How I use Realm Works

[Erdrix]

*Included screenshots maybe considered Spoilers.

I figured I would show how I format and use Realm Works, maybe it'll give others some ideas and maybe even help me refine my style.

First off a bit about me. I've been DMing regularly since 3.0 came out and dabbled in AD&D for years before then. I also have brachial plexus palsy which pretty much means my right arm is on the useless side (not as bad as some, but still not great). I have to streamline any thing that takes two hands to do, so I make extensive use of mmorpg mice, controllers and keypads.

For Realm Works I use a Logitech G13 keypad and I've set up a profile just for Realm Works. You can see the macros I set here.

On to formatting.

I've always used a color scheme to help me visually know what topic category I'm looking at. I'm still refining my color scheme, but the gist is as followed:
Blue: Magic
Red: Tactics and Hazards
Green: Creature information
Orange: Treasure and rewards
Purple: Development and DM information.
Yellow: Morale

I also use a few highlights:
Blue: anything read-aloud to the players like read-aloud-text scripted dialog
Green: skill challenges, any DCs that need to get my notice
Red: combat stuff like damage rolls. Examples can be seen in the linked pictures above.

I also tend to alternate background colors between lines and snippets to help each line stand out better. I was using a really light beige and a very light gray, but lately I've started using a very light shade of what ever color that section is, in place of the beige.

I also bullet point every snippet, probably because I'm crazy.

Here are a few full page examples of what it looks like all together.

I couldn't get it all in one page here and here.

Another example here and here.

My topics aren't usually that complicated, I just chose those two pages since they had examples of just about everything.

Hope that helps a few people or at the very least exposes my OCDs.

[Bobifle]

Great post ! Thanks for sharing ! This surely helps a lot, as information in RW tend to be in small fonts black and white and let's be honest difficult to read on a notebook.

Question 1: how do you copy paste ? for each topic you copy paste an existing one or do you have templates (basically recorded as topics I guess).

Question 2: I'm using quick create a lot, can you use it ?

[MNBlockHead]

Thanks for sharing this. I commented on another thread how I'm impressed with how you organize your content. I think I'm too lazy to color code things to the extent you do, but I'll definitely considering working some color coding in.

One thing that has changed in how I create topics since when I began using the program is I no longer feel compelled to break everything into snippets. Initially, I thought that just about any small bit of text that might be revealed separately should be in a snippet, and even then, even if a long bit of text would almost certainly be revealed at once, I was breaking it up so that every paragraph was in its own snippet.

Since I don't changed reveal states in game, now I generally keep as much test in a snippet as makes logical sense. This allows more traditional word processing formatting and makes it easier to read. Post-game, when I go through and reveal content, I occasionally split snippets to avoid revealing information that the party wouldn't know, but this is rare.

I think alternating the background is a neat affect, but I don't see much practical user outside of long, content-heavy tables. I haven't read word processing documents in alternating line shades since the 80s when that only printing paper we had for the printer connected to our TSR-80 was alternating green & white lines. If I had to read long prose text on that paper or read my word documents with alternating line shading, I'd find it distracting. This is another reason I don't like to breakup my snippets to granularly. Just easier on my eyes to have normally formatted text in a larger snippet.

I DO like how you highlight magic, combat, etc. Since I find the autolinking in RW to work well at hyperlinking in-text spells and monsters I don't know that it would be that practical for me to further color code, but certainly calling attention to certain dangers and magic effects is very useful, especially if there is a lot of test. Color coding that would be useful.

I'm thinking an interesting tweak on your approach would be to color code by when something is triggered. For example, if something is triggered or potentially triggered upon entering a room, that might be read. E.g. a trap or an attack. If something is hidden and could be overlooked, like a hidden passage, that could be light blue.

Something requiring a passive ability check would be orange.

An important point I want to make sure I don't forget, would be yellow (I already do this).

Most everything else would be obvious from section headings.

As for making things easier to enter, I find Phrase Express to be awesome as a text expander, universal macro creator, and automated-mouse-movement macro creator. I mostly use it in RW for auto-correcting common typos, typing long but commonly repeated strings of text, and for creating nicely formatted stat-block tables.

[Exmortis]

Very nice, and great use of color! Though I do in fact use some color, I do not to the e3xtent you have. I use red to highlight Enemy NPCs, and Purple for treasure, but the rest is default black.

I do like how you have organized the snippets. I think we are much alike, that if it is even remotely possible that a bit of info could be revealed on its own, it warrants its own snippet.

Lately I have been going back and created custom categories for all the information, the default ones are great for getting you started, but once you get familiar and comfortable with RW, I find them not to my organization style. Obviously the team knew this, and thus we can create our own.

Always great to see another's work in RW, never know what may spark your own ideas, or copy another's.

[Lexin]

This is great, I hadn't considered using that amount of colour, but I'll definitely give using colour to at least highlight important information a go. Thank you for sharing it.

[Erdrix]

Originally Posted by Bobifle

Great post ! Thanks for sharing ! This surely helps a lot, as information in RW tend to be in small fonts black and white and let's be honest difficult to read on a notebook.

Question 1: how do you copy paste ? for each topic you copy paste an existing one or do you have templates (basically recorded as topics I guess).

Question 2: I'm using quick create a lot, can you use it ?

I modified the categories to better fit the system I'm using.

Here is how I changed the "scene" category and how it looks when I open a new scene.

I then copy the whole section into a snippet, I clear the formatting and then make each sentence its own line.

The progression looks like this:

Example1

Example2

Example3

Example4

Example5

Example6

Example7

(Sorry, I can't seem to embed any pictures, I just get a little missing picture box.)

Quick creates works fine as long as you send it the right category.

[Erdrix]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

Thanks for sharing this. I commented on another thread how I'm impressed with how you organize your content. I think I'm too lazy to color code things to the extent you do, but I'll definitely considering working some color coding in.

One thing that has changed in how I create topics since when I began using the program is I no longer feel compelled to break everything into snippets. Initially, I thought that just about any small bit of text that might be revealed separately should be in a snippet, and even then, even if a long bit of text would almost certainly be revealed at once, I was breaking it up so that every paragraph was in its own snippet.

Since I don't changed reveal states in game, now I generally keep as much test in a snippet as makes logical sense. This allows more traditional word processing formatting and makes it easier to read. Post-game, when I go through and reveal content, I occasionally split snippets to avoid revealing information that the party wouldn't know, but this is rare.

I think alternating the background is a neat affect, but I don't see much practical user outside of long, content-heavy tables. I haven't read word processing documents in alternating line shades since the 80s when that only printing paper we had for the printer connected to our TSR-80 was alternating green & white lines. If I had to read long prose text on that paper or read my word documents with alternating line shading, I'd find it distracting. This is another reason I don't like to breakup my snippets to granularly. Just easier on my eyes to have normally formatted text in a larger snippet.

I DO like how you highlight magic, combat, etc. Since I find the autolinking in RW to work well at hyperlinking in-text spells and monsters I don't know that it would be that practical for me to further color code, but certainly calling attention to certain dangers and magic effects is very useful, especially if there is a lot of test. Color coding that would be useful.

I'm thinking an interesting tweak on your approach would be to color code by when something is triggered. For example, if something is triggered or potentially triggered upon entering a room, that might be read. E.g. a trap or an attack. If something is hidden and could be overlooked, like a hidden passage, that could be light blue.

Something requiring a passive ability check would be orange.

An important point I want to make sure I don't forget, would be yellow (I already do this).

Most everything else would be obvious from section headings.

As for making things easier to enter, I find Phrase Express to be awesome as a text expander, universal macro creator, and automated-mouse-movement macro creator. I mostly use it in RW for auto-correcting common typos, typing long but commonly repeated strings of text, and for creating nicely formatted stat-block tables.

I'm the opposite, the alternating lines of color help me to not see it as a blob of text. For me it helps me scan lines easier for information I'm looking for.

I do plan on looking into Phrase Express, pdfs have some janky formatting issues.

[MNBlockHead]

Thanks for the progression pics. These are the kinds of posts that make this forum so useful.

Each to their own, everyone has different visual styles. I'm a lawyer by training, so I'm used to looking a big blobs of test, BUT I like to have lots of cross links and well-ordered sections. I find I spend more time on creating sections and subsections than I do on formatting within the snippets. Most of my snippet formatting is for tables and stat blocks.

What I like about PhraseExpress vs. ActiveWords and the myriad of opensource alternatives is that I can use it as a full document-assembly product. I have multiple macros that can be called upon by other macros and build some pretty cool document automation.

What I use if for the most often is stat blocks. I can just type "statblock" and it will be replaced with a nicely formatted statblock table. I have another version of that macro that prompts me to enter the stats when it fires up. I also use it as a kind of spell checker, it will auto-correct commonly mistyped words. PE will also recognize words and phrases that you commonly type and can automate entering them.

It is also useful to make hotkeys for frequent tasks for which no hotkey currently exists, like adding a custom section or subsection.

[Gord]

Thanks for sharing this. I too had never thought of using colour that way. I must confess that the idea of doing the work alternating shading for lines like that, makes my brain hurt. I really hope that you have macros for that kind of formatting work.

[Erdrix]

It's not that bad, I color the whole block one shade then I only have to color the alternate lines.

If there is a keyboard shortcut for shading and highlighting lines that would make it much faster.