Realm Works vs. Virtual Tabletops
 

I loved this software at its conception, I thought it was great. But at this point I'm having a hard time selling my players on it and I'm not sure what to tell them... specifically what it does that makes it better than Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds?

Apples & Oranges.

Realm Works isn't a VTT, it's a campaign manager.


Dave

Realm Works is not VTT. It is campaign manager and it is doing this job as perfect as possible. I use it all the time alongside Fantasy Grounds to run my games. Everything is in Realm Works (unless I have the modules in FG, then I don't do double work) and I have the two applications opened. In face to face games it is the same with the main difference that we have real table. :)

Why are you trying to sell your players on it?

Just give them the information they need during the game and use Realm Works to manage everything YOU need to stay on top of the information.

What he (Daplunk) said...

I use RW to run 3 different campaigns and have players in each ask me how I am doing it. Once I show them the software, they 'sell' themselves on it. The depth RW allows you as the GM to take your campaign is what will sell it...

Not sure it sells the players on it but RW is by far the best tool in existence for organizing and connecting the elements of a campaign world. Automatic linking by itself is worth every penny I paid for the program. The rest of what it does is just gravy built on top of that.

I should have said it sells them (the players) on picking up a copy of the Player version. I keep pretty much everything in RW (now) so they have access to all the spells/feats/items/etc. Which is more than a little convenient!

The player version has always been a hard sell tbh. I bought the package deal a long time ago, 5 licenses for $30, and to the best of my knowledge at most 1 of my players ever even installed it.

Players don't tend to be as invested in a homebrew campaign which is of interest to their small circle of friends as people get in something like Faerun which they can discuss with thousands of other people.

It might be of more interest when/if things like player journals get implemented which let the players "interact" with the campaign world rather than just passively reading about it.

My experience is similar to kbs666's.,, even providing the licenses to my players did not motivate them to install RW.

In part it may come down to how involved between sessions the players are. If they're like mine (don't take notes, don't really communicate about the game between sessions, expect the GM to be their in-game memory), then they likely won't be willing to install RW. On the other hand, those who act differently (when RW wasn't around) may take to it better... they may find it a replacement for notes they can consult between sessions (which is what the Player version is really for).

Same here, none of my players is interested in the player version, as they tend not to invest too much time between sessions. But they do use the PFSRD on their phones during play to look up things and already said they would use the web view for players to look up NPC Names and the like.