Best Practices Guide: Overall

[EightBitz]

I appreciate that you're all trying, but you're not quite hitting it. Maybe I didn't ask my question clearly. Let's try a bit of role playing to see if I can make it more clear what I'd like to see in a best practices guide.

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Hi, I'm Gene Roddenberry. I want to use RW to help me manage adventures in a universe I'm building. I'm coming here asking for some advice. I'm going to have different settings. The first series of adventures are going to be in the 23rd century. The second series of adventures are going to be in the 24th century.

This is going to be a universe populated by several different races, some of which will show up often, like two races I'm calling "Klingons" and "Romulans", and some races will show up once, like the "Gorn".

It's obvious enough to me that I can build worlds and races in the world almanac and that I can detail them in there. But do I put all this in one realm? The first series of adventures and the second series of adventures, even though they're a hundred years apart? What about building out from there? I have an idea for a series of adventures focused around a space station, and a series of adventures focused around a ship that gets trapped far from home. Do I put all this in one realm?

Also, I have some time travel episodes planned, some of which will take place on today's earth, and some of which will take place between the 23rd and 24th century. Some that might even go back to the 19th century. If I split things up into multiple realms, how would I manage that? The same races and the same planets still exist in the different time periods.

And finally, let's say I have a concept for a specific adventure in mind. What mechanism would I define that specific adventure and associate it with all its relevant content?

I can create a container for the adventure, but then each topic can only have one container. So if I have the Klingons showing up in multiple adventures, that won't work.

I can create an identifier for the adventure, but it seems each topic can only have on identifier.

I can create tag category called "Adventures" and create a tag within that for each adventure. Would that be the best way? Or would you just go with with a loose chain of links from one topic to another?

[EightBitz]

Also, I'm going to have a "Federation of Planets". How would you designate its members? In a containing topic? With an identifier? With tags? Or again, with simple links?

[EightBitz]

And again, I'm not looking for a comprehensive, step by step, hold my hand through the whole process kind of thing. Just some general advice. And I know there isn't one, single right way to do things. Even if I get five different opinions from three different people, that'll still give me (and others who are wondering the same things) something to work with.

[Silveras]

I will offer this..

Because you can only have one Container/Parent per object, I would recommend it for "permanent" things.. like geography (Mountain Ranges don't usually change which Continent they are on, for example). It also makes sense for physical things, like an Individual in a Location.

For more conceptual links, Relationships make sense. Memberships can be temporary, for example, and attitudes are highly changeable.. so Relationships represent that well.

I don't really use tags for filtering. I use them mostly as controlled selection lists. Anything where consistent spelling is important seems like a good candidate for a tag.

[EightBitz]

Originally Posted by Silveras

I will offer this..

Because you can only have one Container/Parent per object, I would recommend it for "permanent" things.. like geography (Mountain Ranges don't usually change which Continent they are on, for example). It also makes sense for physical things, like an Individual in a Location.

For more conceptual links, Relationships make sense. Memberships can be temporary, for example, and attitudes are highly changeable.. so Relationships represent that well.

I don't really use tags for filtering. I use them mostly as controlled selection lists. Anything where consistent spelling is important seems like a good candidate for a tag.

Thanks. That's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

[enrious]

I think for me, nothing in your scenario screams multiple realms.

After all, for the most part you're describing the same universe simply separated by time. Star Fleet is Star Fleet, and in the Topic for Star Fleet nothing stops you from having a Section for each time frame you're planning - heck, each section can be identical in structure to keep things consistent.

This is especially true when you consider the idea of legacies. This is where relationships come in handy, especially given that some characters appeared in different time frames (Spock, McCoy) or in the same general time frame but in a different campaign (Worf - TNG/DS9).

In other words, your question is to me more properly either "Is there one Star Fleet, just in three different contexts?" or "Are there three different Star Fleets, each existing in a different context?" Once you answer that for yourself, it may provide you guidance.

A specific adventure seems to me to be a mix of the Story Almanac and Story Board, do those not make sense to use for you?

As for something like members of the Federation, Relationships are one way to do it, although I personally don't like creating tons of them if I don't have to. I'd probably do it the way (at least on a trial basis) the way I do superhero groups, something akin to this: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/y...09415334216697


That's how I've sorta half thought about doing it whenever I start on my ST realm, at any rate.

But then, I actually envision RW data entries being way less for me than for my players, since I improv almost everything. Thus, my main focus is on setting up a structure that my players can quickly grasp and use, knowing that they likely won't look at RW outside of the game.

[EightBitz]

The storyboard and almanac do make sense to me, but if I build a 'verse that contains multiple adventures, having one story almanac won't help me distinguish one adventure's content from another's.

With the storyboard, I distinguish separate plots, but I can only see things piecemeal, plot point by plot point. Say I have 50 NPCs, 10 worlds, three space stations, 5 starships, and plot groups for ten adventures. I want to see, at a glance, all the elements related to adventure #5.

When I first asked this question, I wasn't sure of a good way to accommodate that. Now, I'm thinking tags.

[Zaphod Beebledoc]

Originally Posted by EightBitz

With the storyboard, I distinguish separate plots, but I can only see things piecemeal, plot point by plot point. Say I have 50 NPCs, 10 worlds, three space stations, 5 starships, and plot groups for ten adventures. I want to see, at a glance, all the elements related to adventure #5.

I got to here and was thinking tags too!

[Vargr]

This is a very useful thread - at least for me.

I have a world developped over the last 20 years with a lot of notes on pieces of paper and computer notes written on a myriad of computer systems starting with WordPerfect 4.1 for the Amiga. Still probably 85% of the world is still residing inside my head (which is not neccessarily the best place to keep things).

Now I am trying to figure out the best way to transfer all that to RW, but I am quite frankly intimidated by the seemingly Herculean task in front of me.

Where to start? How to ensure, that I organize the database that RW is in the most optimal way? What does all the terms actually cover and how best to utilize them?

I will be following this thread with great interest. Thank you for giving insights into your thoughts and solutions.

[ruhar]

I understand what EightBitz is asking but I can't offer any advise because I'm rowing the boat he's in. I supported the Kickstarter and got early access but it didn't help me. I felt like I was handed a toy and told to go have fun and I didn't know where I was suppose to open the box.

I'm not creative enough to create my own worlds and adventures so I'm a module queen. I'm currently running an Adventure Path that has lots of information to try and keep track of. I think RW will be helpful but as I try to enter information I'm scratching my head trying to figure out where to put a piece of information.

Example: Players arrive at a lodge and encounter the guards that won't let them in since they aren't expected. Do I enter in Location, Adventure Area or Scene? There's a description for each room in the lodge and specific encounters for some of the rooms. Where do I put each of them?

Yes, the program allows you to do what is best for your adventure, but you need to know and understand the programmers concept which is the foundation for the rest of us. You always hear that "rules are made to be broken," well you have to know the rules before they can be broken. I'm the type of person that requires someone to show me how to do something. Only then will I be able to decide that something done X way is actually better for me to do Y way.

It's not holding hands, just setting a foundation that users can go with.