You asked for it.
(though, not all of this is directly based on the proof you've shown.)
First, let me say I'm not shooting down the design, I'm just offering some suggestions for it.
Right now there isn't much to see--it's kinda like trying to judge a picture for a wall when all you have is the frame. I can't really tell how you intend to utilize the site, so it's just part of the decoration right now.
The current design kinda seems very Elven to me. Maybe it's the blue/green and gold, or the organic details, or something, but that's just the impression I get. I'm not saying that's good or bad, just the impression I get and others might see it differently.
I'd like to see a little less at the top taken up with the "fluff". (right now, it's about 1/3 of my 9:16 screen.) Maybe either reducing the vertical height of the banner up there, or incorporating navigation to the sides of it would help?
Also, the "Final Haven" doesn't stand out enough for me--it has the same detail as the items behind it, and the contrast is about the same too--it looks a little too much like the elements behind it to really stick out, in my opinion. What if it was made smaller, but placed on a badge, or some other flat shape, or something with less detail around it so that the words "Final Haven" stuck out more? (Also, I'm being extremely picky here, but could you kern the A and V a little tighter to reduce the visual gap?) Making it smaller and bringing it up to be center with that horizontal bar would also allow the main body elements to come up higher on the screen as well.
If the navigation goes into the black banner where you have noted it will be, I'd like to see it having some higher contrast, or draw attention so that there's no question where the navigation is for the site (Maybe place them in golden "plates" of some sort if you're going to keep with the current theme?)
Things a new site should have to encourage new/return traffic and, more importantly, incite new players to play, and encourage current players to return
• Dates/Locations for the events
• Information to contact the GMs
• Downloadable (The Rule Books, Character Sheets, Playtest/Errata)
• Introduction pages to the game (some graphical pages, perhaps even PDFs embedded in the page?) with examples of each Race and Path (as we create them for the book.) Along with perhaps a one, or two page introduction to the World of Phanterra and recent history and a "Introduction to Haven", what one might see as they enter the location?
• Updated forums to at least PHPBB3 so that things like selecting text to "bold" it actually works.
• Keeping the site's mobile use in mind--stuff like scalable graphics, or at least functional when viewed on mobile devices/browsers (Android and iPhone.... yes, we use the site at the events too to look up info., or download rule books, etc.
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Other functions like "Updatable Character/Player info Storage", and the likes could be cool, but it's a current-player concern as opposed to a "prospective player" concern. That isn't to say that those things aren't useful or to be looked into, but if the concern is "getting new players in", I'm not sure it should be a top-level priority.
My concerns with "Updatable Character/Player info" is that check-out would still have to be done at the end of the game. Some stuff could still be done I suppose, but there might still be holes due to the different processes (if you "research" something at check-out, but unlearn it, or if you have a bureaucratic skill that you use at check-out, but unlearn it too, it would be an issue.) So, that is a logistics issue that can be looked into, but having some method of uploading/updating your character sheet just for personal storage purposes would be cool nonetheless.
