Real Time Realm/Player Sync Mode
 

I would very much like to see a workflow where players get access to revealed information in real time (or nearly so) in the Player Edition.

"OK folks, please have a look at NPC Bob for some new information and a copy of the map he just gave you." That sort of thing was my vision.

At my game table (physical table) we aren't using Virtual Table Top (VTT) software. And in the one remote game I play/GM in we use Roll20, but I don't want to have to export a map from RW to import it into Roll20, or email it to everyone if I want them to be able to see it when it is already in RW.

Admittedly when I got into RW several years ago, I always just assumed this is how it would work. (Reveal something and the players can see it.) Not exit realm, sync, reload, ask everyone else to do the same.

When I first started with RW (early Beta), I had never seen, nor used VTT. So when it was indicated that RW was not to be VTT I didn't care.

I still don't care that RW isn't going to be or try to replace VTT software.
I don't care if it can do what Roll20 does arguably well (track initiative, move characters around on a map, roll dice and chat).

But what I do want RW to do for me is eliminate the paper handouts, and allow for expedient sharing of information I put into RW for the purpose of revealing to players without having to jump through hoops to share it with them during a game session. (I just assumed easy digital sharing would be part of the paradigm.)

Disappointment aside, I can understand if this wasn't the original conception of RW, and it is still an interesting and useful product. But since RW was first developed real time cloud based collaboration tools have become more prolific. (Or at least I became more aware of them).

I'm now so used to the kind of real time sharing one can get with Dropbox, Google Docs/Sheets, Wunderlist, Evernote, Slack, etc. the current sync model in RW is pretty clunky.

Please keep making RW into the best GM tool out there. This request is only intended in that spirit.

Cheers,
-Mettius

+1 even though this feature only ranks somewhere in the middle of my personal wishlist.

Would you be happy with the ability to sync your changes to an open realm, without having to exit, sync and reload?

I'm assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that this might be both an easier adaptation, given how the software currently works, as well as a more universally welcomed feature, as it's conceptually similar to how the software currently works.

+1 for me, too. It's what I hope for from the software, real time updates to people's browsers.

That would help, by reducing the number of steps to achieve the result of players being able to see revealed information. But it is still short of the mark of what I'm wanting here.

I think what my request gives is the group experience being significantly enhanced by "showing" stuff to the players as they discover it.

FWIW: My group is pretty poor about looking at things in between sessions. For us the "offline" (aka between game sessions) use case for RW Player Edition doesn't cut the mustard.

Cheers,
-Mettius

This is my problem with my players, too. One of them is interested enough to look at things between sessions, but the rest don't habitually do it. 'The rest' includes one member who barely reads emails, and one who doesn't have broadband yet.

+1 from me....

This was raised some time ago, but I don't recall the outcome.

Essentially, I also like to reveal information, maps, entire topics, clues and other information throughout sessions. Particularly if an NPC reveals tangible information, you need to be able to reveal it almost immediately to the players if they then wish to speak to someone else.

I am okay with it as a "Reveal only" (i.e. not able to actually add new snippets, only reveal existing ones if that is the only way it will work), but as long as I can smash that little green light to let players look at something, it'd be awesome.

+1 for me too

OMG I swear all of you are my clone or reading my mind. This is exactly what I thought it would be like when I joined the Kickstarter. And I never heard of VTT. I would like to do a hot sync without jumping through the exit, sync, reload hoop. And most of my players don't look at it between sessions and one barely reads email and responds if she's going to be there. I'm not alone. :eek:

yeap +1

Yeah, I think most of our groups are this way.

One thing I've done in past campaigns was to give experience bonuses for folks that have written play reports. That got at least the writers interested in logging on to Obsidian Portal, which is what I was using at the time.