Fantaseum, A Creative Communities Alliance
1 rating since posting on Thursday, July 10, 2008
Overall Rating based on 1 rating |
||
|
|
||
|
This actually consists of 3 separate sites on which you can find many of the same people. (I'm there and other gaming sites as Snargash Moonclaw.) All of them are friendly, helpful, thoughtful and most of all, exceptionally useful and informative. Little in the way of egos, pissing contests, and still less, flamewars among the members - those just beginning are as welcome, respected, valued and listened to (i.e., hugely and effectively encouraged) as those with years of (even professional) experience in the areas of interest the sites focus on. All are guildhalls chartered by the gods of Geek Heaven (which means, among other things, there are no dues for membership, only benefits) and I simply can't recommend them highly enough. And no, I am not part of the admin, etc. of any of them. These days I have a browser tab constantly open to The Campaign Builder's Guild, ( www.thecbg.org/ ). "The Campaign Builders' Guild (CBG) is your one-stop source for information and communities centered around building and creating campaign settings and worlds for role playing games. World and campaign building is a craft, an art, and goes far beyond simply creating locales, NPCs, and adventure locations. At the CBG, we will help you achieve a mastery of this art, either through reviewing your campaign setting, critiquing your adventure, or simply basking in the wonder of your campaign world." The members are helpful, thoughtful, creative and many bring decades of experience to the forums. The site also hosts a wiki in which many of us share our settings in a comprehensive manner (while you'll find portions, especially WiP, scattered throughout the forums for discussion and feedback) - my own is Panisadore (I'm listed in the wiki as SillyFaerie). Some also run PbP games set in their worlds through the forums. Closely related (and sometimes overlapping a little) is ( www.plotstorming.com/ ) "PlotStorming.com - A site dedicated to writers, role playing gamers, and fans who enjoy any genre of fiction." Setting material, adventures, and fiction in general is shared and thoughtfully critiqued here (and they offer Story Hooks of the Day and frequent short story contests) - one of the friendliest and most *constructive* writer's groups/forums/sites on the web. Finally, the most specifically and technically focused, ( www.cartographersguild.com/ ) "Cartographers'Guild.com - A community for cartography enthusiasts. Professional cartographers and hobbyists alike dwell here, so if you need advice on a map, this is the place to go." Their blurb doesn't scratch the surface of this goldmine nor does the site's intro, "The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge. Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand. The Cartographers' Guild is a friendly, open community, welcoming to everyone who pursues cartographic excellence. We love to share our maps, to help one another improve our maps, and to pool our mapping resources." Full reviews, comparisons, sources for downloading or purchasing, as well as awesome, in-depth and comprehensive tutorials in actually *using* virtually any mapping program available as freeware, shareware or market purchase as well as creating and/or modifying and enhancing maps with many other useful graphics programs such as Photoshop and The Gimp. Finally, outside of the alliance but frequented by many members a new site worth the visit is Gnome Stew , The Game Mastering Blog, ( www.gnomestew.com/ ) "a blog about tabletop RPG game mastering, written by GMs, for GMs. We think about GMing in every waking moment (okay, GMing and hot, hot gnome sex meals), so we figured we’d put our obsession to good use. Here on the Stew, it’s all game mastering, all the time, from system-neutral GMing advice and ideas to system-specific suggestions to help make running your games easier and more fun. The Gnomes" Have Fun, Play Well, Amergin O'Kai -  Prentice
,
posted 07/10/08
|
Fantaseum, A Creative Communities Alliance was recommended for:
- Tribe: Glamour Bomb
- Tribe: steampunk
- Tribe: D&D
- Tribe: GrimJava's Flesh & Blood Tribe
- Tribe: Faerie Kingdom
- Tribe: PDX Fae