Lost in my campaign

[Vampyre]

Hello everyone,

I have a big issue with Realmworks and this is mainly due to the fact that I hadn't yet had the time to play with it. The reason for that is that I am on a Mac. I was patiently waiting for RW to become available for the Mac, but since it's nowhere close to be seen, I left it on the side.

I worked on a campaign, for which I created a full town. The campaign is an investigation type of campaign, set mainly in one town. (In short, the players will investigate on an unsolvable murder, (the perfect murder), while the real plot will be happening in their back. They will then switch to that investigation, which is now solvable). That's very short, but in order to be able to keep with the campaign, I detailed every public building in the town.

One of those location, for example, is the bar. I've described its outside look (it's brown, an old look facade, with a light near the entrance), but also its inside look (the number of tables, the length and style of the bar, the stairs going up to an office, to the owner's quarter, and to 10 hotel rooms). I've been writing every little detail, knowing that in an investigation, my players will go lose and I need as much details on the city as I can.

For this, I've been writing the story on one side (basically 40 pages of text), the people living in town (another 40 pages), and the town (yet another 40 pages). As you already understood by reading this mail, I like writing. But now that I remembered that I had RW, I wanted to try and see if I could put my campaign in RW.

And there is my problem. Even though I've watched multiple videos, including those of the GenCon 2015, even though I understood that one snippet must contain one information that can be revealed to players, I'm still struggling with my own text.

Just for that bar, I have no idea where I should start. When I read my text, it is so many details that I feel like every sentence has a different information. That would mean 1 snippet. After 10 sentences, I have 10 snippets on the description, and nothing elsewhere. And by seeing this, I tell myself that I must be doing something not right.

And I end up with only what I've managed to do : the map of the town, with pins, linking to nothing.

So, for you, wise users that have managed to figure out this : how do you go from a full text, written like a book, to content in your realm ? Are you using very short phrases, or do you use full length text. Based on the bar I've described earlier, should I bring all my text into one snippet for the interior (this is what the PC will see when they enter the bar), and another snippet for the office, and once more for the rooms ?

Thank you for sharing your "methods" used when you go from paper to RW. I'm very lost, and it's not because I lack details...

Many thanks for your time !

[AEIOU]

Let's focus on the bar to start. I would love to do as much detail as you are doing.

I would make the bar a Location. And each room inside the bar a Scene. The Scenes would be contained by the Location.

The Location would get an overview. It would include outside description, status of windows and exterior doors/locks, etc. It may also be the best place to summarize the "investigation" details about the bar.

Next step for each Scene would be "what do the players see" and lump that together as a single snippet that I would mark as read aloud so it's obvious that this is general knowledge. That should provide a number of things that the players will want more detail on which can become additional snippets. These are normal snippets that can be revealed as they check out in more detail like what's behind the bar, that dark space under the stair, a skylight with a broken latch.

If relevant, I'd also make the alleyway and roof a Scene. These would be treated as a part of the bar Location.

When making snippets, don't be afraid of paragraphs or with rearranging the writing so you can combine snippets. The flow of a book is not the same as the flow of an adventure outline. Create snippets that make sense to you and your players.

That gets you going on the location. The people would be contained by a general Cast List rather than the bar Location. Off to lunch so I'll stop here and maybe pick again later but this gives you a start into how *I* would do it. Keep us updated on how you end up doing it though as there isn't a "right" way, just the way that works best for you.

[EightBitz]

I'm guessing that whatever you start doing, you're going to change your mind about it two or three times anyway, until you get a feel for things. So take what you have written down, and start putting it into snippets just as its written. One snippet per paragraph.

Once you start doing that, you will most likely start seeing things you want to re-word, things you want to divide into separate snippets, and things you might want to combine into the same snippet.

Don't worry about what you're going to do wrong. Just do it. You can always go back and change things. It might take a few times to "find your voice", but just be patient with it.

[Farling]

As you start to break up your paragraphs into individually revealable snippets, you might find some rewriting will happen since the snippet will have to provide the revealed information to the players as a self-contained coherent fact (or facts).

Working a snippet at a time might actually help you write the adventure better, since each snippet is a separate clue which can be written as a separate piece of prose. :-)

[kbs666]

The way I handle locations is each building is a separate topic and if it is a location that is important to a story and is covered in detail then each room gets a topic contained by buildings topic.

On snippets, I only put the material that would be revealed at one time in each snippet. So the exterior description which might be several sentences goes in one while the bartenders name which is just a phrase goes in another. Which section of the topic each snippet goes in is something you will have to decide for yourself. There really is no right or wrong way.

The important thing to remember is RW is a tool to help you and your players. Use it to make your life easier.

[Vampyre]

Thank you very much for your answers. It really helps.

Thank you very much in taking time and answering. Much appreciated !

[Cornelius]

Something I learned:
Describing a location or a person is usually divided in to several segments. Each segment is what I call a level of knowledge. To gain access to a level of knowledge the PC must do something to attain the knowledge.

Example:
The PC enter a bar.
the first level of knowledge of a bar is what they see as the enter the room.
(Example: it is a dim lit room with paintings of different people on the walls. Behind the bar stands a fat man trying to clean a glass. His cloth is so dirty he is just smearing the dirt around. In a corner you see a man wearing a large hat sitting. His piercing green eyes examine you closely.)
The second level of knowledge may be some deeper information on the paintings. A simple knowledge skill check may be in order. This may reveal something about the previous owners of the bar.
A third level of knowledge may be revealed after a search of the room. A hidden vault behind one of the paintings.
Etc.

Each level of knowledge can be either a snippet or another topic. the man with the hat probably links towards a NPC where more information is stored about him.