Comments

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  RaseCidraen

  Posts: 890 November 2011

  All too true Steve - as nice as it is to hear 'great game', that's more of a reflex statement. It's not quantitative. Like 'I had "fun".' What is 'fun' for them? What parts did they have the most 'fun' during?
  
  ...wow, that's criminal - I just realized I had never clicked the ICON-OF-APPRECIATION that is the "Favourite" button on your site! I appreciate the depth in which you cover a broad range of topics - there is an entire encyclopedia of races, and the majority of them have entries which are very thought out and relevant. I particularly love the way you're blending most of the popular sci-fi together (I'm a particular fan of the Whooniverse, personally!)
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  Baalshamon

  Posts: 585 November 2011

  Rase, thanks for the kind words. My team is a group of sci fi nerds and to not blend the universes would have been a crime. I think every sci fi geek wonders who would win when matching up many of the greats from sci fi movies and series. Dr Who vs Grand Moff Tarkin will be a great matchup that I am really looking forward to. When we start having space battles with ships from Star Wars, Star Trek and Farscape the events will spiral into a magnificent storm. The game will be quite interesting and I am finding it hard to wait for my current campaign to end. I am ready to start right now.
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  RaseCidraen

  Posts: 890 November 2011

  Oh damn... the Doctor vs. Tarkin? That's a hell of a battle of wits. The question is, which incarnation of the Doctor?
  
  I used to wonder about Trek v. Wars space combat, and I always kept circling back to the fact that Wars is very much like Naval ship battles, and I'm not sure if that's really an applicable space combat tactic.
  
  I'm ready for you to start now too! I wish I could play. Curse you, internets!!!
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  arsheesh

  Posts: 850 November 2011 edited November 2011

  Wow... I step away for a day and this topic explodes! Some really good points made have been made. As Black_Veluma and StephenWollet have both pointed out, the amount of blood, sweat and tears that most of us put into our campaigns, and our campaign sites often does not receive much recognition by our players, and having an online audience can compensate for this. I know that when I was in the early stages of my Age of Legends site none of my players got involved in the creation process, and no one else at the OP knew about it either, I kept asking myself why in the world I was putting so much effort into something no one was going to read. Course after getting involved in the Portal Community that changed and by slow degrees my site began to develop a readership.
  
  I think that there is something perfectly natural and healthy about the desire for one to be liked and respected among ones peers, after all we are social animals. Likewise, by it's very nature art is something which is meant to be shared; so it is right to desire others to engage in one's work. And, as KillerVP and Vstray have pointed out, this desire (when properly checked) helps to foster a healthy community: we seek out others with whom to dialogue, and in turn come to appreciate their own perspectives and contributions as well. Of course, when unchecked however, this desire can turn vicious (witness the phenomenon of people multiplying "Friends" on Facebook to achieve a higher sense of status).
  
  At any rate, good discussion so far.
  
  Cheers,
  -Arsheesh

  Post edited by arsheesh on November 2011
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  nightstorm

  Posts: 74 November 2011

  For me it's one part recognition and one part I need players. :)
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  RaseCidraen

  Posts: 890 November 2011

  I think this community definitely falls into the former, properly checked, category.
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  gaaran

  Posts: 740 November 2011

  I wanted to give my two cents on the topic as well :). I admit, I'm in the same boat as "I want fans". As many of my fellow GMs on here have experienced, many players don't appreciate or utilize what we DMs do with our campaign pages here on OP. I was lucky in one of my campaigns to get some fairly extensive character journals, but by and large, in the games I run, the only times my players use the site is when I show them something relevant DURING the game. So i have to remind myself that what I'm really doing is creating a resource for MYSELF of my creative work. The players don't get that, but my fellow DMs do, and THEY are the ones that are favoriting campaigns on OP. Every time a GM favorites my campaign, it's like they're saying, "Hey great job man, I feel your pain, I appreciate the effort you've put in, in a way that your players don't get." :)
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  JaymesBolton

  Posts: 278 November 2011

  Garan: Preach it brother!
  
  -Jaymes
  
  "Changing History":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/l5r-changing-history

  -Jaymes

  

  Campaign of the Month Febuary 2013

   
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  nightstorm

  Posts: 74 November 2011

  It's official. I've done gone insane. I'm trying for three or at least making them up for future use. All three at one time or another were table top games I ran. The Cincinnati one actually has three players!
  
  Feed back please!!!!
  
  "changeling the lost dream":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/changeling-the-lost-dream
  "Cincinnati By Night":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/cincinnati-by-night
  "Dark Greyhawk":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/dark-greyhawk
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  RaseCidraen

  Posts: 890 November 2011

  Gaaran + Jaymes: HAW-LEH-LU-YAH!
  
  Nightstorm: I'd like to see Cincinnati fleshed out (ha, vampire zombie humor!) a bit more - the Wiki page needs to be updated a bit. The images help to add a lot to the mood of each of the campaigns.
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  nightstorm

  Posts: 74 November 2011

  Thank you! Yea they are all works in progress. Considering as little time as I've had to work on them I think I'm doing good. I will be adding a lot to it soon. I just have to do about four weeks worth of laundry (literally).
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  Duskreign

  Posts: 1,085 November 2011

  It is easier to measure our successes through the lens of our peers' opinions than it is for us to objectively view our own works and recognize their proper value.
  
  Knowing someone is looking at what we do, and that they are nodding in approval of what they see, drives us to continue onward to successes that silent, solitary vigilance could never likely provide.
  
  If Arsheesh had never been a fan of Wyrmshadow, I would have given up on Obsidian Portal a long time ago (and you know that is true, Arshy). That is the value of finding fans among our peers; they are fuel for our passions to create the best wikis we can.
  
  "Duskreign":http://www.obsidianportal.com/profile/Duskreign (all-around swell fella)
  "Wyrmshadow:The Duskreign Prophecy":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/duskreignprophecy (check out my latest campaign and let me know what you think!)
  "Wyrmshadow Renovation Project":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/wyrmshadow-renovation-project (A testbed for a future project to drastically renovate my Wyrmshadow Campaign Setting wiki)
  "Wyrmshadow Campaign Setting":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/wyrmshadow (October 2010 Campaign of the Month and 2010 Featured Campaign of the Year)
  "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic (an alternate version of the events of Knights of the Old Republic)
  "The System":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/system (a hurry-up game I devised to play when there's nothing else going on)
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  RaseCidraen

  Posts: 890 November 2011

  I thought it was easier to fit a rich guy into a needle? Or maybe it was the other way around...
  
  I agree with Dusk - without some exterior measure of value, which intrinsically one cannot provide to ones own works (due to bias, either real or imagined), it is hard to measure the true value of one's accomplishments. Pride, certainly, can be felt, but what is Pride but either a gas station or a pack of lions. And why would you be feeling either of those? You're liable to lose a hand!
  
  Even without the nodding in approval, any extant view on our works is essential to their proper growth. I've had many many conversations with gaaran about my wiki and the directions I wanted to take it. He nodded, thinking, then said "Yes, but..." and provided a completely separate idea that contradicted my own initial assumptions. And 100% of the time, it ended up for the better, due to what I'm going to coin as a "Critical Feedback Cycle".
  
  *Critical Feedback Cycle:* An idea is proposed by party A. Idea is considered by party B (objectively). Counter proposal by party B. Idea is considered by party A (objectively). Repeat until idea is polished.
  
  _Syn:_ Polishing a turd.
  
  It's why critiques are essential - if Morrinn hadn't offered his sage advice with regards to the apparent non-uniformity of my wiki, I never would have spent so much time rethinking it and redeveloping it. If I hadn't found the excellent community on the portal, I probably would have stopped using it (much like Dusk).
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  twiggyleaf

  Posts: 2,011 December 2011

  Having read through all of the posts in this thread, I would add that the fans issue is much more positive than negative. A bit of recognition goes a long way to personal development! And it does also create new links to peers.

  "I met a traveller from an antique land....."

  CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.

  Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign

  Inner Council Member
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  TheMazeController

  Posts: 115 December 2011

  Yup - what all the truly knowledgeable folks here already said. Nightstorm if you are looking for players I have a playerfinder database on the Downloads section of Bad Wrong Fun.
  
  Now that the holidays are semi over I am going to be picking up steam - I am working on starter kits for my players, (some of you might get private messages about that stuff....) I have a big meeting coming up on the 5th for a shop owner who wants to be be involved with our little project and I am feverishly working in secret. Once I get some of the art stuff worked up I will do an overhaul to the UI. I have not had a chance yet to take a crack at it myself and the few folks I asked said they would help but since its the holidays haven't had a chance I am sure.
  
  I know how that recruiting thing goes tho Nightstorm I am mid stride in those waters... now imagine you were trying to recruit 20 players all at once!
  
  As far as the Playerfinder pdf it can be found at "Bad Wrong Fun":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/bad-wrong-fun
  
  Actually it may wind up being almost double my original 20 benchmark if this thing with the shop owner goes through... that's going to be a tangential side project tho running concurrently for short bursts of activity otherwise I am sure I couldn't handle it.