Blog as Campaign Tool

quatzl · Post by **quatzl** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:30 pm

Hi everyone,

I am starting a campaign this weekend with my local gaming group and was contemplating using one of the free blog services as a means to communicate to my players and as a campaign journal.

I know some of you folks keep a blog and are familiar with them. I on the otherhand have no first hand knowledge of using a blog other than reading them.

What do you think of the idea as using a blog solely as DM tool? Are there any major differences between the blog sites?

Thanks for your help, folks.

Post by **Falconer** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 12:14 am

I use a Yahoo! Group. My experience is most players won't trouble to read something unless it comes into their inbox. Regards.

Flambeaux · Post by **Flambeaux** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 8:51 am

Also, be wary as some of the free blog services assert that they own whatever you publish using their software. If you're concerned about IP, it just seems the safer course of action, from my POV, to read the EULA and decide accordingly.

An ounce of prevention and all that.

But, for the record, IANAL.

SirAllen · Post by **SirAllen** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 11:02 am

I set up a phpBB3 forum on one of my websites. Certainly needs a tiny bit of knowhow and a tiny bit of monetary output, but it's much clearer for storing house rules, having discussions of strategy, etc.

Random · Post by **Random** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 12:10 pm

SirAllen wrote:I set up a phpBB3 forum on one of my websites. Certainly needs a tiny bit of knowhow and a tiny bit of monetary output, but it's much clearer for storing house rules, having discussions of strategy, etc.

I would go this route if possible (which would require a server with php and mysql), although a blog would be fine since your players could just subscribe to it and get any updates immediately the next time they are at their computers (although you should read all the fine print as was mentioned).

Casey777 · Post by **Casey777** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 11:36 pm

It's ok if you have regular updates and style. I find interaction rather limited, but then I prefer threaded often detail discussions, which blog are not good at IMX. And I need to edit far too much.

As to which blog is best really it comes down to who you want to network with. Livejournal likely still has the biggest pool, blogspot's tied with google, the rest often are better to tinker with but require more knowledge / access to SQL / PHP etc..

If you want interaction and revision I suggest a forum.

If you want organization and perhaps revision a wiki may work better instead. Esp. for collaborative work, though make sure to set security so not just anybody can replace your entire wiki with spam ads!

There are free forum and wiki setups or if you do server stuff there's free stuff for that too.

http://free-forums.org/
http://pbwiki.com/
is just the tip of the iceberg. Both are somewhat limited but pretty easy to set up and use & may be enough for your needs.

Finally mailing lists are a decent halfway compromise, esp. something like Yahoo Groups or Google Groups which allow uploading of files and images and email or online posting. MSN Groups was ok (though terrible at editing) but is switching to the Net 2.0 thingee Multiply which doesn't seem to offer the same services yet.

There *are* some RPG / campaign blog rolls or creation sites.

http://rpgbloggers.com/
http://www.epicwords.com/
http://www.guildportal.com/

quatzl · Post by **quatzl** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 9:19 am

Thanks everyone for your responses. I forgot about Yahoo Groups, and after looking at it, I think I will go that route. It is a nice mix of privacy, media sharing, and a mailing list.

Casey777, thanks for those links. I am technically inclined, and like to learn about what's out there.