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Silveras
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 1,528

Old March 21st, 2017, 06:31 AM
I was thinking about a long post regarding "Organizing for Re-Use and Re-Organizing for Use" ... because there are three user "constituencies" involved here.

First is the person inputting data and preparing the export. The organization scheme that works best for that person is one which facilitates input and export.

kbs666's suggestion makes a lot of sense from this perspective.



Second is the person importing the data. That person, the GM, needs to be able to easily see what content is there so as to decide what to use and what to ignore/delete.

kbs666's suggestion also makes sense from this point of view. Ideally, you would want the content to integrate smoothly with the realm, as daplunk asserts.. but before that, you might want to have it self-contained while reviewing it.



The third constituency is the Players in the importing GM's campaign. They will interact with the data in an entirely different way from the exporter/preparer and the importer/GM.

As an example, it may have made perfect sense to both the preparer and the importer/GM that a rumor about NPC1 doing things at Location1 should be a snippet on Base Area 1's Rumors list... but the PLAYERS may relate to it more as a snippet they'd expect to find on NPC1 or Location1.. and even among players they may view it differently. So, in the end, the GM could decide that it needs to be on all 3 and copies the snippet from the one it is on to the other two.

If the Player version is ever to have a viable future, the GM needs to be able to make sure the information is where the players can find it.. not just where it suits his/her own preferences.

Similarly, the location of NPC1 may make sense to be "under" the spot where he is encountered, but that may be too meta for some groups.. and the GM may decide to move him to his "Residence".

The importing GM needs to be aware that the content is not carved in stone and is available to modify. This is the main strength of Realm Works vs PDFs.. a PDF is fixed content.. Realm Works can be modified ... both to suit the standards of the game it is used in, and to reflect changes in that game as it goes on.
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