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-   -   Topic name should be hidden by default (http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=49032)

Vargr April 18th, 2014 01:13 AM

Topic name should be hidden by default
 
If I want to reveal snippets in a topic I also have to reveal the topic as a whole before the snippets become visible in player view.

This works well and no complaints here.

My problem is, that the name of the topic is automatically revealed when the topic is revealed. In player view it appears as the name of the window displaying the revealed snippets.

In my view this is far from optimal.

I would prefere a "reveal button" (I have forgotten the excat term right now; those grey-turn-green orbs next to all infomation) for the topic name as well.

Let me illustrate with an example why I think this is important:

I have a character, Finn Sawdust. He is the mayor in a town that the players are using as a base of operationsfor the time being. All know Finn Sawdust, jovial, friendly, easy to smile, actually a quite good mayor.

Now and then, normally on stormfull nights, Finn Sawdust the Mayor transfers into the Midnight Crawler, an infamous and feared burglar and murderer.

I create Finn Sawdust. I describe him. I add "Midnight Crawler" as an alias.

During a session the players get a not-too-good a look at the Midnight Crawler (man, 1 meter 90, heavyset, curly hair).

I reveal the Alias, I reveal the description of Finn Sawdust, but not more than that.

However, when I reveal those data I get the following in the player view:

"Finn Sawdust" as name of the window (this sort of spoils the plot).
The description.
But not (surprisingly) the alias.

Now, what am I doing wrong?
Or is this feature lacking?

Zaphod Beebledoc April 18th, 2014 01:56 AM

I would create a second topic with the name "Midnight Crawler" and link them with a Relationship. Maybe a "Simple connection to" "Equivalence."

That way, you can reveal the info about Midnight Crawler and when/if they work out he is Finn Sawdust, you can reveal that as well.

Vargr April 18th, 2014 04:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaphod Beebledoc (Post 181028)
I would create a second topic with the name "Midnight Crawler" and link them with a Relationship. Maybe a "Simple connection to" "Equivalence."

That way, you can reveal the info about Midnight Crawler and when/if they work out he is Finn Sawdust, you can reveal that as well.

Yes, that would work.

But it would add yet another topic to an already too long list. And I would have to duplicate most of the information.

I imagine there will be a lot of characters that have aliases, that the players will come to know them by and later their real name will be revealed.

There must be a better way than having a relationship each time you have a character with an alias.

It is - IMHO - not an elegant solution, but it will work.

MaxSupernova April 18th, 2014 08:00 AM

It's interesting that you can reveal the alias separately from the topic, but there doesn't seem to be anywhere that it shows up on the player view, and you need to reveal the main topic name to show in player view even if the alias is revealed.

I'd expect an alias to be treated like a topic name.

It might not be an easy fix, but I think it's a good idea. I have some secret agents in my campaign...

+1

Zaphod Beebledoc April 18th, 2014 10:24 AM

I think there are two situations here.

The first is how Vargr describes, and personally, I think what I outlined above is a solution.

The other situation is, for example, a barman, "Robert Jones", with the alias of "Bob the Barman." The players only know as "Bob the Barman," and have done for years. Then I think that you should be able to reveal the alias.

So basically, if a topic has an alias, I think you should be able to choose which alias to reveal the topic under.

Vargr April 18th, 2014 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaxSupernova (Post 181044)
It's interesting that you can reveal the alias separately from the topic, but there doesn't seem to be anywhere that it shows up on the player view, and you need to reveal the main topic name to show in player view even if the alias is revealed.

I'd expect an alias to be treated like a topic name.

It might not be an easy fix, but I think it's a good idea. I have some secret agents in my campaign...

This is also how I thought it would work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaphod Beebledoc (Post 181061)
So basically, if a topic has an alias, I think you should be able to choose which alias to reveal the topic under.

This would be the right solution as far as I can tell. Then we can have it each our way (a second topic with a relation or just the one topic).

Furthermore, one could have an empty alias and reveal the topic through that, keeping the players in the dark (isn't that what we as GM love to do?).

Or in the cases when players give characters, movements or what-ever a name, you could simply put that as an alias and reveal the information under that alias. That would be sweet.

Bidmaron April 18th, 2014 05:27 PM

The way it's working just totally defeats the reason for aliases (well, at least a big reason for aliases). Can you work around it? Sure, but that's not how it should work. +1 for this

Silveras April 18th, 2014 06:54 PM

The reason for aliases, in my view, is to have multiple known ways to refer to the same topic. And that's important. If the players should not know they are the same topic by revealing ONE name, then the two should not be the same topic.

If the fact that "Finn Sawdust" and the "Midnight Crawler" is a fact to be revealed during the game, then they should be two topics as described above, with the relationship connecting them revealed at the appropriate time.

If "Finn Sawdust" is also "Finny S" and "Fine Finn", but they're just nicknames for the same person, then they should be the same topic and the aliases revealed as they are learned in the game.

Zaphod Beebledoc April 18th, 2014 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vargr (Post 181083)
Furthermore, one could have an empty alias and reveal the topic through that, keeping the players in the dark (isn't that what we as GM love to do?).

Sneaky! I like it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silveras (Post 181109)
If "Finn Sawdust" is also "Finny S" and "Fine Finn", but they're just nicknames for the same person, then they should be the same topic and the aliases revealed as they are learned in the game.

But if "Finn Sawdust" is introduced as "Fine Finn" and the players only hear of "Finn Sawdust" later, how do you reveal the alias without revealing the topic name, thus defeating how Realm Works should work!

+1 for being able to reveal the topic via an alias.

Cornelius April 19th, 2014 01:46 AM

How to enter it in Realmworks is a good way to think about how the names are used.

For instance if the players first find information about the character Midnight Crawler, but not Finn Sawdust an will never know this name until it is revealed, then you could make the name Midnight Crawler and later reveal the alias Finn Sawdust. This requires you to know how the plot unfolds.
As with nicknames like Fine Finn or Finny S. Remember that the players usually remember the NPC with the name it was introduced.

If both names are used then make two topics and link them with either relationships or through a link in a snippet that explains Finn is the Midnight Crawler.


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