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Building A Campaign Website
A common trend in modern gaming is the use of websites, dedicated entirely to a single campaign or campaign world, designed for use by a single group. This allows players to access information wherever they are, without necessitating a Narrator’s presence. Last year, I implemented such a website for my own campaign. Here are some of the things I learned:
Go Wiki. I first built the website using a standard Content Management System, and I regret it. Wiki systems allow players to edit the information themselves, while saving old versions in case information turns out to be incorrect. Wiki also allows for a Talk section, built right in and connected to each page, allowing for easy player discussion.
Make the players help. As the ones who will benefit the most from the website, players have a built in incentive to contribute. If they need more, promise your players that you will review their notes and help them by pointing out anything they missed - something players will almost always want.
Appearances are… very little. This site is for you, and your playing group. Very likely, this is a grand total of less than ten people. Unless you are a graphic designer or a web programmer, you’re better off using a pre-built theme, as long as the interface is usable, your players will be happy.
Provide an OOC Section. Your players ARE going to talk about the game Out-of-Character. Very likely, they will draw parallels to mythology from Earth’s own history, compare events to other games, movies, novels, and scenarios.
Link Outside the Site. If you have page dedicated the incarnation of Tiamat in your game, it may be a good idea to put a link on that page to the Wikipedia entry on Tiamat, or any other relevant online source you can find.
Have you picked up any tips, tricks, or advice for building and using a campaign website? Share them in comments.
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3 Responses to “Building A Campaign Website”
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What wiki software / website did you use in the past? I’ve never managed a wiki.
Originally, I used Geeklog as a Content Management System (CMS.) After realizing the problems that went along with this, I switched to the wiki system and used TikiWiki. This proved simple to install and manage, allowing me to add content right away. If you use cPanel or anything similar to manage your server, you may have access to “Fantastico” which can install TikiWiki (as well as the similar PHPWiki) automatically for you.
My Game notes are on TiddlyWiki but I don’t publish them on the web because they are a walking copyright infringement.
As for a group shared space, Google Groups works absolute wonders. It’s a great space to store House rules and Campaign critical info and it holds all players messages since it has it’s own email address.