Questions on Step Zero

[bishop618]

Hi everyone, little confused with tech lingo and I was wondering if someone could explain to me "person to person" (via internet) some questions.
(I'm using 5e, minimal playing, maximum interest, not extremely tech savvy, & have difficulty focusing)
Also even if the answer is an obvious one, I haven't realized it yet, so please don't make me feel any more stupid thanks.

I know everything needs to be entered manually. In terms of the mechanics reference does that mean going literally from adding the 6 main abilities, the skills, races, classes, & more? Do we really need to "copy and paste" the DMG and PHB and MM into Realm Works from page 1 on?
If that is the case, what is the best way to quickly and efficiently insert materials into Realm Works.
Is there a website with the info sorted into a similar format that I could simply copy/paste or have that and realm works open side by side.
You can call me lazy, but I'm just looking for a better way to use this instead of manually typing every single thing in. I'm worried that I will make a mistake, or worse lose interest due to the boring repetition.

However, if the answer is sorry but you're going to have to suck it up and manually type it all in, just let me know so I can officially see human confirmation on this topic. Thanks

[daplunk]

Welcome to Realm Works and the forums.

Right now everything needs to be entered manually. That is due to change by the end of the week with the release of the ability to import and export content.

With that in mind however, we do not know what the 5e content will look like. There is no knowledge of a license agreement between LW and WOTC which means it is unlikely that we will see that content released via the content market in the immediate future.

I suspect we will see the 5e SRD. This is the free content that WOTC have released. It does not come close to providing all of the information from the MM, DMG or PHB unfortunately.

I would strongly suggest you head over to my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV5XWfKkFpk6_sDYWWKwvP8zs_qVSrzoM) and watch some videos there. I'm also a 5e player and have put in the majority of the content.

Personally I have entered all my content in from PDF. No legal PDF exists so you need to create your own from the books you legally own*. Alternatively you could hit up http://www.5esrd.com/. Again though this is just the SRD content which I suspect will be launched here eventually via the content market.

One shortcut you need to know about is Ctrl + Shift + V. This triggers a window that allows you to paste the content in different ways. This is vital when working with PDFs as PDFs tend to put in an <enter> at the end of each line. The paste options allows you to automatically remove that which means you just need to go through the paste and put the <enter> back in at the end of paragraphs.

If you are going to start entering data. My suggestion is to focus on things you need. Don't even consider aiming to enter it all in. What is it within the books you always have to look up at the table? For me its:


Monsters (i use Hero Lab and embed the monster files in RWs.
Spells (actually i dont really use these in RWs as Hero Labs have this info)
Tables (loot tables)
Magic Items (that my players have found)


And the biggest tip. Start by entering just the names of things. For example, create your Monster Manual and put the names of all the monsters in as individual articles. This way any story content you enter will link to those names and you can go through and populate the monsters as you prep for each session.

* lol

[kbs666]

You don't have a lot of experience so this may not be 100% obvious but a lot of the material in those books you don't need as a GM or you only need it during combat and you'll use HL or some other software to manage combat not RW.

If I was you, in the short term I'd concentrate on the world building side of things. That's the fun part of being a GM. Run some adventures. You'll quickly find out what material you need at "your fingertips" in the mechanics reference if you actually need to enter it yourself (and by that time someone likely will have done the SRD at least).

[ShadowChemosh]

You don't have a lot of experience so this may not be 100% obvious but a lot of the material in those books you don't need as a GM or you only need it during combat and you'll use HL or some other software to manage combat not RW.

If I was you, in the short term I'd concentrate on the world building side of things. That's the fun part of being a GM. Run some adventures. You'll quickly find out what material you need at "your fingertips" in the mechanics reference if you actually need to enter it yourself (and by that time someone likely will have done the SRD at least).
Agreed. This is a great approach to using RW actually. Put in just what you "really" need and leave the rest out for now. Later once you get a good feel for the tool and your style input the rest. And by then you maybe able to get allot of stuff from the Content Market. :)

[EightBitz]

You don't have a lot of experience so this may not be 100% obvious but a lot of the material in those books you don't need as a GM or you only need it during combat and you'll use HL or some other software to manage combat not RW.

If I was you, in the short term I'd concentrate on the world building side of things. That's the fun part of being a GM. Run some adventures. You'll quickly find out what material you need at "your fingertips" in the mechanics reference if you actually need to enter it yourself (and by that time someone likely will have done the SRD at least).

Thirded. I've entered some rules and mechanics into Realm Works for systems that I was running for the first time, but I didn't copy and paste the whole book. I just took the key points, like taking notes in a class. You don't write down every word you hear. You write down key points.

[MNBlockHead]

To echo what others have said, don't focus too much on the mechanics. Yeah, its nice to have at your fingertips, but RW really shines at helping you run through an adventure. Early on, I copy-pasted the entire basic rules. In hindsight, that was a waste of time that would have been better spent on world building or entering modules.

Another annoying thing that I wish I knew is that if you DO enter in all the rules, you may want to turn OFF auto-linking for many mechanics topics. Having every instance of common words like "time", "turn", "rest", "strength", "chase", etc. prompt for links or autolink is annoying and, even if relevant, is usually unnecessary. How often do you need to look up the meaning of the core attributes, for example? If you must enter in all the mechanics, turn off linking for those articles. You can have a separate tab with the mechanics in focus and just run a quick search if you need to look something up.

So...I stopped entering mechanics after the basic rules, with the following exceptions: home/third-party rules, spells, and some monsters.

For example, I have a set nautical rules for 5e that I like and I entered those in. Many of the terms are not common and are rules that are infrequently used, so its been VERY helpful to have these autolinked. I'm not going to memorize the specs for a knarr ship for example.

As for spells, it was helpful to be able to look these up--though autolinking is still something to consider (do you want every instance of the word "sleep" linked to the Sleep spell?). But, since HeroLab started supporting 5e (via the SRD + the excellent community filling in the gaps), I rarely reference spell info in RW. I'll look at the spell info in HL as I'm generally looking it up as part of combat.

It is still nice to have the spells in RW, as I can filter on various attributes like class and level, but that is not enough of a convenience to enter all of the spells into RW. If spells are available in the Content Market, I'll buy them. It can be nice to have them. But I wouldn't go through the effort of entering all the spell information myself again. It was only worth it to me at the time because HL didn't support 5e.

As for monsters, I recommend only entering those as you create your world and adventures. Enter as needed. I created text macros with Phrase Express to make the data entry easier. But, like spells, now that 5e is in HL, I don't bother creating monster entries anymore. I just create a portfolio for the monster and add a HeroLab snippet to the relevant encounter.

If I have a monster that is very important to the story or my world, that needs me to record content other than what is in the published sources, I will create articles for that monster in that case. Otherwise, I focus on creating content I need to run my next few sessions. Hopefully monster content from the Monster Manual, Volo's Guide, Kobold Press's Tome of Beasts, and similar bestiaries will be available in the Content Market.

And that's another reason to hold off on mechanics articles from published sources...I would hate to go through all the work only to have it available from the CM a month later...

[AEIOU]

I only add creatures as I need them for adventures to my Mechanics. But I haven't added much more. I WANT all the monsters. And spells. And classes. And and and.... But honestly I haven't missed not having them. I have way more fun entering content than I do mechanics. :)

[daplunk]

Adding just the topics with the name is quick. I do that with all my monsters books. Then in prep i fill them in as i need them.

Example: Create the following:

<Monster Manual>
- <Orc> - empty
- <Goblin> - empty
- <Troll> - empty

When i prep a module and discover i need an orc i update Orc.

IMPORTANT: When creating monsters make sure you create an extra name to cover the plural. The Orc entry needs an extra name called Orcs.

[kbs666]

In regards to monsters, I have found that putting the stats in RW is pretty much a waste. What isn't a waste is putting in the lore and things you might otherwise have to look up a lot.

For instance in PF all undead have "undead traits" which make them immune to a whole list of things. What exactly is on that list I can never remember. So now every undead creature includes a link to the undead traits article which has the list.

But I only add monsters as I add them to encounters. No point in doing a ton of work for something the players will never see.

[daplunk]

Yeah my stats are all in the Hero Lab file.

I have a picture, the hero lab portfolio and I want to add XP in.

[AEIOU]

IMHO, the only monster stats that are really useful in RW are description, picture, alignment, creature type, CR and lair type. Maybe languages.... These are what you might search on for adventure development.

If you are playing other systems that do not have HeroLab support, then full creature entries are much more relevant. But also quite likely less shareable due to copyrights. So they will probably be personal entries rather than downloading from the store.

[kbs666]

IMHO, the only monster stats that are really useful in RW are description, picture, alignment, creature type, CR and lair type. Maybe languages.... These are what you might search on for adventure development.

I try to plan ahead and figure out what tidbits I'll give players if they make knowledge checks about a particular creature and have those things as snippets. That way I can reveal them as well as tell them. That way they become something the players know forever.

[Dhrakken]

I try to plan ahead and figure out what tidbits I'll give players if they make knowledge checks about a particular creature and have those things as snippets. That way I can reveal them as well as tell them. That way they become something the players know forever.

I find this helps a lot to curb metagaming... I have two GM's in my group and this method makes it very clear about what they're PC's know (or learnt) about a specific monster.

[thekwp]

I try to plan ahead and figure out what tidbits I'll give players if they make knowledge checks about a particular creature and have those things as snippets. That way I can reveal them as well as tell them. That way they become something the players know forever.

That is a really good idea. I plan to adopt that.

I've been using Realm Works know for about five months, and making extensive use of it for only one campaign so far. With the way I use it, I find that combat encounters and most general game mechanics are not something I need or use in Realm Works; at least, yet.

Managing both campaign planning and the "Fog of Campaign" is where I am finding Realm Works to be very useful. I am primarily using it for EN Publishing's War of the Burning Sky campaign which I am updating to Pathfinder; so I am doing quiet a bit of mechanics work for my campaign. Perhaps my ability to make use of mechanics from Realm Works in the middle of the game will come in time, but I would not recommend anyone start that way.

Use it to manage the information for your campaign's story: how it relates internally, what your players know, how you plan to use it.

For me, right now, if it doesn't help with the narrative in someway (background, plot, development, feel, illustrations, events, etc), then I am not spending the time to work on it in Realm Works.

[MNBlockHead]

@thekwp, do you also use HeroLab? If you do, having enounters entered in as scene topics with Herolab snippets is really nice when running a session.

[thekwp]

@thekwp, do you also use HeroLab? If you do, having enounters entered in as scene topics with Herolab snippets is really nice when running a session.

No, haven't made the jump to there yet.

A few of my friends use Hero Labs, and I believe them when they say that the application is easy to use. However, I really don't like the format of the output sheets for skills and the like; though I do like the way it group equipment (as compared to say, PCGen). As a result, I have not been inclined to spend the money on it yet.

[Dhrakken]

No, haven't made the jump to there yet.

A few of my friends use Hero Labs, and I believe them when they say that the application is easy to use. However, I really don't like the format of the output sheets for skills and the like; though I do like the way it group equipment (as compared to say, PCGen). As a result, I have not been inclined to spend the money on it yet.

There are many different templates for the output; including one that looks exactly like the official Paizo one.

[kbs666]

No, haven't made the jump to there yet.

A few of my friends use Hero Labs, and I believe them when they say that the application is easy to use. However, I really don't like the format of the output sheets for skills and the like; though I do like the way it group equipment (as compared to say, PCGen). As a result, I have not been inclined to spend the money on it yet.
Even if you don't use HL for character sheets, using it to build and manage encounters can really make your life as a GM easier.