Tag Suggestions
 

Hello, I was looking for some input on this. I was setting up a new category to cover spells for 5e, I wanted to create tags for different spell items so there searchable. I was thinking of creating different tag domains (Spells: Level, Spells: Class, etc.) Instead of creating multiple domains I thought of creating one domain, set explicit ordering and make it look like the following picture. Do any of you have any input to this type of setup, possible pitfalls using this, or am I on the right track to keeping things simple.

That's a big list of unrelated items to pick from each time you want to pick a tag, which you're going to do multiple times when adding a spell.

It's a lot simpler to keep your domains limited to one subject.

All these tags are related to Spells only, there level, school of magic, etc. To show its use see the following, I have multiple fields in the category that will use this tag domain but in different context. As you can see I highlighted the items in red, in the form and on the far right you can see it adds the spell tags correctly. Instead of listing tons of different spell domains, I thinking that having them under one domain like this might simplify thing.

Thoughts

Below is a screen shot of how I've set up my spell article template. The difference is that I've created a bunch of separate spell-related tags. Basically each field has its own custom tag.

I like how your approach keeps all spell attributes in one place. First I thought that it would affect how you can search, but you can do a tag search on multiple values in the same tag that performs the same as if they were in different tags.

One advantage of keeping them separate is that you don't have to scroll down through a lot of values that are unrelated to the fields that your a completing. But that is the only drawback that I see with your approach.

Attachment 3909

Guys do you plan to enter each spell from your game system or is it just for the spells you've made up ?

Because that seems to me a s...load of work knowing you probably have everything already in a book ? :eek:

I'll be always amazed by some people commitment to the cause :D

One of the big advantages of a database is not having to jump between a bunch of books (whether physical, digital, or a mix) to look up mechanics, setting info, adventure info, and so on.

One of the big advantages of sharing is not having to type it all in yourself, and LWD hopes that enough of us are willing to pay for someone else to type things up that it'll keep Realm Works in the black. :)

MNBlockHead, thanks for the input, the list is a little long but the ---- Tag --- help keep things organized and setting a default value helps when modifying to start at that position.

How about anyone else, thought, criticisms, better ideas. I would like to get a few options before I proceed.

I am looking forward to RealmWorks completely replacing my books over time. I expect the content to be a mix of purchased and/or entered on my own.

For spells, yes. It is VERY helpful at game to have the spells readily available. Looking up and discussing spells was really slowing down the game. Two things that have really helped are (1) I bought spell cards and have my players take the cards for the spells they prepared and (2) have all the spells in RealmWorks, so that if I have an encounter with an NPC/monster that is a spellcaster, those spells are hyperlinked to the spell record itself.

I love the DnD 5th ed. books for pre-game prep, for browsing and getting ideas and inspiration. They are very high quality and a pleasure to pages through. BUT I hate, hate, hate, having to look things up during the game. Even with tabs, it is a pain. I've had DMs who have taken the books to a print shot, cut off the binding, punched holes in the left margin and put the books in a three-ring binder and I still find that a game-interrupting annoyance.

As more supplemental materials and rules-book errata are released, as well as the ENWorld EN5ider articles I buy from Patreon, it gets even more challenging to manage things on paper at the table.

So, yes, I spend quite a bit of time on game prep and creating aids to avoid having to look up anything but the most obscure rules. So, I have homemade DM screens (the WoTC screens are nice eye candy but functionally not very useful), spell cards, and lots of tables and other mechanics items entered into RealmWorks.

Personally, I think you (impersonal you) generally get better and more future-proof results when using the structures as intended, even if it isn't immediately obvious at to why. With tag domains in particular, there are lots of terms which would fit into multiple domains IF you grouped them by what you want to tag with them, rather than whether or not they are conceptually-related terms. If that makes sense.

For clarity, examples! The school of magic might also be a useful tag to apply to a class, feat or character, not just a spell. And why add class names to a domain intended only for spell tagging, when you could add them to the classes domain and use them on all the OTHER things that want to be tagged with a particular class?

So, in my opinion, it's better to get the tags from the domain where they belong, than to make a new domain just to group tags.