What Do People Actually Want To See?
Posted by Keith Baker in UncategorizedJun 22nd, 2010 | 19 responsesAnother topic… I’ve always wanted to do more with this website, but never had the time. I’m determined to do more this year. I’m not sure where I will find the time, but perhaps if I stop posting fifty page rants on the Blood of Vol and the Church of the Silver Flame every time they are mentioned on the internet, I can focus that energy here. With that said, my time is very limited. So the question is what is actually going to be interesting or useful to people. Here’s a few things I’ve thought about; which of these sound worthwhile? Which don’t?
Travelogues. This all started with the idea of DMing around the world. Do people want to hear stories of how this went? And if so, what do you want to hear? About the place? The people? The adventure itself?
How I Roll… Dice. Gaming material. Options for this include house rules, general theory, or concrete stuff (monsters, etc). The latter would generally come from adventures I’ve been running, because I don’t have time to generate a lot of random bonus stuff.
Eberron Stuff. This is, of course, the Big Gray Area, as I can’t create official Eberron material. However, I’m assuming that I can post something on my website that I’d post on any other message board… so at least have one central place to find those rants on the Silver Flame, the Blood of Vol, and such instead of having them scattered all over the Webinet.
A Forum. It’s been suggested that I stick a forum on the site. Would anyone use it if I did?
Podcasts. Some people have asked for podcasts. Is this interesting? What of? RPGs? Something else?
Before I get anyone’s hopes up too high, I have to emphasize that these are all things I’d LIKE to do… but that doesn’t mean I have the time to do them. The life of the freelance writer has many wonderful aspects, but it’s generally a low-pay-and-long-hours thing. When your hobby becomes the thing you do for a living, it means you have less time to do it as a hobby. So all of these are interesting – but I don’t know if you’d like to see something completely different. Here’s your chance to let me know.
19 Responses to “What Do People Actually Want To See?”
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Yes please to gaming material and eberron stuff. Anything from the mind of Baker.
Travelogues.
As one of the people you stayed with, I would LOVE to see this. I would love to see what people did for your adventure. I would also love to hear about other gamers.
How I Roll… Dice. Gaming material. Options for this include house rules, general theory, or concrete stuff.
This is a definite thing I would like to see. All of those areas. Discussing gaming theory with you, was a real treat. You changed the way I look at game design. More of that would be great, not to mention fun other gaming additions.
Eberron Stuff.
Always glad to see more Eberron stuff, especially from THE MAN.
A Forum.
I would say skip this. I know that WordPress has an easy to set up forum, though, if you decide to do it. We use it for our gaming group’s WP site.
Podcasts.
If you can produce enough content, regularly enough. If you can just get guest slots on other podcasts, that would be cool.
Stuff I’d like to see:
1. Eberron stuff. Obviously this is what most everyone knows you for, and the one thing every one of your fans has in common. Of course not being able to create new official Eberron material is certainly limiting. A forum here would help facilitate a conversation about Eberron, just like the forums on wotc and elsewhere that are a great source of inspiration.
2. Everything else. The other ideas you mentioned also sound really awesome and I’d read about your travels, about gaming theory, about adventures themselves. Anytime you post stuff about your game, such as lycanthropic skill challenges, or the shades of villainy of Cardinal Krozen, I’m always very interested.
Echoing: Travel log, travel log, travel log…
Eberron stuff: It’s great. Love to read your posts at wizards. It could be cool if you just pointed to the threads you post, like a “Keith Baker Weekly Report”. Many of then are more insightful and interesting than Dragon articles. If you just did that, there is no need to even produce anything specific. I know some people that love to read you, but doesn’t know these weird habits of talking with the common gammer
Dice rolling: Not only it’s great to know how are your adventures and your gamming experience, but how it meshes with the hosts you have been with.
Forum: Don’t think it’s necessary. There are many great communities around the webs to talk about gamming, rpg or eberron, and you are a frequent poster in then. We could just go over those.
Podcast: The point here is quality. I’m not a fan particularly, but I can see the appeal. If you like to talk and can get someone to help you with the technical difficulties, go for it.
I’m not sold on a podcast myself. I’ve enjoyed participating in other people’s podcasts, but I don’t know that I need one of my own.
The “Keith Baker News Round-Up” is a very interesting idea, Daniel. To some degree, what I’ve been thinking is the reverse. A problem I’ve had is that I end up answering the same questions again and again, because posts on a forum eventually get buried and even I can’t find them. The Mark of Death, the Blood of Vol, Dragonmarks in 4E, the Silver Flame… I’ve written the same four messages four or five times each. Now, I’m not saying I want to give up discussing things on boards, because the point of a forum is that it’s a chance to DISCUSS those things, not simply listen to what I have to say. But at the same time, I wouldn’t mind having my thoughts on these topics in one central location where people can find them.
That’s also the temptation of putting up a forum. There’s a lot of boards out there. I can’t cover them all, and I know the audiences don’t overlap; some people shun WotC, while for others it’s all that they know. *I* don’t have time to monitor them all, and sometimes I find a thread where someone said “I wish Keith would comment” – 2 months ago. So the point of doing a forum would be “If you want Keith’s opinion, here’s a central place where you’ve got a better place of getting it.” But given that there are a lot of forums out there, one more may not be the answer. Beyond that, I LIKE supporting Eberron discussions on other boards, because among other things, it’s good for the setting. Continued activity on the WotC Eberron boards is the sort of thing that may convince WotC it’s worth continuing to produce Eberron material. If I pulled everyone from there, I’d actually be hurting the setting.
Whatever I do, the idea of pointing to my longer posts in a little weekly roundup seems like a good idea. Thanks.
Well, you could also keep a FAQ, as well. You could post your thoughts on a topic, as well as links to discussions about the topic.
As you say, a forum is catch 22.
Hey Keith,
First of all, big fan of Eberron. Fell in love with it during the first release and have loved it ever since. Every major campaign I have run since has been Eberron.
I love the idea of a “News Round Up” included Posts, Blogs or general stuff you like. But would also love more Eberron stuff (obviously), your ideas for cool adventure hooks or ways to explore the setting, that sort of thing would be very cool.
But the Travel Log sounds great too, I love to read travel stories and your adventures sound really interesting.
~Mark
I’d love to see a travelogue. Even if it was brief, an anecdote or two about the people you stayed with and how the game you ran for them was unique.
I also think it makes sense to have a “Keith’s Personal Take on Eberron” section of the site, so that you can explain your views on the Silver Flame or the Blood of Vol or the feyspires or whatever else, and then just link to it as part of whatever commentary you make on various sites.
Travelogues wRifould be interesting. We heard a bit about your previous experiences when you were here, but would definitely enjoy hearing more.
How I Roll… Dice. – Yes. Having played with you and listened to your many theories and opinions, yes. I’d expound, but I think “Yes.” pretty much covers it.
Eberron Stuff – I know that I personally consider you *the* authority on Eberron, and I’m sure most of the other people reading would agree. And I could use more ideas for my next Eberron game.
Forum sounds cool. I have a tendency to participate in them for a while and ignore them, but assuming it was active enough I’d probably stick around.
The podcast would depend largely on how it was done. I’ve found that they’re generally a lot more interesting with two people than one. But assuming you did one, I’d more than likely listen to it.
I replied to this via Twitter, but I think with Worlds closing down, there will be no forum where most of the Eberron authors congregate to answer questions, talk about their new books, etc. So there is definitely a void to fill in that respect, and having forums for that sort of interaction here would be fitting, IMO.
Anything Eberron related is great
Liked others posts and agree with many of them. Here is my opinion:
Travelogues: This is not really getting me excited but it will probably be interesting and I would read it.
How I Roll… Dice: Being a D&D geek I eat up this stuff. It would be great.
Eberron Stuff.: The other Eberron sites are not as active as they were a couple years ago. With the Eberron stuff on your site it would defiantly be the official, unofficial site (i.e. ditto what others said).
I would especially like to see modules past Seekers of the Ashen Crown posted so I do not need to write my own when I finish it.
A Forum.: I have friended you on WOC’s D&D community and check my page just about every day to catch up with your comments on the boards. I would hate to see you spend less time on that.
Podcasts.: I love podcasts. I have listened to most podcasts you were on and enjoyed them. The more you do the better. However, I suggested to Jason at Diagonally Through the Woods (DTW) that it may benefit you both if you joined them once a month for the podcast. That way you would have a monthly podcast to post on your site for your fans and DTW will have more content. Currently Jason’s partner Matt is busy with personal and family matters so they have not been able to get together. Additionally, if you did the show with Jason, you would not need to bother with the production or editing of the show.
Address of DTW: http://www.runningdtw.com/
I certainly would join in on a forum, Keith. Although you shouldn’t stop haunting the WotC boards, yes, I’d say anytime one of the hot topics springs up AGAIN (Blood of Vol, Silver Flame, etc.), you should try hard to not restate your opinion again but rather redirect them here, where your official reply remains for all time.
And to echo Marcy’s thoughts, this would at least be one possible location to talk about the novels; not just yours, but any Eberron novels. They only get passing mention on the WotC boards anyway.
Worth a shot, is what I say.
Having been warned by Benensky that he tossed the podcasting with the DTW crew idea out, I figured I’d better scamper on over here and say that if Keith wanted to, and we could work out a time, I would be far more than willing to do some podcasting with him. Then toss it out onto the interwebs for one and all.
A lot can be done with little effort if you create a community to keep the kettle warm. Really depends on what you want to do…
How about a deep and engaging “Open Source” D&D Campaign Setting? I bet people would sign up behind you.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone! The next few days are a little hectic for me as I work to wrap up deadlines before heading back to the USA – and then I’ll have jet-lag and just-got-back-from-a-month-abroad hassles, I’m sure. However, I hope to make some real progress here in the next few days. And Soren, that is something I’ve been thinking about… but more on that in days to come.
first… sorry for the sucky english… Spanish is my first language.
I second Eberron stuff: it`s really my favorite campaign setting, and would love some “oficial” metaplot… but I know that`s not possible…
Also, a forum is a great idea, and I think a lot of people use it.
Hi there Keith. I’ve been keeping up with your blog and just thought I’d chime in with some comments and suggestion.
First: a forum. I’m not sure about this to be honest. Reasons?
1. Would it generate enough traffic- both for this site and in its own terms, to be worth the effort?
2. Do you really want to split your existing forum time, or to transfer it all here?
3. Underlining both the above, don’t forget the additional admin overheads a forum must bring; I think you would need a volunteer or two for this.
That said, I can understand your reasoning on this. The question is whether or not what you do here can deliver the goods you’re after.
On a different note, I do have an idea for how you could generate game-related content from your travels.
You must be taking quite a lot of photos, yes? And some of them must be of places- exotic or otherwise, which would be just ideal for locations in an RPG? So why not post up a selection of these pictures complete with a short passage of ‘on-the-spot’ colour text and links to webpages giving a bit of history of the places? Content like this would both tell the story of your travels and provide usable content for your readers. Hope this helps.
My best wishes to you and yours,
John
Providing links to some of your longer write-ups, etc. would be much appreciated!
Honestly, I head to your website to see “Keith stuff,” for lack of a better term. What is Keith Stuff? Pretty much anything written by you (Eberron stuff especially included!), or anything that provides some insight into you as a person (I like trying to wrap my head around interesting people).