How best to handle Game Templates and Handouts?

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May 30, 2025 1:36 pm
Chalrytharendir says:
This is what I'm talking about. I'd put that stuff in a playerSheet, so it's available for everyone under the quick reply box with an easy click. You have control of it but they can see it.
Yeah, same page. I use these all the time and adore them -- I just wish they were a little easier to set up -- many, many people don't know about them, or know how to set them up.
May 30, 2025 1:54 pm
Lots of responses here and it looks like Didz is crafting a layout to work for their style so I will just share my own preferences and experience as a GM.

Before the Game: Game concept & creation: make sure I know what I want and then make sure this is expressed clearly as I create the game. I always start it private so I can work on this until it is ready for general use (likely failing as I am an engineer and not a communications/marketing/sales type. You know those who can interact with others and somehow ensure everyone is on the same page).

Game Setup
[ +- ] GAME DETAILS:
[ +- ] Game Forum Setup:
[ +- ] Sheets
Gamer's Tavern :
Post a recruitment thread. The Game Details will be shown on the first post if it is linked so no need to duplicate work. You can add more details to ensure players know what they are signing up for.
May 31, 2025 11:57 am
TheGenerator says:
[quote="Didz"]I don't think there is one. Even if there was, every GM has their own style anyway. I'm sure you can figure out what works for you and your players :)
This isn't your first rodeo, from what I gather in your posts.
I do get that and in many respects, I can see the advantage of having a set of tools that allows you to build a site that works the way you want it to work. The problem I have is working out which tools to use for which tasks. I know exactly what I want to achieve, but I have no idea how to achieve it. I was hoping that there might be some sort of GM guide that would talk me through the process and tell me what tools to use to replicate it.

Looking at how other GMs have set their games up might help, as long as I can work out how they did it.

So, for example:
[ +- ] Player Introduction Form
Last edited May 31, 2025 12:06 pm
May 31, 2025 12:23 pm
Psybermagi says:
Lots of responses here and it looks like Didz is crafting a layout to work for their style so I will just share my own preferences and experience as a GM.
Thanks for taking the time to put that together for me.

I'm not going to pretend I've done anything more than skim through it at this stage, but it looks as though it contains a lot of useful ideas and I will go through it in a lot more detail later.

Can I come back to you with questions?

For Example:
Quote:
TOP LEVEL: At the top and not in a sub-forum. This is helpful for navigation in the game as when you are viewing a thread the footer menu at the bottom of the page adds the "Threads" menu for quick access to other thread of the same level and Forums at that level as well.
I'm assuming this is Game Management Folders, like your 'Wiki', rather than the Session Logs themselves.

The Session Logs, I'm assuming, will have a natural order created by the date and time the players created their posts. There is nothing special about a Session Log I assume other than it allows dice to be rolled?
May 31, 2025 12:39 pm
FlyingSucculent says:
^^ Snippets are very useful for repeated stuff! I use them to post my character's HP for other players to see, for example. It can also help if you use repeated BBcode formatting for specific things (like coloured underlined text for names of places, for example), as they can contain BBcode to quickly insert into the post.
I love snippets for bad-guy health!
[ +- ] My HP Snippets
[ +- ] What They Look Like
May 31, 2025 9:28 pm
Legendary_Sidekick says:
FlyingSucculent says:
^^ Snippets are very useful for repeated stuff! I use them to post my character's HP for other players to see, for example. It can also help if you use repeated BBcode formatting for specific things (like coloured underlined text for names of places, for example), as they can contain BBcode to quickly insert into the post.
I love snippets for bad-guy health!
[ +- ] My HP Snippets
[ +- ] What They Look Like
I wondered about Snippets. I noticed that Adam mentions them in his BBCode Guide thread and they also got a mention in one of the videos I watched. But I hadn't really grasped what they were for.

Would snippets make it easier for a new players to copy the Player Introduction Form into a new post on the Player introduction forum?

What I used to do was PM a blank copy of the form to the prospective player, and then they filled it in and posted it in Player Introduction Forum.
Last edited May 31, 2025 9:33 pm
May 31, 2025 9:37 pm
Didz says:


Would snippets make it easier for a new players to copy the Player Introduction Form into a new post on the Player introduction forum?

What I used to do was PM a blank copy of the form to the prospective player, and then they filled it in and posted it in Player Introduction Forum.
The easiest for them would be for you to post a clean form and they could just click Quote then update it. If they're fancy they could remove the quote tags first. One button.
May 31, 2025 10:20 pm
Didz says:
Quote:
TOP LEVEL: At the top and not in a sub-forum. This is helpful for navigation in the game as when you are viewing a thread the footer menu at the bottom of the page adds the "Threads" menu for quick access to other thread of the same level and Forums at that level as well.
I'm assuming this is Game Management Folders, like your 'Wiki', rather than the Session Logs themselves.

The Session Logs, I'm assuming, will have a natural order created by the date and time the players created their posts. There is nothing special about a Session Log I assume other than it allows dice to be rolled?
I just like to keep current active game scene at the top level, the hope page for the game, as stated for ease of navigation among other reasons. Once you play around with your layout and start using it you will get a better sense of what you like and want to keep/change. I am sent you an invite to my Tiny Intro game just so you can look it over. That game is actually for multiple concurrent stories so has a different layout than an single party layout
I will often put things like Welcome Message, House Rules, and other helpful player information onto my Player Handout as snippets. Then if something comes up, like I think a player need a reminder, I can just post with a couple clicks.
Last edited May 31, 2025 10:20 pm
Jun 1, 2025 1:19 am
Psybermagi says:
I just like to keep current active game scene at the top level, the hope page for the game, as stated for ease of navigation among other reasons. Once you play around with your layout and start using it you will get a better sense of what you like and want to keep/change. I am sent you an invite to my Tiny Intro game just so you can look it over. That game is actually for multiple concurrent stories so has a different layout than an single party layout
Ah! Ok! that explains it,

My players are used to the top down chronology, although there was a button that scrolled them down to the last post.
Quote:
I will often put things like Welcome Message, House Rules, and other helpful player information onto my Player Handout as snippets. Then if something comes up, like I think a player need a reminder, I can just post with a couple clicks.
I've started put these in my 'Campaign Wiki', but I started by putting them in 'Spoilers', and now I'm having second thoughts.

I find the spoilers work perfectly until you open the 'Campaign Wiki' for editing, and then it's just a crazy mess of BBcode that's really hard to fathom. So, I'm considering switching back to my original idea of using nested sub-folders for each category.
Last edited June 1, 2025 1:21 am
Jun 1, 2025 2:16 am
Forums are regret for large amounts of data. If you make any charter sheet to large it does down load times
You can put categories links in the handout
Last edited June 1, 2025 2:18 am
Jun 1, 2025 6:56 am
Didz says:
I wondered about Snippets. I noticed that Adam mentions them in his BBCode Guide thread and they also got a mention in one of the videos I watched. But I hadn't really grasped what they were for.

Would snippets make it easier for a new players to copy the Player Introduction Form into a new post on the Player introduction forum?

What I used to do was PM a blank copy of the form to the prospective player, and then they filled it in and posted it in Player Introduction Forum.
They're probably not the best for an introduction form as your players will only use it once each. (Although they certainly can be used for it.)
But they can be very helpful if you repeatedly use special formatting. Like posting as NPCs, for example! If you make a snippet for each NPC tag, you can just choose them from a dropdown and save yourself time of copy-pasting the tags and the avatar link each time.
They're basically just for stuff you'd like to be able to quickly insert into posts during game. :D
Last edited June 1, 2025 6:57 am
Jun 1, 2025 10:49 am
I had a go at creating my 'Player Introduction Form' yesterday, and it didn't work out too well. I thought I'd managed to break the system as the entire thread locked up, and I ended up with a 504 Error. However, Keleth has sorted it out this morning and deleted the six posts that were generated. He tells me it wasn't my fault, just a glitch. but I'm still worried I was doing it wrong.

All I am trying to do is create a form template that asks new players some basic questions and then stores the answers for future reference by myself and the rest of the player group.
[ +- ] "List of Player Introduction Questions.
I'm wondering whether this form template has to be treated like a Character Sheet Template with a list of input fields that the player just fills in before posting. I tried creating this in a Sticky Post at the top of the 'Player Introduction' thread but ended up getting a 504 error as noted above.

How would you do it?
Jun 1, 2025 11:51 am
I feel like this a thing where you number the questions 1 to 12, and just ask on a dedicated thread.

Though question 2 is kinda tricky. Not everyone knows about the [Private= function. Maybe a (Feel free to PM me the answer to #2.)? (I personally prefer to only contact through GP, so I’m not the best person to suggest how to handle that.)
Jun 1, 2025 1:06 pm
If you want this on a character sheetit will hand to be created by the player the updated by you. Players can only edit sheets created by themselves while DM can edit sheets in their games. You can create a custom chargers sheet and put the wearing in a spoiler on the sheet along with instructions how to answer. Answers could be put in form fields or put questions and answers in an abilities block

Or, as suggested, just have a thread that all players respond to. Don't over complicate the process.
Jun 1, 2025 2:28 pm
Legendary_Sidekick says:
I feel like this a thing where you number the questions 1 to 12, and just ask on a dedicated thread.

Though question 2 is kinda tricky. Not everyone knows about the [Private= function. Maybe a (Feel free to PM me the answer to #2.)? (I personally prefer to only contact through GP, so I’m not the best person to suggest how to handle that.)
I was hoping there might be a sort of 'Personal Message' option somewhere that allowed information to be posted that could only be read by a named individual.

What we actually did on TK was use the 'Personal Message' system and simply note on the players 'Player Introduction Form' that the contact information was on a PM. So, I was reminded where to look.
Quote:
I feel like this a thing where you number the questions 1 to 12, and just ask on a dedicated thread.
Could do that, but given the ordered list feature on here is bit quirky it probably wouldn't be that much simpler.
[ +- ] Spoiler
The advantage of the form is that it imposes a standard structure and layout on the answers, which, when dealing with a long list of player introductions, actually makes it easier to find the information you are looking for. I'm sure it must be possible I'm just not sure of the best way to do it on GP.
Psybermagi says:
If you want this on a character sheetit will hand to be created by the player the updated by you. Players can only edit sheets created by themselves while DM can edit sheets in their games. You can create a custom chargers sheet and put the wearing in a spoiler on the sheet along with instructions how to answer. Answers could be put in form fields or put questions and answers in an abilities block

Or, as suggested, just have a thread that all players respond to. Don't over complicate the process.
This is what I wasn't sure about.

I tried to create the form as a template in the sticky post at the top of the Player Introduction thread, and it seemed to work until i tried to save the post then I got a 504 Error and the thread got stuck.

So, I'm thinking perhaps the answer is to use a dummy character sheet that the players can be linked and fill out before posting the completed sheet in the Player Information thread. So, in effect, it would be like every player posting a completed character sheet in the Player Introduction thread, except that it would contain their own information instead of that for their character.
Last edited June 1, 2025 2:49 pm
Jun 1, 2025 4:22 pm
Fyi, olist isn't a tag. The syntax for the new ordered list tag (starting at 1) is:
[list=1]
[*]
[*]
[*]
[/list]
[ +- ] Example
Jun 1, 2025 6:41 pm
Chalrytharendir says:
Fyi, olist isn't a tag. The syntax for the new ordered list tag (starting at 1) is:
[list=1]
[*]
[*]
[*]
[/list]
[ +- ] Example
Ok! Thanks. Different to the Steam syntax then.
Jun 1, 2025 7:43 pm
Legendary_Sidekick says:
... Not everyone knows about the [Private= function. Maybe a (Feel free to PM me the answer to #2.)? (I personally prefer to only contact through GP, so I’m not the best person to suggest how to handle that.)
Didz says:

I was hoping there might be a sort of 'Personal Message' option somewhere that allowed information to be posted that could only be read by a named individual.

What we actually did on TK was use the 'Personal Message' system and simply note on the players 'Player Introduction Form' that the contact information was on a PM. So, I was reminded where to look.
Other than using Note and Private blocks, which are private to an extent in that only addressed recipients, GM within a game, and site Moderators are able to view the contents, there are direct Private messages to players. Between these 3 options most people are happy. Beyond that you can take it outside of GP.

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