Printable Version of Topic

Click here to view this topic in its original format

Dumpshock Forums _ Community Projects _ www.greys-data.net -- a Shadowrun Playing Resource

Posted by: Redhammer the Old Feb 26 2007, 07:47 PM

Hello all,

I am just starting to play Shadowrun again. I will be gamesmastering a group but it will be a challenge, as we are now quite dispersed. I am actually going to do a number of one on one session via VoIP at the beginning. In order to provide some environment and form of interaction outside of the VoIP session I have put together a website http://www.greys-data.net.

The website is designed to give the players a Shadowrun info board, complete with rumours, facts, a market place, Mr Johnsons et al. I realise that this a compromise - what self respecting runner would do all their biz via a bulletin board. But the compromise is to enable the players to communicate etc - also it is to provide some continuity to our very discontinuous mode of play.

What I am hoping is that others might also find this an interesting place and way of exchanging info. Legwork could be done for instance. I would therefore be very grateful indeed if I could get some help or other interested groups.

On this website there is a forum that acts as a Shadowrun bulletin board http://www.evans-ark.net/greysforum this will be the first place where the the action will begin. At the moment a bunch of NPC's is populating the forum with some snippets of information, but the more info, rumours etc is on there the better.

So if you are able to provide any help, are interested, have found something similar on the web (not the dumpshock forum IC discussion - which is great but different), please let me know.

Thank you for your time, and looking forward to hearing from you.

Redhammer the Old

Posted by: Platinum Feb 26 2007, 09:13 PM

Site is not coming up for me. Forum works well .. but have to wait till I get home to verify registration.

Posted by: Redhammer the Old Feb 26 2007, 09:26 PM

ok have fixed some of the pages.

please note that by far most effort has gone into creating the forum, my players are not yet online and I am in the process of building up an atmosphere there at the moment, ie I have 10 registered users (I play all of those at the moment) and lots of Guest comments.

the reason for this is that I want to hide some of the clues in the comments but do not want to make it to obvious...

thanks for your interest, looking forward to feedback

Posted by: Redhammer the Old Feb 26 2007, 11:18 PM

QUOTE (Platinum)

Site is not coming up for me. Forum works well .. but have to wait till I get home to verify registration.

if you want I can add an account for you right now, just pm with your desired username and password and I will set it up when I have the PM

thanks

Posted by: Platinum Feb 26 2007, 11:28 PM

I registered ... I just misread that you needed to approve the account ...
I am in now ... trying to think of some stuff to add.

Posted by: mattness pl Feb 27 2007, 06:03 AM

QUOTE (Platinum @ Feb 26 2007, 11:13 PM)

Site is not coming up for me. Forum works well .. but have to wait till I get home to verify registration.

Same here...

Site's dead, board works
Redhammer the Old: And forum is v. cool idea

. Each SR forum had it's own shadowland, but I didn't saw subboards like on yours.
Good work

EDIT: I see typos in first board title. And I'm not English native speaker

Posted by: Redhammer the Old Feb 27 2007, 11:40 AM

Oh dear, thanks for spotting the really, really obvious spelling error.
Pretty embarrassing for me (I supposedly have English as a first language) but I guess that happens when you do things in a hurry. I only started setting up the forum last Friday.

Part of the reason to make a dedicated site (nearly all in character) was to separate it from things I have found on the web (dumpshock is great but it is part in and part out of character). Also as the game I am running is not a forum game as such I felt keeping it separate would be useful.

What I am aiming at doing is uploading all the handouts I make to the site and then giving password protected access to these files. One of the things I am looking forward to is that you can upload a proper sound file (with static or voice distortion) and give the characters something to think about during “out of game time”. I guess doing long VoIP session could be very hard & boring and this is why I want the forum to be used by the characters to interact.

If any of you want to donate any adventure (or part of), any hooks or if you characters just want to brag (anonymously) about their successes in their runs, I am happy for all the input I can get.

One question I have is: I have currently not set a firm time for the campaign I am running, part of this is that we have not played Shadowrun in quite a while (years). At the moment I am still inclined to go to mid 2050s (Dunkelzahn is alive, the election is coming up, no surge, no comet yet).
Do you think it is possible to leave the forum without a point in time? Do you think I should move to the more current timeline? What timeline point are most people playing at the moment?

Posted by: mattness pl Feb 27 2007, 01:38 PM

TIME:
There is a problem.
What will you do when users / players will start to comment such things like UB or will try to comment each megacorporation (Fuchi's dead in SR3 & 4, and vice versa).

I'm still GMing in 2050s - I luuve Bug City setting and want to show players such things like Wyrm Talk et cetera.
But I "work" in specific condition - polish players are pretty fresh in SR, and I was "hibernated" for years (as SR GM, at least )

However, in my honest opinion, you should set time as 2070.
No spoilers and faux pas.

Could you tell us when site will be up?

Posted by: Redhammer the Old Mar 2 2007, 12:29 AM

ok site is NOW running, all functions there but not all filled up massively yet.

datastore working as well, albeit in demonstration mode.

SITE NEEDS THEMING, VISUALISATION WORK ... need to think about the theme and artwork some more, at the moment not uniform but that should hinder performance

so please check it out at http://www.greysdata.net

on the TIMELINE:

mattness pl if only you and your group and my group use it I would still be happy to make it mid 2050s....

it would be great if some other people would also want to play in that time frame....

if other groups think that this is something they might consider I could still move the timeline, our game has not quite started yet....

so please keep the comments coming, work in development, any help totally appreciated

http://www.greysdata.net

Posted by: Platinum Mar 2 2007, 01:50 AM

I would prefer mid 2050's as well .... but I know I am a minority.

Posted by: mattness pl Mar 2 2007, 04:52 AM

QUOTE (Redhammer the Old)

mattness pl if only you and your group and my group use it I would still be happy to make it mid 2050s....

it would be great if some other people would also want to play in that time frame....

if other groups think that this is something they might consider I could still move the timeline, our game has not quite started yet....

(IMHO)
It's tough to not set time at all (what about Chicago? It's completely different place in NAGNA, other in Bug City, other in SONA (3rd ed)... And there's no update for 4th ed.)...

As I said - I prefer 2050s, but let's face it - if players will came into forum, they WILL find spoilers about what will happen - if you try to simulate living world of Shadowtalk - keep time along with cannon.

If you'll set time in 2050s that will attract only really small part of Shadowrun fans.

I've try that 2 years ago, and learned hard way.
Set it in 2070s.

QUOTE (Redhammer the Old)

ok site is NOW running, all functions there but not all filled up massively yet.

datastore working as well, albeit in demonstration mode.

Don't get my opinion offensive - I try to help, but my English is too poor to point my opinion more politely:
- I'm watching your site in 1024x resolution - is that just my comp, or is it something on the right ("ab"..out? Is there something else, too?)
- I don't like the graphic. I was looking for SR (or cyberpunkish) materials on many sites, and current layout on http://www.greysdata.net/ is similiar to old webpages created in mid 1990s.
- 1. Banner is too big (to wide, to high IMHO)
- 2. No graphic at all (I know that is tough to find good Shadowrun graphic - but work a bit with photoshop ... maybe flash - right now, IMHO, forum looks better than main site)
- 3. colors - maybe only me doesn't like grey with red combination - page seems to be to bright - don't know why, really.
- 4. feeling - Check http://blackjack.dumpshock.com/ARCHIVE_softwaremultimedia.htm if you're looking for inspiration - those banners are 10+ years old, but still shows what SR is about. And they're free iirc.
http://www.templatemonster.com/category.php?type=0&tid=+-+Any+-&search_words=+-+Any+-&from_=&to=&cat=-+Any+Category+-&style=7&author=0&x=39&y=15
Did you thought about some in character quotes, like http://www.wiredreflexes.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7, or Bacon's "I have taken all knowledge to be my province."?
- People - did you mentioned about your project on HHH forum, DV8 board, or RPG.net , or http://www.freespeech-alpha.com/index.php Dumpshock is the biggest but each board has it's own residents. Some of them could fine your idea attractive

. Other reasn to post on other boards: DS was down not so long ago. Other reason - announce that you're looking for shadowrun graphic / website designer. It took me more than year to find one.
- is main site is static page? No place to info about updates?
If you want more links to graphic, PM me.

About forum:
- looks OK. But look out in the net - there's plenty of themes. Maybe you find something better (as I said - this looks good).
- I don't know why you didn't execute BB option that allow portal and news if you can tweak forum to scroll some Shadowland "news" and portal will work as main site (I'm using SMF but I'm sure BB has such mods like download section and gallery - you could get rid of this not-so-greatest main site. This is just an option. You're project you're idea, and you will make decision.)

I'm sure that you're aware of many things / ideas I posted above. Hope some of them will be useful

.
I'm not any expert (Gurth or ancient - that's other story), or great web designer (Adam & DV8 are better) but I try to help

Posted by: Redhammer the Old Mar 2 2007, 11:32 AM

QUOTE (Platinum)

I would prefer mid 2050's as well .... but I know I am a minority.

two minorities is good enough for me! if two groups would use it that would be easily good enough for me

but I see the point that it might be better to wait a shortwhile if anyone wants to do 2070s

on the "look" of the site

- mattness you are totally right . I will change the look of the site as mentioned in my post, I have been just trying to get everything working.

- currently thinking of even abandoning the entire grey red look, although I like the forum.

- the topbar is far too big - and I know it , I will change it against a small menu... I am sorry that I have left it like this for so long, but I will change it as soon as I can...

- what do you think of the font for the logo's I kind of like it, but am not sure now

- I will look into the scrolling newsbar, could you give me the link to your site so I can check it out? thanks

Posted by: Trigger Mar 2 2007, 12:33 PM

I have registered with your board as well, looks like a good site and I would love to help it grow.

Posted by: Redhammer the Old Mar 4 2007, 12:57 AM

all am working on the design of the site --- lacking a bit of inspiration at the moment,

have put up something really simple - very light for the front page ...

would appreciate if you could have a short look if you think that is better, I am still in 2 minds to be honest

NB I have only done the front page so far and the icons on top are also not done yet

Posted by: eidolon Mar 5 2007, 06:13 AM

Gotta hit the sack, so I don't have time to check out the site right now. That said: 2050s!

Posted by: Redhammer the Old Mar 5 2007, 11:22 AM

QUOTE (Redhammer the Old)

2050s!

ok I have been busy working on layout, I hope mattness that this is now easier to read.

still need to make the datastore fit in more but will focus on content for awhile.

if someone wants to run a group or use the board as a resource let me know, I can give you upload for the datastore and if you want I can give you multiple personas so you can spin your own plot in the forums

thanks for all you help

Posted by: Redhammer the Old Mar 7 2007, 10:54 AM

Ok just to let you know my players final have their characters ready, at least some of them have.

I will PM the names of the player characters in the forum to all the helpers (thanks again) so you know to treat them with care. You are allowed to give them information as you see fit, even if it is misleading. If they pm any of your chars with a request like wanting to buy something, all "normal" stuff should be cool, if you get asked about odd hardware, military spec etc, please let me know.
FYI the game will start not very chromed and not armed to the teeth, just enough firepower to have some fun and also to allow some upgrades.

As previously if anybody wants to run their game via the forum then let me know. We could even arrange your players to compete with my group for the goal.

Campaigns I am considering to integrate are Super Tuesday at the moment, the episodes could nicely fit into the my campaign I have planned.

Posted by: Slump Mar 12 2007, 10:49 PM

I would be interesting in providing some fluff on that board (looks neat). I've scanned this thread, but I can't tell, is this game SR3 or SR4?

Posted by: Platinum Mar 12 2007, 11:31 PM

He mentioned that he was going to run Super Tuesday, so that would be 3rd ish.

It is actually quite fun posting different rumours and blab on the board. it often goes in directions you can't even fathom. The great thing is that it is actually tough to sift the misinformation out of the postings.

Posted by: Redhammer the Old Mar 12 2007, 11:34 PM

we are trying to play SR4 but does it really matter?

we are playing 2055 at the moment (NOTE TO SELF: put that on the first page!!!!) - my guys all known Dzahn becomes president and gets nailed, they have read about Otaku, Resonance but many other things are new to them.

From published material I will be using:

SCHOCKWELLEN
SUPER TUESDAY
ORIGINAL DENVER MATERIAL

The first runner is now active and has just picked up his first job - simple enough transport duty.

Platinum / Trigger I will send you his name now and some background info.

Posted by: Slump Mar 13 2007, 11:52 AM

I don't have any SR4 stuff, and my SR3 stuff is just the core book, and Rigger, Matrix, and the Cannon Companion. I might have street magic tucked away somewhere. I just wanted to know so I knew what sort of gear to talk about, like commlinks vs cyberdecks. I saw someone else mention a cyberdeck, so I mentioned deckers. If you're using commlinks, then just assume I'm old-school or something.

edit: Is Las Vegas still up and running and still the gambling capital of the world? I thought of a funny rumor mill thing, but I need a big casino town to base it out of.