The New RPGsite

So it appears that Pooka was indeed sincere about the changeover of power on the RPGsite, and that I'm now in charge of that forum.

Let me say this, first of all: Those of you expecting it to transform overnight, don't.
For the site to become what I envision, it will ultimately be a process that will take a couple of years.

And in the short term, it will probably take two or three months before the site has a good and consistent volume of postings to it.

But for now, let me tell you some of the things I'm going to do, and some of the things I want you to do.

The main change you're going to see is in the forum structure itself. You will see, over the next few days, that various of the fora currently on theRPGsite will cease to exist. Or more accurately, they'll end up being combined and integrated into fewer, but hopefully more trafficked, forums. At the moment, there are some 10 subfora in the site; expect there to be a few less in total, but a couple of new fora added as well.  The nature of these will be revealed shortly, and will have a lot to do with what I envision this forum to be about.

The second major change will be in the style of moderation. The old "Nutkins" were never very abusive of their power, but there were a lot of them and they were very present.  You won't be likely to see that in the new forum.  At the moment, there are technically four administrators, but of those four the only one who you would ever be likely to actually see getting involved in a moderation capacity will be me.   There will be one or two other moderators selected; but unlike before and unlike in other gaming forums, "moderator" will not be a special elite uber-title that creates its own special clique of people, either to go on powertrips or just to "be seen".
The mods here will have precious little to do, as moderation will only happen in the cases of very extreme situations, and to regulate against spammers. But that's it. Other than that, they're like anyone else in the board, and getting to "Be" a Mod doesn't turn into some kind of wierd pathetic hierarchical power-game.

You want to be important on theRPGsite? Fine, then don't try to be a moderator, try to be respected for your PARTICIPATION.  And heres where I start asking things of you: to all my loyal Proxies, and to anyone else who wants to be involved in the site: I want your participation.
Mainly, I want you to post on the fora. If you have something you were thinking of discussing on some other gaming forum, why not discuss it here instead? If you think of something interesting, or see something interesting in another forum or blog, lets talk about that here too.  I would like for all of the people who want to see theRPGsite do well commit themselves to visiting and POSTING to theRPGsite at least once a day.

I've heard, on the comments in my blog and elsewhere, people have some ideas for things they'd like to see in the new RPGsite.  That's great; tell me more, and tell me what you're doing to make it happen.
Want to see more "Pistols at Dawn" style debates? That sounds cool. But who exactly do you want to see debating?
Want to see the "Collaborative Works" section of theRPGsite turn into a truly awesome resource for gamers? I do too. But if you have some thoughts and want to lead the way on how to do it, tell me, and tell me what exactly you'd do.
In other words, NOW is the moment to start telling me your ideas, not just of what you want but of how to make it happen.

Me taking over this site isn't going to be what makes it succeed. Its going to succeed because all of you are going to be willing to make it succeed, to make it live up to what I see at its mission statement: to become the foremost non-commercial gaming forum for Mainstream RPG gaming.

Buy the ticket, take the ride. Let's make it happen.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Castello 4K Collection + Comoy's English Mixture

Splendid! Contribute we shall.
One thing I would personally try to avoid is the incestous in-speak that develops on some boards, it's unfunny and ex-clusive.

Very nice!

Congrats, Pundit - I look forward to seeing how this shapes up!

Count me in.

If whatever bizarre stomach ailment doesn't kill me by the time I get home from work, I have a post in mind.

Already started in on the first proposed collaborative work in the HelpDesk.

Like I said before, you have my support.

Contributed, more to come.

New here. I been eating diamonds. Can't wait to show you guys my shit.

Campaign, Setting, and general RPG design is my thing. It's what I contribute and what I hope to see. So far, I'm straight d20 (heavily modified based on personal preferrence), but I am looking to expand my horizons. Writing an RPG from scratch would be fun. It would be an ideal undertaking for any forum, as one can't do this alone nor (generally) find help in real life. Past attempts on other forums have met with the following difficulties.

1)Disjunction. People all want to write what they want to write and don't give a damn about other peoples' ideas. We need leadership and direction. I'm no leader so don't ask me. All signs point to Pundit so far. But if you're busy, maybe someone else.

2)Disinterest. People will pretty much lose interest the moment the design process gets going in any direction whatsoever. Why? Because it isn't the direction they wanted it to go in. Go figure. Best I can figure is remain as damned near all-inclusive as possible until you've milked the participants as well as possible. I hate to sound like a cynic, but...

3)Derivitiveness(sp?). Not bad, but sometimes troubling... most people have only played DnD. We need leadership and membership to be familiar enough with everything that they can pretty much do whatever, knowing what works and what doesn't to begin with. Again, Pundit is the most familiar.

4)Playtesting. Haven't even gotten that far in a collaborative project yet. Don't get me wrong, my own shiz is rigorously tested in person and with GMs other than myself. I just haven't gotten that far on anything collaborative.

On an unrelated note I draw. Constantly. And I'm getting a scanner soon. Feel free to ask for whatever.

Am I posting this in the right place? If not, sorry. I am teh noob.

Beejazz,
Aren't you supposed to speak in rhyme?  

Quote from: VellorianBeejazz,
Aren't you supposed to speak in rhyme?  

Hah!
I see someone familiar with the name!
Sorry, no speaks in rhyme...
But superfluous quoting of Nostradamus to come!

Quote from: VellorianBeejazz,
Aren't you supposed to speak in rhyme?  

HI Vellorian! Long time no see!

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceHI Vellorian! Long time no see!

-clash

Long time since he said anything, too...