Whether you’re a first-time visitor (in which case, welcome to TT!) or a longtime reader, what do you like least about Treasure Tables?
I’m always trying to improve TT, and I’ve never tried this approach before. (The mic is always open in the Site Questions, Ideas & News forum, but that’s not quite the same thing.) Thanks in advance for your help.
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I am not a great fan of how the blog is set to a width way smaller than my own screen, half of it is useless here, I also prefer more integrated solutions between forums, blogs and the like, where we can register for one and get the account for all.
But that is about it.
I visit this site everyday, hoping to find something interesting. Many time I do. On some days I find exceptionally interesting posts.
On some days, however, I can only read these “articles” which are just a one-line question (like today), and no interesting responses. This is what I like the least.
I totally understand the difficulty of coming up with an interesting post everyday, so even though I don’t quite like these posts, I can understand why they are bound to be there on some days.
Nothing really, except maybe the fixed-width layout.
Unlike Lorekeeper I don’t mind the discussion posts, in fact, often I really like them. Sometimes an answer there really provokes thought about GMing more than other posts do, and it’s happened more than once already that a comment became a fully-fledged post in its own right later on.
The summary rss feeds. I’d much prefer the whole article or at least sinigicantly more than we get currently.
1. Agree with the fixed-width problems.
2. I’d much rather it come as an email rather than have to come back to the sight to read it.
3. Posts that only applicable if you play D&D/d20. Most of the problems are easily solved by switching to another game.
4. Posts that of the “What do you think?” variety. Not every worth posting or reading.
The depth of the initial disscussion is my biggest issue, I believe treasure tables is a great learning resource but often, I would prefer more of your theories abot GMing, its great when you link to another article, like wolfgang baur’s adventure builder artcle; you did not make any attempt at a comment or critique of the article yourself.
Like I said I love the site and it is one of the feeds on my homepage, but I really would love if you would spend another 15 minutres and make your articles a little more indepth 🙂
I’m not wild that the focus is so heavily centered on role play and social dynamics. I’d love to see more articles about mechanics and level design.
I do love this blog though.
1. Guest posts.
2. Posts that cater to a specific system, typically D20.
3. “Link and run” articles that don’t say anything.
How pedantic some of my posts sound when I see them again later.
Occasional lack of fresh blood, but I’d rather keep the quality than dilute it for quantity.
I love the social focus of the site, in fact, those articles are the ones that I’ve found to be the most helpful. There are tons of other places to find advice/info on the mechanics of a particular system.
As a player who has only played D&D 3.5, how about the occasional spotlight on a new system? Explain its core mechanic, strengths and weaknesses, what sets it apart from other systems, and why people might want to check it out. Might help players like myself to branch out beyond D&D 3.5.
(Of course, if you already have articles like that, and I just haven’t seen them, ignore this post!)
Absolutely LOVE the site, keep up the fantastic work!
I dig the discussion-based posts. That might not be for everyone, but it’s what brings me back.
I’d like some more mechanics talks mixed in with the roleplaying discussions.
BTW, I do like that you’ve posed the question.
Thank you for all the feedback so far! I’m going to respond to each of your comments individually. With issues that were raised by more than one person, I’ll respond fully the first time they come up. Fair warning: this is pretty long. 😉
Nifelhein
A lot of WordPress templates are fixed-width, and from a design standpoint it’s a lot easier for me to see how things will flow. The layout is narrow enough to accomodate an 800px-wide display.
From a practical standpoint, I find narrower blocks of text a lot easier to read online. My eyes need to do less scanning than they would if the text took up most or all of the width of my monitor. That’s also why I tend to write in short paragraphs on TT, as opposed to the longer form I’d probably use if my posts were being read on paper.
That said, there might be a way to provide width options for the blog. I’ve seen sites with buttons that allow you to choose a width on the fly, presumably using CSS properties like setting width by percentage rather than pixels. If I can come up with a way to do something like this without driving myself nuts, would that fix the problem you have with the width of the blog?
As far as integrated blog/forums/wiki solutions go, I’m not sure what options are out there. I’m curious about blog access, though — do you mean you wish you could log into the blog to avoid having to type all of your info before commenting?
Currently, there’s only one account on the blog: mine. I deliberately didn’t make account creation a part of leaving a comment because that barrier, even though it’s fairly low, would discourage some folks from commenting. And on the whole, I think that’s worked well — TT gets a lot of comments, and I believe that this is a factor.
I might have overlooked an option, though. I think I can set things up here so that you can create an account if you like, but you don’t need one to post a comment. Sort of like how Blogger handles things, I guess. I still have no idea if there’s a way to integrate WordPress, MediaWiki and Simple Machines Forum to share one login, but I can check into that.
Lorekeeper
You’re absolutely right about time constraints being a large part of why I don’t post more original, in-depth material — time is a huge factor. When I started TT, I posted two or three times a week. I then moved to two or three longer articles a week, with miniposts in between. Once I committed to posting daily, I starting mixing the miniposts (essentially just a link or two with some context) with discussion-oriented posts — the “ask a question” one-liners.
And this is a tough one for me. I wish I could devote more time to posting here, and thereby write an in-depth article every day. But I can’t, at least without messing with the current balance of time invested in TT and time spent on other aspects of my life. One of my long-term concerns here has always been avoiding burnout, and I suspect that if I was writing a long-form article every day I’d burn out pretty quickly — or worse, start resenting the time I put in here.
For the time being, at least, this aspect of TT isn’t going to change.
bignose
OpenID sounds like an option for doing pretty much what Nifelhein wanted as well: one login, multiple sites. Thank you for pointing me to it — I’ll see if it’s a possibility. I hear you on the pain of needing new logins for everything — that’s stopped me from registering on sites as well. 😉
In the meantime, there’s no need to login in to comment here. If your browser’s privacy settings are set to remember form data, your info should persist during sessions. I leave my PC on 24/7, so I never need to login to reply to comments here. Not a perfect solution, but not terrible either.
I have no idea how I’d even begin implementing the NNTP interface you requested. Most RPG forums are web-based, so I’m betting it’s not an easy thing even for larger sites with more money to spend.
Guido
I’m with you on discussion-oriented posts (the question ones). Comments and community are important to TT, and they are a huge part of why TT is what it is. I get a lot of mileage out of comments, and they’re often more useful than the post they’re attached to.
Compared to TT’s overall readership, folks who comment are in the minority. But that minority has a lot to say, and they say it well. From the standpoint of folks who come here solely (or largely) to read, not comment, posts that generate lots of comments and discussion provide you with something to read.
Ian Roberts
I’ve thought about offering full RSS feeds, and haven’t done so for two reasons. The less important reason is that it makes it easier for spam sites that want to scrape my content to do so, as they can’t scrape the feeds.
The more important reason is that nearly everything I write on TT is aimed at encouraging discussion and contributions from the GMing community. The upside of a partial feed is that it means you have to come to the site to read the whole thing, and that in turns mean you’re more likely to see and interact with the comments on the posts, and perhaps comment yourself. It’s a means to drive discussion, in other words.
I haven’t thought about this issue since I switched to Feedburner, however, and I just realized that FB has an option that might be the best of both worlds: it allows you to see how many comments are on a post when you read it in the feed. I think I even have this option turned on.
Do you think offering a full feed with that option enabled would help drive discussion while making things easier for folks like yourself, who just want to read the posts?
michael
There’s an option to get TT’s feed via email, but I assume you mean you’d rather have it Roleplaying Tips-style, as a newsletter. If I turned on full feeds, this concern would be addressed as well — the email feed option would deliver the entire posts, just like the RSS option. I’ll definitely give this some thought.
As far as posts that are only applicable to D&D/d20 GMs, I’m not sure what to make of this one. As the comments on this post show, you’re not the only person that feels this way, so let me try and break it down from my perspective.
TT is and always has been system-neutral. When I was thinking about starting the site, that was part of what I identified as a potential niche — system-neutral GMing advice is in short supply.
I’m a lifelong D&D player, though, and in the past few years I’ve primarily played and run d20 games. I know that bias comes through — not bias in the “My game’s better than yours” sense, but in the sense that it’s my default perspective.
That said, I explicitly avoid mechanics in my posts, and always try to take as many possible games and GMs into account as I can. There are definitely GMing issues that are more relevant to GMs of one system than another, so I try to get around that by covering a broad spectrum of stuff.
Offhand, apart from reviews and one or two link posts, I can’t think of any TT posts that are focused on the d20 System. Can you give me a few examples?
Steve
When I present a link, apart from vouching that I think it’s worth reading, I try to leave my views out of the post. I’m more interested in seeing what others think, and in letting folks who follow the link make up their own minds about what they find there. I’m also wary of too much summary meaning that there’s little reason to read the linked material.
Which is why I was very surprised to read your comment about wanting more opinion in link posts — I didn’t think that my opinion in those cases would be of much interest. Can you expand a bit on what you’d like to see?
Jason Gallagher
I’m not sure how I could tackle level design and mechanics while keeping TT system-neutral. Maybe I don’t completely understand what you mean, though — is there a middle ground where I could be writing about mechanics without writing about specific systems?
Abulia
I know we’ve discussed guest posts offline, but it would be useful if you could expand on that here as well — that way I can respond publicly.
As with michael’s comment, I’m coming up dry on posts that are d20-specific — can you give me a few examples?
Telas
What do you mean by lack of fresh blood? Guest posters? New commenters? Something else entirely?
thebrownshow
You nailed one of the main reasons why I focus on social issues — they’re applicable in so many situations, and there aren’t that many places to find that kind of GMing advice.
Spotlighting new systems is an interesting idea, and not something I’ve ever done or considered (beyond the occasional review, I guess). Thinking about it now, I’d probably have to ask other GMs to write most of those posts — I’d run out of systems I’m passionate about pretty quickly. It might also make a great wiki feature.
What do others think of this idea?
Mark
I’ll ask you the same thing I asked Jason: How might I mix in mechanics discussion while keeping TT system-neutral?
At present, the forums are a great place for game-specific discussion. One of the reasons I expanded them from the original concept (one forum just for GMing questions) was so that GMs would have a place here to talk about any game they liked. I’m not sure how much room there is to cover the same ground in the blog.
For those of you who mentioned not liking the fixed width of the blog, most studies on reading and line length show that approximately 12 words per line provides for optimal reading performance.
So I’m curious…do you want the blog text to fill the screen so you can enlarge it and keep roughly 11-13 words per line, or are you looking for 40-word lines to stretch across your screen?
Figures that Martin would address column width *as* I was writing my post. 😉
No worries, Ully — I didn’t know that there was data about column width, so I wasn’t sure if it was just me. 😉
Fresh blood = more commenters, more forum posters, more (potential) guest posters. When trying to find something I don’t like about TT.org, it’s about all I can come up with. *shrug*
But I don’t want it to turn into ENWorld or RPG.net, where one comment unleashes a flood of other comments. Quality > Quantity.
It’s also something that’s probably going to be difficult to adjust from an admin standpoint.
BTW, in the “width” debate, I like it as-is. I find it very readable.
Re: guest posts
Humm…this is why I had the discussion on the side with you, so I wouldn’t have to have it in public. 😉
I’ve gamed for several decades, written several million words on RPGs and read goodness-knows how many more. So to say that I find the input of one particular person and his website interesting (Martin) says a lot. I don’t just accept anyone’s opinion; they have to establish credibility. Guest posters — no offense intended — lack that credibility with me. Typically I’ve no idea who they are and I “tune out” pretty quick when I see a guest post. Guest posts also have a “filler” quality about them; Martin couldn’t come up with anything so here’s a guest post by Bob. Who’s Bob and why should I care about his treatise about using papier-mâché in creating RPG props, for example?
So how’s this different than linking to a site with a bit of Martin’s commentary? Well, in those instances Martin has already read and vetted the article for me and, presumably, finds it of enough interest to share. Typically there’s some commentary to go along with it. If I’m interested in learning more I can, versus a guest post it feels a bit like I’m being held hostage at gunpoint.
We’ve discussed briefly the concept of some TT staff writers with the ability to write their own posts. A bit of the same problem.
Re: d20 articles…there have been a few. I suspect most of my frustration is directed towards the comments — which you can’t control — that invariably turn down the path of D20/D&D. It’d be nice to see a broader range of games discussed here by the visitors. Sometimes TT feels like “EN World Ultra Lite.”
Oh, user-selectable color themes would be nice. I never cared for the pale green motif. 😉
Let me preface this by saying I enjoy the site immensely! Check it every day, first thing in the morning. But you asked, so here we go…
Hmm. The width isn’t a problem for me. Honestly one of the only things is loading the page at work and pressing page-down immediately so my boss doesn’t see the giant green treasure chest. 😉 But here’s my thoughts on the front-page posts currently, which should represent my thoughts:
One thing I did notice is that some posts are, essentially, just links to other pages/sites. Not that there is anything wrong with this – they are almost always worth checking out – but just saying.
Story Games Name Project – (LINK) interesting, worth poking around on their site and learning more
Campaigns are Like Radio Serials – (LINK) the link to Don’s blog is good, but the other links are old and things I’ve already read before…mostly nothing new in this one.
What Do You Like Least About TT? – n/a
Your Voice is Your Most Important GMing Tool – very good!
Nine Steps to Help You Run a Great One-Shot Adventure – very good!
What’s the Most Significant Thing About an RPG? – (LINK) disappointing, if for no reason other than there’s hardly anything after the jump. The actual link to Ars Ludi was quality though.
Deliberately Limited Game Lines – didn’t really apply to our gaming group, so no opinion.
GMing for Kids: Tips Aplenty – (LINK) not personally involved in anything like this, but interesting and new, a good read!
Narrative Devices in Mystery Scenarios – (LINK) interesting topic, basic link.
Adventure Writing Resources – (LINK) list of links related to Worldwide Adventure Writing Month, which is fine!
Worldwide Adventure Writing Month Begins Now – fine. Actually, good, since Martin went and found the various links to different things about it, not just the site.
Three Updates: Player Finding, TT Forums, Game Space Photos – (LINK) Again, interesting links, but nothing else.
So in summary, most of the current posts are links, and a few were indepth articles. I know this site is free and it’s surely time-consuming, but what I would like to see is more indepth articles. And on posts where it is mostly a link to another site, perhaps more of your thoughts on the matter Martin, or how you could implement them in a game. Like in “Narrative Devices in Mystery Scenarios”, maybe some sample red herrings, or a personal story about a red herring in a game you played.
Column width: I like it.
Green: It’s grown on me.
Mechanics-based discussions: I understand what you are saying about neutrality, Martin. I think topics such as: “Meta-points”, “Roleplaying skill checks”, and “Limiting Character Options”, are all good recent examples of what I am talking about.
Here’s a topic I’d love to see: “What is your least favorite mechanic?” -Or the converse, if we are feeling optimistic.
As for Guest posters, I agree with Abulia. They can be additive, but ought to be carefully vetted.
Thanks for the feedback.
Oh, I had forgotten to mention my opinion on guest posters. From what I’ve seen, the arrangement of having people guest post on a blog can work out very well, especially if the guest poster is someone who can create quality content.
So as long as the guest poster is someone that Martin knows can create good quality content, he can still have new content appear on TT without having to pull out his hair trying to think of something to write about.
Which now suddenly leads to me to something else:
Have you ever made use of the timestamp feature, Martin? If not, you can alter timestamps so that posts can appear at a later date than when you write them. That way, you can write a bunch of posts on a good day, and timestamp them for to appear on future days. Then, when you’re having an off day, you have nothing to worry about as you know that you have new content still appearing on TT.
D&D Nerd: Martin uses the feature all the time. He’s written an entire week of content to post while he was on his honeymoon, for example.
When’s the “What do you like about TT?” post or have I missed it? All this talk is making me down. 🙁
Thank you to everyone who has given me feedback, and come back to respond to follow-up questions. I’m glad I gave this a shot, and I’m still very much interested in hearing more.
Telas
I understand what you mean by fresh blood now, and I agree. I would rather run a smaller site that maintains the amazing signal:noise ratio we have here than grow at the expense of having more noise. (I’m not tooting my own horn: with thousands of comments, I can count the number of times I’ve delted a non-spam comment or had to step in and cool things down on one hand; the forums have a similar vibe.) That said, growth is still very important, and it’s always a work in progress.
I understand blog promotion a lot better than I understand forum promotion. The forum growth rate has been slow and steady, which is great, but I’d love to see those numbers go up a lot faster. The blog has also been on roughly the same visitors per month plateau for several months now, and I’m not sure how to reach the next stage.
Abulia
Regarding guest posts, the same vetting (actually, more vetting) is involved as with link posts. While I don’t usually know much about the poster, I’ve been proud to post every single one that’s appeared here. I read each of them three or four times, and edit them lightly — oddly enough, they’re typically more work for me than just writing a post, except in the important area of not having to come up with a post idea. 😉
They also play a role in community development. I don’t want to be the be-all and end-all of GMing advice (and even if I did want to, I’m not!), and when I find our see advice and ideas that I think deserve wider exposure, I like giving them that exposure.
Your point about credibility is interesting to me. I’ve worked hard to develop my own credibility as a source of GMing advice since I started TT, and it’s definitely something I look for in others when I’m considering reading their work. That said, good advice is good advice, credibility or not.
Perhaps when I post guest posts, I need to be clearer about why I think their advice is sound and why I’m posting them. I try to stay in the wings and let them speak for themselves (as with link posts), but I can definitely see where you’re coming from.
As far as the d20 slant goes, your answer was my best guess: I think readers often see the number of d20-oriented comments and carry that vibe over to the posts themselves. I can’t and don’t want to control what folks who comment play or discuss — for me, at least, it’s part of the appeal of the site: the directed discussion can go in different directions, and you’re encouraged to comment on the directions that interest you the most. I’m relieved to see that I haven’t been unconsciously posting d20 content. 😉
As for the green, that’s just crazy talk! 😉 Seriously, though, if I reach (or have reached?) the point where there’s a TT brand, green is part of that brand identity. I’m hesitant to change it.
Mark
I think I get what you mean by mechanics now: more objectively practical stuff, less fuzzy soft-science. Your examples are good ones, and I’ll bear them in mind when I write future posts.
I think part of the reason I’ve focused more on social stuff lately is that I’m not running a game, and haven’t been for some time. When I was running a game and writing TT, day-to-day GMing stuff popped into my head all the time — it’s trickier now.
D&D Nerd
I’m open to being convinced to offer full feeds, but I’m curious what benefits you seeing outweighing the downsides I mentioned. What did you have in mind?
I just took a peek, and I have SmartFeed enabled. I’m not sure why it’s not doing what it’s supposed to for you.
The “more” tag grew out of my observation of other blogs when I was starting up TT. When I visit a site for the first time, or after a few missed days, it drives me nuts when I have to scroll past some giant monster post that doesn’t interest me to see what’s below it.
That evolved into a general preference for always having at least two post titles within a very short scroll on the front page, which I think gives readers a better sense of what’s going on (and a second chance to become interested) than seeing only a single title. “Social contracts? Fuck that noise! But hey, here’s a post about NPCs — that sounds useful.”
(Of secondary importance back when I ran AdSense ads was that a “more” tag gave me a cut point for an in-post ad block.)
I haven’t thought about the number of posts on the front page in a while. I originally set it at 12 because the default is 10, and I found scrolling down the front page of a site for the first time was a good way to see if I wanted to stick around — so surely 2 more would be good. 😉 Off the cuff, 5 seems like too few, but I’ll have to think about this one.
Without the “post to future” option, I’d be a sad little camper — it’s the reason I don’t miss days when I’m on vacation, and it’s saved my ass several times. I do tend to post in flurries, and I cue up three in a row for Saturday-Monday most weeks. Thank you for mentioning it, though!
mike (comment #20)
Sorry, mike, your comment was languishing in the moderation cue (not sure why), so I missed you in my last roundup.
In terms of link posts in general, I tried to address that concern in my first response (comment #13), and I don’t have much to add. I wish I could post an in-depth article every day, but I don’t feel like I can do that — at least not right now — without burning out. I’m open to suggestions for how to use my TT time more efficiently, or how to change the post ratio without wanting to reach for a noose. 😉
With the number of folks who’ve brought this issue up in the comments here, it’s clearly the biggest overall issue TT readers have with the site.
You’re onto something about the ratio of link posts:articles just recently — there have been a lot of link posts. I’ve been busier than usual lately (new house, side project ramping up, entertaining more in the new house, etc.), and that shows up clearly on the front page.
Thank you for breaking down what you liked and didn’t like about the (many!) link posts in the current front page crop — that was very useful. It highlighted the difference between link posts with enough context and opinion around them to be more than just links, and those that are really just a link and not much more.
Mark
Apologies, I also forgot to respond to your feedback about answering my own question posts. I don’t usually do that in the post itself because I don’t want it to come off as “Here’s what I think and that’s that” — I’m more interested in hearing what others think. If I have an interesting answer, or want to weigh in, I usually do answer them in the comments, though.
To answer my own question on this post, what I like least about TT is:
• Not having pictures in my posts. Pictures would make it more likely that people will read posts (at least it works that way for me), and would make the whole site feel more vibrant. Unlike news blogs, though, I can’t just grab a picture of the subject of a post and call it good, and I haven’t thought of a solution that isn’t a horrific time sink.
I’ve considered having category images in each post, Slashdot-style (more or less), but wasn’t sure a) if that would look good or b) what to do with posts that fall into multiple categories.
• Not being able to write more longer posts. No need to expand on this one, I think. 😉
• The WordPress search function — it’s just terrible. There used to be a Google SiteSearch feature that could be squeezed into the TT sidebar, but they changed how it worked so it’s not as customizable, and I haven’t been able to find out definitively if it’s legal to use the old version.
I’d like to have a search that hits the whole site — blog, comments, forums, wiki, everything — from the blog. The only surefire way I know of to do that is to either fuck up the layout or create a search page, and I know how much I hate having to click a link before being able to search.
There are other smaller concerns, and concerns relating to things that are more goals than present issues (continuing to grow, site popularity, etc.), but those are the biggies.
This is a tough question to answer about your own site. 😉
A heretic’s view: I like the links. Following a link from another site is what brought me here, and links from here introduce me to other sites. Links may not be as good as a full-fledged post, but they beat the hell out of nothing at all. 😉
BTW, I do point other gamers to TT.org, but usually only to those who seem like they’d be a good fit…
I don’t think this has been touched on already, but I’d vote for eliminating the distinction between comments and forums. The daily blog posts should be forum entries, and the comments left should be forum responses.
The advantage is life span: if an older post starts getting some discussion (a week later, a month later) it pops to the top of the “blog” forum and people can see that the discussion is still alive. Forums allow for much more vital and fluid discussions than blog comments, which tend to sink to the bottom of the lake before too long.
Of course the technology to implement this is another matter…
Telas
Yep, that’s pretty much where I stand on links, too. I like links. I read linkblogs. Links have pointed me to many of my favorite sites, gaming-related and otherwise. And the hierarchy for TT, at least for me, is definitely article posts > most link posts > no post.
Ben
That’s a nifty idea. A few years back, I remember seeing a site that did this — the blog comments were forum threads.
What did you have in mind? Clicking the “Comments” link taking you to a forum thread? Every blog post also being a thread starter in the forums? Some kind of nested forum thingie at the bottom of each blog post? And how would you get past the barrier to entry of folks having to register to comment?
Martin, you can tie the two together. For example, take a gander at RPG.net and their reviews. Review discussions lead to the forums.
vBulletin is very robust but I’m sure whatever PHP forums you’re using have a similar option. This would take you down the road of having to disable registering to post (perhaps to just that fora?).
now, I wasn’t even involved in this whole thing but i remember there was that whole fudging or not fudging thing, and I personally feel that a forum shouldn’t ever be shut down for heated discussion, sure it was getting a little out of control but this isn’t school or a job, this is entertainment and I love conflict with my friends even when it is reduced to shouting, in fact that is when it gets best. i think we’re all mature enough to know not to have hurt feelings for a disagreement on how to structure your game. however that said i do really like TT and for the most part everything is great!
I’ve got to disagree with godcomplex. I prefer civility. I want to read people’s opinions and reasoning.
I don’t want to spend my time reading name-calling or comebacks.
Abulia
I thought RPGnet’s review discussion led to a threaded semi-forum-thingy, not their actual forums. I’ll have to go take another look — thanks!
godcomplex
There will definitely be times where the moderation approach I and the other mods take on the forums will rub folks the wrong way, and the fudging thread may have been one where I went further than I needed to.
I prefer to err on the side of aggressive moderation for exactly the reason Mark mentioned: forums full of frothing bile don’t interest me in the least bit, and I want to see the TT forums remain the polite, friendly home of intelligent discourse that they have been so far.
On a design note:
For some reason its looks a little cluttered. Maybe try some more white space. Make the overall width at least 900. Try to distinguish the more important things from others. Different sections of your site all seem to mix together.
Will Ayers
What do you mean by “Different sections of your site all seem to mix together.”? The way links are arranged in the menu? The similar color schemes? There are too many ways to take this. 😉
Ditto with emphasizing the more important elements — can you give me a quick example of what you mean?
Sorry to be so late with a response, Martin. When I think of level design, I think of interesting and tactical ways to present challenges to the player.
I think this could be done without straying into system specific examples.
For instance, what challenges can be presented to players when they are fighting their way up a hill? What new and interesting ways can NPCs be a hassle to players by using the terrain around them?
JD
Since you and others brought them up, I’ve been experimenting with using “more” links less often, and letting slightly longer posts go as-is. I’m still not sure how I feel about it, but so far it seems OK.
Random-thought posts are part of my personality, and sometimes also a function of time. I sit in front of the computer, eyes closed, thinking “What the hell am I going to post”…and sometimes that leads to “Sausage! GMing is just like a sausage!” (one of my silliest posts) while other times it turns into “As a player, it’s kind of like having a flashlight” — one of my all-time favorite posts.
It’s not that I think I’m gracing the internet with my nuggets of mental gold, in other words. 😉 It’s got upsides and downsides, but fundamentally I kind of like it.
And your blog is excellent, by the way.
Jason
Gotcha. I’ve never really considered drilling down quite like that for post topics — thanks for the suggestion! I agree that that could be done while staying system-neutral, and it’s an interesting angle. I definitely dig it.
It’s been said above, but the focus on D&D/D20 has made me feel like this was the wrong site for me. I joined briefly, but left when I found myself wanting to offer opposing opinions to most posts and comments.
It’s not that D&D/D20 is explicitly stated in every post, but it seems to be influencing almost every comment and reference about mechanics or relationships, such that RPG here is shorthand for D&D/D20, unless explicitly stated otherwise (and it rarely is). Examples offhand–wandering monsters, D&D based DM-player power relationships, usefulness of figures, combat focus, dice-issues, cheating, crunchy stats, etc. Basically, things that D&D focuses on, this site focuses on.
Now, this isn’t necessarily a criticism, there’s nothing wrong with this at all–this site is a fantastic resource for a certain group (and perhaps the focus is appropriate for a site called treasure tables), and Martin, I can appreciate the labor of love that this site represents. It’s just that this isn’t a site where conversations about gm-less games, (to a lesser extent)non-fantasy games, no-plot player driven games, games where characters must die, or games with high player narration powers will thrive or even come up much unless offered as a counterpoint.
again, this isn’t really a criticism of the site, but more a comment on the (unstated) focus here, as I see it.
I still visit from time to time, especially for the interviews.
Toombs
It’s just that this isn’t a site where conversations about gm-less games, (to a lesser extent)non-fantasy games, no-plot player driven games, games where characters must die, or games with high player narration powers will thrive or even come up much unless offered as a counterpoint.
I’ve mulled your comment over for the past several days, and I both agree and disagree. I have the benefit of being able to draw on all of the posts I’ve written, but the drawback of being too close to the subject (TT). 😉
I explicitly reference other genres, and when I offer up examples I try to mix my genres there as well. That said, my lifelong baseline is D&D — it definitely shows through.
I also try to focus on social issues and GMing topics that are relevant across the board, but as you pointed out a lot of them are mitigated or eliminated by indie games. I’m not a “One True Way” GM or gamer, so I certainly don’t exclude GM-less RPGs or other indie games, but I also don’t have much experience with them. That’s a gap in my GMing knowledge, and again it definitely shows through.
It’s tough to discuss GM-less games, plotless player-driven RPGs and so forth when I don’t know what I’m talking about. 😉 I know you’re not taking me to task for that, but I wanted to give you a complete answer.
TT will never be all things to all GMs, but I try to make it as many things to as many GMs as possible. This is clearly an area I need to work on.
As an aside, I’ve been working on other things that have been brought up in the comments here — this has been a tremendously useful thread for me, and I thank everyone who took the time to contribute. (More feedback is still welcome, too!)
I’ve been trying out using fewer “More” links, writing fewer link posts, answering all of my own questions and shifting my focus a bit — all of which hopefully shows on the front page. It’s been an interesting challenge.
In addition to the things I mentioned in my above comment, I’ve also made another long-overdue change: I’ve started using pictures.
TT’s ENnie nomination was a great motivator, and I’ve gone back through the top 25 posts and added pictures to nearly all of them. The majority of future posts will also include pictures, unless I run out of steam/time/photos. 😉
Pictures are a great idea martin! You’re going to be hunting down those creative common share and share alike licensed ones like nuts from now on, but I think they will add a bit of color to the site.