Obsidian Portal - Campaign websites for Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop RPGs

JavaScript is currently disabled. Obsidian Portal has a lot of really cool features that use JavaScript. You should check them out. We think you'll have a much more enjoyable experience.

Updates galore

April 18, 2008 04:06

There have been numerous updates over the past two weeks, we just never got around to mentioning them in the news until now.

First and foremost are the “Latest Updates” displays you’ll see everywhere. We now track and display much of the activity going on for the site. We’re still tweaking to find the right mixture of updates. Most of the updates have associated RSS feeds, and eventually they all will. Now, it’s very easy to keep track of what’s going on with your friends and your favorite campaigns.

Second, we’ve added a WYSIWYG editor to many of the fields (like wiki and adventure log entries) that has nice formatting controls (buttons and such) to help you make everything look clean and neat. Edit your profile and select the WYSIWYG editor box. WARNING!! This should be a campaign-wide decision since it works terribly if some of your players use it and some don’t. Read more in the forums.

Third, we’ve added campaign-wide comments. Often, you want to discuss the campaign as a whole, rather than a particular adventure log entry. Now, simply click on the comments tab, and speak your mind. We’re looking for a better way to integrate this, but we wanted to get it rolled out ASAP.

Fourth, we’ve added a special tag you can insert into your Adventure Log posts to make them automatically shrink to a teaser for the main blog view, with a link to the full post. Learn how to do it from the forum post.

Fifth, we’ve updated the search engine so hopefully the search will run much faster and have better search results.

Sixth, we’ve updated the layout for your friends page to be a little cleaner (profile layout updates coming soon).

Finally, for all the techies, we have started supporting microformats, specifically hCard and XFN. For the non-techies, don’t worry about it too much. At this stage, it’s mostly just a neat toy to play with.

Also, in an effort to keep the Obsidian Portal community connected even more we’ve created both a Facebook Group as well as a MySpace Profile. They’re pretty basic right now, but will be getting major updates of the next couple of weeks.

There are a lot of great campaigns out there, so keep the updates coming. Oh,and don’t forget to link to your campaign from your other sites (and forum sigs)!

Featured Campaign

A Deadly Affair

For the past few months, IceBob and his group have been weaving a tangled web of intrigue in the game, A Deadly Affair. Unlike the traditional D&D game that is centered more on combat, A Deadly Affair is a highly social game in which the player characters navigate the various twists and turns of the political arena. IceBob has managed to create a world that has the fantasy flavor of D&D without disabling rich and involved character interactions. The world of A Deadly Affair is a complex one- from the ancient kingdom of Leistos to the shadowy plane known only as The Dreaming, there is plenty of mystery for the players to uncover, and that’s even before you take the goals and ambitions of his sizable cast of NPCs into account!

Additionally, there are eight different organizations from which the players can choose, a new player race take on the classic D&D troll, and pages of history in the Party Wiki. But it isn’t just all content- IceBob and his players have also mutually benefited from their time on Obsidian Portal. While IceBob manages to keep his page updated regularly with the help of his players, they enjoy a regular reward of bonus experience for their efforts. So, all of you DMs out there might want to follow his example, and put your players to work for you!

Featured Theme

Memory Steel

To the chagrin of rogues and assassins everywhere, there are only so many (comfortable) places one can hide a weapon on their person—a fact that has no doubt foiled the murderous intentions of many a cutthroat. However, a memory steel weapon can really be a boon in situations in which you may not be able to run around armed to the teeth. Memory steel is a remarkable material, allowing a character to always keep a weapon hidden away for those times when they wish to get in a little secret backstabbing without advertising their desire for blood-lust… or whatever it is that might motivate your character. It’s also a nifty material for crafting clandestine tools.

Memory steel is not only a rogue’s best friend, but it can also be a lot of fun. Try and come up with some fun new shapes for it—a bracelet that turns into a dagger, a brooch that turns into a broadsword, or a lawn jockey that turns into a buckler. Not only is it inventive, but it means your players can finally brag about having a +3 vorpal flaming frying pan tucked away in their bag of holding!