The grand new Forge plan

Hey, everyone. It's Clinton, your beleagured administrator, having a cup of coffee. Gather 'round.

So, here's my semi-annual State of the Forge, as it were:

Last week (19-24 August 2002), we had some database problems. I've talked with Pair.com (our webhosts) on and off about this for about a month now. Each time, they say that we're causing too much database traffic, and move the database to a new server, which works for about a week, and then craps out on us.

I've checked around, and other sites using this same bulletin board system don't have the same problem, so I'm guessing Pair - which I've found to be outstanding in all other areas, including speed of getting back to me on problems - is full of the horseshit in this case. In addition, they just shut down our database for about four hours last Thursday. I was not amused.

So - I'm not trashing on Pair, and in fact, I highly suggest you check them out if you're ever looking for a webhost. I don't think they fit the Forge's needs, though.

We're moving webhosts again. I've gotten us a "Code Monster" account with Dreamhost, which I've found to be a great host in the past, if a bit expensive. (I'm not sure if this level of account will hold us, but I can upgrade to the "Strictly Business" account at any time.)

You shouldn't notice the move in terms of service. The database may be a little slow later on this week as we move, but that should only last for about a day. I ask everyone: if you start getting any errors like you did last week, stop coming to the Forge for about a half hour to an hour to alleviate the volume. That should help a lot.

The Good Stuff

So, the other issue is that all this moving hosts and getting better accounts and whatever costs money. I'd like the Forge to start paying for itself, although I don't want any of that moronic subscription crap. Here's what I'm going to do:

Starting next week, I'm offering web hosting to anyone who wants it. For $6/month (or $60/year, if you want to pay in advance, which would be nice), you can get a website like: yourgame.indie-rpgs.com.

You'll get an email address at both indie-rpgs.com and yourgame.indie-rpgs.com (both go to the same account), and will have FTP access to your web site. You'll have 30MB of space, although if you need more, we can talk about it. You'll be able to run CGI scripts and PHP, but no databases. You'll also be listed on a new page on the Forge, the Forge Community page.

(If anyone just wants an e-mail address at the Forge, we can do that - $24/year.)

Other stuff for the future

If you've ever downloaded one of my games, or octaNe, or Trollbabe, you've seen the Anvilwerks RPG Bookshelf. I'm planning on recoding it completely, and turning it into the Forge RPG Bookshelf. When I do, I should be able to provide an immediate (as soon as they buy the product) and easy way for you to provide downloads of your indie game without getting all the bounced e-mails and such.

You might ask, "Isn't that what RPGnow.com (for example) does?" Pretty much. (Except we'll just be fulfilling orders - you'll still have the sell button on your website.) If I do this, we'll talk about that sort of thing then, but I imagine we'll just charge 10 cents per download - enough to cover server costs.

Well, that's my little State of the Forge. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.