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[Flying Dice]

Keep in mind the need for simplicity is mostly outward rather than inward. As Truean said:

NOTE: Most of this will be in your notes and not shown to players. What it does is make it easier and more streamlined to show what is going to be shown....

Internal complexity is okay as long as you are comfortable managing that at whatever degree you have it; the important thing is that you are able to simplify the system to a relatively barebones "display" that tells your players what they actually need to know without boring them or driving them away.

[TheBiggerFish]

PTW for my own reference.

[Truean]

Alright, here's what I wanna know:

A.) How do I resize images so they're smaller?

B.) How do I make those smaller images appear in a horizontal line?

Not This:
[Picture A]
[Picture B]

But this:
[Picture A][Picture B]

You wanna describe a tavern? There's your tavern:


You wanna talk about the storage area for that tavern under the place? Here you go:


How do I make those smaller and fit together nicely?

It isn't perfect but it's a start. If you want to draw room views like that and maybe even populate them with some NPCs (perhaps copy and paste for "removability") then you've basically got something that's pretty streamlined enough right there. Picture heavy, but what're you gonna do?

[TheBiggerFish]

For resizing: ou can either use the [ img ] tag attributes, or, and this is preferred for people on data plans, resize them in an image editor of your choice before posting.


I don't know if you CAN do images inline with other images.


The traditional spoilers work well enough, though...

[Arx]

[img height=x] or [img width=x] or [img width=x height=y].

Don't put a line break between the image tags, and it will display them on the same line if possible.

You'd get cleaner, more data-friendly pictures by downloading them, resizing them in something like GIMP, and stitching them together there. You do need to use an image host then, which means it'd probably be polite to reference the source, but they won't split in any circumstances.

[TheBiggerFish]

Yeah, big pictures are loaded in their entirety and then resized.  It's not very good for people with data plans.

[Transcendant]

Yeah, big pictures are loaded in their entirety and then resized.  It's not very good for people with data plans.

I guess can you hop on wifi or ... maybe text is better?

[TheBiggerFish]

Not when there's no Wifi, Transcendent, that's the POINT of data plans...


Text is better, but small amounts of text that you can elaborate on should someone actually look.

[Flying Dice]

Mm. Data plan = capped bandwidth per month, and if you go over you incur painful fees.

But yeah, resize in an image editor. If it's something that absolutely, positively has to be a big high-res image (like, say, a large-area map), it's probably simpler to link to it, since that eliminates the necessity of horizontal scrolling or leaving it eating up a massive chunk of the post sans spoiler tags.

[Nirur Torir]

To force images to be on one horizontal line, I think you'd need to stitch them together in an image program. I'd suggest Paint.net for usability.

Spoiler: Resizing and horizontal collage quick-guide (click to show/hide)

Open Paint.net.
Image > Canvas Size. Set it fairly large - Try 3000 width. If it's not big enough for every image, make it bigger. Height doesn't matter, as Paint.net will let you easily resize it if you paste a bigger image.
Copy-paste the first image. If you want to resize it, now is the best time - There are 8 little circles around the outside edge that can be dragged to change the size.
Copy-paste the second image. Drag it over next to the first, and resize if needed.
Keep doing that.
Save as .png.

Note that multiple resizes and rotations will degrade an image. I think you're fine to do so as much as you want while it's still selected, but try to avoid going back and forth between images.

As a reader, I'd prefer to see them in a vertical line in spoiler tags, like so:

Tavern_Main.png

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Storeroom.png
Kitchen.png

[Transcendant]

[img height=x] or [img width=x] or [img width=x height=y].

Don't put a line break between the image tags, and it will display them on the same line if possible.

You'd get cleaner, more data-friendly pictures by downloading them, resizing them in something like GIMP, and stitching them together there. You do need to use an image host then, which means it'd probably be polite to reference the source, but they won't split in any circumstances.

Ok, so if people want that in text, then how do you describe the places in that picture. One's the tavern hall and the other is under it I guess. Yeah, so words are easier on data limits but tell me how you describe all the stuff in those pictures.

[Arx]

The first: a long, rectangular room/tavern. A long, cluttered bar with stools runs along one side, whilst the other is lined with tables, chairs and windows. An ornately carved balcony overlooks the room from one end.

The second: a brick-lined cellar. Barrels are stored in racks punctuated by pillars supporting arches. The room is brightly lit with fluorescent lights.

That's how I'd nutshell it. It covers the essentials - where are the obstacles, what's the room's purpose and character, what things can you ask more about - but it doesn't dump information overload on the players. Tell them more about things they ask about, so they can build up the picture if they need to.

[Nirur Torir]

Ok, so if people want that in text, then how do you describe the places in that picture. One's the tavern hall and the other is under it I guess. Yeah, so words are easier on data limits but tell me how you describe all the stuff in those pictures.

It depends on why the players are there. If there are zombies, it's pretty important to note the large windows, and the characters would be specifically looking for weapons, supplies, and exits.

I'd gloss over most of it. The balcony serves no real use, and I would leave it out (But then, I have mostly plain prose).

"The group walks into the Swine's Swill. Everything is neat and orderly, with no signs of panicking patrons or looting.
A large variety of alcohol are behind the bar. A quick look behind the counter shows no weapons, but the wooden furniture could be broken down into clubs.
Stairs behind the bar descend into what appears to be a wine cellar.
The right wall is lined with large windows, too large to block with tables."

Tom enters the cellar. It's a short and spacious straight stone corridor. The walls are lined with unlabeled barrels. There are no further exits.

[Truean]

Yeah, maybe, but you also probably wanna avoid Chekhov's Gun: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChekhovsGun

On the one hand, players don't want to be given "useless information" and on the other they don't want to be led around. It's kind of a balancing act.

[Trapezohedron]

Based on experience, forum games run better when complicated system variables remain hidden. Not everyone needs to know how your stuff works; only good narrative matters.

For that matter, excessively verbose narrative can be detrimenta- oh, sorry, let's simplify that. If you use complicated words on your Forum Game, it isn't that likely to catch on due to most people having trouble understanding what you write. A balance based on your theme, the tone of the game and the words you use is therefore important.

A grimdark medieval story could perhaps use some antiquated colloquialisms, while those Orwellian can use terse and concise talk doubleplusgood.

Also, every single person can world-build and you may be invested on your creation, but you should be ready to kick it away if it doesn't catch on. For that matter, I do not give much thought directing the plot to a specific direction; nobody wants to be railroaded to a morality or to another plot, y'know.