The Campaign Builder's Guild

The rules are pretty simple. Someone starts by saying a word, or a few of them, then everyone tries to create synonyms, antonyms, and closely related words. Each round consists of 2 turns -
1) Terran Words: real words (including slang), modified words or words created out of the cannibalized syllables of real words.
Scoring is as follows:

* All slang words score + 1pt in each catagory below
Word scoring:
Similar = 1 pt (in meaning but note quite the same as the seed word(s)
Synonym = 2 pts,
Antonym = 3 pts
Bonus Scoring:
Definition = 1 pt for real words,
Etymology = 2 pts
Explanation = 3 pts (Why/how the word has come to have that meaning e.g. They call it that because it reminds them of. . . )
Usage = 4pts

Fantasy words: these are entirely made up but some how read or sound like they would have the same meaning as the seed words
Each word = 1 pt
Etymology, Explanation and Usage = 3 pts each

*Okay, so I'll start. Looking for words like=
thaumioactive,
magioactive,
alchioactive (is not a drunk Irishman with too much energy),
psi version? (psychoactive is a dwarven condiment. . .)
chi/ki/prana versions? (Prana could be a critter of a different tartan. [Did you see what I did there?] Borrowing from other language/culture/tradition

Discuss

Wahoh'taweya My Relations,

After a rather long hiatus from world building I'm coming back to it. Slowly for now since Clark-Nova died (I think graphics) I'm having to mostly make do with Woodstock (LG G2 phone) as computer access in rather limited. I might not be able to cast a Wall of Text through it yet, but at least a good Fence of Text. I've invited a friend from an online VTT GURPS campaign to collaborate on Panisadore and eventually co-GM once Daearin and I return to Denver in a year to year and a half. Arne/Taurelin should be here any day now.

Sileyan na'a Showa

I think the question is really about "too much for whom to do what?" Much of my Great Walls of Text are written for use in GMing - a lot of it players wouldn't know, some of it they shouldn't know. Further, some player-level information depends upon who/what is being played - different characters may well have conflicting information based upon inherent assumptions arising from race, religion, profession, etc. The trouble here really is in handling "clearance levels" and need-to-know access. For the GM I think the more information available the better. Note however, this doesn't mean that the GM necessarily needs to know all of it, e.g., to run a campaign squarely set in the southern hemisphere the GM can readily ignore descriptions of northern hemisphere cultures. The write-up on Salis Freeport is currently twice the length of the material regarding the entire Malenorian Empire because it's far more likely to be a campaign location. (I actually need to find a way to make the Empire itself a little more playable should someone wish too - as it stands gamers are no more likely to want to play a campaign within it's borders than characters in the game world would want to visit there. . .)  Even so, it could stand to be better organized in top-down fashion so a GM can readily see (before having to read through it) if the information (such as the subtleties of citizenship, taxation and voting rights) is actually relevant to the campaign. Ultimately, I don't think you can write too much flavor. (I hate the word "fluff" as it implies a lack of substance while referring to the very substance of the setting. . .) You can however require GMs and players to read too much if it isn't organized well enough for them to determine beforehand which portions they do and don't need for their game.

So what e-book format would you recommend that produces an interlinked, non-linear, easily navigable data array (which will run on Kindle as well as all the other proprietary devices that don't like to play well with each other)?

I'm thinking of something like Tiddlywiki or Zim desktop wiki - not built for collaboration and little overhead (no web hosting or the rest of that). I.e, the setting version on Obsidian portal is almot complete enough for a GM to run a campaign in and around Salis Freeport now. I'm wanting to put that on the GM's computer instead of a web host, with all it's hyperlinkage and more. The little personal wiki apps seem to be the way to go. Tiddlywiki runs in your browser and doesn't what browser or OS you're running. Perhaps other hypermedia apps will do this but I do want to avoid platform specific programs such as OneNote. I'm sure I can do this in Tiddly or Zim, I just don't know if either is the best choice or what others are out there. I'm also hoping to minimze editing after porting - copying pages from my CBG wiki to my wiki on OP requried a fair amount of edting since they have some different fomat/command structures.

Bugger- accidentaly hit post. Willgive my thumbs a rest and ffinish once I'm in the office since I'm about to ttransfer to the streetcar

The idea is to use a wiki engine as an eformat instead of selling a pdf. I've been kicking this around for a few years now after noticing that SJGames rather extensive e only material is still formatted as print pages. They dead tree the major stuff but sell splatbooks as pdf only. It occurred to me that they're completely ignoring what you can do with an epub if you stop looking at it in terms of the printed page. Personally I hate pdf game books as a primary format - I can alwayss go to what I want faster in hardcopy in hand. They'te great secondarilly to be able to cut and paste difuse material but a pain in the ass to read when you have to scroll down a collumn that's too long to fit on a screen then scroll back up (and often over) to read the second column on the same page. If you're going to make a product intended to be used only (or even primarily) on a computer then make it in a format conducive to that usage. Better yet, make it in a format that takes as much advantage of the the computer's capabilities as possible. The product would require extensive internal cross linkage- but that's actually the point. The GM with the entire setting in front of hir can instantly crossreference any relevant info -

There are lots of ways to spin them - I've frequently played orc or half-orc characters (depending on setting tropes, etc.) and find they present excellent foils to the so-called "good guys" - whether that refers to individuals or racial tropes. As to using them myself, I most certainly do, although not in the usual fashion. My setting has 2 divergent races:  Khurorkh (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Khurorkh) and Pahrorkh. The first are deeply spiritual ("good guys") defenders of nature against the perversions of Gaurashiage  (the soldiers in Mother Nature's army), while the latter are the result of such perversion through the work of her "daughter", Pahkreet (goddess of hatred, revenge, malice, pain, etc. i.e., your basic brutal psychotic bitch from hell). I

I wanted to see orcs more playable in settings and recalled a series of books (which I haven't read, they were promoted a lot in a Sci-fi/Fantasy bookclub in which an ex' was a member) based  on the premise that orcs are the (honourable) soldiers of the Fae realms (I'll have to find that - I'd like to read it sometime) and ran with it while still maintaining the more standard "bad guys" trope via Pahkreet and the Kith War (the when/where/how of their origin). It should be noted that the fall of the Pahrorkh was concurrent with that of the Druin (Drow).

As for using them (Pahrork) in play, I go back to a literal interpretation of the 2nd edition D&D MM entry (http://www.lomion.de/cmm/orc.php) in which they are Lawful evil and, as written, not dumb at all. Needless to say, they're not your average mook - the Pahrorkh are in many ways tougher than their Khurorkh cousins (evolution having been artificially advanced/accelerated- including intelligence). So, there are a lot of them and they're much smarter than one would think possible. They're still a common "stock-in-trade" encounter, but no one will be slash-happy-prance their way through them leaving behind a trail of dead bodies - they're very good at doing what they do and what they do is fight. A lot. Fight anyone/anything they perceive as a challenge and when that's done they start fighting each other.

Quote from: Humabout
I currently run two desktop mediawiki wikis, all of the software for which is free for download.  I've made custom skins and set them up with just an online tutorial, so it isn't terribly difficult. As for copying it over, talk to sparkle or nom.  They might be able to just send you files for the content (I'm not sure just how integrated the different pages are within the database).

Digging through the Mediawiki site (and whatever I can get out of goggle) I'm not finding any personal/desktop Mediawiki implementations, only the webhosting stuff. Got link?

Mediawiki - different implementation of the same as used to host the CBG's wiki? If so it would be great, assuming that there are no subsequent issues with selling something that uses it. Granted, it could be sold simply as files for it and the buyer would have to get and install the wiki engine themselves but it would be far better if the engine were included in the bundle to simply download, plug and play.

Damn, I wish I'd stuck my head back in the doorway a month ago - while I haven't put much about it to paper (or screen), "cultural arts" are a definite element of Panisadore. (In general, "city music" is jazz - both orchestral dance bands and hard-bop combos, while "country music" sounds like good old school delta blues.) Any playhouse of note has at least one illusionist in its staff - major houses in major cities have something more like an illusionist guild-hall. It's a rather fun speculation to take theatre and ask "what would it be like if you threw in (affordable) magic?" Special effects could make ILaM stuff look like claymation  - the audience wouldn't need 3D glasses for the dragon to look like it's coming off of the stage right at them, because it would be! Lets see Lucaspielberg do that!

What I want to do: copy my setting wiki here (that's its most complete and coherent form among scattered drafts, files, etc.) to a desktop wiki with minimal fuss and hassle, and market it in that format instead of as a PDF. So:

Has anyone worked with any desktop wikis (like Tidlywiki or Zim)? Any recommendations for freeware wikis - need to operate cross-platform (like java applications) on Win, Mac & Linux. Secondly, once my app choice is made I want to port my setting as on the CBG wiki to it, so I guess I'm wanting it to implement HTML (or whatever) as close to Mediawiki as possible in order to minimize subsequent editing nightmares. Finally, is there anyway to copy/download the entire setting collectively rather than copy a page at a time?

Since one of the characters in my game is a kleptomaniac I want to find a random item generator (I would not know how to code such a script in any language/protocol) to spit out a wide variety of 2d6 random small items that he has "found" since the preceding game. I'm mainly looking for small things that can simply be pocketed - values is irrelevant since at game time I can decide if any of the items have any special significance (magical, precious or other). I know there are various random name generators and the like floating around the net if anyone can pass me some links.

Right, what I'm essentially seeking is ideas for things that occur because of it - some silly, others not so much, a few which are . quite serious (real plot hooks) and generally unwanted by the character. They could even get downright sinister, esp. in light of all the various characters' mental health issues. I think this promises to be a very strange and yet quite enjoyable campaign. I'm also looking for ideas regarding what psychiatry would have been like had Freud lived during the Renaissance if the world been magicly active (high mana)) and the gods, spirits, monsters, etc. been quite real rather than products of the mind. There really could be a monser hiding in the closet or under the bed - come to think of it, there definitly will be one (or more) of them, although at this juncture I'm not sure *why* they are there or what their intentions are.

Okay - one of my players took me up on the suggesred Disadvantage (character trait): Weirdness Magnet: Strange and bizarre things happen to you with alarming frequency. You are the one demons stop and chat with. Magic items with disturbing properties find their way to you. The only talking dog on 21st-century Earth comes to you with his problems. Dimensional gates sealed for centuries crack open just so that you can be bathed in the energies released . . . or perhaps the entities on the other side invite you to tea. Nothing lethal happens to you, at least not immediately, and occasionally some weirdness is beneficial. But most of the time it is terribly, terribly inconvenient. People who understand what a Weirdness Magnet is (and that you are one) react to you at -2. The exceptions are parapsychologists, fringe cultists, unhinged conspiracy theorists, and thrill-seekers, who follow you around!

I'm fishing for ideas to utilize this. Characters are all starting out in the same therapy group (Temple of Behldamh, Salis Freeport) and this particular one is ostensibly trying to deal with his kleptomania (which is real). However, he's really trying to find out if it's safe to discuss all the weird shit that keeps happening and no one ever believes - he's started wondering if he really is crazy. Fortunately, (or perhaps not) for him, he's not crazy - the stuff really does happen. . .