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Posting Resources

Started by Charax, August 19, 2009, 10:36:02 AM

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Charax

Resources for IC posting
Lost posts, forgetting important details, great big forum loss with no backups ( :( ) there are many things that can severely impede someone's enjoyment of forum-based roleplaying. Over the years I've found a couple of programs and resources that really help with posting, from initial planning to archiving, and with the new 'Clave now in full swing, I think now's a perfect opportunity to tell you about them.

AHK BBCodeWriter
I love this program! BBCode annoys the hell out of me, especially as I have an annoying habit of forgetting to close tags (or not typing the backslash, which often results in half the post ending up in bold. Or red. or bold and red)

Oh, and if you've ever gone back to edit a post and seen it swamped in incomprehensible tags that make it difficult to find the text you want to edit, this helps with that too. Tag-Composing Mode (activated by holding down Ctrl) is useful too, as it allows you to stack up formatting. I don't use it much as I tend to manually write in the tags, but if you're primarily a WYSIWYG button-pusher, this'll come in handy.



AHK BBCodeWriter's a great little program, like Notepad but with a preview and instant formatting buttons - the preview's especially handy, and you can save the post as a text file, so you can post it later. Ever had a run of creativity where you could write up a whole thread, only to crash out later and not post anything for weeks? Save the whole thing and then split it into posts later to keep a steady pace up, avoiding huge gaps in updates.

A little note of caution here - All BBCode is not created equal, the exact tags differ from forum to forum. For example, I've just discovered that the Conclave doesn't accept BBCodeEditor's text size tags - you need to add pt after the number to make them work. Luckily AHK BBCodeEditor lets you set custom tags, so you can add centered text, frequently used sizes and other settings easily.

Seventh Sanctum Name Generators
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a poster in possesion of a great idea must be in want of a name for one of his characters.

Seventh Sanctum is really the best resource I've found for Name generators. Alongside the silly ones (the Superhero/Supervillain name generator, which comes out with such classics as "Baroness Blastnegation") there are also ones that are extremely useful for 40K roleplaying. Need a daemon name? the Lovecraftian Name Generator is almost flawless. For Imperial names, the Greek namer forms a good start (I would modify the results somewhat to make them easier to pronounce) while the Evil-Sounding Namer's also fairly good, even for non-evil names (although, again, editing the results is almost a must)

A word of advice though - always generate the maximum number of names, pick the one that sounds best and adjust it. Generating one and taking it as-is is a good way of ending up with silly sounding characters with names so odd-looking or hard to pronounce that they ruin the flow of a story.

AZZ Cardfile
I've been using this program for years. Windows Cardfile was extremely useful in Windows 3.1 (yes, there were versions of Windows before 2000) and I was sad to see it go, but AZZ replicates and expands upon every feature of Cardfile.

Basically it's an Index Card program - I use it for keeping comprehensive backgrounds and notes on my characters (the kind of thing that may spoil plotlines if posted here), planning out storylines in advance and writing notes. It's also a great way to archive old threads. Any time I have an idea that I may want to expand later, it goes on a card.



AZZ can be registered for $20-30 depending on version, but the trial's free and unlimited anyway, so I've never seen any need to.

Hopefully these will be useful to you - obviously you don't need any of them, but if you're a frequent poster I'm sure there are some features of these resources that'll make your life easier.
(No longer} The guy with his name at the bottom of the page

Dosdamt

I've actually heavily used blogs in the past to manage my campaigns. They're uber useful for collaborative campaign use as well - setup a hidden blog, set a few people to view, and pow, when inspiration strikes at 1am, get yourself online and bang down a few lines of blog nonsense, and then refine from there.

PS I LOVE the card system, and will be using in future me thinks!!!
It is never too late! - Mentirius

http://thementalmarine.proboards.com/index.cgi <- The Mind, for all your irreverent nonsense needs

Mohauk

Echoed - the card system looks fantastic - I'm always looking for a system in which to unify my very eclectic, dissipated notes, but never found one that worked for me yet. But that looks like a fair contender.
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting...

Dosdamt

PS PS We all want to see the return of Dawn Oculis... Well, OK, just me perhaps... BUT THE RETURN NONETHELESS!

Thread derailment over - you may continue.
It is never too late! - Mentirius

http://thementalmarine.proboards.com/index.cgi <- The Mind, for all your irreverent nonsense needs

Molotov

Hey, Charax - thanks for the Cardfile programme. It's proven exceptionally useful indeed!
INQ28 Thread | INQ28 Blog
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- precinctomega