Group on Wotc site

[Arawn76]

Hi loyal BR'ers,

Just an invite to come join the BR group on the new Wotc site

Birthright Unconquered (http://community.wizards.com/birthrightunconquered)

Hopefully I can convince you fans of the setting from old to new edition to come along and post reviews, blogs, conversions and add ons there for all editions. I'd really like to show the community over there that Birthright is more than just the last setting published by TSR. Nope, it's a vibrant world of depth and fantastic adventuring opportunity.

[AndrewTall]

Why not join us instead :confused: We're already up and running, and have the wiki, downloads, etc handy for anyone interested in the setting.

[Arawn76]

I've been reading BR.net for years, despite only recently bothering to register and my low post count :o. I've owned and been a fan of Birthright since first printing so I tend to link the site in a lot of my forum signatures.

I'm mainly trying to create a splash at the wotc beach so that we BR fans aren't forgotten or drowned out by those other fellows :mad:.

Despite claims to the contrary (by the ignorant and uneducated :p) BR is not a generic setting, but a rich and cultured one that has many unique and interesting elements & hooks.

I don't know if visible support on their site will make a difference, but I know that not making the attempt won't.

Just my two pennies on the matter.

[Birthright-L]

At 03:38 PM 9/10/2009, Arawn76 wrote:

>I don`t know if visible support on their site will make a
>difference, but I know that not making the attempt won`t.

What did you have in mind to get WotC supporting BR more?

Gary

[Rowan]

I'd like to wait and see what they do with Athas to see if I would even want WotC to revisit Birthright, frankly.

Any revisitation will entail story work and rules work. We folk are rather opinionated cusses when it comes to doing BR right, and I'd like to see a good example that WotC won't trash BR with extra classes and races, power and magic proliferation.

Athas should be a good indication.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to really be part of your new board and this one right now.

[BRadmin]

I'd like to wait and see what they do with Athas to see if I would even want WotC to revisit Birthright, frankly.

Any revisitation will entail story work and rules work. We folk are rather opinionated cusses when it comes to doing BR right, and I'd like to see a good example that WotC won't trash BR with extra classes and races, power and magic proliferation.

Athas should be a good indication.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to really be part of your new board and this one right now.

I have created one "Official" group... including wiki... posted all kind of backlinks towards here again... to avoid double work...
http://community.wizards.com/bright

[Arawn76]

Is the blog open?

The problem I had with the original site is that it was impossible to post blogs there.

I'd shut down mine and consolidate if it's open.

[Arawn76]

Ok I've shut mine down and link to yours, I don't want to split the effective fan base since the more of us in one place the better, however you should reall open the site up for others to post topics there.

[Arjan]

I thought I did..
should be ok now..

[Arawn76]

I thought I did..
should be ok now..

Your a scholar and a gent :)

[Mirviriam]

It will be interesting to track the reads the group gets for traffic over there...any chance they log ip's so we can distinguish between br.net users and new D&D players surfing?

[Arawn76]

It will be interesting to track the reads the group gets for traffic over there...any chance they log ip's so we can distinguish between br.net users and new D&D players surfing?

Would be interesting!

Not sure they would part with that info if the have it though.

[Sorontar]

Well, I'm a member now of that group (SilverFalcon), so that I can redirect people if needed and tidy-up anything that needs tidying, but it seems that Arjan has control of most matters (eg. the Birthright wiki page). I don't regularly read the WotC pages but tell me if you need some help.

As for tracing people... we certainly can put a stats counter on br.net pages like the BRCS:Main Page and this forum and trace what was the previous page people came from. If they came from the WotC page, they are probably new people. If somewhere else then they probably already have this site bookmarked (i.e. have been here before). These assumptions would remove the need to remember IPs.

Sorontar.

[Sorontar]

Addendum: Just realised you were talking about tracking at the WotC end. If you could insert a stats counter somehow, it might help, but WotC might not like it (imagine if their opposition did that to them).

Sorontar

[Arjan]

Well, I'm a member now of that group (SilverFalcon), so that I can redirect people if needed and tidy-up anything that needs tidying, but it seems that Arjan has control of most matters (eg. the Birthright wiki page). I don't regularly read the WotC pages but tell me if you need some help.

As for tracing people... we certainly can put a stats counter on br.net pages like the BRCS:Main Page and this forum and trace what was the previous page people came from. If they came from the WotC page, they are probably new people. If somewhere else then they probably already have this site bookmarked (i.e. have been here before). These assumptions would remove the need to remember IPs.

Sorontar.
I havnt really figured out what wiki engine they are using.. but it is certainly a limited version..

[Arjan]

Addendum: Just realised you were talking about tracking at the WotC end. If you could insert a stats counter somehow, it might help, but WotC might not like it (imagine if their opposition did that to them).

Sorontar

maybe it is good to have some moderators on that site as well..
arawn? do you want?

[Arawn76]

Sure we need to keep an eye on wasters ;)

I'm always floating between sites and checking out the groups so it'll be my pleasure. Thanks.

[Sorontar]

Okay, I can now do what I wanted to... tidy up links etc on the wiki page.

Do we actually want any new pages to be added to the Bright wiki (other than the Birthright one that Arjan wrote)? Do we want the wiki page merely to be a pointer to the BRwiki (and hence the br.net forum)?

If so, then there will be some more links to fix and we might want to "lock" the wiki page (if we can) once all the cleaning up is done.

Sorontar, the Quality Control and Marketing wannabe :^)

[Arawn76]

Okay, I can now do what I wanted to... tidy up links etc on the wiki page.

Do we actually want any new pages to be added to the Bright wiki (other than the Birthright one that Arjan wrote)? Do we want the wiki page merely to be a pointer to the BRwiki (and hence the br.net forum)?

If so, then there will be some more links to fix and we might want to "lock" the wiki page (if we can) once all the cleaning up is done.

Sorontar, the Quality Control and Marketing wannabe :^)

It would handy to have a few core concepts & conceits over there, people can be a little quirky about going to new sites off the bat. Anything added should be setting related and rules lite however. Mostly however linking to here seems like a good idea, I know the body of Birthright fans already here prefer the old home town just be nice to get a few more people involved.

Couldn't hurt to add a few forum sections over there to mirror this site, that way people will know what to expect and those who are non site exclusive could participate with both groups. Mirror synergy and all that.

[BRadmin]

yes, but i want to avoid double work.. or things maintained in two places.
the wiki main page is protected.. only owner/moderators can edit that... the rest is open like on BRnet

[BRadmin]

Okay, I can now do what I wanted to... tidy up links etc on the wiki page.

Do we actually want any new pages to be added to the Bright wiki (other than the Birthright one that Arjan wrote)? Do we want the wiki page merely to be a pointer to the BRwiki (and hence the br.net forum)?

If so, then there will be some more links to fix and we might want to "lock" the wiki page (if we can) once all the cleaning up is done.

Sorontar, the Quality Control and Marketing wannabe :^)

actually... our wiki has more rights then theirs... how odd it may sound..
on theirs we cannot use copyrighted material like NPC stats etc..
so "moving" the wiki to wotc is just a waste of time..

[Arawn76]

No point in moving the Wiki when it's already set up here. Links are the way forward, but I do think it's a good idea to add one or two general descriptive topics, with plenty of links back here of course ;).

What is Birthright?
Races of Cerilia?
Cultures of Cerilia? Etc..

Short on topic articles with links embedded to back here for more info. After that I agree with Sorontar, lock the wiki.

[Sorontar]

Yep. The BRwiki presumes a certain degree of familiarity with Birthright. We just need the intro bits for the Bright wiki. All links within these pages (other than to them) need to be directed to the BRwiki.

General Intro (back of the box type stuff)
- including its official status (designed for AD&D, fans produced the BRCS for 3.5, 4eBRCS "being designed")

Who and What
- races and cultures
- monsters and mutants (awn/ehrsheghlien)
- classes

Regency intro
- holdings, provinces, domains
- actions, regency, events

Sorontar

[Sorontar]

Note that there is also http://community.wizards.com/birthright4e of which Arawn is a member. They seem to have been established solely from a 4e point-of-view but are yet to get anywhere (started in August). Should we try and rope links in from them?

Sorontar.

[Mirviriam]

Why lock the wiki down more? There was an article released by one of the wikipedia guys who stated that over the last few years the non-power users have been doing more work than the power users. This would basically be our goal too?

[Sorontar]

The idea is that the major pages on any wiki are the ones that are seen first by newcomers. If vandals, trolls and spammers can get in, those pages can be ruined. "Locking" the pages prevents that. Those pages also rarely need to be changed except through "official channels" i.e. with the knowledge of the mods anyway.

If the policy is that all new content should be placed on BRwiki, not Bright wiki, then we might be able to prevent any new pages being made at Bright. I don't know whether the locking can be extended that far. If that was the policy, we would have to make it clear on the intro Bright wiki pages or as a message whenever someone tries to create new pages there.

Sorontar.

[Arawn76]

Birthright 4e seems to have died the day it started sadly, if we can get the owner to link though all well and good. That said I prefer the any edition attitude of br.net, I think it serves all fans of Birthright to participate with each other regardless of edition, we're not as big a community as some of the other settings.

I think using Bright as an intro portal reinforces the validity of BR.net and in that mode it's important that Bright remain as clear and accurate as possible hence getting a few cover articles in place, locking the wiki and going crazy with hyperlinks.

Things like the blogs and comments section are great tools for posting random thoughts and ideas, again with links back here. I've lurked on br.net for literally years (sorry was in silent hunter mode) but know from experience a good number of Birthright fans remain woefully ignorant of the site.

I still think it's a good idea to open the forums over there a little mirroring the Realms or Eberron forums, although ideally people should be encouraged to post here, it gives that core wotc forumite base a familiar set up and allows them to interact with willing BR fans without needing to join a new site which people can be reluctant to do straight away. It'll allow the casual visitor a chance to get to know the community and hopefully get converted along the way :D.

On a side note I think it would be really good for someone who's really familiar or was involved in the 3.5 campaign conversion to post a blog about that. The process, how they feel about the outcome etc. Linked back here to where they can download it.

The same with Soudhadies domain rules. If only one out of a thousand people got interested that's one more than now.

Sorry this turned out long winded but I honestly feel the Bright Group can be a great tool if we use it right to promote and encourage awareness of the setting we all love.

[Sorontar]

Okay, I have added a teaser paragraph to the wiki page that Arjan pasted. This teaser aims to

hint to a newbie about what makes Birthright special
give links to the BRwiki about key terms


I think that the other introduction pages that we have been discussing can be listed below the teaser.

Sorontar

[Arawn76]

Cool!

I'll have a look when i leave work.

[Sorontar]

Okay, I have finished the first complete draft of a WotC Bright wiki page that is an Introduction to Birthright (http://community.wizards.com/bright/wiki/An_Introduction_to_Birthright). In the end, rather than writing separate pages on each main aspect of BR, I made them different sections of this page. The links (almost) all link back to pages in the BRwiki here.

Have a look and edit if you see fit. It is a wiki page after all. It isn't perfect and I have included a few generalised statements in order "keep things simple" for the newcomer. Hopefully people will get a good idea of why Birthright is not just a standard D&D setting.

Sorontar.

[Thelandrin]

Looks good, Sorontar!