Best Practices: Rise of the Runelords/ Inner Sea

[lifer4700]

I plan on adding Spells, Feats, Weapons, etc. into the Mechanics section as the players acquire them. There is simply too much to enter up front otherwise.

I did enter all things like Conditions, Damage Types, basic Actions, Weapon Qualities, since there is a reasonably finite number of them.

[Talinthalas]

I agree, but I can really see the use of being able to click on a spell and get the description especially in a Paizo product where they list the spells that NPC will cast, and then let's say that causes a condition and be able to click on that and bring it up. That would save me a ton of time during game, although add a bunch for prep.

[rob]

In case you didn't see it, I posted a thread on Friday entitled Realm Works Status Update. Here are two items from that post that are directly pertinent to this thread:

Originally Posted by rob

2. We have been putting together a substantive Best Practices guide that includes all sorts of tips and tricks. The goal is to make it available next week as well, but I'm worried that might be too optimistic. So stay tuned and we'll get that document to you in the near future.

3. We've been folding an actual Pathfinder Adventure Path into Realm Works. We chose Rise of the Runelords as our test case. We'll be using this work as the basis for putting together concrete recommendations for everyone as they tackle putting assorted published content into Realm Works. We'll also be able to provide some screenshots with examples of how we've chosen to model various things. As part of our effort, we're also giving thought to delivery of the material, so we'll also be able to provide some helpful guidance for those of you who are looking to share/publish your content.

I'm sure your first reaction to the above is "Oh no! What about all the work I've done?" and your second reaction is "What do I do until the info is published?". Please don't fret.

My recommendation is to stay the course with whatever you're doing, since most of it probably won't be dramatically different from what we recommend. For the exceptions that are, you probably aren't doing things "wrong" - just different. And that's one of the great things about Realm Works, as there are multiple ways to accomplish the same thing that work better for different users.

If you're still worried, then focus on the story content. My guess is that any big differences will probably lie in the top-level approach we're using for organizing and presenting the overall content. It may also extend into the way we're encapsulating the separate chapters and parts of the AP. However, all of the "meat" of the AP (the other 98+% of the book) will probably end up being very similar. So if you focus your efforts on those aspects, you won't run the risk of investing more effort in areas that will differ substantially from our recommendations.

I hope this provides some comfort that help is on the way and allays concerns about the work you're actively doing. Stay tuned for lots of meaty suggestions on the ways we're going about this stuff. And rest assured that, as long as the way you're doing things works well for you, there's absolutely NO reason you need to change anything, even if your way differs from ours.

[Romaq]

Oh! Thank you, Rob! That's great news. Sorry I didn't follow up earlier, I'm working long hours so I had to wait to get back on this. Realm Works: What lets me pick up & put down campaign work without losing my place.

"... even if your way differs from ours."

Time = money. I don't have time (working 55+ hours per week), but I have money (working 55+ hours per week) at the moment. I don't have time to learn things the "hard way", so mostly I am looking to borrow on someone ELSE has already suffered the pain and anguish of learning how to make the best use of RW *badly*, so they can learn how to make it better, so I can skip to the part about using optimal techniques spoken of in this message tread. And I am thankful, by the way, for some tips spoken of here.

I am very interested in your Best Practices guide, and I look forward to seeing improvements on it over time.

Even better, I'm very VERY happy you picked, "Rise of the Runelords", the first campaign I plan to cut my teeth on as an idjiot n3wb GM first campaign. When it comes to the time = money equation, I would be way more than pleased to throw money at Lone Wolf so I don't have to deal with entering in the broad outline of my campaign. The GameMastery Guide makes much over using player choices to drive the campaign you both enjoy while having backup options you can quickly reskin and repurpose as things progress. So RW for me, and RotRL on it is mostly about having my hard-bound print edition in an e-format that allows me to scribe, trash and otherwise mangle in a live campaign, then push a 'reset' button to get it back for a future campaign when I get to do it again. I really don't wish to trash my hardcopy book, and doing all this to the PDF doesn't seem very good either.

Anyway, the way that works best for me is to throw money at you guys in exchange for not having to take the time for me to do all of the initial data entry. As long as we agree this works for our professional relationship, things are fine.

[lifer4700]

Originally Posted by Romaq

Anyway, the way that works best for me is to throw money at you guys in exchange for not having to take the time for me to do all of the initial data entry. As long as we agree this works for our professional relationship, things are fine.

+1 To this

[DrJones72]

Have my +1 as well

[Vangerdahast]

+1, me too (and it seems my daughter who has offered me her piggy bank, but i suspect that's a very clever attempt to get an invite to my pathfinder group)