The "Review my Campaign" thread

1202123252635

Comments

  • Basileus
    Basileus
    Posts: 585 edited August 2014
    Sorry, HumAnnoyd, I should elaborate. You'd need to create a div with a custom class (".center-buttons" or something like that) to wrap you buttons in. Then in your CSS a simple "text-align: center" property should do it - since your buttons are inline-block display they should be affected by that property. I haven't tested any of this, mind you, so its just theory (educated theory, but theory none the less).

    I just meant that you would have to add that div to all your pages where you have buttons, and didn't know if you wanted to go to that trouble. I fiddled with a pure CSS solution but couldn't find anything worthwhile.
    Post edited by Basileus on
  • Basileus
    Basileus
    Posts: 585 edited August 2014
    @HumAnnoyd:

    Okay, so now I've tested it, and that seems to be the best solution.

    Just add the following to each instance of the buttons on your pages:

    @
    actual button code here
    @

    Then in your CSS, add this:

    @.center-buttons {text-align: center;}@

    And that should be it!

    May require some additional adaptation specific to campaign settings you already have - I only tested with some basic buttons.

    See here for example: "Test Page":https://outremer.obsidianportal.com/wikis/test
    Post edited by Basileus on
  • HumAnnoyd
    HumAnnoyd
    Posts: 298
    Right on! Thanks Basileus. I got to work. I really, really appreciate that. I also made other changes based on the feedback you gave.

    November 2012 CotM:  Dresden Files RPG: The Emerald City

    June 2016 CotM:  Star Wars: Rise of the Infinite Empire

    JUNE 2020 CotM & 2020 CotY:  Mass Effect Accelerated

    FEBRUARY 2022 CotM & 2022 CotY: Dresden Files Accelerated:  Emerald City-Requiem 

    Current Campaigns:  Traveller Osmium Buccaneers: Pirates of Drinax, Cyberpunk 2077 Accelerated

  • HumAnnoyd
    HumAnnoyd
    Posts: 298
    Well bummer. There is one nagging little issue with the centering. For some reason the bottom row of buttons seems to be a few pixels off to the right of the rest of the buttons. It is a small thing but I can't figure out what to do about it. Anyone got any ideas for a fix?

    November 2012 CotM:  Dresden Files RPG: The Emerald City

    June 2016 CotM:  Star Wars: Rise of the Infinite Empire

    JUNE 2020 CotM & 2020 CotY:  Mass Effect Accelerated

    FEBRUARY 2022 CotM & 2022 CotY: Dresden Files Accelerated:  Emerald City-Requiem 

    Current Campaigns:  Traveller Osmium Buccaneers: Pirates of Drinax, Cyberpunk 2077 Accelerated

  • NikMak
    NikMak
    Posts: 379
    I think i had exactly the same problem!

    the only way i managed to solve it was to place the button codes in a table format as you can see here

    https://the-great-pendragon.obsidianportal.com/

    at the moment the table is visible, but it doesn't have to be.

    hope that helps
  • Adoraith
    Adoraith
    Posts: 62
    Well, I guess I might as well throw my hat into the ring. I don't really have much time to pretty up my website so I spend most of my time on world content. My players are responsible for the adventure log while I continue to add material to the wiki. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Oh and be kind!

    "Adoraith, Echoes of Epirus":https://adoraith-echoes-of-epirus.obsidianportal.com/
  • BBPlainwell
    BBPlainwell
    Posts: 1
    Still a work in progress, but here is my campaign.

    https://the-chalice-of-thrommel.obsidianportal.com/

    We just started playing through some of the old Living Greyhawk module story lines adapted for 13th Age as sort of a walk down memory lane.
  • Kallak
    Kallak
    Posts: 1,090
    It's been a bit of a stretch since I've reviewed anything, so I guess that means I'm up.

    *Campaign:* "Adoraith: Echoes of Epirus":https://adoraith-echoes-of-epirus.obsidianportal.com/
    *GM:* "Adoraith":https://www.obsidianportal.com/profile/Adoraith

    *Theme/Layout:* I can definitely dig the theme you seem to be shooting for, but you have some problem areas. [1] I strongly recommend not displaying the OP dragon and campaign title at the top, the campaign title is on your banner already and both eat up valuable real estate that could be put to better use. Because of the top OP Nav and the dragon/title, the banner (which I'll get to in a minute) is at roughly the center point of the screen. You've got a lot of wasted real estate up there. [2] I'd consider making the banner a bit less tall, particularly given the dead space up top, but this may not be necessary once dead space is removed and the banner is fixed at the top, it's hard to say without seeing it. [2.1] The issue I do have, is that the image on the home page is the same as that used in the banner, this is a big no no in terms of design. You kinda get that mirror pointed at mirror shrinking into infinity thing going. Either the banner needs to be changed, or that picture needs to be moved somewhere else.
    *Wiki:* The straight up and down text is okay, but makes the page feel sort of blank-esque with a lot of dead white space. maybe make it two columns or replace the words with larger image/buttons or the like? IDK, something to break up the white space a bit.
    *Characters:* I think it might be worth the bother to get all of the characters on the same sheet template, but otherwise nothing major. Except Dik Dik having an enormous image.
    *Logs:* I would consider scrapping the "click to read more"/'go to our wiki page' formatting option for the logs, it's a bit tedious and just bulks up "page count". In my opinion just have your adventure log pages segmented, an intro section, then a divider, followed by the current "read more" stuff. I'd also try to get more images and game play pictures put into them if you can. They seem a bit 'blank' in comparison to other pages - break up the wall of text a little bit.

    Not a comprehensive review by any means, but some first impressions. Hope you find it useful.
    All the best,
    - Kallak
  • Adoraith
    Adoraith
    Posts: 62 edited September 2014
    Kallak,

    Theme
    1) How does one hide the OP Dragon above the banner? I can see what you mean about it shifting the focus of the page down.
    2) I will review the banner once the OP Dragon has been adjusted.
    2.1) I kinda like how the banner gives a glimpse of the cataclysmic battle and then when you scroll down slightly you get the entire scene. I will move it around and see if I like it better.

    Wiki
    I can see what you mean about the black and white. I have been so focused on writing content that I took the simple approach to the layout. I really like the font that i used and will try to think of a way to integrate more color.

    My goal in the "World of Adoraith":https://adoraith-echoes-of-epirus.obsidianportal.com/wikis/people-of-adoraith Wiki has been to provide not only information on our homebrew world but drop in adventure hooks as well. I still have a lot of writing to do but the write ups are coming along nicely.

    "The People of Adoraith":https://adoraith-echoes-of-epirus.obsidianportal.com/wikis/npcs link is where I have decided to keep all of my NPCS. This way I can keep the players tab exclusively for PCs. Within this link I have the Diary of "Gaelin Marram":https://adoraith-echoes-of-epirus.obsidianportal.com/wikis/the-diary-of-gaelin-marram which is where I spend a ton of writing time. Each passage in the diary they unlock (its warded to prevent reading) reveals more clues to current events. The writing also sets the mood nicely for events in the west.

    Characters
    You can't control the Dik Dik...you can only hope to contain him.

    Logs
    I agree with you there. My players are in charge of the logs and I have asked them to make the changes. Were going to try something a little different and use pictures of actual game play rather than art for our logs. I have some pictures I can back fill a few of the posts with but going forward this will be the norm.
    Post edited by Adoraith on
  • Kallak
    Kallak
    Posts: 1,090
    @Adoraith, IIRC the class for the OP dragon logo is "flame-dragon", so a simple display:none for that div class will do it for you.
    All the best,
    - Kallak
  • Adoraith
    Adoraith
    Posts: 62 edited October 2014
    I have made a few adjustments. I am still trying to decide if I like them or not.

    "Adoraith":https://adoraith-echoes-of-epirus.obsidianportal.com/
    Post edited by Adoraith on
  • Kallak
    Kallak
    Posts: 1,090
    @Adoraith, definitely some improvements in there. Keep it up
    All the best,
    - Kallak
  • twiggyleaf
    twiggyleaf
    Posts: 2,006
    @Adoraith and Kallak,

    The Banner is now brilliantly singular. The new MAIN PIC works well. Is it a crop or a new pic?
    I miss the OP Logo, but I agree it did conflict aesthetically with the dragon head in the banner.

    twigs.

    "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

  • Adoraith
    Adoraith
    Posts: 62
    The top pic is new and had not been cropped by me. I have thought about cropping the pic so that more detail could be identified. In the end I believe that showing the scope of the fight was more important than showing individual details. The old pic is still used at the bottom of the page.
  • Abersade
    Abersade
    Posts: 417
    Hi folks, I've been tweaking things and rearranging content, as well as filling in missing history and links. I'm interested in hearing your suggestions.

    https://rise-of-the-durnskald.obsidianportal.com/

    It's a custom setting for D&D 3.5, based on games that go back 16 years to my AD&D days. I hope it's enjoyable.

    Thanks!

    GM of Rise of the Durnskald: Wrath of the Fallen Goddess - February 2016 CotM

    GM of Core: The Ashes of Alcarna - April 2020 CotM

    GM of Stream of Kairos

    Need CSS Help? It may be covered here: Abersade's CSS Hub

  • onsilius
    onsilius
    Posts: 50
    Hi, Abersade. While utilizing the standard OP format, you've put a lot of work into fleshing out your content, and it shows! Great use of your own map and your own world. Players always appreciate high levels of detail.

    Have you considered adding personal log and info pages for your players to use for their own notes, logs, and self advertisement? :)
  • Abersade
    Abersade
    Posts: 417
    I hadn't considered it but I know at least one of my players would get a kick out of it. I had a more customized layout prior to the reforge, couldn't get it working again afterwards so I scrapped it, which is okay because I've been fleshing other things out instead. As for my map, well... I just got that uploaded yesterday and its been giving me fits with the map markers, might have to change that to a standard wiki page with labels below the picture or something.

    GM of Rise of the Durnskald: Wrath of the Fallen Goddess - February 2016 CotM

    GM of Core: The Ashes of Alcarna - April 2020 CotM

    GM of Stream of Kairos

    Need CSS Help? It may be covered here: Abersade's CSS Hub

  • GamingMegaverse
    GamingMegaverse
    Posts: 2,998 edited November 2014
    Review of BBPlainwell's "Chalice of Thrommel":https://the-chalice-of-thrommel.obsidianportal.com/
    *Start Page-* Love the background, the banner, and the overall colors. Great sidebar, and use of Gif and slow crawl news- as if it is being typset as you go. Curious choice of no parchment and plain black on white type. Love the Begin and Acknowledgements buttons.
    *Adventure Logs-* Called Town Crier (genius). Seems 1 player transcribes notes, but no pictures and no sense of true involvement/action. Reward your players for doing the logs, and the better they are written the better the reward! See "Player Involvement":http://forums.obsidianportal.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=1231&page=1 for some ideas.
    *Wiki-* Called Scribes (not my favorite- might recommend you call this Town Square instead of the home page). Whole lots of great info, well organized. Still recommend a parchment, but really well done!
    *Characters-* Called Heroes Hall (Genius again) Standard character layout, and not many of them- only the heroes. If you are to keep only PC's here, I would jazz it up and make it more truly the Hall of Heroes. I would also require or reward your characters to come up with bios!
    *Maps-* Called Signpost (also great) 2 standard maps.
    *Overall-* A great campaign! Add parchment backgrounds, get your players more involved, and you will be worthy of COTM!

    As always, my 2 cents...

    killervp
    "A God...Rebuilt":https://a-god-rebuilt.obsidianportal.com
    "OP's COTM April 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/a-god-rebuilt-aprils-cotm/
    Over 300 Fans, and Looking for More!
    Post edited by GamingMegaverse on

    Just trying to help out.

  • Syrinx
    Syrinx
    Posts: 42
    "Antarctica 1983 - redone":https://antarctica-1983.obsidianportal.com/

    I'd like a response to if the visual style of my campaign comes across as somewhat coherent. Also, is the logs readable as is or do they need more TLC?
    I haven´t linked anything wikistyle as I want the characters to speak for themselves, something the players perfected, I think.

    Now, I´ve relaunched the game and am determined to play it through. Do come by and have a look.

    Regards, Dave Syrinx
  • Bookscorpion
    Bookscorpion
    Posts: 58
    I really like the clean visual style of the campaign. The Cthulhu banner on the Wiki homepage is a bit out of place in it, but that's just a minor quibble.
    I read a couple of logs and I found them pretty hard to follow because of the frequent changes of POV. I'm not really sure how I'd fix this because you have a lot of characters and a lot of action. Or it might just be because I kind of jump in at the middle here, I'm going to start at the beginning when I have some free time over the weekend.

    Dai
    "Shadowrun: The Rat's Nest":https://ratsnest.obsidianportal.com

    Shadowrun: The Rat's Nest - COTM  November 2014

  • Syrinx
    Syrinx
    Posts: 42
    Thanks Dai!
    The CoC-Banner is put there by default, I guess I can make the campaign "rule-less" and fix that.

    Regarding the pov, I could insert a photo of each characters´ pov in each paragraph.

    I´ll see how I´ll manage that in the future.
    Cheers!
  • CoffeeFueled
    CoffeeFueled
    Posts: 1
    I'm currently using Obsidian Portal to do a bit of an experimental campaign, largely in setup at the moment but advice on anything I could improve immediately and any suggestions are more than welcome. The site will be progressing as the Paranoia Kickstarter deliverables start coming out, but the first session has already happened and I've got a few interested players and a couple of GMs locally.

    "Paranoia: Normal Service":https://normalservice.obsidianportal.com
  • Adoraith
    Adoraith
    Posts: 62
    Been slowly working on the campaign. I think what I like the most is how we have developed our "campaign journal":https://adoraith-echoes-of-epirus.obsidianportal.com/adventure-log

    Many people try to use artwork to add a little flair to their posts but we have elected to use photos of actual game play. What do you guys think?

    "Adoraith: Echoes of Epirus":https://adoraith-echoes-of-epirus.obsidianportal.com/
  • Bortas
    Bortas
    Posts: 645 edited December 2014
    I like it. We do the "same thing":https://morwindl.obsidianportal.com/adventure-log/23-the-ruins-of-ornthalas with our campaign, using artwork to spruce up certain portions of it. In some cases (ie: "characters":https://morwindl.obsidianportal.com/characters/morwen), there is both a pic of the mini, and appropriate artwork that the player feels inspired by.

    Cheers!

    -bort
    "Morwindl":http://morwindl.obsidianportal.com
    Post edited by Bortas on
  • Unknown
    edited July 2015
    I suppose if folks want to pop by and check out "our page":https://da-requiem.obsidianportal.com/ they are always welcome to. I would be happy to get some feedback on it from those who are more versed in OP than I am.

    --
    Alex
    "Dragon Age: Requiem":https://da-requiem.obsidianportal.com/
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • Bortas
    Bortas
    Posts: 645
    Man I love that game, so rich, and the artwork you've brought to the page really makes the feel of it come alive. I can hear conversations between my character and Alistair now... Ok, such a wealth of information, I like that about your page. I also like that not a ton is different from the OP base (probably because I spend so much time staring at mine, which is considerably different).

    There is something about the layout on the front page that bothers me, it seems scattered. It occurs to me, that we may browse in different resolutions, or perhaps yours is geared towards mobile (cool idea!). Can you give me some insight on that?

    Regards,
    -bort
    "Morwindl":http://morwindl.obsidianportal.com
  • Unknown
    edited July 2015
    Thanks very much for the kind words. That is essentially the goal I was focused on, having the site start pulling the viewer into the world of Thedas (and spark back memories that they may have playing the CRPGs). Glad to know I am not far off the mark on this.

    Ahh, yes, the front page - I am not really sold on it just yet either. My main problem is I am still not entirely sure just how I want to handle that page--I had a much more clear image in mind when it came to the Codex (Wiki), Chronicle (Adventure Logs), and Characters (still a pretty vanilla section, though I have some ideas in mind here as well yet to be implemented). Back to the Front Page though. I know the information I have up on it now is about what I am wanting to have included there, just presenting that information in a clean way is still alluding me it feels like.

    I actually have the CSS for the site publicly available on a page. I don't directly link it (since it has nothing to do with the context of the game), but a search for CSS or Style in the site search should get you to the CSS page. I fully admit that the CSS in place is a combination of things I have snagged from other OP users mixed with a few custom aspects that I have kicked in for my own use.

    As for mobile, I will say that my page actually comes across fairly well on mobile devices. The parchment based pages are a bit wide for phones unless you rotate them (and even then it is a bit wide), and this is something I consider while developing the page since my players hit it 99% of the time via their phones while at the table for sessions. The CSS will be cleaned up more over time to better accommodate various mobile devices (I am considering custom style sheets based on the device that the person is viewing the page from, something I normally have to do with sites over time in my experience).

    *EDIT:* I have modified some of the front page regarding what I was mentioning about making it more adaptive to mobile devices. The detail boxes on the page are now responsive and will dynamically adjust based on the available spacing. I still need to do a little work with the image buttons on the page yet to get them working a bit better.

    Beyond that I am also playing about with making the rest of the site more mobile responsive. My current area of experimentation has been on the parchment based pages which now seem to generally respond in a responsive manner to the size of the browser. I think it now all looks at its worst when viewed from a phone without turning it to a wider orientation--that may well be as far as I take it though, people can always turn their phone and it technically still works.

    Any feedback as things progress is always appreciated. I tend to fiddle with things fairly regularly on there so changes are usually fairly quick when I get an idea.

    --
    Alex
    "Dragon Age: Requiem":https://da-requiem.obsidianportal.com/
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • Bortas
    Bortas
    Posts: 645 edited January 2015
    Oh man! If you dive into splitting your CSS between browsers, I'm thinking I need to do the same.

    I really really love the parchment effect on my site, but I won't do it again, because it makes phones useless on the site, and even limits tablets.

    But if there were a way to split between browsers, talk about best of both worlds!

    The changes you made to the front page help a lot, imo.

    -bort
    "Morwindl":http://morwindl.obsidianportal.com
    Post edited by Bortas on
  • Unknown
    edited July 2015
    Well, the parchment effect has been adjusted to work responsively on mobile devices now in my CSS (you can see it in action by just resizing your browser and the background will dynamically resize to not break). You are more than welcome to take a peek and steal the code for that if you like. I still need to work out making the location widgets in the Codex act responsively but other than that it seems to work pretty well. I am still heavily considering using a different set of CSS for different devices yet, but still thinking that might be overkill right now (assuming I can get the majority of items to react in a responsive manner then it will probably be unneeded).

    If you do want to take a stab at setting up CSS by device you could grab this to get started as it covers most devices by default (pretty common setup actually that you can find around Google easily enough):

    /* Smartphones (portrait and landscape) ----------- */
    @media only screen
    and (min-device-width : 320px)
    and (max-device-width : 480px) {
    /* Styles */
    }

    /* Smartphones (landscape) ----------- */
    @media only screen
    and (min-width : 321px) {
    /* Styles */
    }

    /* Smartphones (portrait) ----------- */
    @media only screen
    and (max-width : 320px) {
    /* Styles */
    }

    /* iPads (portrait and landscape) ----------- */
    @media only screen
    and (min-device-width : 768px)
    and (max-device-width : 1024px) {
    /* Styles */
    }

    /* iPads (landscape) ----------- */
    @media only screen
    and (min-device-width : 768px)
    and (max-device-width : 1024px)
    and (orientation : landscape) {
    /* Styles */
    }

    /* iPads (portrait) ----------- */
    @media only screen
    and (min-device-width : 768px)
    and (max-device-width : 1024px)
    and (orientation : portrait) {
    /* Styles */
    }

    /* Desktops and laptops ----------- */
    @media only screen
    and (min-width : 1224px) {
    /* Styles */
    }

    /* Large screens ----------- */
    @media only screen
    and (min-width : 1824px) {
    /* Styles */
    }

    /* iPhone 4 ----------- */
    @media
    only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio : 1.5),
    only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio : 1.5) {
    /* Styles */
    }

    --
    Alex
    "Dragon Age: Requiem":https://da-requiem.obsidianportal.com/
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • Unknown
    edited July 2015
    As a followup, I figured I could take a moment to provide some feedback in return for your own Campaign Page (just became a Fan since I noticed I hadn't done so already even though I have browsed your Campaign a few times in the past already).

    I was taking a look at the CSS you have posted on you Wiki, one suggestion would be to put all of the CSS code inside "pre" tags like so (this only applies to the Wiki, don't toss this in your custom CSS):

    CSS goes here

    This will help by making it so that the Textile commands that sometimes pop up in CSS (most specifically the Textile to make bold text) will not be processed (though it may try to make it into HTML bold tags in the display). It will also help to ensure that if anyone were to ever grab anything from your CSS (presumably why you posted it) that it would be formatted correctly. The default formatting for the "pre" tag is typically a little junky, so if you like in my CSS I have some stuff that specifically addresses that which you are always welcome to steal and modify to your own needs.

    You may also want to consider cleaning up your code to make it a bit easier to read (and in turn edit, since I assume you just dump a C&P from your Custom CSS page to the Wiki, meaning that you have to work with it in that same way). The way I tend to write CSS is as follows:

    CSS Comments:

    /* COMMENT TEXT */

    Note that I keep spaces between the text and the * as this will ensure it is not processed via Textile to HTML tags. I basically use this to note what a particular rule is as well as to define some sections within my code for grouping similar rules (such as Site Wide, Wiki, Adventure Logs, etc).

    CSS Code:

    selector {
    property: value;
    property: value;
    }

    selector {
    property: value;
    property: value;
    }

    Note how the selector is a line as is each declaration with a line gap between each rule.

    This makes reading and editing the content much easier for a person (obviously, as you can tell, it doesn't matter to a machine and will be processed correctly either way). Just a couple brief suggestions on more the back end as opposed to front end of your page that might be useful for you.

    Regarding the front end of the page I like the setup. The front page is engaging enough to draw a viewer in and get them initially clicking about. It also sets up the viewer for an understanding of how the experience and feel of the site will be as they dig in deeper.

    The Adventure Logs look great and are certainly unique in their design. I like how you use your actual setups from session for your art (helps that you guys have a very nice setup for this clearly, and something I am certain makes your players get really engaged with the game). You have taken a few steps on these that I think make the display of the content come across well.

    The Wiki has a solid layout but some of the content can get a little dry here. It is clear this has been designed with a specific focus on the players by getting them the details they need, but what might help here for an outside reader would be to include a little world spice on some of these pages. Otherwise I like the way you have things running in this area.

    The Characters area is also pretty nice. Things look pretty nice, maintain the feel of the rest of the site, and everything appears to follow a consistent presentation method. I also like how you use the minis for the portraits, it is a unique approach from what I normally see on these pages.

    Regarding the Maps and Items areas, well I will leave commentary short on those. Maps because there isn't a ton that you can do with that area. I like that your currently viewable maps are consistent in appearance though, I think it helps with the consistency you have managed on the page. As for the items, I could see in your CSS area that you are still playing around with that and getting it shaped up so I will hold off on that area until you're more solidified (but I imagine once you are done it will be right in line with other areas of the site).

    Great stuff. You were one of the many influences while working on my own Campaign Page, along with a few others, and I expect you put on one heck of a game session based on everything I see on there (you have a very lucky troupe).

    --
    Alex
    "Dragon Age: Requiem":https://da-requiem.obsidianportal.com/
    Post edited by Unknown User on
Sign In or Register to comment.

March 2024
Wrath of the Highborn

Read the feature post on the blog
Return to Obsidian Portal

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Discussions