidian Portal, then by all means please do so. Hand out some fliers and stickers to the other people at your table. Tell them to check out the site. That’s it!
We don’t need a hardline sneaky salesforce. As most of you know, it doesn’t take a lot of convincing to get someone to like Obsidian Portal. Basically, once you give it a try, you’re hooked. The hardest part is letting people know that we actually exist. That’s where the Emissaries come in.
As an Emissary, we’ll send you a small kit with some stickers, fliers, and one of our snazzy t-shirts. Plus, you’ll also receive our deepest thanks and a free 3-month Ascendant upgrade. Toss the fliers and stickers into your gaming bag on the way to the con and you’re ready.
Obsidian Portal Needs You!
If you’re going to a convention, meetup, or anywhere gamers hang out, and you’re interested in representing Obsidian Portal as an Emissary, send me an email at [email protected]. Let me know your Obsidian Portal username, what conventions you’re going to, and when. We’re going to start small, with only a handful of Emissaries. If things go well, we’ll step it up. So, even if you don’t get selected at first, we may come back to you once we get the hang of it and are ready to ramp up.
Update: Full Up for GenCon
We’ve got plenty of people for GenCon, so we’re going to close that off for now. However, if there’s a small or local con in your area in the next month or two, we’d still like to get you hooked up.
Email Notification Tweaks
We’ve been tweaking the email notifications a bit in response to user feedback, and I thought I’d just give a quick rundown of how it works. It’s changed a bit, so people may be confused.
Push not Pull
What differentiates our system a little from traditional forums is that we have a push model, not a pull model. In other words, the author/originator of an update gets to choose who will be notified, rather than people having to request to be notified.
Why did we go this route? On a traditional large-scale forum, there may be thousands of users, so it’s impractical to allow someone to spam them all with updates. By contrast, an Obsidian Portal campaign is a tightly cohesive group that often requires that everyone be up-to-speed on the latest info. Therefore, it makes sense to allow someone to dash off an update and have it sent to everyone else in the group, or a subset if they choose.
I didn’t get the email!
The biggest complaint we got is that people kept forgetting to check the boxes to send the updates. Most of these complaints were combined with a request to be able to subscribe to updates. In essence, they wanted the pull model in addition to the push.
I held out as long as I could, but it was affecting enough people that I had to do something. In response, we added the ability to subscribe to notifications in your user profile. It’s sort of an all-or-nothing setting, but from what we were hearing that’s what people wanted. The frequency of updates was low enough that people would rather be hit with everything rather than miss something important. This matched up well with my own experiences.
Settings on your profile
Bringing it together
Last night we pushed a new tweak that brings the push and pull together. Now, when you select in your profile to receive all notifications, this simply means that the notification box next to your name is automatically checked when someone is making an edit. If they do nothing, you’ll receive an update. However, if they want a little more control, they can un-check your name and choose to skip the notification.
Hopefully this will solve all sides of the issue: You can choose to be automatically notified, yet authors/editors can choose to disable this for individual edits if it doesn’t make sense.
As always, we’re open to suggestions for improvement. If there’s another system that does this better or cooler, let me know and I’ll definitely take a look.
New System Thursday: Dresden Files RPG
It’s Thursday! On Thursday we add a new system to our list of over 150+ supported RPG systems. This week, it’s the system on everyone’s mind. It’s the Dresden Files RPG!
The world is getting weirder. Darker every single day. Things are spinning around faster and faster, and threatening to go completely awry. Falcons and falconers. The center cannot hold.
But in my corner of the country, I’m trying to nail things down. … I don’t want to live in a world where the strong rule and the weak cower. I’d rather make a place where things are a little quieter. Where trolls stay the hell under their bridges, and where elves don’t come swooping out to snatch children from their cradles. Where vampires respect the limits, and where the faeries mind their p’s and q’s.
My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. I’m in the book.
— Harry Dresden in Jim Butcher’s Storm Front
This system isn’t even out yet! So why are we featuring it this week? Simple. Did you know that if you Preorder any of the two core books, you’ll get the matching PDF imediately? It’s true! So what are you waiting for? Grab some friends, get the PDF from Evil Hat Productions, and make a Dresden Files RPG campaign now!
New System Thursday: SHARD RPG
Today is Thursday, and what a Thursday is it? This Thursday is New System Thursday, like all the ones before it! We’re adding a new system to our list of over 150 RPG supported systems and settings, and this one is unlike anything you’ve played so far. It’s time to bust out the cat ears, wolf shirts, and that one set of dice with the lizards on them, cause this week we’re adding SHARD!
SHARD is an exciting new game of heroic fantasy and adventure set in the realm of Dardunah, World of the False Dawn, a unique fantasy campaign setting. You won’t find the standard fare in these pages; there are no elves, trolls, dwarves, knights, or even dragons. Indeed, the campaign world is quite a deviation from most European fantasy settigns.
Dardunah’s time period is not strictly medieval, the setting drawing its flavor from eastern rather than wester cultures. Nor is it set on an alternate version of Earth. In fct, there are no humans on Dardunah. Players may choose from a wide variety of animal people who are the main cast of the many adventures the world offers.
This world needs heroes, so what are you waiting for? Grab some dice, grab some friends, and make a SHARD rpg campaign now!
Win some Limited Edition D&D Spellcasting Soda!
Hail Adventurers,
Parched? Dying of thirst in the unending deserts of Athas? Then you’ll want to get in on one of these contests we’re running this week, because we’re giving away some Limited Edition D&D Jones Soda!
But before we share the details for the contests we had something we wanted to share a brief interview with the folks at Jones Soda! Did you know that you could make a 6 pack of beverages unique to your RPG campaign? Best. RPG. Prop. Ever.
Obsidian Portal: Where did you get the idea for limited edition D&D branded sodas?
Jones Soda: We met up with Wizards of the Coast in December of 2008 and had a great brainstorming session. D&D Jones Soda came out of that.
Obsidian Portal: Who came up with the names for each soda?
Jones Soda: We have to give credit for that to our friends at Wizards of the Coast. It was all them.
Obsidian Portal:What do they taste like?
Jones Soda: They are all regular Jones flavors; Root Beer, Green Apple, Cream Soda etc. We gave them cool art and great names.
Obsidian Portal: What ingredients go into your Sodas? High Fructose Corn Syrup? Eye of Newt? Hair of A Black Cat?
Jones Soda: We are all Pure Cane Sugar!!! Hmmm. Eye of Newt. Sounds interesting. Maybe next round.
Obsidian Portal:Could people come up with unique beverages for their RPG campaigns?
Jones Soda: You bet. We are all around people creating their own sodas with our myJones program.
Obsidian Portal:What other RPG brand sodas would make if you could?
Jones Soda: We are always striving to provide our fans with new cool stuff. We look to them to tell us what’s up. Find us on Facebook and let us know what up.
Obsidian Portal:Where can we buy Jones Sodas?
Jones Soda: You can find us a most grocery stores, Target and WalMart. Also online at www.jonessoda.com
Good times. Ok so now on to the contest details!
Twitter Contest:
This one is probably the easiest to enter. It has two steps.
- Follow @ObsidianPortal on Twitter.
- Tweet the following: I RTed this because I want to win a 6 pack of the Limited Edition Dungeons & Dragons Spellcasting Soda from @JonesSodaCo & @ObsidianPortal!
That’s it! That’s all you have to do to enter into our twitter contest! We’ll pick a winner at random using the algorithm at RANDOM.ORG on Friday at 6pm EST. Now unfortunately, unlike our other contests, to be eligible to win this contest, you must live in one of the 48 continental United States. Sorry!
Facebook Contest:
Head to our Facebook Fanpage and leave a comment here! You can leave multiple entries. We’ll pick our favorite entry on Friday at 6pm EST. Like the Twitter contest, to be eligible to win this contest, you must live in one of the 48 continental United States. Sorry!
Good luck, good gaming, and stay thirsty!
