New System Thursday
It’s back with avengence! Today we’re adding not one, not two, not even ten new systems. That’s right, today we’re turning the knob to 11.
- Chronica Feudalis (Make a Campaign Now)
- Aces & Eights (Make a Campaign Now)
- Lejendary Adventure (Make a Campaign Now)
- Fireborn (Make a Campaign Now)
- Hero System (Make a Campaign Now)
- Dragon Age RPG (Make a Campaign Now)
- DC Adventures (Make a Campaign Now)
- GUMSHOE (Make a Campaign Now)
- Star Trek RPG (Make a Campaign Now)
- Lamentation of the Flame Princess (Make a Campaign Now)
- Legends of Anglerre (Make a Campaign Now)
Power To The (Married) People
Two weeks ago I got married to the geeky girl of my dreams. Josh Buergel friend, game designer, and all around great guy officiated our small ceremony at a local coffee shop. I got a real kick out of what he had to say, and I hope you will too.
I’m not planning on doing a long speech, but I do think that a momentous occasion like this richly deserves some of my unique strain of blather and I’m afraid the cost of my participation here is that you have to sit through it. I feel like a recitation about the benefits and difficulties of marriage is at least somewhat inappropriate, but at the same time, it’s worth reflecting on what brings you both here, in front of friends and perhaps more importantly baristas. A marriage really is a different phase of your relationship and no matter how casual the ceremony, the commitment is never a casual one. A marriage is about mutual respect, first and foremost. Without that, eventually the cracks will come. If you maintain that respect, you can solve everything else. You’ll both make mistakes and triumphs, you’ll both have bad days and great days, you’ll have days when you wondered what the hell you were thinking. But none of that matters if you keep your respect for each other and yourselves. All of the great things of a marriage flow from that respect when combined with your love.
But enough of that! Congratulations on levelling up your relationship! Among the benefits you have gained this level are the following powers:
New Feature: Quick Previews
I’ll be the first to admit that our Textile input isn’t exactly the easiest thing to use. Getting linebreaks to work and text to look right can be a real chore. Trust me, we’re working on it.
However, a good interim fix is to reduce the turnaround time between writing the text and viewing it. To that end we’ve added a quick-preview feature for wiki pages and adventure log posts. There’s really not much to explain. Just click the preview button below a textarea and you can see the magic.
Give it a shot, and I think you’ll find that it makes formatting your posts much easier. Edit a little, preview, edit some more, preview, rinse and repeat.
Player can’t make it – Cancel or Frantic Reschedule?
This happens to me over and over: At the last minute, a player (or the GM, myself even) announces they can’t make the scheduled time for the game. However, they’re free on X or Y night that week, so can we reschedule? Frantic emailing and forum posting occurs, lots of negotiating, and we usually end up getting nowhere, just messing up everyone’s plans for the rest of the week. Maybe 1/5 of these frantic exchanges results in a successful reschedule. We’re all just too busy to juggle everything like that.
To combat the craziness, I’ve tried instituting a No Rescheduling policy, but then I love playing so much that I break my own rule, hoping against hope that everyone will change to accomodate me. This usually has the exact same scramble-to-no-avail outcome.
Is ours the only group where this happens? How do you handle it? Is there any solution? Is there anything we could add to Obsidian Portal that would help facilitate (and make less crazy) these discussions? As always, I’m not promising anything, but I have a little extra time to think tonight, as our game has been canceled at the last minute. 🙁
The Question!
Many people seem to be missing the question I’m asking here. Maybe I’m not clear. I’m not asking how many you need to play the game, or what your policy is on attendance. Here’s what I’m driving at:
If a player can’t make it, but suggests a reschedule to another night of the week, what do you do?
In my case, it always becomes a mess and usually results in nothing getting accomplished. Do you have a better way? I’d love to hear it!
Update: Cool Tool
A Twitterer recommended that I check out WhenIsGood, and it looks very close to what I need. Maybe we can steal this idea for Obsidian Portal at some point.
Another ENnie!
Thanks to all your hard work and your votes, Obsidian Portal won a 2nd ENnie. We took the gold in the Best Website category, beating out some really tough competition, especially the Pathfinder Wiki and the d20 Pathfinder SRD.
You won it, we accepted it
Of course, I have to point out that Obsidian Portal is only where it is today thanks to all the hard work of the thousands of GMs and their players who use it every day to make their campaigns more fun. Ryan, Dan, and I keep the machines running, and we add features when we can, but it’s all of you who fill it with great stories, wacky characters, and breathtaking worlds. For that, we express our deepest gratitude.
Pics or it didn’t happen
I didn’t get as many pictures as I’d like, but here’s what I got.
Yes, that’s exactly what I was wearing when I accepted the award. Everyone loved the costume, as the ENnies are about geeks awarding geeks.
Just your average, everyday wasteland savage, riding high on his latest win and enjoying a beer. I thought I was going to a GenCon-style bar, but it turned out to be pretty far outside the con-zone, so everybody was looking at me like I was crazy. I guess you have to be a little crazy to dress like that. Hey, it’s what we do.
Jerry (dreadgazeebo), and I celebrating the win at lunch the next day. Jerry is holding this year’s medal, and I’ve got our gold from 2009.
Micah’s GenCon Schedule
For all of you heading to GenCon this year, I thought I’d post parts my schedule. Come find me and tell me what you think of Obsidian Portal. Be warned, I’m not a trained customer service representative, so I may just tell you what I think of your criticism…
What I look like
That’s me in the picture to the right. I’ll probably be wearing my Obsidian Portal t-shirt most of the time. Otherwise, I might be in costume (heh, it’s a secret).
Contact Info
Micah Wedemeyer
Phone: 724-484-3423
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @obsidianportal
Note: I don’t have a fancy-phone, so I’ll be checking Twitter and Email sporadically. Feel free to call.
Thursday
7:00pm – 9:00pm
Roleplaying for the Severely Disturbed
Hosted by the folks from Stupid Ranger, I’ll be acting out my deviant side as The Puppeteer, a delusional adventurer. Then again, every one of us will be delusional. We’ll see how that goes.
9:00pm – ???
D&D @ Hooters
A good friend is having his bachelor party at Hooters, and we’re all going there to play some D&D. I’m not sure the space-time continuum will be able to survive the irony of so many nerds at a Hooters, and I apologize in advance if the universe is destroyed.
Friday
12:00pm – 5:00pm
Dark Heresy : Chaos in the Void
I’m running a Dark Heresy 1-shot with friends that I have met through Obsidian Portal. We’ll see if they’re still my friends afterwards. I will consider it a personal failure if the adventure ends with all limbs still intact.
6:00pm – 9:00pm
The ENnie Awards
We’re up for another one, and I’ll be going in-costume. Fingers crossed that we get some good pics.
9:00 – ???
ENnies Reception
This is all about hobnobbing with RPG bigwigs, but I know neither how to hob or nob, so I’ll see how it goes.
Saturday
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Secret Lunch Meetup
Um…it’s a secret 😉
4:00pm – 5:30pm
GM Jam
My goal is to get in a plug for Obsidian Portal without being crass. Otherwise, just like anyone else, there’s always a lot for me to learn about being a GM.
8:00pm – 9:00pm
Blogger Meetup @ The Union
I had a great time here last year, so I’m going back. If you’re a blogger and want to meet/talk about Obsidian Portal, this would be a great time. Otherwise, just email me and we’ll set something up where it’s quieter.
10:00pm – ??
White Wolf Party
If I’m lucky, I’ll manage to grab another invite to the White Wolf party. Last year’s was great, and I actually bumped into a member from my D&D group from 10 years ago. Crazy.
?? – ??
Mythic Party
As a co-sponsor of Mythic Party, I’ll definitely be there for a good chunk of the night. Maybe we’ll get a chance to make amends for letting the entire world perish in our game of Pandemic from last year.
Sunday
I’m mostly free on Sunday, just lunch with a friend. If you want to get together and chat, drop me a line.
