Sooooo convince me

[Bebberino]

NOTE: I am not doing long paragraphs or what not, as I find them a pain to read and think others may also.

I have been a faithful HeroLab owner for a while now and absolutely love it, though I do wish the PC version was easier to use, but that is another discussion.

I am looking at Realm works and was initially going to get it, as I like the fact it can go in depth and is a complete campaign tracker, but I have hit a snag.

d20 Pro and Fantasy Grounds both have gotten licenses to do official Pathfinder content, which excites me and also disturbs me, here's why.

All the videos I have seen of all 3 have been smooth, though it would be smooth if I was the person making them and had the time to learn everything about it, which I may or may not have.

I would really like to run a campaign that is as interlinked as the 3 Pathfinder games I am a part of are. Now what do I mean by that, well in 2 games I play siblings, one game has one sibling, the other their younger brother. In the game I DM it is set a few years later and one of their nephews is in it.

I want to be able to emulate that, if possible.

I want to have it so other DM's that run games that I know and agree to it can input their information for their games also, with appropriate access given to the people that have a 'need to know'.

Specifically I am curious if have Golarion, it will show who is the ruler of Varisia, who rules Cheliax and what not.

Now I do understand that a good portion of that will be purchasable content, BUT is it possible.

If I am rambling, I apologize, as I really want to go a certain way, but don't want to buy Realm Works and be disappointed.

[kbs666]

At this precise moment we really don't know for sure.

The ability to share content just came out. Getting collaborative GM's is an often requested feature but no one knows if or when it will be available.

Paizo is definitely going to be releasing material for RW but what and when is still unknown.

I will tell you this, I've run games using just a VTT, Roll20 in my case, and a VTT is great when players aren't face to face with me. When the players are all physically present I'd much rather use RW to let me track what is going on outside combat and HL to run combats.

[Bebberino]

Uggh, my only gripe with Wolflair is they don't tell us much and we just hope for the best

I hope the pricing for Pathfinder items stays in line with how they price things in Herolab and are nice enough to give discounts to those of us that own said data packages in HeroLab and when they come available in Realm Works.

[kbs666]

We'll know more about pricing within about a month.

[Bebberino]

Which is 2 months behind schedule, though I understand to a point

[EightBitz]

FACT: Just to be clear, RW is NOT a VTT, nor will it likely ever be. That was never its purpose. It is, as you say, a campaign tracker. It is not meant, and will not serve as a replacement for Roll20.

FACT: RW does NOT real-time reveal. It is meant to help you and your players keep track of things from session to session, not from moment to moment or encounter to encounter. You make your changes in Realm Works (add content, change content or reveal content), then you save those changes. Then you sync those changes to the server. Then your players have to sync with the server to see your changes.

What Realm Works is meant to do is:

• Help you create and track changes in your world.
• Help you keep track of what you've revealed to your players. It's no longer necessary to ask yourself, "Wait, have they discovered this important detail yet or not?"
• Help your players keep track of what you've revealed to them by syncing their client to the server so they have direct access to that info.
• Help you and your players do a quick review of your last session before starting a new one. "In our last episode of Days of our Dragons ..."

OPINION: I'm less familiar with Fantasy Grounds. I don't know if that includes VTT or not, so I can't speak to that issue. I can tell you that, as far as worldbuilding, RW is superior (IMO) to Fantasy Grounds. It is more flexible and more detailed. Mind you, that also means it has a higher learning curve. When you first install it, and log into it, it's not uncommon to stare at it with a dumb look of, "What the hell do I do now? Where do I even start?" But if you play around with it, you soon get passed that.

SPECULATION (And I want to be very clear that this is SPECULATION): LWD seems to have a good relationship with Paizo in regards to releasing Pathfinder content for Hero Lab. It would only make sense to me this already existing relationship would extend to Realm Works.

[daplunk]

I would challenge that the FG learning curve far exceeds that of RW. It uses a fully custom UI where RW feels like a windows applications and works as expected.

Ultimately though the above is true. Realm Works is not a VTT. The applications you have listed above are VTT solutions with a little bit of campaign management built in.

I strongly suggest you have a look through my videos to get a really good understanding of what this software can offer.

Personally I use a VTT alongside RW. RW (+HL) is the adventure book, the rule books, the monster and spell database. The VTT (MapTools) is strictly for displaying the map onto the table and controlling fog of war. We use minis that sit on top of that map.

Pathfinder support is guaranteed. I know free Pathfinder content is already enroute to all current users. I would be willing to bet that launch day of the Content Market will contain a larger % of Pathfinder content vs any other system. We have been told we will get some information in the coming weeks as to pricing expectations.

I have in my hands a copy of 2x import packs that everyone should get in the near future. I can tell you right now that they contain Hero Lab portfolios which means you will simply be able to click and send monsters from RW to HL and then straight into combat.

As to whether or not this is the program for you... answer this question.

Do you play with people in person or over the internet?

Honestly If i was playing over the internet. I would be looking at FG or Roll20. I wouldn't want to. I've tried both and RW is vastly superior in my opinion. BUT the VTT solutions above include things that are necessary for online play. Visible dice rolling over the network. Ability to macro abilities and have the result output to the chat session. Basically the ability to manage combat over the network. HL does not offer this and RL is not designed to do this. If I was going to be using a VTT to manage combat then it would make sense to have all the maps and monsters and spell in that tool. If i was going to go that far you might as well have the story using the licensed content.

You wish to connect people together is absolutely possible in RW using the relationship system. It has time stamps also so you can track what happens to whom and when. It tracks relationships. My understanding is the VTT solutions above allow you to create story content but nothing at this level of depth and customization. It's also no where near as well organised.

You could run them in separate realms and have DM 1 update his content, export it at the end of the session and pass it onto DM2 who could import it. The logic of import is smart enough (or at least going to be) that it will recognize the content and update it with changes. He could do the same back to you. You would have to test it to see if it works for you, but Realm Works is such a beast that it's highly likely that you will find something that works.

You can absolutely create relationships to towns and places btw. I have an entire video on that topic somewhere.

The only person who can really answer this is you though. You need to do what works for you. Check out my videos below. They are far from smooth in my opinion lol. Watch close enough you will see me try and fail to do things. But that's just part of using such a large tool.

Daplunk's Videos

[daplunk]

You know what though... I'm going to think on this further...

How can RW be used in conjunction with the big name VTT's via a network...

Let me ponder on that for a while.

[Strategon]

I'll be surprised if any publisher really gets serious about licensing their products for Realm Works for the simple reason that there is no way to protect their IP from being altered, copied, etc. WOTC's implementation in Fantasy Grounds is not copyable and they have the content locked completely down.

Personally, I really like the concept that RW is using, because what DM doesn't want to take a published adventure and alter it or pull it into another setting at times; however, this makes publishers cringe.

[Bidmaron]

daplunk, I requested a feature that would make use with VTTs easier. Namely, I requested that RW be able to respond to a URI send to it from another program (e.g. FG) so it could on-the-fly display VTT-driven information. Kind of like how RW uses syrinscape but in reverse.