Quick Question: How to categorize a game?

[Merion]

For flavor reasons I mentioned a game last session that dwarfes in my world like to play. I described it as two armies fighting in tunnels - basically a crossover of chess and a MOBA ;-)

Now I struggle at where to put it in my realm - do I make it a named object? But it is not really a single object. Or is it a Other->Concept? Or is there an even better place?

Anyone already had this problem?

[daplunk]

Perhaps create a custom category. There's game icons. If it's only going to appear once I would put in in the story. If your going to use it again put it in the mechanics.

[Merion]

hmmm... mechanics section is out, I like to only store rule related stuff there. You convinced my to store my monster there already, but from what I gleam from you videos, we have a quite different organization approach ;-)
I like to keep things that exist int he world in the story part.

Completely new Catogory might be a bit overkill as I probably won't create more than a few fictional games.

[Vargr]

I would definitely put it in the mechanics section.

This is also where I put the Law of the Land and the punishments for breaking any of them.

I also put animals, medicines (and poisons) here as well as what is considered the national dish of the various countries.

Especially if you are going to use it again and again.

Where do you put the description of the cultural background that the dwarves in question adhere to? Add it as a topic under there.

[daplunk]

Yeah i think of the mechanics as an encyclopedia.

Its where an article on a dog would go.

But I wouldn't put Bob the dog there. He belongs in the story section but would make reference to the dog article in the mechanics.

Just like here. The game itself would go in the mechanics. The results of a game would not.

[Merion]

Where do you put the description of the cultural background that the dwarves in question adhere to? Add it as a topic under there.

Well that went to Group:Ethnic->Dwarves, but I can't put a mechanics article under a story topic.
I could try using relations or simple links, but where would I put it under mechanics? Campaign Element?

[daplunk]

Cultural stuff I would put under the race section.

[Silveras]

The distinction I make is "in-world" vs "not in-world".

The World Almanac content is "in-world" .. the history and things that CHARACTERS would consider their knowledge and lore.

Mechanics are for the elements of operating the game.. the pieces of the game system.. things that PLAYERS would know about, but CHARACTERS would have no idea of (hit points, levels, attributes, dice rules for resolving situations, etc.)

So a game that is part of a culture in the world is "in-world" and belongs in the World Almanac. I would make a "Concept" Topic (maybe for "Games" in general) and use a "Further Information" Topic to hold the details of the individual game under it.

[MNBlockHead]

Huh, I when I looked at my realm in RW to answer how I do it, I realized that I'm all over the place.

If it is a game that the party may play, I'll have a mechanics article. For example, EN World had an article on archery contests that I liked, so I summarized it in a "General Gameplay Article" but I have mechanics for "racing" as part of a an article on chases, which is entered as a General Game Mastering Article.

For flavor text, I'll mention popular games and entertainments as part of an applicable Group:Ethnic article. For one game that was part of a more involved series of adventures, I entered it as a 'further information' topic, as it was providing further information on an aspect of culture for a specific ethnic group.

So, I am not very consistent, but I've become less OCD in my use of RW over the past two years and I just let it grow organically. Where does it make sense for me NOW in terms of helping me prep for my game? Autolinking and the ease of moving items to different container and even changing a topic from one topic to another makes me comfortable that I'm not going to lose or break anything.

I find that how I want to "file" things in RW changes over the course of the campaign. I organized things for an upcoming advanture to make it easy to work on and to run the game. Afterwards, its purpose is more to be part of the world almanac and the players interactions with the concept, group, etc. leads me to expand upon it, so it gets moved, become its own topic or a different topic.

The only thing I don't do is convert topics to articles and vice versa. I'm pretty clear that mechanics articles are for crunch and almanac/view topics are for fluff. I *could* do so, you can find posts in the forums where Rob will step you through it, but it is a bit involved. I think spending sometime on understanding what you'll put in the mechanics section and what you'll put in the almanac section is worth it, beyond that though, I don't sweat it.

[Merion]

The distinction I make is "in-world" vs "not in-world".

The World Almanac content is "in-world" .. the history and things that CHARACTERS would consider their knowledge and lore.

Mechanics are for the elements of operating the game.. the pieces of the game system.. things that PLAYERS would know about, but CHARACTERS would have no idea of (hit points, levels, attributes, dice rules for resolving situations, etc.)

So a game that is part of a culture in the world is "in-world" and belongs in the World Almanac. I would make a "Concept" Topic (maybe for "Games" in general) and use a "Further Information" Topic to hold the details of the individual game under it.

That's pretty much my approach too.


So, I am not very consistent, but I've become less OCD in my use of RW over the past two years and I just let it grow organically. Where does it make sense for me NOW in terms of helping me prep for my game? Autolinking and the ease of moving items to different container and even changing a topic from one topic to another makes me comfortable that I'm not going to lose or break anything.


Same here, the flexibility of RealmWorks is one of its great benefits. Let's get the info in there and adjust later if necessary. Nonetheless I'm always curious how other work and maybe learn a thing.