TheRPGSite

...sort of a DMs discussion house. There's too much meta, too much this system does that, too much gosh-isn't-this-game-I-like-cool-out-of-the-box in internet rpg discussion land. This place is a little better than rpg.net for this particular thing, but only a little. Dragonsfoot is pretty good for this (probably the best site out there, actually) but there's too many strictures on what systems you can work with and it's only OOP D&D and C&C. Some of the other OD&D sites I'd say something similar for, but membership is smaller. The Forge gives great feedback on some topics but it's too focused around designing your own rpg.

I don't want a site for automotive start-ups or practical or applied theory, I want a site for guys who chop up lowriders out of factory models in their garage.

So like Rubio's post about designing an alternative magic system for 3.5, that's pretty cool, and I don't even like 3.5. I want a board where lots of GMs and players get together to talk about their games and their ideas for homebrewing them, adventures they are writing, that kind of thing. Where the emphasis is on self-directed improvisation.

I guess what I want is a site like the early issues of Dragon magazine, really.

So, there's my little rant du jour, which will in all likelihood change nothing anywhere. But I'd totally rather hear, say, jreints post about his latest D&D game and the house rule tweaks he made to it, or Zach post some homebrewed monster for palladium fantasy and explain what tactics he wants to use for it, or Settembrini tell us what situation the characters in his game are in and ask what's the most fucked-up thing that could happen to them right now to make the adventure more inspiring, or Akrasia post his homebrewed magic rules for C&C, or whatever. I want to talk about the games we play without any move towards abstraction or generalization - just 'here's this stuff I did for my game - isn't it cool, any advice, how can I make this thing work' type stuff.

Minimize the meta. Peace out.

Is the "The Craft of Gameplay (and Actual Play) " forum here closer to what you want?

So, essentially, you're proposing a forum with a cheetos-ist orientation towards GM'ing?  With a meta-anti-meta outlook?
:p

Eh, start a thread on whatever topic you want to discuss here or at another site and weed through the crap to get at the gems.

Not even cheetoist. All gaming orientations are welcome in my book, actually, just so long as people are talking about what they're concretely doing. Statting up the fastest guns who never lived for Dogs in the Vineyard or Dust Devils or "hey, check out this fucked-up situation I made for my Sorcerer game" are fine with me too. Just, you know, so long as there's some actual game content in the post.

John, yeah, there's more stuff in there of the kind I'm talking about per post. But I think separating off actual play from the main forum hurt rpg.net and I don't like it here either. The main forums are less fun for me to read at both sites without that stuff in it, and they seem to focus the posts at both sites towards the kind of empty-air gab that I'm increasingly comfortable doing without.

I know, CWR. Bitching threads like this are part of the problem. But I am frustrated.

I want something like a fanzine, I guess, where we're all here to show off our stuff and talk about it with each other, instead of gassing about generalities, or even analyzing our own experiences.

That's about all I've got to say on the issue, I guess. Maybe I'll go dig around in the stuff I'm working on and start posting about that instead.

I'd love to, Calithena, but all my work deals with my own games, and I don't want to bore folks with stuff they can't use.

-clash

Clash,

I would totally be into seeing what you come up with for your own games, and the potential of that stuff as sell-me threads is probably way higher than general descriptions of mechanics, etc.

Seriously, I'd way rather read about PCs or NPCs for your systems and the adventures you're running with them than most of the stuff people post about on rpg boards. Even though I don't own them (though I've had my finger on the button to order starcluster twice now...) I still think I get more out of those kinds of posts than others.

Other's mileage seems to vary, but that's where I'm at.

Quote from: Calithena.... Maybe I'll go dig around in the stuff I'm working on and start posting about that instead.

Your D&D homebrew rules might be a good start!

Cal, have you tried the Treasure Tables forums (http://www.treasuretables.org/forum/index.php)?  You might dig that.

Also, since I'm pretty sure my D&D players aren't regulars here (except maybe Pat, from whom I can hide nothing anyway) I'll totally start posting more about my campaign.

EDIT: It has begun. (http://www.therpgsite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=91750#post91750)

I'll post about the BW game. Maybe you can help out.

Just start a thread. If you post it, they will come. You want the gold, go digging for it, don't sit there quietly hoing for it to fall in your lap. Start a thread.

I could tell you about my character...


...what?  :p

Quote from: CalithenaMinimize the meta. Peace out.

It's kinda presumptuous to go around telling people what they should talk about. If they wanted to "minimize the meta," that's what they'd be doing. Apparently what you want isn't what most people want. Start discussions yourself. If people join in, cool; if not, tough. You can't make people like what you like.

I've got to back up Jrients: Treasure Tables is Awesome, and probably exactly the kind of thing you're looking for.

I also see some questions like yours, with great responses, on the roleplaying (roleplayers?) Livejournal community.

But Treasure Tables is a stable forum with all sorts of threads like the ones you seem to want, so it would fit right in.

-Andy

I did as thou hath commandeth, my Calitheneuos Lord!
http://www.therpgsite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=91872#post91872

Personally I'd quite like the Gamecraft and Actual Play forum merged with this one, I think it would help this.

Have a beer, Colonel. On me.

Balbinus, I was thinking about this, it's like when I read the paper. I often go into arts and the front page if I have time, but sometimes I just scan the fronts of sections. I often am checking in here for five or ten minutes at a time on breaks from work and I only check the main forum. (Ditto rpg.net; ditto classic D&D forum at Dragonsfoot; ditto Actual Play at the Forge; & so on.)

I think a lot of people don't poke around in subfora as much even if they spend more time here (I abandoned one of my own discussions when it got moved to theory frex, same when my occasional open post gets moved to tangency at big purple).

I think that moving 'actual play' and 'craft' out of the main fora (a) tends to decrease the number of people talking about those things in the main fora and (b) tends to get gamers talking about those things less. Anyway, just a thought.

Well, no reason to belabor the discussion, but I do think less subfora is better and that you particularly don't want to separate out posts about the heart of the activity. I guess having said that I'll check out because I definitely agree with those who posted (including myself from the beginning) who point out that the way to solve the problem is to post about this stuff directly rather than post bitching about posts. I did get some cool new threads out of it though! Thanks for those! And I'll check out treasure tables...

Quote from: BalbinusPersonally I'd quite like the Gamecraft and Actual Play forum merged with this one, I think it would help this.

I agree on this.  I never check any boards here outside this one and Off-Topic.  I started using the "new posts" function while I log on so I start being present in the sub-fora.

Quote from: joewolzI agree on this.  I never check any boards here outside this one and Off-Topic.  I started using the "new posts" function while I log on so I start being present in the sub-fora.

I've always used "New Posts" simply to see what frothing rants the Pundinator has in his own forum, along with the off-topic and RPG fora.  Of course I also see new posts pop up in the Amber forum, of which I have no interest, but such a price is paid for eternal vigilance.

For myself, I find Actual Play threads deeply tedious. If rpg.net were to merge AP and TTO, I'd make the mods permaban me. Give me Exalted fanboy threads any day over "Let me tell you about my campaign."

Having said that, given the low post volume of therpgsite, reducing the number of subfora is definitely a good idea, to avoid gamingreport syndrome.

So, yeah.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityFor myself, I find Actual Play threads deeply tedious. If rpg.net were to merge AP and TTO, I'd make the mods permaban me. Give me Exalted fanboy threads any day over "Let me tell you about my campaign."

Oh come on!

I mean, I agree with you in principal...  combining AP and TTO would suck.  But man, that's a fucklot of drama queen. :rolleyes:

Although he lives in the USA, PI still uses ancient techniques called hyperbole, sarcasm or irony. Beware, he might not mean everything literally.
hard concept to swallow, ain´t it?

Glad I could help out with my Ultra-keen vorpal mindpowers.

Quote from: SettembriniAlthough he lives in the USA, PI still uses ancient techniques called hyperbole, sarcasm or irony. Beware, he might not mean everything literally.
hard concept to swallow, ain´t it?

Glad I could help out with my Ultra-keen vorpal mindpowers.

Oh, the things most difficult to get across through a purely textual medium!

Snicker snack indeed.

Quote from: SettembriniAlthough he lives in the USA, PI still uses ancient techniques called hyperbole, sarcasm or irony. Beware, he might not mean everything literally.
hard concept to swallow, ain´t it?

Glad I could help out with my Ultra-keen vorpal mindpowers.

This is truth. It works better in RL. However, when it comes to RL, politeness can be a huge issue. ("Don't say 'sorry' if you don't mean it." Eh?)

The daily green card test is tougher than you might think, old worlder.

QuoteOh, the things most difficult to get across through a purely textual medium!

This is very right, and that´s why I´m always striving to be totally over the top to let there be no misunderstanding.

Quote from: SettembriniThis is very right, and that´s why I´m always striving to be totally over the top to let there be no misunderstanding.

I'm too dry for my friends to know when I'm being serious.

I must be hell to talk to online.

Quote from: SettembriniThis is very right, and that´s why I´m always striving to be totally over the top to let there be no misunderstanding.

No excuses.

Quote from: RedFoxI must be hell to talk to online.

but you're FOXY!

Calithena: I found out some time ago that no forum can do that sort of thing; not Dragonsfoot, not RPGNet and not ENWorld, although all three did it for me at times. Only a concentration of people happening to be on the same wavelength at the same time (and willing to communicate) can. Maybe it could be done with a fanzine - I was a contributor to one for a few years - but here, coincidentally a lot like scientific journals, the problem is keeping up the high quality of discourse after people run through their original bright ideas. That's a problem - lack of time, lack of interest, or the well running dry can all result in the dissolution or degradation of this environment. It is even more dangerous when people arrive at a sort of consensus, and there is suddenly an awkward pause as everyone realises there is no need to continue any longer. Remember the Knights and Knaves Alehouse? It is so dead. They discussed everything that could be discussed about canonical old school D&D, and all there is left is minutiae not even they care about.

Therefore, I suggest that it is best not to look for an ideal place, but to be ever vigilant to find the proper opportunities for worthwhile discussion.

(As a personal note, currently, I am running a fun and rewarding campaign, but don't really feel like talking about it.)

Calithena:

Treasure Tables is probably pretty fairly up your alley.

We get quite a lot of that a GameCraft, as well, but it's a very relaxed place in terms of speed-of-posting, so it might not suit you on that end.

Quote from: RedFoxI've always used "New Posts" simply to see what frothing rants the Pundinator has in his own forum, along with the off-topic and RPG fora.  Of course I also see new posts pop up in the Amber forum, of which I have no interest, but such a price is paid for eternal vigilance.

I do something a lot like this but without the New Posts page; those are the only three forums I read with any regularity, but sometimes a discussion I had no interest in or time for at first gets enough momentum that I start in after a couple pages.

Does anything go on in Craft of Gameplay? It was pretty dead when I started here, so I've never really looked in on it.

As for something actually on topic, I think the difficulty is that when it comes to discussing games we're actively playing with we're all over the map. Any given game-specific stuff that gets posted will probably only be of interest to a couple dozen others, and at best useful to one. Anybody would get much better results posting at a game-specific forum.

Besides, I sorta like the non-specific nature of the site. It's like an off-duty GM's bar.

Quote from: RedFoxI'm too dry for my friends to know when I'm being serious.

I must be hell to talk to online.

This is me, but I'm not a fox, so I don't know how my friends manage it.

Yes, I am this annoying, bizarre, and circumlocutory in person.

I make up for it by bringing beer to Necromunda night, and dinner to gaming.