Creating one Realm for multiple campaigns?

[goddelusion]

Long-time lurker who has barely used RW since the KS was delivered. I'm about to start two concurrent campaigns using the same RPG ruleset but different adventure paths (Call of Cthulhu / Masks of Nyarlathotep & A Time To Harvest).

I'd like to create one Realm and input the data for the two campaigns into this 'Cthulhu' Realm so I can access shared resources (NPCs, Critters, locations, etc). My concern is that I know of no way to filter content in the Realm; meaning I'd like to only see the resources/assets that are unique to one or the other campaign or shared between the two in the Realm. Is this possible (filtering content)?

I understand the likely answer is to create two distinct Realms, however, is it possible to export/import content between the two, if I choose to go this route?

Thanks everyone, your feedback is appreciated!

[goddelusion]

OK, it appears I can set the 'Containing Topic' for the assets to group them together under the individual 'Sources' I've created for each campaign.

Am I using 'Containing Topic' correctly?

[daplunk]

I do this all the time.

Create a new Topic View for each campaign. Assign the content to the relative Topic View. You can have 2x extra buttons up the top for Topic Views. Then you just press that button to filter the visible content to just the content related to your campaign but linking from everything else continues to work.

[Silveras]

Originally Posted by goddelusion

OK, it appears I can set the 'Containing Topic' for the assets to group them together under the individual 'Sources' I've created for each campaign.

Am I using 'Containing Topic' correctly?

Yes and no?

Yes: There is no right or wrong way, as long as it works for you.
No: A topic can only have one Container... so using it this way may not be the best approach.

That daplunk mentions is his post is a way to filter content, and is more suited for what you're trying to do here, I think, and using Containment (which is more useful for things like geographical locations, for example).

What it sounds like you're trying to do is part of what the forthcoming Content Market is intended to allow... re-use of one Realm's contents with others. The problem is that the timing on our ability to re-use Realms is unknown.

[the_redbeard]

Originally Posted by daplunk

I do this all the time.

Create a new Topic View for each campaign. Assign the content to the relative Topic View. You can have 2x extra buttons up the top for Topic Views. Then you just press that button to filter the visible content to just the content related to your campaign but linking from everything else continues to work.

I'm currently doing this as well with two groups in the same setting/campaign.

[daplunk]

BTW - This doesn't solve the issue of using the player visible feature within RW. I don't have any players connecting to my realm so it's not an issue for me.

[Silveras]

Originally Posted by goddelusion

Long-time lurker who has barely used RW since the KS was delivered. I'm about to start two concurrent campaigns using the same RPG ruleset but different adventure paths (Call of Cthulhu / Masks of Nyarlathotep & A Time To Harvest).

I'd like to create one Realm and input the data for the two campaigns into this 'Cthulhu' Realm so I can access shared resources (NPCs, Critters, locations, etc). My concern is that I know of no way to filter content in the Realm; meaning I'd like to only see the resources/assets that are unique to one or the other campaign or shared between the two in the Realm. Is this possible (filtering content)?

I understand the likely answer is to create two distinct Realms, however, is it possible to export/import content between the two, if I choose to go this route?

Thanks everyone, your feedback is appreciated!

With the question of organization answered, I'm going to address the goal and how to go about it, long-term.

For now, RealmWorks is not prepared to support two separate, concurrent campaigns in one Realm. Long-term, using one Realm would not be the intended way to go about this, either, unless you were planning to run a "shared world" kind of setup. As the revealed state of a bit of information is all-or-none, for example, a creature that is revealed because group "A" encountered it would also be visible to group "B". Separate from the Content Market, per-CHARACTER revealing of information is a long-term feature goal, but there is no timeline for when that will be available.

Short-term, the only way to enter the mechanics once and have them available to both campaigns is to do exactly that, however.

The Content Market is intended to allow re-use of content, whether purchased or your own, in multiple campaigns.

Long-term, once the Content Market is available, the likely scenario would be for the GM to enter the mechanics (Call of Cthulhu in your case) into a Realm just for that, or purchase a Realm with them pre-entered from the Content Market. In addition, Realms to define each campaign/ adventure Story content would be created or purchased. Finally, the GM would create a Realm for each group playing through a campaign, and import both the Mechanics and the one Story content Realm into each.

Now, each campaign has its own set of revealed content, and there is no interaction between them. If they are truly separate campaigns, and not meant to interact at all, then all is good. If they are supposed to be a "shared world" situation, then you would still need to wait for per-character reveal before you would have the ideal state.

[the_redbeard]

Originally Posted by Silveras

For now, RealmWorks is not prepared to support two separate, concurrent campaigns in one Realm. Long-term, using one Realm would not be the intended way to go about this, either, unless you were planning to run a "shared world" kind of setup. As the revealed state of a bit of information is all-or-none, for example, a creature that is revealed because group "A" encountered it would also be visible to group "B". Separate from the Content Market, per-CHARACTER revealing of information is a long-term feature goal, but there is no timeline for when that will be available.

I could be wrong because I haven't been a coder or a DB admin in 15 years, but my impression is that the Content Market is by far the biggest and most intractable problem facing the RW team. Merging databases was something that I did, but I pretty much wrote programs tailored for the databases I was merging (they were far different from two different RW Realms and not built to be compatible for each other, but still).
But Content Market is also the one feature that could best grow financial support for RW, so that's what is going to be worked on despite it being the biggest hurdle.

I also could be wrong that the database structure/under the hood features for per-character reveal is already in RW and that it, and other features, will come comparatively swiftly after the Content Market is up and the revenue from CM and DB subscriptions allows more heads on the RW team.

This understanding of mine is why I don't complain about how the RW team's priorities are so different from mine.

[Silveras]

Originally Posted by the_redbeard

I could be wrong because I haven't been a coder or a DB admin in 15 years, but my impression is that the Content Market is by far the biggest and most intractable problem facing the RW team. Merging databases was something that I did, but I pretty much wrote programs tailored for the databases I was merging (they were far different from two different RW Realms and not built to be compatible for each other, but still).
But Content Market is also the one feature that could best grow financial support for RW, so that's what is going to be worked on despite it being the biggest hurdle.

I also could be wrong that the database structure/under the hood features for per-character reveal is already in RW and that it, and other features, will come comparatively swiftly after the Content Market is up and the revenue from CM and DB subscriptions allows more heads on the RW team.

This understanding of mine is why I don't complain about how the RW team's priorities are so different from mine.

I'd agree with some of that.

I could be wrong, but I believe the database engine in the cloud is not the same as on the desktop. The desktop db is file-based, while the cloud is client-server (I believe I saw MS SQL Server Azure in an old job posting, but I do not know for certain which it is).

LoneWolf has stated that some of the necessary support for per-character reveal has been built-in.. they have NOT said anything about what proportion of it is there, nor do I recall them saying anything about "swiftly after".. just "after". Having been lambasted for not meeting optimistic deadlines.. I think LoneWolf has generally learned to be more conservative in the interest of not raising expectations they cannot meet.

I do agree that the Content Market is the single most significant piece of functionality to be added... and the one most necessary to their bottom line. I doubt that RealmWorks can meet whatever internal projections for revenue there were based on expecting it soon after the initial releases. So, to keep RealmWorks as a product alive, I think it kind of MUST be the one they get right, and get released as soon as they can.