Frustrated

[Tasha]

I just can't seem to get a single part of this software. I go though the Story Almanac and there's this long list of stuff that I just don't know what to do anything with. I don't know what I can change or what the heck. The software dosn't make any logical sense to me. It's like a new programing language that's getting in the way of my creativity.

I tried the storyboard and I have used flowcharting software in the past. There was a window that came up when I created a new Storyboard that talked about different shapes and how to make them, but if that's up I can't use the software. I made some bubbles and put some data into them and figured how to connect things. I made a green bubble filled it with info and then did something that I hoped would create some sort of sub data, which brought up a box that I filled in with sub plot data. It made the original bubble disappear and only show the sub plot.

I frankly want to delete this software. It does nothing but frustrate the frack out of me. I just don't really understand where the engineers are going with this interface. Perhaps I need to see someone else's campaign and dissect it with the program to see how stuff goes together. I feel like I have missed something and perhaps there's something useable that everyone else has figured out and I haven't.

Tasha.

[Dr_Automaton]

Have you tried watching the tutorial videos that were posted awhile back? Those demonstrate many of the basic concepts behind Realm Works.

[Silveras]

The tutorials are good advice.

Another approach: take something you already are familiar with, like a published adventure or one you've written yourself... and start with trying to put that in.

The storyboard works best if you have a specific plot in mind, I think; if you're dealing with a "sandbox" (where the players can go in any direction at any time), it is less useful, I find.

The sub-plot tool is good for simplifying a complex story/plot. Let's say you're entering a multi-part adventure. You may feel like your plot is getting too cluttered, and hard to follow. So you could select the pieces from "Book 1" and then click to make a new Sub-plot.. that will move those pieces into a new plot, and link that new plot back to a new plot element (the bubble) in the plot where they were originally. So, your main plot may just be Part1 --> Part 2 --> Part 3, where each of those "Part" plots is its own sub-plot ... easier to read and follow, sometimes.

I usually start with the places.. which ones go together? Then the people.. which ones belong to a group.. formally (like an organization of some kind) or informally (just have something in common). Add relationships (who are parents/children, who works for whom, who secretly likes or dislikes whom). Make sure you add snippets to each referring to the other. When you click "Save", watch how the application recognizes the names and offers to link them for you.

Beyond that, a lot of it is going to be trying different approaches to see what works best for you. What works for me may not be what works for you. Organize the information in a way that makes sense to you, and let the program help you along the way.

[Tasha]

I have been trying to enter a published adventure that I am currently running.

Shouldn't a program's interface be easy enough that if you look at it it's use becomes apparent? I guess I am a bit spoiled by most Mac and iOS programs. If a program's learning curve is too high it will block adoption by the very people it's being written for. A Program is like a comedians material, you can write something that is completely funny to you. The moment that you have to explain it to someone you know that it's not as good as you thought. UI is the hardest part of writing a program.

Thank you all for the help. I hope the engineers working on the program take a look at my post. There are other programs that are supposed to help one run and keep track of a campaign and adventures. The one that I keep coming back to again and again is actually Obsidian portal. Because it's pretty darned easy to use. I am afraid that I will crest this apparent steep learning curve to find that the program is still so difficult to use that it gets in the way of my creativity.

Thanks again and I'll go look for and look at those videos again. Hey, has anyone in the community written any guides. I would rather read instructions than watch a video.

[ChrisRevocateur]

The Help tab has a wikiManual that might be what you're looking for. Some of the names of things have changed, but the concepts are the same.

[thedarkelf007]

Hi Tasha, I write some of the guides and do a walkthrough for people as well, using my realms as examples of how you can approach entering a campaign. I have five populated realms and quite a few planned realms. Send me a PM if your interested and I should be able to help.