Can't start a new campaign

LordGoat
edited April 2016 in General Discussion
3 years since I last was on Obsidian Portal. I was here as a player. Okay. I thought it would be nice to try to use it again. Try to sign in, reset the password, get in, so far so good. Where do I make a campaign? Nowhere. Ascendant accounts get unlimited campaigns, 10 maps, bla bla bla. Hey, even with a free account I get 2 campaigns with limited features, right? The tutorial video shows a screen different than mine, mainly in that the profile shown has a big, "Start a New Campaign" button. None for me. Google? No help. Google and come up with similar questions asked previously here? No help (I admit I didn't start delving through the forum's search functions. FAQ? Oh that was useless far earlier. "Try a different browser" the forums said. So I do that, on my phone. Nope, same deal. But that time, when I try to log in I'm given the option to start a new campaign BEFORE I HAVE AN ACCOUNT. Come on, do I have to set up a new account with a different email address? Or do I have to delete my account to set up a new one on the same email address? Why would I pay money when the free version is already this problematic? No one seemed to help the previous people asking the same and similar questions (as recently as a year ago for one of them).

Comments

  • Basileus
    Basileus
    Posts: 585 edited April 2016
    In the menu bar at the top select "+ New" > "Campaign".

    EDITS: If you haven't created a campaign before, it will first direct you to the Dashboard of your new campaign.

    1) First place you'll probably want to go is down to Settings (in the nav menu on the left). There are a few tabs along the top of this page. Under "Basic Settings" you can set the campaign name, tagline, URL, status, system, etc... Under "Players" you can invite players by username or email, set them up as co-GM, remove them, etc... Under "Style" you can pick you're basic color scheme, set up a banner and background image.

    2) From there you'll probably want to head to your Front Page (in the nav menu) and enter some basic info, catchy intro, etc...

    3) From there its all up to you. You can head to the Wiki, Characters, Maps, etc... and start building the campaign info.
    Post edited by Basileus on
  • weasel0
    weasel0
    Posts: 435
    Stay away from the CUSTOM campaign URL...that's led to several bugs. As far as examples not matching, none of the support documentation have been updated since the site got a facelift 3 years ago. About 6 months ago we finally started to see things being worked on(part-way through the time since the Reforging(tm) the site got sold and don't think the new owners knew that they had to actually do work to keep a site going).
  • LordGoat
    Posts: 3
    Thanks. It worked. I still don't know what the issue is. The menu bar at the top didn't work for me on my computer. It still doesn't. I hadn't tried it on my phone but it worked when I tried it again after reading what Basileus wrote.

    I'm sorry about the frustrated tone of what I wrote, it was late at night and I had been struggling to make it work for a long time. I don't expect anyone to much care about one frustrated, as of yet not paying, potential customer / customer being courted. Then again, companies often pay consultants or for surveys to learn how people learned of them, what frustrations they had using their product, and details of their experiences with the product. I'd probably tone everything down a bit otherwise.

    Thanks again. From the sounds of it I may be here again. It seems like Obsidian Portal has a nice active forum here, that's always nice :)
  • Basileus
    Basileus
    Posts: 585 edited April 2016
    No worries about being frustrated, LordGoat, I think we've all been there at one point or another.

    However, as far as I know there is no one from Kaleidoscope (the owning company) currently on the forums, so there's only us fellow users to talk to here. The community is usually pretty helpful when it comes to learning the site or improving your campaign, but we can't really do much about things that are outright broken. :/

    If you do want to reach out to Kaleidoscope, I believe they do have someone manning the Help section, where you can submit tickets for things that require admin/dev support.

    I'd definitely recommend an approach of cautious optimism. There is a lot that OP does well as an online tool, and the community are a great group of folks; however, the site is still/again in a state of transition and has some difficulties to overcome in terms of management and development. I'm a long-time user who still enjoys OP for what it is, but I'd carefully evaluate before investing too much time in starting a campaign or money in purchasing a subscription.
    Post edited by Basileus on
  • NikMak
    NikMak
    Posts: 379
    welcome LordGoat; and Basileus is telling the truth. This is a great community (be careful around Basileus though; he's in league with something insectile and bent on the destruction of humanity - but apart from that he's all right)
  • LordGoat
    Posts: 3
    :)

    You guys remind me of the GURPS forums. Forums can be fun when the community is good and helpful.

    For the time being I'm not intending to do anything very ambitious. I'm not even the DM of our campaign, I'm just trying to put all the information together in one place because our DM keeps sharing information on facebook event invites that then become old and hard to find. I'm not even sure other players will log in. I'm happy about it though :)
  • NikMak
    NikMak
    Posts: 379
    even if you only use yourself i think you may find OP helpful. but if you can get the rest of your group to use it its a great aid, especially if you have an information heavy game
  • weasel0
    weasel0
    Posts: 435
    That's pretty much how my campaigns are all sitting. Just me. Sitting in a corner. All by myself.

    *wind blows* ...not even a tumble weed.
  • twiggyleaf
    twiggyleaf
    Posts: 51
    Hark....I hear a flutter.....nay, it is only the whispered dream of a tumbleweed in Weasel's mind!

    twigs
  • ketherian
    ketherian
    Posts: 18
    Hi LordGoat.

    I've managed my fair share of campaigns on OP where I'm not the GM.
    It's a great tool for organizing handouts and archiving campaign logs; as well as in-game customizations.
    --
    Ketherian
    "Signs & Portends":swtwc.obsidianportal.com - And now to confront the murderer! (I'm the GM)
    "Dwarves of Koldukar":dwarves-1.obsidianportal.com - Trunau!! (I'm not the GM)
    "In a certain realm":inacertainrealm.obsidianportal.com - Where Faerun meets Russian myth. (I'm not the GM)
  • Basileus
    Basileus
    Posts: 585
    bq. "be careful around Basileus though; he’s in league with something insectile and bent on the destruction of humanity"

    This is a lie, fellow hoo-mahns. Do not be deceived.

    _- blinks a multitude of eyes -_
  • weasel0
    weasel0
    Posts: 435
    bq. Hark….I hear a flutter…..nay, it is only the whispered dream of a tumbleweed in Weasel’s mind!

    Twigs, we've warned you about using your network powered psyonics on fellow forums members.

    Basileus, you gotta stop trying to hypnotize us with that blinking thing. It's mostly just unsettling.
  • NikMak
    NikMak
    Posts: 43
    weasel - had any luck with pbm/electronic games on roll 20?

    seems like a good option if you can't actually get round a table and throw dice at people.
  • Maesenko
    Maesenko
    Posts: 34
    "Sweetheart, [Basileus] has eyes for days."

    "Eyes for days?"

    "Eyes for days."
  • weasel0
    weasel0
    Posts: 435
    The problem is being able set aside the dedicated time to do it. I've tried my hand at a number of PbP games but none have lasted that long. I'll eventually get it figured though. The Man can't keep Me down!!
  • NikMak
    NikMak
    Posts: 379
    :)
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