Online and Software Tools

Seattle Gamers Assemble! (SGA) is a loose community of role-players centered around Seattle, Washington. After several years of operations, we thought it might be nice to share what we've learned about setting up a gaming community.

You're here and we're here on this wiki because we — you and us — are Web-savvy. Although not every gamer is a 'Net-head, the RPG community that doesn't maintain a strong Web presence is cutting itself off from a vast pool of gamers. There are two big reasons to have a well-organized Web base for your gaming community: promotion — it's your virtual front door and perhaps the only front door you'll have; and convenience — you have a toolbox available to help you communicate, organize, and rally.

(This is an article in progress.)

GROUP TOOLS

Online Presence

There are many tools you can use to allow community members to communicate with one another, promote discussion, and help organize events. The following are options for your "front page", your discussion base. This is the place where conversations happen.

E-mail list

Requires a list owner/administrator and possibly some support software or list server. Members have to sign up or register.

Web-based group

Requires registration with a provider (e.g., Yahoo!, Meetup or Google group), a list owner, and optionally, some moderators. Unless you open your list to the general public and potential spamming, all members will have to register.

Gaming blog

Requires a blog (e.g., LiveJournal, Blogger, Yahoo! 360, MySpace, WordPress, etc.); unless you plan on accepting anonymous comments and/or screening them individually, this requires every member to sign up for a blog ID. Many members may not want to make this effort.

Forum

Requires a host and some software, and a tech-savvy administrator. Optional: moderators are useful.

Wiki

Collaborative platform such as this RPG.net wiki or Pbwiki. Useful for shared writing, but a large number of members will never take the time to unerstand how to use a wiki. Can serve as a nice addition to a standard forum or list.

Web site

Requires a host and a Webmaster. New material goes through the Webmaster for posting, so this is best used as a supplemental presence, not as your main contact and discussion point.

Collaboration Tools

These are a collection of tools that allow multiple people to share and organize information, documents, etc.

Wikis

Such as this RPG.net wiki or PBwiki. Wikis are somewhat less about having a conversation between participants, and more about sharing or preserving information, regardless of author. Very good for collaborating on writing, for keeping character sheets, recaps, house rules, etc., and for making the information available to the gaming community.

Google Documents and Spreadsheets

These tools are very useful to share information and allow editing among several people but not the whole world. They're collaboration tools, not broadcast tools.

Social bookmarking

Sites like del.icio.us, Furl, Simpy, and many others allow multiple users to share and comment links. This is a handy way to exchange good sites, discussion threads, online documents, etc.

Calendar

If you're reading this, you're probably online and Web-savvy (unless one of your friends took the time to print this for you.) So the tool you definitely should use to make your life easier is an online calendar to post your game schedule and send reminders. Whatever your platform for group discussion is (mailing list, forum, blog, etc.), chances are it offers a calendar feature. If you haven't looked into it yet, here are some of your (free) avenues:

• • Yahoo Groups all offer a calendar
  • So do Meetup groups
  • Google Calendar is quite nice too

Make sure the calendar you pick offers the following features:

• • Set recurring events: So you can program your weekly, mothly, etc. game.
  • Edit even recurring events on a one-time basis: So you can add details for a specific game.
  • Send automatic reminders to the group: So you can nudge potential players a few day before the game.
  • Some access protection: So only your group can change, add or delete events to the calendar.

If one person in your group can take charge of updating calendar items, you may find the system works better. While we functioned for a long time with different arrangements, right now we have one person who makes sure that all anounced games are on the calendar, auto-reminders for time and place are up-to-date, and any changes are added. That way, we no longer get reminders for events that have been cancelled or rescheduled, etc. Getting obsolete reminders just confuses everybody and makes your event appear less reliable.

Promotion Tools

Tools you can use to promote a game, event, or group:

Actual Play threads

Threads on forums like RPG.net, The Forge, The RPG Site, and Story Games. Check also the Actual Play Portal. These are great to get the various participants to give their feedback without dilution in the regular chatter of our gaming club; it also allows you to get feedback from other interested people, even the game's designer. It's a good spot to keep your game's info so you can refer to it several months later when you suddenly want to run a new episode!

Photo Reports

Can be posted on blogs, or hosted sites (e.g., PhotoBucket, ImageShack, Flickr) and make a terrific promo. Here is an example from our January 2007 game, Against the Lord of Blood!

Videos

Either game footage or slide shows of the game, can be posted on YouTube or Google Video.

Game Blogs

Blogs are somewhat less egalitarian than an Actual Play thread (because there's a main author and subordinated comments for each entry), but they can fulfill much the same function. Examples of places where one can set up a free blog include LiveJournal, Blogger, WordPress, Yahoo! 360, MySpace, etc.

GM TOOLS

Mapping

• Houseplans.com - handy site where you can get free plans for all sorts of houses and buildings.
• AutoREALM is a nice vector-based open-source free mapping software.
• Campaign Cartographer is powerful but the learning curve is a bit steep. Fantasy focus, but can be used for all sorts of settings; many add-ons available. Around $45 for the basic package, but stacking add-ons can cost you a few hundred dollars.
  • Making Maps with Campaign Cartographer 2
  • Open Directory: Campaign Cartographer Resources
• Fractal Mapper, another nice mapping program, with a sci-fi focus. Around $40; a few add-ons available.

Game Management

• GM's Second Brain

Webs and Flowcharts

Freeware:

• Gliffy - Web- and Flash-based, shareable.
• Bubbl.us - Web-based, shareable.
• ThinkChart
• FreeMind
• Diagram Designer
• Cmap Tools - Work with all platforms.

Commercial software:

• MindManager - Multi-platform.
• Inspiration - Multi-platform; free 30-day trial.
• OmniGarffle - runs on OSX.

Drawing and Image Editing

Freeware and shareware for picture editing:

• GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program — Open source, free, available for Mac, PC, Linux, etc. Allows quite a bit of editing and drawing; highly recommended.
• XnView — Excellent for image viewing and editing, and format conversion.
• EasyThumbnails from Fookes Shareware (just like it says, great to create thumbnails in batches.)
• PhotoFiltre — Mostly useful for photos, allows retouching and post-production filters.

Not freeware or shareware, but darn affordable:

• PaintShop Pro from JASC Software/Corel (watch for the periodic Amazon.com mail-in rebates)

PDF and Printing

• A useful way to move formatted documents to a different printer (e.g., to go print at a copy center) without headaches is to save it as a PDF file. You can find several freeware or shareware utilities that act as PDF printer drivers; I have had good success with PDF995. The free demo version has nag screens but otherwise works perfectly well.
• PDFill is a shareware that allows the creation of fillable forms, very useful for character sheets. The free demo places a watermark on saved PDF forms and does not allow you to save the filled form but you can print it, including to another PDF that will no longer be editable, but will have your data.
• Print(fu): Although you cannot buy RPGs from Print(fu), you can have them print and bind PDF files which you upload from your computer. Accepts credit cards and Paypal; requires login for payment.

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