What Makes a Successful STAR WARS RPG Page

by Tony J. Case


Every so often, someone will wander into my list of reviews of Star Wars RPG web pages, and ask me what I think makes a successful web page. Because I've suffered through a lot of crappy sites, and have had the pleasure of discovering some truly quality pages, I've become something of a self-made expert on eye catching web pages. At the very least, I have some opinions on a few simple steps for effective use of HTML that will make people come back again and again. So, if you will, indulge me for a moment...


Rule One: It's All About the People
First, a very simple premise: Star Wars, despite all its special effects and hype is still, at its very heart, a story about people. George Lucas knows how to push the emotional buttons and gets you care about Luke, Han, and even Vader, making the saga that much more involving. Therein lies the basic difference between A New Hope and a movie like Independence Day -- the former is a very human and real story, the latter mostly an excuse to blow lots of things up.

This then, is one of the key things to strive for in a Star Wars RPG web page: creating a universe and a cast of characters that the reader will care about. Everyone and his uncle will seems to have stats for a TIE Super Deluxe with Cheese on their page -- big deal. After going through document after document of stats like that, these pages are just about as interesting as McDonalds food. You must catch people and then draw them into your game.

How do you do that? Very simple- it's all in the details! How did the characters wind up with their ship? Where did they first meet? Who are some of the important villains and nemesis? What motivations drive the characters from day to day? Tell us about your little slice of the universe, and the backstory that went into it. If you have had a successful game at all, then it will show through in the work, and the reader will be hooked.


Rule Two: Nobody Likes A Thief
Be original! Come up with your own take on the SW universe! Don't surf along and lift files from other role playing game pages -- it's very rude to the original author, who may not want his work altered or reproduced on every other page out there. Also, it makes your pages blend in with everyone else; do we really need ANOTHER page giving us TIE Phantom stats? If you MUST use/steal other people's work, ask them first, and then give the original author credit.

An even worse sin is stealing information from a published West End Games sourcebook. That is out and out copyright infringement. WEG and WotC are very tolerant of these fan run sites, and turns a blind eye to us despite a contractual obligation to turn over copyright violations to Lucasfilm LTD. I see no need to repay their trust by stealing from them. "But," people say, "25 bucks for a sourcebook, when I only want the stats for an X-Wing?" That sir, is no defense: if everyone copied and Xeroxed WEG material and never bought their books, we wouldn't have an RPG any more, would we? That is an extreme example to be sure, but it makes my point.


Rule Three: Be Original In Your Non-Conformity
If you must have movie clips, pictures or whatever, don't make them the exact same graphics on every other page. Any number of simple steps will allow you to jazz up your page. Find one of your players with some artistic talent and have them draw the player characters for you. Track down a scanner and pop these PCs up on your page! Get your hands on some shareware paint programs and put together text page headers in under an hour. If you must steal, take from public domain, non-STAR WARS sites (I've used some nebulas and star fields from the official NASA and Hubble web pages) and use those.


Rule Four: Don't Forget the Off Switch
Have an option to turn off EVERYTHING. You may have spent hours getting your frames just right, but if someone comes along with a browser who can't view them, or someone who just can't stand them and runs screaming from your site, then all your hours of design are for nothing. Is your page so popular that you can just throw away visitors like that? Another example is embedded autoplay MIDI files -- a sure way to scare off someone who is surfing on the sly at work or at school. I can't count the number of times I've been sent scrambling for the "BACK" button after disrupting the relative quiet of the computer lab at school -- and I assure you, I did not return to that page later.


Rule Five: Avoid the Noid
Have a certain level of technical skill in page construction. Typos are understandable in a large document, but at least run your source through a spell checker. Make sure that the text is readable against your background color, both before and after your wallpaper loads. If you must use frames, be sure to use the 'TARGET=_TOP' command on external links. Make sure all the pictures load, links go somewhere, and other little details like that.


Rule Six: For God's Sake, Give a Hoot
Finally, and most importantly, care about the page. Technically a list of sequential HTML commands constitutes a web page, but it's not a web page done with heart, soul or any level of competence and skill. I have seen some web pages where if the authors cared about their pages in the slightest, then it sure didn't show in the work -- and if they DON'T care, then why the hell are the pages up in the first place? I can understand a really large site with some off-line areas; some of the really good sites I have reviewed have areas just like that. However this rampant empty space called a page is inexcusable! When the construction.gif file size outweighs the information presented on your page, you know you are in serious trouble!


All these things may seem like a lot of work, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't, but believe me it'll pay off in the end. The feeling of satisfaction you get when you hear someone say "Wow, I never thought of that with my game" or "what a cool NPC -- I gotta use him!" is beyond words. Hopefully this document will be your first step on that long road to having a truly kickin' web page.



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