[Namikaze]

My game is set in Seattle.  I've built a number of NPCs and organizations in the city, and I was curious if anyone was interested in trying to find a way to share our creations?  Sort of to make a meta-Seattle, so to speak.  Any interest, or suggestions on how to best handle compiling the information together?

[Michael Chandra]

Interesting one. I've seen several Google maps versions for Seattle, of which I like the one showing the district security ratings, but it's rather out of date and doesn't include every place. It'd be nice to be able to edit things in that, which then also would allow adding some stuff. And a mega-Seattle thing sounds interesting too.

Incidentally, I got a website lying around I never use with plenty of bandwidth and storage space, so if a location for a system is needed I'm available.

[Sternenwind]

How do you wanna do it?
I am sure that there are a lot of people interested in ideas, location, NPCs and fluff for Seattle.
But what do you want? Should we just dump or stuff in this thread an you sort it out? Or do you wanna have an interactive map you can just use?

[cantrip]

If you go with a blog format, it could be setup similar to Shadowtalk type postings. Use tags if they are supported to help with searching:  #fixer #barrens #streetdoc  etc.

[Namikaze]

Good question Sternenwind.  I think if we did a blog style, it would be easy to sort the characters out.  But it might be nice to imbed graphics like organization charts and such, too.  It makes me lean toward a wiki.  As of right now, I've got all my characters stored in a Google Doc, which isn't exactly efficient.  I think a wiki might be the best solution, but the tags present some really intriguing options.  I don't have a lot of experience with blogs - would a blog be capable of a hyperlink-filled organization chart?  Hell, I'm not even sure if a wiki could do that.  For example:

Black Lotus Triad
                                                      Mountain Master: Zidan
                                                                        |
               --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               |                                                        |                                                          |
Vanguard: Unknown             Deputy Mountain Master: Mistress Xiao          Incense Master: Unknown
                                                                        |
               --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               |                                                        |                                                          |
White Paper Fan: Vixen                Red Pole: Black Dog                          Straw Sandal: Unknown
                                                                        |
                                            ------------------------------------------------------
                                             |                                                              |
                       49ers: Normal Members                         Blue Lanterns: Uninitiated Members

This would be the org chart for the fictional Black Lotus Triad, who I have populated with four people (Zidan, Mistress Xiao, Black Dog, and Vixen).  Each of the four populated people would have their own page to talk about the NPC.  This would be the ideal format in my mind, as any organized crime, corporate structure, or society is going to have a hierarchy like this.  The freelance criminals, or those that are officially unaffiliated with a group would have no organization chart (naturally) but they'd each have their own information as well.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

I would strongly approve of a wiki format, Each individual should have at least one contact archetype they'd fit as, so that a GM in need of a Fixer could look at the fixer page, or whatever.  I'd actually recommend this to expand to 'worldwide' - so that when we fill up Seattle ("Oi, three hundred fixers in Seattle?  Really?!?") we could expand.

I would very strongly advise that there be one or several individuals in charge of approvals, for exactly the above reason.  There might be a hundred fragmented Seoulpa Rings in Seattle; that's what they're like.  But there are only three (or is it four?) Yakuza gumi.

I would also advise restating the 'known people', and point individuals towards the canon for them, instead of copying the information.  Don't step on the hand that feeds you, to mix a metaphor.

[Namikaze]

I would strongly approve of a wiki format, Each individual should have at least one contact archetype they'd fit as, so that a GM in need of a Fixer could look at the fixer page, or whatever.  I'd actually recommend this to expand to 'worldwide' - so that when we fill up Seattle ("Oi, three hundred fixers in Seattle?  Really?!?") we could expand.

Yeah, I think that there needs to be an oversight on this whole thing.  A group of volunteers that want to try to keep this meta-Seattle realistic, fun, and useful.  To that end, it might be good for this group of people to agree on limits for various roles in society.  How many hermetic academics can the University District support?  Maybe two or three that have contacts with the shadow community?  Whereas ID forgers there might be a dozen.  The specific numbers don't matter too much right now, but yeah I see that as a potentially huge problem later down the road.

I would also advise restating the 'known people', and point individuals towards the canon for them, instead of copying the information.  Don't step on the hand that feeds you, to mix a metaphor.

Ditto - any NPCs that are already part of canon should be untouched, and the information should remain in the book(s) where the information can be found.

[Shaidar]

I would also advise restating the 'known people', and point individuals towards the canon for them, instead of copying the information.  Don't step on the hand that feeds you, to mix a metaphor.

Ditto - any NPCs that are already part of canon should be untouched, and the information should remain in the book(s) where the information can be found.

Maybe Canon NPC's should only be the Top Dogs and the created NPC's slotted in as supporting staff for the Canon Boys.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Eww.  No.

Canon NPCs should be exactly where they are.  If that means they're the top dog, then fine - but just because Bull is a fixer that lots of people in the Ork Underground knows about, it doesn't mean he's automatically the fixer for the Underground, whether you mean 'the best', 'the most connected', or 'the most influential'.  Canon characters are interesting - not automatically the best, but who have a key position, are someone the PCs are most likely to encounter, or some other 'advantage' to the world or to the storyline at that moment for them to get the spotlight.

[Namikaze]

So I've been looking into Obsidian Portal to host the character profiles.  I don't think it'll do quite what I'd like, but maybe Michael knows of some way to do what I'm looking for on his site?

[Michael Chandra]

Not good enough in programming to figure that out, php is kinda a blind spot for me. All I can offer is a site where you got full access to the php and full control.

[Aria]

This sounds like a great project! 

I'm GMing a pbp 'living world campaign' with interlinked NPCs/PCs/Locales etc '2075' and I've got a very basic list of NPC contacts that is editable by anyone (Google Doc), plus some Google maps but it sounds like you are after something more advanced?

Of course couldn't it just be hosted here and let people pick and choose the content they want to adopt into their games?

[Michael Chandra]

If you want a system that's more easily searchable and organized in pages and such, a forum doesn't really work.

https://shadowrun-missions-1.obsidianportal.com/characters

Something like that but with more options, such as tags and a modifiable google maps thing would ROCK. But I lack the know-how of what is possible.

[Namikaze]

Yeah, something like that is exactly what I'm going for.  I suppose it'd be a lot like a wiki, ultimately.  A main page that has a list of NPCs, organizations, locations, and maps.  The NPCs page is just that - a list of NPCs, with each one selectable and providing the stats, psychology, motivations, affiliations, etc.  And tags to make things a little easier down the road.  The Organizations page would have a list of known organizations within Seattle, from magical societies to corporate presences.  The Locations page would include schematics (if possible), addresses, people known to attend the location, what kind of security might be found there, etc.  And the maps would tie into the Locations by providing a Google Maps inset for each Location, and an overall Google Maps page for the city and it's surroundings.

I know several people have been working on building a collective Shadowrun map of the world in Google Maps - I think that's such an amazing project.  But for now, I just want to focus on the NPCs, Organizations, and Locations.  Those would probably be sufficient in a wiki format - the Maps could come along later, perhaps integrated with the huge overall project and allowing for edits.  I'm just worried that if it gets integrated with a larger project, the map will get edited, but the rest of the wiki wouldn't.

Michael, can you see if your web host already has MediaWiki or TikiWiki already loaded on your page?  If so, those will work perfectly.  If not, we might be able to load them up - they're both free.

[Michael Chandra]

Let me see... http://www.spiralhosting.ie/hosting: Unlimited MySQL & PostgrSQL databases, cPanel File managers, PHP 5.3, CGI-bin, Perl, Ruby on Rails, website statistics... Says nothing about anything already loaded wiki/wordpress-wise.