Basecamp Brags!

Community
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One of my top priorities for 2021 that I’m really excited to focus on is the Basecamp/Forum community. You all do so much cool stuff, and I want to make sure you feel celebrated and appreciated, because I appreciate you a whole lot.

So, starting today, I want to recognize a couple of Mountaineers each week for a “Basecamp Brag,” which is basically my way of saying “I see what you’re doing and it’s awesome, and everyone should know how awesome you are.”

It might be something big like a leader taking charge on a group initiative like Nepenthe, but it could also be something as small as sharing a cool recipe or a helpful suggestion for tweaking a creative project. A good meme might even do it, if it makes me laugh hard enough.

Oh, and did I mention there’s a badge? It looks like this:

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And each Mountie we spotlight will be awarded one to keep on their profile for eternal bragging rights. (More news about some cool things we’re doing with badges very soon.)

So, for the first round of Basecamp Brags, we have two special community members we want to recognize:

Firs, @Mr5yy, who has done a completely stellar job creating and leading the Fantastic Friday discussions for 34 (!!) weeks now. That’s a ton of weeks. I’m so impressed by the dedication to raising everyone’s spirits throughout the craziness of the past year and giving newer people an easy, welcoming way to start participating in the community as well. So 5, thank you for all you do, and a huge congrats for being an integral part of our community.

Next up, @Sapphire! I’ve been wanting to recognize all the hard work you put into organizing the 2020 JOLABOKAFLOD exchange, because it’s something that totally gets at the heart of this community: not only a shared love of story, but a love of sharing as well, and of spreading the joy and magic we each find in books specifically.

And, another small feat, but by bringing up international shipping costs in Book Shop News, you also inadvertently helped me (hopefully) find a solution that’s been bugging me for months, for which I’m super grateful.

Congratulations to our very first Basecamp Brag recipients!! Everybody tell them they’re awesome!!

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Congratulation @Mr5yy and @Sapphire! You’re both huge parts of the community and absolutely deserve the recognition for it!

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Woo! :tada:

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Bravo Zulu @Mr5yy and @Sapphire! :cjheart:

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Wowie! Thanks everyone!

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:catherineread: I just really like reading and sharing books!
2020 certainly needed some extra joy and I know from experience that the concept works.
I hope everyone enjoyed it and I’ll try to do it again next year, maybe posting earlier so more people can be involved :D

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I had a few big Zoom meetings last week to discuss all the big plans for 2021 and I completely forgot to post my Basecamp Brags!

This week, we’d like to honor one old friend, and one new one.

First, @Skylad started the week off strong with an inspirational new Tarot thread for 2021, which a bunch of people have already hopped on to share their practice! I’m really looking forward to seeing how everyone’s readings evolve throughout the year, and love that there’s a new space dedicated to sharing. Sky’s been a leader for almost as long as Basecamp has been around, and this thread reminded me of how grateful I am to have such an awesome, involved group of leaders to keep the home fires burning here on the forum even in the downtime between narratives. Thank you, Skylad!!

Next up, we’ve been so happy to welcome @Rietveld back into the Basecamp fold recently! After reintroducing himself on the forum this week, he hasn’t been afraid to jump in on the conversation, and also put together an awesome post of podcast recommendations for just about every genre you could think of. You can and should definitely check it out here—I know I’ll be coming back to this next time I need something new to listen to! That kind of spirit and initiative is exactly what we love to see in our Mountaineers, which goes to show that there’s really no wrong time to join us, and we’re so glad you did! :cjheart:

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Since we’ve all got RPGs on the brain lately, our Basecamp Brag this week is unintentionally themed!

First, I want to recognize @Viviane for doing what she does best: asking the perfect questions to cut right to the heart of the matter and help me clarify something important in a way I wouldn’t have gotten at on my own.

Viv’s question about the interaction between magimystic and normal uses of particular skills in the NNRPG Flinterforge Reveal thread helped me articulate the essence of what an augmented skill means within the Briarverse, which is a key distinctive aspect of the RPG. You can read the explanation here, along with the rest of the post if you haven’t already. She also gave me an opportunity to do my second favorite thing and drop a spoiler, which is the official title for a Game Master within the NNRPG: Narrator.

Second, I want to give Wyvern a shout-out for sharing a campaign story that gave me goosebumps just to read. I love hearing about all of the stories that people get to live out through their games, and as someone who gives a ton of attention to small details in the hopes that they’ll pay off potentially years down the line, I’m so impressed with your DM for successfully executing a reveal that was 3 years in the making! It sounded like such an awesome moment for your character and your whole party, and is definitely an inspiration for the kind of storytelling that I hope comes out of the NNRPG.

Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and stories this week! Give it up for @Viviane and @Wyvern!

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Well, shucks. :blush: Thank you, for the badge and the RPG to hype over! I’m just excited to see all the pieces come together. And thanks to @Wyvern also, for a story well told!

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Thanks @CJB and @Viviane! It means a lot to be recognized! D&D is one of my favorite things and that was such a wild moment, I still think about it near daily. I’m not typically great at telling stories but I’m glad the gist came across so well!!

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Happy Friday, Basecamp!

This is a two-in-one kind of week as I get back on track to posting these on Fridays, as a way to celebrate the end of the week with all of you! We did it, we made it to Friday!!

So here we go with a bonus round of Basecamp Brags for the week:

First, I want to recognize @connielass for taking the time to check in on each of the three new Nepenthe support pods! Your comment in the Self-Care pod about how self-care meant self-examination for you resonated a lot with me too, as I’m working hard this year to stay in tune with my brain and my body and the way they interact with each other. Best of luck with all of your New Year’s Revolutions, and I hope you’ll keep updating in the pods about how they’re going for you!

Second, @Cj_heighton came through this week with an awesome update on his campaign adventure, Voyage to Farvassen! If you missed the snippet of voice dialogue he shared in his original post, go check it out now! I love the idea of giving your players a full audio drama to supplement the campaign, and am so impressed with the work you’ve done to make that happen so far. I can already tell it will make the playing experience feel that much more rich and immersive.

Congrats on all the progress and I can’t wait to see how the project continues to develop and unfold!

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Ill do my best to make yall proud ;3

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Happy Friday, Basecamp!

First, there have been LOTS of amazing contributions by readers in the Neithernor RPG Spell topic, I’ve read them all, and you’ll each be receiving a special badge and a shout out in the finished handbook.

But sometimes it’s hard to get a creative topic like this started, so this week I want to spotlight someone who really helped get the ball rolling in the beginning and inspired others to create their own amazing works by going above and beyond in their creative writing efforts, and that is my friend @Augustus_Octavian.

Augo, your contributions have run the gamut, from delightfully nonsensical to tremendously practical to a little bit eerie, and I love your efforts to attribute pieces of history from multiple guilds to each spell. Your creativity is inspiring and helpful beyond belief, and I’m so grateful to have you here to help us shape this project into something we can all enjoy together very soon.

Oh, and did I mention how much I love Hugliekr? Because I really love Hugliekr.

Thank you, Augo! I appreciate all your hard work!

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Thanks @CJB! I’m really honored by the recognition, and I find the whole project really fun and fascinating!

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Yesss, Hugliekr is an icon now.

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Happy Friday, everyone!

This week, I want to give a big shoutout to @BrokenVoid, our official Welcome Wagoneer and one of the most hardworking members of our community. At the last community hangout, we laughed about how Void had only been around the forum for a couple weeks before I asked him to be a Wagoneer, and he’s done a valiant job of stepping up to the task every day since. Not only was he probably the first person to welcome you to the forum if you’ve joined in the past nearly two years, but he’s also one of the most active community members, always down to share a bit about his Nepenthe goals or what he’s reading, or toss out thoughts about everything from new Book Shop products to theories about the many mysteries of The Briar Society.

Void, you are an invaluable member of our community, and I’m so appreciative of the effort you’ve put in to make this a positive, welcoming, and engaging space for so many Mounties, new and old. Thank you!!

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Thanks so much! I feel honored to have been given such an involved role in the community, and this community is so supportive I just feel compelled to share my thoughts with everyone.

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Also I actually went back and looked at the message you sent me about the Wagoneers and my join date and it was almost exactly a month, so I guess it just felt sooner than it was. Still pretty quick though.

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Okay, we’re back after a temporary power/internet/heat hiatus this week with another round of Basecamp Brags! You know what they say, “Neither snow, nor ice, nor lack of heat stays the bestowal of a well-deserved badge…” or something like that.

Getting down to it, a big thank you is due to @Eternalhearts, who took some Ebbie initiative beyond the forum to help out a few confused prospective readers who were commenting on the new social media ads we started running! Eternalhearts had them sorted before I even realized there was anyone out there asking questions, which just goes to show how lost I would be without your help. One of the best parts of this community is how above and beyond you all go to welcome and help each other get situated, because without that support, we wouldn’t have awesome new recruits like…

@Heather! As a new member of both Basecamp and The Briar Society, Heather’s been flying through TMP and the rest of the narratives while also catching up on the forum at a speed which, frankly, both impresses and slightly intimidates me. Heather, I wanted to make sure you got a shoutout this week because your excitement and enthusiasm makes me excited for all the stories we’re going to get to tell together this year, and I can’t wait to see you find your home here in the Briarverse. Welcome, we’re so happy to have you!

Happy Friday(Monday), Mounties! I hope you’re all staying safe and warm, wherever you are, and I’m looking forward to getting everything back on track next week.

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Also quick shout out to @BrokenVoid! There have been a lot of new people lately, and getting them sorted would be a lot harder without you!

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