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I'm currently using this website to host the information available during my Rise of the Runelords campaign. However, with the problems/bugs/lack of support this website has been getting lately, I don't want to continue using it for my next campaign.
Is there another website that offers the same functions as Obsidian Portal? I don't have the technical know how to create my own website, so I need to rely on the services of another.
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Using it only for the Wiki is probably why you haven't ran into many of the issues currently buggy on the site. :)
There a long list of issues, aside from the designers failing to fulfilling the Kickstarter bonuses, including email notifications, the forums displaying errors, bad gateway errors, and failing to follow up with user support help tickets. It was recently sold again to another company with renewed promises to supporting the OP community but has again failed to live up to those promises.
If you look at the community forums, there's many posts from users going to more details than what I summarized here (if you're interested).
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For what OP is capable of, it is the only thing beyond building your own website from scratch. Realmworks (Lonewolf, Herolab guys) can replace the wiki portion well enough, but it is paid software. After using OP for a bit, prior to their 2013 redesign, I've went pretty much back to only forums for my online campaigns.
I realize this isn't a complaint thread, so I'm not complaining, but... I hear you brother! (or sister). Dropped OP like a bad habit right after they failed to follow through with Kickstarter stuff. My replacement? Google Sites! It's got a really light learning curve, and once you figure out how to manipulate the majority of settings you can make it into everything OP has, and MORE! Plus their "limitations" for how much content you can have on there, in my experience, aren't really limitations at all.
Have at it!
They seem to be actively fixing stuff on OP now.
Granted since that time, I've found using OneNote and sharing it with people to be a great way to do an campaign that is available online and offline.
I've used OB a bit, and honestly if you can manage working things out there you can manage a free Wordpress site.
With the editor change being handled the way it is I feel like it's finally time to get serious about finding an alternative to Obsidian Portal.
Anyone have any experience with EpicWords?
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So that everyone is aware, the Obsidian Portal has gone through many, many changes in management. The latest change has to be worst by far with the forum moderator OPSupport.
It appears last week there was some changes in the management of the website, with OPSupport releasing 4 days ago an "OP Community Forum Rules". Ok, this makes sense. Something like open forums needs rules and moderation.
Since then, the moderator has taken upon himself to delete forum posts with no explanation. Anything that is even remotely a complaint or voiced displeasure about the moderator or the website. He has become the ONLY point of contact within the forums and Help pages to the company when asked how to escalate issues (quite pointedly explained to me, indicating we "tenured sacred cows" either live it or leave). (This took many deleted posts to finally receive this reply from him. See post here) I could provide numerous examples of forums posts that were deleted for no valid reason other than unaligned opinions, but doing so would make this post a wall of text.
Many users with a loving passion for the website for many years have had their accounts banned, including those that were appointed "Community Leaders" to help drive the website to a better level of service benefiting everyone.
Sorry this has turned into a rant thread, but I do this more to warn others of the level of customer service to expect with Obsidian Portal and its parent company now. Be wary and tread lightly.
TL;DR IMO, the moderation of Obsidian Portal has resulted in immature and unprofessional customer service. Continue to use with caution. I don't recommend their services and look for another site to host your campaign.
either live it or leave
Did just that almost 2 years ago. Best gaming decision I ever made. Site went to crap after the reforge and kept getting crappier thereafter. No surprise that it has become a steaming pile where admins are actively opposing the user base. That's what happens when a terrible manager can't figure out why his company is failing, "it must be the customer's fault" or even better in this case, "must be the legacy users fault."
I never paid for the Ascendant level but I do have 2 free campaigns on OP. I was really hoping Reforge would fix some of the issues, and the Kickstarter goals were exciting but I haven't noticed a significant improvement. Since you only get 2 free campaigns I went looking for an alternative recently and found City of Brass.
CoB seems like a really good alternative so far: lots of RP tools, mobile friendly layout, as good or better wiki support. Of course, the drawback is that there's no long term free option on CoB but since it was either pay for Ascendant or pay for CoB it's a wash for me.