PDA

View Full Version : Hosting adventures for download?



ken-do-nim
2011-03-09, 07:01 AM
Hi, I've got 2 nearly complete 3.5 adventures that I'd like to finish off and put up on the internet somewhere for people to download freely. Where can I do that?

profitofrage
2011-03-09, 08:12 AM
megaupload is probably the first that comes to mind.
you could put all nessisary files (PDF's spreadsheets pictures) into a zip file and place that on mega upload. They have no download limits or upload limits so the files can be as large as you like.

Alternativly you could put them here? I think?

ken-do-nim
2011-03-09, 08:22 AM
megaupload is probably the first that comes to mind.
you could put all nessisary files (PDF's spreadsheets pictures) into a zip file and place that on mega upload. They have no download limits or upload limits so the files can be as large as you like.

Alternativly you could put them here? I think?

I want to put them on a site where people regularly go to look for D&D adventures to play. If these were old school D&D adventures, I'd have dragonsfoot host them, if these were Call of Cthulhu adventures, I'd have yog sothoth host them, but I just don't know the "community" website for 3.5 that is the proper place. Here would be nice!

Zuljita
2011-03-09, 10:10 AM
you might be able to post it as a free item on drivethrurpg.com?

slaydemons
2011-03-09, 12:45 PM
I am interested in those adventures I need adventures for my friends :D

Tyndmyr
2011-03-09, 12:53 PM
Hi, I've got 2 nearly complete 3.5 adventures that I'd like to finish off and put up on the internet somewhere for people to download freely. Where can I do that?

I've got a website, travislerol.com

Admittedly, I almost never organize it or do anything serious with it, but I have ludicrous amounts of unused space and bandwidth, and I'd be happy to host something for you indefinitely if you like.

Long as they're legal, anyhow. It doesn't sound like that's a problem, but I like to include the caveat to avoid that sort of thing.

valadil
2011-03-09, 12:57 PM
Two other options come to mind. Share them as read only google documents. Or get a dropbox account and put them in your shared folder. Both options are free and require little technical meddling.

slaydemons
2011-03-09, 01:58 PM
I've got a website, travislerol.com

I'll use it just because my last name is in there

ken-do-nim
2011-03-09, 05:24 PM
I've got a website, travislerol.com

Admittedly, I almost never organize it or do anything serious with it, but I have ludicrous amounts of unused space and bandwidth, and I'd be happy to host something for you indefinitely if you like.

Long as they're legal, anyhow. It doesn't sound like that's a problem, but I like to include the caveat to avoid that sort of thing.

Legal, sure. At any rate, I may very well take you up on this, but I'm kinda shocked that there isn't a well known and obvious place to go to look for freely downloadable fan-made 3.5 adventures on the internet like there is for old-school D&D or CoC ones. I'm going to hunt around first and see if I can find it.

Tyndmyr
2011-03-09, 05:26 PM
There really should be one. Hell, if necessary, people here should make one.

I've ran across a lot of D&Dish sites with one or two good adventures on them, but it's rare to find ones with more than what the author made.

I'll PM you my email addy. If you want, just email me whatever you want hosted.

Draz74
2011-03-09, 05:28 PM
Or get a dropbox account and put them in your shared folder.

Definitely the best option. All you have to do once you upload the files is give people a URL and they'll have access.

ken-do-nim
2011-03-09, 05:55 PM
Definitely the best option. All you have to do once you upload the files is give people a URL and they'll have access.

Well, but it would have to spread by word of mouth. Go to www.dragonsfoot.org and see how many dozens of 1st edition/classic/C&C adventures all written in the last 5-7 years there are for download there (many with high quality production and art), and all for free. Check out the download counts on each one, some have reached over 10,000. I bet there's a place on the internet with ten times that amount of material for 3.5, and we here on GITP forums just don't know about it. Like I said, I'll do some searching and report back.

Edit: I found this so far: http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Free_Adventures. The Farland site looks good, but all the adventures for download there are for the world of Farland. Doesn't look like the communal site I was hoping for.

valadil
2011-03-09, 05:58 PM
There really should be one. Hell, if necessary, people here should make one.


I dunno. I'm dubious of setting up a site and letting anyone upload anything to it. Even if you don't get malicious users uploading kiddie_pron.zip.pdf to your site, you'll probably get take down notices from WotC if someone includes copyrighted data in their adventure. But if the legality weren't a problem, the tech behind something like this would be trivial.

ken-do-nim
2011-03-09, 06:03 PM
I dunno. I'm dubious of setting up a site and letting anyone upload anything to it. Even if you don't get malicious users uploading kiddie_pron.zip.pdf to your site, you'll probably get take down notices from WotC if someone includes copyrighted data in their adventure. But if the legality weren't a problem, the tech behind something like this would be trivial.

Both dragonsfoot and yogsothoth review the material uploaded to make sure it is appropriate and legal.

Ozreth
2011-03-09, 06:09 PM
Start your own blog, make it look fancy, and spread the word! Take it into your own hands : )

Pika...
2011-03-09, 06:12 PM
RPGNow has a ton of free stuff. Talk to them. :)

Erom
2011-03-09, 06:13 PM
Something like this for 4e would be nice too.

In general, I think, because the official wizards forums are the "central" community site for modern DnD and they don't do the whole user made content thing, a site like this really hasn't sprung up.

I mean, there are literally hundreds of sites with free 3-4e dnd materials out there, but the community has never really coalesced around one main site. Maybe the community is simply too big + fragmented, I don't pretend to know.

ken-do-nim
2011-03-10, 06:39 AM
RPGNow has a ton of free stuff. Talk to them. :)

Yeah it sure does. That looks to be the "mecca" I was looking for, but it is hard to separate the promo teasers from fan-made freebies.

DonEsteban
2011-03-10, 09:06 AM
I find RPG Archive (http://www.rpgarchive.com/) is a nice site, though I'm not sure how well-known/popular it is.

slaydemons
2011-03-10, 10:41 AM
I still want these adventures if you put them on any site would you pm me the link :D?

valadil
2011-03-10, 10:47 AM
Both dragonsfoot and yogsothoth review the material uploaded to make sure it is appropriate and legal.

Yeah, that's the part I wouldn't want to do. I'd host something like this if I could ignore it, but I have no interest in curating new modules every time they come in. I think the most effort I'd consider putting in would be a minute of skimming to make sure the document at least looks like an RPG campaign.

Having a community of people to curate adventures would be awesome, but actually building that community would be way more difficult than any of the technical aspects of building the site.

Maeglin_Dubh
2011-03-10, 10:49 AM
RPGNow and DriveThruRPG both share the bugbear of being commercial sites that you have to sign up for, put the item in your cart, check out, and then download. More trouble that your average hassled DM wants to go through.

ken-do-nim
2011-03-10, 08:31 PM
I still want these adventures if you put them on any site would you pm me the link :D?

They're not ready yet. Both were written in my 3.5 heyday of 2005-2007 and were not finished after the initial playtesting. The first is Sins of the Past, a 1st level Eberron module that is closer to being finished. I just need to redo the ending a bit and get the map in there. The second is in dire need of a cool name, and is about 1/3 of the way there now that I look at it. Much of it is still in my head. It is for 10th level characters. I won't forget you when I'm done with them!

They'll probably be linked in my sig here at GITP.

slaydemons
2011-03-10, 11:00 PM
but a generic world with Eberron stuff works right as my ability to use google is weak and I don't think we have a good sized picture of Eberron in my group

ken-do-nim
2011-03-11, 07:22 AM
but a generic world with Eberron stuff works right as my ability to use google is weak and I don't think we have a good sized picture of Eberron in my group

No, that mod is pretty closely tied to Eberron. When I write an adventure for a setting, just as when I buy an adventure for a setting, I want to really give/get the feel of that setting. But my other adventure, the 10th level one, is not setting specific. It is also longer.

I hope to have Sins of the Past ready by the end of April. The other adventure I'm hoping to have done by November.

Tyndmyr
2011-03-11, 12:04 PM
I still want these adventures if you put them on any site would you pm me the link :D?

If they go on travislerol.com, I spose I'll actually sort out the main site properly so it's usable, and link to the myrid D&D things Im hosting on there.

As for curating...I find reading good D&D stuff to be fascinating. I have a stack of splatbooks by my toilet. Yeah, Id have no trouble reviewing things.

Zherog
2011-03-11, 12:20 PM
Be aware that Eberron isn't "open" content, so you run the risk of getting contacted by the suits at WotC. Just something to keep in mind.

Tyndmyr
2011-03-11, 12:26 PM
Be aware that Eberron isn't "open" content, so you run the risk of getting contacted by the suits at WotC. Just something to keep in mind.

Yeah. Just avoid the trademarks and don't blatantly rip things off and you should be fine. There's nothing wrong with making a campaign for a specific world, but you do have to be careful of wholesale copying or use of protected terms. If anything's unclear, just kick in a reference to the book where the rules can be found. Players ought to have those anyhow.

valadil
2011-03-11, 01:00 PM
As for curating...I find reading good D&D stuff to be fascinating. I have a stack of splatbooks by my toilet. Yeah, Id have no trouble reviewing things.


Yeah. Just avoid the trademarks and don't blatantly rip things off and you should be fine. There's nothing wrong with making a campaign for a specific world, but you do have to be careful of wholesale copying or use of protected terms. If anything's unclear, just kick in a reference to the book where the rules can be found. Players ought to have those anyhow.

Curating game rules is one thing. Do you really wanna be the one looking up if the monster a user included in his PDF is an original work or if it's copied straight out of one of the monster manuals. Just because you tell them to use a reference to copyrighted materials instead of reprinting them, doesn't mean people actualy will.

Tyndmyr
2011-03-11, 01:06 PM
*shrug*

Almost all of the build advice, etc I give is from memory, since I don't have books at work. I have a ridiculous amount of D&D info in my head. I've got a pretty good sense for what's already been made.

And, if I miss something, and lawyers somewhere catch it, they issue me a DMCA notice and I take it down, and pass the notice along to the author so they know what they did wrong. Meh. Not a biggie.

Zherog
2011-03-11, 01:22 PM
I look forward to seeing new stuff hitting the web. I like adventures, and I especially like free adventures. :) I just wanted to bring up the issue, just to be sure it was at least in the back of somebody's mind.

Tyndmyr
2011-03-11, 01:26 PM
Oh, it's a valid point. I try to keep up on IP law as much as possible, and if worst comes to worst, I can afford a lawyer.

With luck, this'll provide me motivation to finish off the stack of half-finished D&D projects I have laying around.

ken-do-nim
2011-03-11, 02:59 PM
Be aware that Eberron isn't "open" content, so you run the risk of getting contacted by the suits at WotC. Just something to keep in mind.

First of all, I can't imagine they'd come after me for something I am giving away for free. Second, I can't imagine there's anything illegal about writing an Eberron adventure. Is it any different from writing Star Trek fan fiction and posting it on the web? There's tons of it.

Tyndmyr
2011-03-11, 03:02 PM
It can be. For instance, if you falsely portray it as being an official product, using their logos and things.

I'm not a lawyer personally, so I can hardly give legal advice, but provided you do a best-effort attempt to not do illegal things, you'll usually be ok. Most companies try not to sue their fans as a first response.

Zherog
2011-03-11, 03:11 PM
Legal discussions are A) off-topic; and B) a frowned-upon topic (for good reason), so I'll simply say that WotC has, in fact, gone after sites that were offering free homemade, but viewed as infringing, material in the past. They're not doing it to be the Big Mean Corporation; rather, they're doing it because they're required to in order to protect their trademarks. (And WotC owns a lot of trademarks in the gaming industry.)

As I like seeing high-quality material out there, I was simply pointing out a fact that will need to be dealt with. Nothing more and nothing less. It sounds like Tyndmyr -- as the host -- is willing to deal with those issues, both proactively on the front end and -- if necessary -- reactively if something happens. Awesome. Issue resolved.

Tyndmyr
2011-03-11, 03:14 PM
Well said. Yeah, I'll flip through them, and if I see anything potentially troublesome, I'll give the author a heads up.

slaydemons
2011-03-11, 06:13 PM
now if only I had the ability to write adventures I just don't know where to start

Tyndmyr
2011-03-11, 06:22 PM
Well, if you've ever DMed, you've probably invented some interesting dungeons, plots, etc that could be made into a finished adventure with a bit of polishing.

The central theme is some bit of conflict. It doesn't much matter what, it can be as simple as the conflict between the party wanting the treasure in the dungeon, and the inhabitants wanting to eat them, but the possible reasons are endless.

Then, pick an appropriate level range to target. That and the conflict you've chosen should give you some ideas about fun settings.

There's a bit of cleanup getting stats right, formatting things well, etc, but it's not too terrible.

Zherog
2011-03-11, 06:27 PM
The ones I've done professionally have all developed "backwards." I knew the climax of the adventure before anything else, and worked from there. Generally, once I knew the "boss" encounter, I worked to fill things in around it. Not just other encounters -- background info for the GM, plot hooks, etc.

ken-do-nim
2011-03-12, 07:24 AM
The ones I've done professionally have all developed "backwards." I knew the climax of the adventure before anything else, and worked from there. Generally, once I knew the "boss" encounter, I worked to fill things in around it. Not just other encounters -- background info for the GM, plot hooks, etc.

That's how I generally write too, though Sins of the Past actually started with the premise of an archaeological expedition plagued by saboteurs.