Blog Archives

Slurping your Google contacts (or not)

It’s been brought to my attention that people who are logging in with Google are now being asked to surrender their contacts. To be 100% clear: We are not spamming your friends! This is a bit of a misunderstanding, and we’re working to clear it up. Read on if you want more details.

We use a service called RPX (aka. JanRain Engage) to enable 3rd party login support. That’s why a couple months back we went from offering OpenID only login to offering Facebook, Twitter, Google, and all the others. RPX allows us to be largely ignorant of the underlying details. That’s a good thing, as we spend more time coding cool RPG-related features, and less time dealing with figuring out how to log you in.

Anyways, the 3rd party providers are constantly changing, especially Facebook. It seems like every week they come out with a change to their system that requires us to change something on our end. Luckily, RPX shields us from much of that. However, recently, Google made an update, and when we changed our settings to match, it started asking for people’s contacts as a requirement for logging in. We don’t need this information, we don’t want it, and we don’t use it. Unfortunately, we can’t figure out yet how to turn it off. We’ve emailed the RPX support, and we’ll just have to wait and see what they say.

Until then, please trust that we’re not up to anything nefarious. We respect your privacy and the privacy of your friends. The last thing we want is a reputation for spamming.

iPhone, Android, and other mobile support

I’ve been getting more and more curious about how people are using Obsidian Portal via their mobile devices. Being a technology luddite myself, I still use a cell phone that would be at home in the late 90s. However, I do recognize the potential that mobile devices represent at the game table. It would be incredibly handy to be able to reference your wiki or bring up a character sheet and have it actually be readable without needing to scroll or zoom (too much). With that in mind, I’m cautiously exploring what it would take to make Obsidian Portal more mobile friendly.

Fair warning

Before anyone gets too excited, let me lay out 2 important disclaimers:

1) This is a hypothetical discussion at this point. We may choose to work on it tomorrow, next year, or never.

2) We’re not going to make a dedicated iPhone app. Obsidian Portal is a web app and will stay that way for a while. I just want it to be usable for all you mobile gadgeteers.

The hypothetical plan

The most likely plan of attack would be to create a special stylesheet for mobile devices that repositions and realigns some elements to fit the reduced size of the screen. I’ve read a couple style guides, and the process is pretty straightforward, but usually involves cutting things out altogether. That’s by far the hardest part. For example, what about our sidebars? Could we lose them on a mobile version? They mostly display auxiliary information, but sometimes there are important controls there, like for editing a campaign or inviting new campaign members. I don’t really see these as things you would want to do while playing with the site via a mobile device, but who knows?

Your thoughts?

Since I’m mostly uneducated in these things, I’d like to hear what you have to say. What are the most frustrating parts about navigating Obsidian Portal with a mobile device? What are some things you could do without on the screen so it would clean things up? What are some examples of similar sites that do a good job of presenting a mobile version?

Free System Friday: Zoids – The Roleplaying Game

Every Friday, we introduce you to a new roleplaying game system. A free RPG system. This Friday is no different, Adventurers! This week we’re bringing you a special combo that’s close to my heart. Giant animal shaped robots, anime, and a wild and dangerous world. This week, it’s Zoids – The Roleplaying Game by Keith Foster.

Zoids are living mechanical organisms that can be piloted or roam free if let. Zoids can be either equipped with weapons or tools depending on the need. They’ve nearly replaced most vehicles on their home planet “Zi”. Zoids vary in shapes and sizes, always mimicking animals, whether they are actual, extinct, or mythical.

One night I got bored and actually designed a new Zoid in Hamapatch (A free 3D modeler). I named it the “Tracker Hound” and gave it a special ability to match its design. A week later I actually began writing rules for a role-playing game based on the Zoids universe and soon after I began bringing in my episode library so I could insert images from the series.

So this book is a result of boredom combined with an obsession. Due to copyright issues I cannot sell this book although I’d never want to. I’ve actually been offering it for free on my website for years. It’s just been recently that I’ve merged it all into one document so that I could put it up for download.

So what are you waiting for? Grab the rules, get your group together, and play Zoids – The Roleplaying Game today!

New System Thursday: ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying

This week, we’re bringing you something new; Something fun. Something for the little superhero in all of us. Introducing ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying.

What kid raised in recent generations hasn’t pretended to be a superhero at some point: worn a cape, “flown” around, bounced imaginary bullets or shot “blasts of power” from hands or eyes? Why not? After all, the superhero is the perfect modern fantasy: powerful, respected, and loved by the public, but with a message of responsibility, duty, truth, and justice that appeals to parents as well as kids. In countless comic books, graphic novels, cartoons, and live-action television shows and films, superheroes continue to thrill and capture our imagination while also celebrating some of our better qualities. Who wouldn’t want to be a hero?

With ICONS, you can be!

Steve Kenson, the designer of the best-selling Mutants & Mastermindsdelivers a superpowered new role-playing game, inspired by the fast-playing old-school games and the new generation of narrative role-play! Within its pages are complete rules for character creation, abilities and powers, random adventure generation, a rogue’s gallery of villains, a complete adventure and all the superheroic action you can handle!

Interested in trying it out? Well I have good news for you! For a limited time, the rulebook PDF is 50% off! You gotta love those RPGNow/DriveThruRPG guys, huh? So… what are you waiting for? Grab the rules, grab some friends, and make an ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying game now!

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!

July’s Featured Campaign: Shadowrun – Into The Breach

It’s a new month, and with it comes Shadowrun – Into The Breach, a new Featured Campaign. I had a whole write up ready for this one, but the DM for last month’s Featured Campaign Arsheeh beat me to it. Let’s hear what he had to say.

Campaign Highlights

Among the many features of Into the Breach worthy of note are the following:

• Innovative HTML and Graphics work:
  As previously mentioned, Jim has invested allot of effort into the layout of his site, both in terms of HTML/Textile formatting, and in terms of the graphic images that he has either created or found to adorn the site. Into the Breach exudes the dark cybernetic aesthetic that is the hallmark of cyberpunk. I am not exaggerating when I say that this site layout is one of a very small handful of the coolest and most innovative on the Portal.
• Character Dossiers:
  Jim has created a really clever set of dossiers for each of the characters in his campaign that is well worth checking out.
• Karma, Achievements & Special Abilities:
  Jim has adapted a system that rewards players with cool character abilities both for in-game and meta-game contributions to the campaign.
• Classifieds & News:
  Another really clever innovation to this campaign site is the introduction of a set of News stations and classified adds which offer a variety of story hooks. This allows for a great deal of story options for the players.
• The Subterranean Village of Throal:
  I just love this idea! Seriously, you gotta read about this location for yourself.
• Weapons, Vehicles & Equipment:
  Into the breach contains a host of detailed, visually impressive entries on futuristic technology that ought to make any Shadowrun DM drool!

It’s hard to argue with any of that. To celebrate his acheivement we asked JimTriche to tell us about his newly featured campaign.

Obsidian Portal: How much of the campaign/system is original content developed by you and your players?

JimTriche: The world exists as it is, we’ve made up some weapons, made some organizations and corps, and whatnot to populate it, but for the most part what we use exists somewhere to some degree in the original sourcebooks. Some stuff we’ve borrowed from other campaigns or stories we read, and parts, notably the subterranean Kingdom of Throal are creative evolutions based on other material. (Earthdawn, in that case) The storyline is an original construct, and some of the house rules are either fixes for shortcomings in the Shadowrun 2nd Edition rules or developments that were entirely missing. The Achievements idea was taken from other Obsidian Portal members through general forum brainstorming. I wish more people used them.

Obsidian Portal: Your campaign looks great, can you tell us more about it?

JimTriche: Well, the campaign actually has been going off and on for a few years, and it’s ever evolving. We have 2 guys that GM, and we switch off occasionally, though we tend to guard our plothooks even from each other. It helps to keep things fresh I think. It’s currently in a bit of a Steampunk mode, they’re searching for legendary artifacts to battle a Horror, which Shadowrun and Earthdawn share as major badguys. The goal at the moment is to tie the world together and show a bit of the scope of FASA’s creations, as well as tying them together. Who knows, if we play long enough we may evolve into some Mechwarrior fluff as well!

Obsidian Portal: Where do you get your inspiration the story and the world?

JimTriche: The world is Earth, didn’t need a whole lot of inspiration there, it’s just a bit… run down. The storylines come in as conglomerations, various sci-fi/fantasy books, frankensteined adventure modules from various systems, and bad movies and television. What makes for horrible cinema often makes awesome game plots. Then we mix and match. Tolkien+Gibson+King+Lovecraft= a good start.

Obsidian Portal:  How well do you know your players?

JimTriche: I’ve been friends with them for about 10 years. I met two at work when I first moved into New Jersey, and the others were friends of theirs for closer to 25 years. It’s a good group of people, the kind of guys who have keys to your house. The kind of guys that’d be sharing a cell with you. Good guys.

Obsidian Portal:  What kinds challenges are you faced with in your campaign?

JimTriche: Mostly it’s scheduling logistics, our work schedules all differ, Three of us are married, I have 3 kids, one is a farmer, and so on. Sometimes distractions pop up during game too, in the form of random internet pages or accidents at the corner near the house. Usually we keep things moving pretty well though. I’d love to get the players more into using the Portal, but the geeky stuff is my general domain (and I couldn’t have made the campaign wiki look half as nice without some major help from your forum regulars)

Obsidian Portal:  What aspects of your campaign are you really proud of?

JimTriche: I’m liking that it seems genuine. When I say that I mean that the world feels like it makes sense. The NPCs have their own lives, the players have freedom that I lacked in a lot of my games in years past, I like being able to entertain friends as well. Of the campaign plot itself, I like the way Throal is shaping up, Massive Dynamic (Yes, inspired by Fringe – the other GM’s baby) has become a great resource in game, and the overall story is taking a life on it’s own, while remaining malleable enough that we can still switch off GM duties and run our own subplots while keeping the metaplot in full swing.

Obsidian Portal:  According to your players, what have been the highlights of the campaign?

IncCamaro – “I am extremely interested in what’s happening with the Throal thing here. I definitely want to see where this goes.”

Schweedit – “The whole cabin scene was great, it’s not every day someone unleashes a horrific scourge upon the entire world.”

Blitzkreig8881 and CarlPaul71 were not available for comment, though their likely responses would have been “I like to shoot things” for Blitzkreig, and “I hate your stupid Bear” for Carl.

Obsidian Portal:  What future plans do you have for your campaign?

JimTriche: The metaplot is set, either they defeat the critter they let loose or the world dies. Either way, at the end we’ll regroup, restart or continue on with a new metaplot and campaign. We’ll of course be using the portal from the beginning on that one.

Obsidian Portal: Do you have anyone you’d like to thank?

JimTriche: Thanks to Arsheesh, Hardhead, Chainsaw, Gaaran, Idabrius, FrankSirmarco, MadEd, Gnunn and anyone else I forgot at the moment for all the help and support! Also calabacita for making me extra happy very soon.

Congrats again to JimTriche and all his players! If you have a suggestion for next month’s Featured Campaign, drop us a note on the forums!