SOCIETY ROLE CALL

sieg · Post by **sieg** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 11:52 pm

Consider another vote for the Keepers Den as an "official" (unoficially!) C&C society site/forum. I'll bet Scathros would tweak it a bit as necessary for the Society.
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 12:31 am

I'd like to see something done before the momentum starts to fade again.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:15 am

Until Brian says if he has the info, we're in a state of wait-and-see. Until then, we are compiling what we want to do... its rather fruitless to jump in when we have no idea what direction to go, or where to start... a website is good, and TLG has one. So, the question is... do we "take" it, or rebuild our own? And, if we build our own, where, how, and with what content?

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:08 am

DangerDwarf wrote:
The Keeper's Den does have a nice crisp look to it.
Wherever it does settle though, I hope for no dark backgrounds with light letters. I hate that. Really.

Oh...That's why no one comes to RK...
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:13 am

Julian Grimm wrote:
Oh...That's why no one comes to RK...

While I love the content there, the set-up hurts my eyes if I read too long.

And actually, Rk was the first spot that came to mind when thinking of a place. You got it running in the spirit of the Society in my opinion, people posting homebrews and other things. I just cant read too much at a time.

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:19 am

Actually I'm thinking of changing the scheme again. I just have found anything I liked yet.

Thank you for your comments as well.
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Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:20 am

As an Addendum:

I think the Keeper's Den would work. I've always thought of it as a sister site in many respects and think this would be the thing that helps it along.
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:25 am

Its been confirmed. Brian has the information. So, next step... website. Let's start hammering out what we need, and I'll be sending a PM to the other officers, so we can work on some way to have meetings. I do not want this to be the labor of 5 people, though, so the entire Society gets a say. Its not for "us", its for "US."

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:29 am

Well, good to hear that at least the first baby steps have been taken. Actually, this is info getting to Miller is like the best Society News in 9 months!
.........................................Omote

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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:42 am

PMs have been sent to all those who've expressed an interest in doing all they can for the Society (to the best of my knowledge.) I'll have a discussion with Steve soon to see if we need our own domain (and how to pay for it) or if we should use the current TLG-based Society page. Thanks all for your patience and support.

miller6 · Post by **miller6** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:42 am

I'm on it. Working on a web interface for membership registration.

Brian
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:59 am

miller6 wrote:
I'm on it. Working on a web interface for membership registration.

Brian

W00t!

DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:15 am

Just throwing out an idea here.

What about using the Society web page (whatever form it takes when it is up and running) to host the Keeper, with society members hopefully taking a more active interest in submitting articles for it? It could be an Officially Unofficial publication from the society?

Yes?

No?

Suck it DD?

Storm Queen · Post by **Storm Queen** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:59 am

serleran wrote:
One question, though: what, specifically, do you mean by "C&C advocacy?"

Stuff to promote C&C and even RPGs in general, either to prospective d20 converts or rampant newbies. Suggestions would be PDF demo packs - kind of like what White Wolf does, with an adventure, pre-generated characters and enough rules to run the adventure, all in a single pack. This would be a free lead in to the book, and you could include the C&C rules as the OGL permits. Other stuff could be site banners and linking tools and other promotional things.

Storm Queen · Post by **Storm Queen** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 11:09 am

Some ideas/comments on the stuff so far:

*Keeper's Den - I'd prefer a site officially branded as "The Castles and Crusades Society", as that's part of the big movement we're trying to build up into a critical mass. Calling the forum something else, even as a sub-title, would dilute that. No probs with using the site as is.

*Link manager, so we can track all of our C&C links and discard broken ones.

*News updates to community news, projects and official TLG updates.

*Wiki - We could set one up at a stable wiki farm site fairly easily - the best one would be Wikia at http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia.

*Maybe have officially edited articles, as part of the Keeper magazine (or other online magazine project?) So rather than just have an issue, just have a series of edited, rolling articles and comments.

*Review tool, for comments and reviews on C&C stuff, especially playtest reviews.

Hmmm, that's it for now.

Post by **Fiffergrund** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 12:17 pm

I wouldn't mind working on a downloadable Domesday Book with articles and such, like I originally intended. I have to get out of LARP season and get more established at my new job, though.

Ser - you can still have that Issue #1. I need to finish unpacking so I can find the extra copy, though!

Fiff
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Post by **Fiffergrund** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 12:19 pm

Also, I haven't tried to log in, but I think the Frappr map for the Society still exists. I will look into it and see if I can get the login credentials over to Brian to do with as he wishes.
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Nifelhein · Post by **Nifelhein** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:35 pm

Okay if we go for a troll lord sub page we would have to see if they can pass some admin rights to the one responsible for the site, this will be on the subdomain part only, we can also have them link to a stand alone page and domain.

Raven's Keep problems, imo, is that there is little contrast between the text and background, I think a good color scheme for a society site would have to use a light yellow heading, white background and black text, possibly with some varying tones of yellow and green for things as well.

Raven's keep and Keeper's Den would be fine as well, though they are forums only, so having reviews, articles, downloads and the like will be a little problematic, or just a bit messy.

I will see if I can find a good free hosting to setup a demo site for you guys (one that allows owned domains, just in case). The software I have suggested earlier and posted a demo to in my earlier post would take care of a few concerns fairly well though.

And I am in favor of a society own place because I think it has to define a clear existence for those seeking it, instead of using someone else's place as a guest. call it our own castle.

Storm Queen wrote:
*Link manager, so we can track all of our C&C links and discard broken ones.

There isn't a stand alone feature for it right now, though it will be in one of the next updates to the mod that feeds the site with a frontpage, It can be dealt with easily though, but it would not be automatically kept clean (manual cleaning broken links), adding a links page is easy enough though.

Storm Queen wrote:
*News updates to community news, projects and official TLG updates.

This is fairly easy, a news forum feeds the main page with items, and commenting a news item is the same as replying to a thread, one account for the whole site is always good.

Storm Queen wrote:
*Wiki - We could set one up at a stable wiki farm site fairly easily - the best one would be Wikia at http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia.

I never actually liked Wikis because discussion often is taken somewhere, since the tools wikis have for it are not that good. it can be a good tool, but filling a very specific purpose, which i do not see in tone with the current society direction.

Storm Queen wrote:
*Maybe have officially edited articles, as part of the Keeper magazine (or other online magazine project?) So rather than just have an issue, just have a series of edited, rolling articles and comments.

Articles are part of the site, and can be submitted by any user, the real thing then would be who should edit them, it is also possible for users to rate and comment on articles. This could also be the source for content to a magazine in pdf format.

Storm Queen wrote:
*Review tool, for comments and reviews on C&C stuff, especially playtest reviews.

It doe snot have that at all, but the articles with the possibility of being rated and commented can allow that, in the end it can be just a different category of article, in which the purpose is to review a book or product.

I will see what I can do to put a demo site up somewhere. registering a domain is fairly cheap too, so that is no big deal. I have sent my full contact info to you miller.
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:39 pm

I'll try to talk with Steve today and see about some of these issues (using their current domain, or if we need our own, and if we need our own, how we pay for it...) so I hope to have some more info on that side. Is it possible to link the Frappr to a site, like you can with Google maps? Ie, someone enters their address and it pops up the names of those in the Frappr who are in the same state/country? This was an idea bounced about last night between Brian and myself, and I think its a good one.

And, so everyone knows, the Officers of the Society are:

Serleran

Omote

Julian Grimm

miller6

Lurker

We always need aides and assistants, and the sweat and blood of the Society! So, don't think you're opinions and wants aren't going to be addressed.

Nifelhein · Post by **Nifelhein** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:50 pm

The software I mentioned has a mod for marking members location using google maps, I do not know if it is still supported and maintained up to date with the latest version though, will check it out.

I am willing to help with the site and the like, though I am not a coding guy, more of an advanced user.
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"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects." - Attributed to Herman Melville.

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Tue May 01, 2007 12:31 am

Quote:
Just throwing out an idea here.

What about using the Society web page (whatever form it takes when it is up and running) to host the Keeper, with society members hopefully taking a more active interest in submitting articles for it? It could be an Officially Unofficial publication from the society?

Yes?

No?

Suck it DD?

Hmmm, I'd be interested in it but I also want to make it available for non-society members as well. I like the idea but would have to see what everyone else thought. I don't want it to look like I'm trying to compete with or upsatge Domesday.

Quote:
Raven's Keep problems, imo, is that there is little contrast between the text and background, I think a good color scheme for a society site would have to use a light yellow heading, white background and black text, possibly with some varying tones of yellow and green for things as well.

Raven's keep and Keeper's Den would be fine as well, though they are forums only, so having reviews, articles, downloads and the like will be a little problematic, or just a bit messy.

I changed the color scheme last night due to it messing with others and my eyes as well. But I agree that it would be problematic with the DL's and such.

I've kicked around registering the domain and have a paid site for those reasons but I haven't been able to justify the expence to Mrs. Grimm.
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Nifelhein · Post by **Nifelhein** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:01 pm

I have put a demo website here: http://nifelhein.110mb.com/cnc

It probably some down times and bad loadings, since it is a free shred host, but it allows me to make some of my ideas more visual. I have tried to showcase every bit and piece of the software, but I am certain I have forgotten something. Ah, the site probably does not notify you of new replies, since I would have to pay for that, and well, this is just a showcase anyway.

I choose the theme but have more than a couple of other options in the themebox for you guys to see, the overall structure is the same though. The shoutbox may or may not be kept, the reviews and links section are different implementations of the article feature.

Registration is direct, so if you guys want to test a few things I would recommend the following:

1. post something on the forums, some boards have specific settings, the notice boards requires a moderator to post new threads, but replying is fair game for anyone, the Open Plaza allows you to edit and delete any replies to your own threads, this allows a CK to control his PbP easily, the Temple allows guest posting.

2. Submit an article, it can be a new class, a review or even a column, it won't show at first because I have to approve things, but you get an idea for how it works.

3. Try uploading a file, it must be less than 1Mb though, due to server limitations.

4. Check the other themes, some may prefer other themes and i wanted to make sure you could see how the site could look like.

I am planning to get a host for me sometime on the next few months, it is rather cheap (9.99 per month, less if you pay for 2 years in advance) so I could possibly host the site when that time comes. Domain registration costs about a month of hosting. I would host the site fro free though, mainly because I have another site I will be taking care of and paying for and the host allows me to have more than one domain and database, ie. two separate sites with forums.
I also thought the site would not be society members only, but open for all to post, and raven's keep look is much better now, Julian, I still think you could improve contrast a bit, but I know how hard it is to find the right color scheme.

The mod with google maps is not updated because google maps changed their scripts and the creator would have to write the mod from scratch again. I have added 3 mods to the site right now: Tiny Portal, giving a frontpage for the forums, with articles and a downloads module coming with it; visual verification for guests, it works so well I have seen zero spam since applying it to another forum; thread preview on mouse over, a feature I love to have.
Just throwing choices and ideas into the mix.
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"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects." - Attributed to Herman Melville.

Harmast · Post by **Harmast** » Tue May 01, 2007 9:29 pm

Sure, I can "register" again. It only takes five seconds and then nothing can happen again. Or maybe this time it will

Herb, Harmast, College Station, Texas...no group as of yet (I just moved damnit).

Nifelhein · Post by **Nifelhein** » Tue May 01, 2007 9:30 pm

I think I do not understand your point, Harmast.
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"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects." - Attributed to Herman Melville.

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Tue May 01, 2007 9:40 pm

He's refering to the fact that he can submit his name to the rolls again.
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Nifelhein · Post by **Nifelhein** » Tue May 01, 2007 9:43 pm

Yeah, but he edited his post, he did not seem very confident it would get anywhere, so why bother, in any case, the test site is there waiting or you guys, aside from the manuscript theme I think aero is also a good one.

I want to know though, what is the purpose of the Society Site anyway?
_________________
"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects." - Attributed to Herman Melville.

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:09 pm

I've been playing around with the site. It seems to be working well, and is speedy enough at the moment.

My thought on the seperate website is that there would be a backup place should we need it for society stuff. Plus, a possible place to post a ton of society information that might not be pertenent to the TLG boards. Also, with a dedicated webmaster for the society, we can get things changed on the site or the forums as it might become necessary.

Really, to be honest it's not even that important of aspect to the society, but it would be a useful too I think.

................................................Omote

FPQ
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Tue May 01, 2007 11:17 pm

The site is very nice! I tried to upload The Keeper but It wouldn't allow PDF's.
A quick question RE: officers: When is our first meeting and when do we find out our offices?
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Wed May 02, 2007 12:17 am

We haven't come up with how we're going to have meetings, but I would like it to be monthly. I suggest using a common IM program, like Yahoo or MSN. The first meeting will be figuring out who is doing what, and where to go... so, we need dates and times, and a means to proceed.

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Wed May 02, 2007 2:10 am

I use yahoo right now. I can DL a different one if needed. Weekends are always good for me since I work 10 hours days and am pretty much zombified at the end of them.
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