Moving entries from Almanack to Mechanics

[MNBlockHead]

Originally Posted by meek75

@MNBlockHead - I have Phrase Express, but haven't used it in the way you are suggesting. Thanks for the idea. I have my monsters/NPC use separate snippets for the various parts of information. That is so I can leverage the power of filtering by tag. If I want a CR 7 monster I can jut filter so that I see only the CR 7s. The downside is that is takes longer to enter the stats. My main issue is that I often take a monster and then modify it for use as an NPC or for use in a particular encounter. I don't want the NPC to live in the articles section of the almanac. I want them to live in the People section of the Topics almanac. If I put all the info in a single snippet, as you are doing (I think), it would be fairly easy to cut and paste the info, but I lose the filtering capabilities.

Hmm...not sure I'm understanding the issue. If you are trying to really limit the amount of data entry, then my approach isn't for you. I'm learning to be lazy and focus on the most important things for session prep, which in most situations means less data entry. But with monsters/NPCs it is the opposite. I put in more prep and do more data entry to make managing the game in RW easier for me. Here is my workflow.

Say the party is going to a new area where they will run into new beasts and new types of NPCs. So, I'm starting from scratch. Let's also assume it will be a fairly big story arc with lots of scenes where they will encounter the same kinds of NPCs and beasts multiple times.

1. Create Articles
For each monster or new generic NPC type, I create a Mechanics article under Dangers—>Monster/Enemy. These contain full details and descriptions, along with typical statblocks.

2. Create text-expander macros for statblocks of frequently-encountered monsters/NPCs

If I expect that the party will be frequently encountering a monster, I'll put the statblock into PhraseExpress and create a trigger word, such as "#goblin" so that when I type it, the trigger word is replaced with a nicely formatted statblock. I do this as I'm creating the article. It is just a copy paste and creating an easy-to-remember trigger word.

3. Create Topics for Individuals
If any of the NPC or monsters are going to include an individual of especial importance who will reoccur in the adventure/campaign, I create a World Almanac topic under People—>Individual. Often I don't bother to copy over the stat block unless I am going to customize it specifically for that individual. The topic is mostly for history, flavor text, etc.

4. Create the Scenes and Encounters
For most snipped, the auto-linking is enough. In the "participants" section of the scenes, however, if I expect that there will be combat or heavy interaction requiring rolls, I'll use the text expander to put the statblocks directly into the snippet. This way it is right there in the scene topic, I don't have to open the monster/enemy article in a separate tab.

It seems like a lot of work but really isn't. The main work is creating the monster/enemy article. Linking to that is automatic. While creating that topic I copy the statblock and create the text expander trigger. Creating individual topics can be time consuming, but I really limit my use of them to especially important individuals, so I am not creating a lot of these.

[meek75]

OK, it sounds like your process is pretty similar to mine. This discussion has got me thinking of new ways to use phase express though.

The main difference, I think, is that I have been using multiple pre-defined snippets rather than 1 large text box. That is mainly for tag purposes, but I could add those tags manually after the entry is made.

Thanks for the ideas. It's nice to bounce ideas around and her what others are doing.

[meek75]

I did some testing and I think I am going to start entering monsters, as others have suggested, in a single text snippet. This gives me MUCH better formatting control and is easier to read when I finish formatting it. I can still add the tags I want via the "Tags" wrench on the right side menu. That seems to be the best overall approach for me. I get more aesthetically pleasing entries, tags for filtering, and the ability to easily copy and past the information.

Thanks again for all the great input!

[MNBlockHead]

Originally Posted by meek75

I did some testing and I think I am going to start entering monsters, as others have suggested, in a single text snippet. This gives me MUCH better formatting control and is easier to read when I finish formatting it. I can still add the tags I want via the "Tags" wrench on the right side menu. That seems to be the best overall approach for me. I get more aesthetically pleasing entries, tags for filtering, and the ability to easily copy and past the information.

Thanks again for all the great input!

I find that folks generally fall into two camps. (1) More content in fewer snippets for better formatting. OR (2) Break up content very granularly into many snippets for better control (esp. granular reveal).

I tend to be in camp one now. If I know there are sections that will be revealed separately, then I'll break it into multiple snippets, but it is rare that I need to have every line or even paragraph in separate snippets.

Also, it is very very easy to break a snippet into two. Easier than combining separate snippets (though that's easy to). So I'm not worried about getting the snippet breaks "right" the first time.

I do like to break up things into sections so I can navigate using the Table of Contents widget at the top of the right column to navigate longer articles. I can also collapse whole sections to better control screen real estate.

[MaxSupernova]

I used to put almost every sentence in its own snippet. It looks good and gives granularity of reveal.

However without any output options like print or export, I find myself cutting and pasting out of Realmworks into other more useable programs and doing that a snippet at a time is time consuming.

I'm been using CTRL-M to merge a lot of my older work into more easily copied chunks.

[AEIOU]

Me too, MaxSupernova. It's a pain but at least it works.

[wurzel]

Quite often I find myself yearning for more programming-like features in RW. One of these features I'm missing is inheritance like in OO development.
On example for that: let's say I create an old castle haunted by some ghosts. The ghosts have some rule-mechanical aspects like the withering touch in D&D5, and they all have these aspects in common. So that is best done as a general article in the mechanics section. Layla the Witness is a particular ghost with her own story, her own looks and riddles, but she still uses the same mechanics as other ghosts. The (at least for my understanding) most effective solution is simply that Layla inherits the ghost class and therefore has all the mechanics in place. During play I can simply open Layla's topic and have everything I need. If I ever switch to another rules system I just have to adapt the ghost class and everything is fine.

I know this should be in the feature request section but I don't expect this ever to be done since it would probably mean a tremendous amount of work.

[AEIOU]

@wurzel: That can all be done in HeroLab already actually. That's where NPCs, mobs and characters can be built and yes, the inheritance of a ghost aspect is there. However, the powers that be have decided not to license their work for HeroLab....