Calendars

[Vargr]

Originally Posted by daplunk

I've made a new version which can be downloaded from HERE.

It seems your link does not work - there is a "..." that I think means something has been cut out of the link.

Or maybe it is just me?

[daplunk]

Try this.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1paT...w?usp=drivesdk

[Vargr]

@daplunk:

Much better - thank you!

[kbs666]

Originally Posted by ErinRigh

Sure are wrong there. Ya know that metal thing they keep showing at the beginning of Game of Thrones? It's an Astrolab that hangs in the great library, they have focused on it in episode. I think that it is reasonable to say, It's axial tilt is likely variable (ie it wobbles) and that the "current" scholars in Westeros have no idea how it works, but to say that it can't be understood humans is a bit reaching IMO.

If the planet has axial tilt that the people understood enough to have astrolabes then that means they could measure the solar year, the tilt is measured against the plane of the elliptic after all. But there can't be a conventional plane of the elliptic because that would mean a stable solar year and stable seasonal lengths.

The only way the Known World works, beyond a handwave of "its just magic," is if the Known World's orbit is far more complicated than can be easily described. Perhaps it is actually co-orbiting two Jovian class giants which are themselves tidally locked together so that the Known World spins in some wild and extraordinarily complicated dance between the 2 planets as they spin around the parent star. This could result in long periods where the world was closer into the Goldilocks zone, summer, and farther out in the Goldilocks Zone, winter, or even periods where it was mostly occluded by one or the other Jovian resulting not in so much an eclipse but in long periods in the planets penumbra. I'm sure if you give the fellows at JPL a little while they could come up with a model of such a planetary system that might actually be stable. I'm just not sure how human life could survive on such a place.

[Silveras]

Regardless of published works, Axial Tilt can be meaningless to some users anyway... such as my fantasy world where it is a flat "plate" that the gods drive the chariots of the sun and moon over each day and night.

If such a thing were implemented, I would hope it would not be in such a way that it was forced on those who do not care for such details.

In other words, Keep It Simple (I won't call anyone Stupid until they earn it, though).

[ruhar]

Originally Posted by daplunk

I've made a new version which can be downloaded from HERE.

The link won't work for me.


EDIT: Never mind, I found your response with the working link.

[ShawnM]

I just wanted to say wow on the recommendation for https://fantasy-calendar.com It's extraordinary!

For what people have to pay for Realm Works I'd hope their development team would catch on to an obvious functional need requested several years ago.

Devs! Get on this! Even offer to the developers of that site a solid cash amount to port in the functionality and tie it to your timeline. Years, moon phases, calendar events, Then get the timeline function to let people pick custom years and setup eras.

There's a need for us world builders!

[MNBlockHead]

For what we pay for RealmWorks we get a very useful and feature-rich campaign manager. We are not owed anything else. Of course, it behooves LWD to continue to improve the product, especially if they want us to pay for cloud subscriptions and to buy content from the content market.

Calendars have long been asked for, a desire fueled by it being a possible feature that was highlighted in the Kickstarter (if I remember correctly). There is a very vocal group of us that have been hounding LWD for this for years. What is painful is that much of the work has already been done, you can even see it in screen shots from early beta versions. But they have not released it as it is not end-user friendly yet.

Unfortunately for us world builders who care about custom calendars, for most users this is apparently not a priority. Other features have been voted for over calendars. Also, custom calendars do not seem to be enough of a competitive advantage nor something that is going to draw lots of new users and drive much revenue. No, I don't have any numbers to back this up. Just conjecture on my part based on years of conversation with other users and the devs in this forum.

LWD is a small company and they are facing stiff competition from Web-based campaign management systems and from VTT companies that are moving into campaign management. I would guess that get the Web version up and running is a high priority as is taking the Content Market to the next step where content creators can post their own material for sale.

Then you have individual player reveal, enhanced and customizable pins, and many more features that have equally vocal users.

Over the years, I've come to accept that custom calendars may not be seen for a long time in RealmWorks, if ever. If it happens, it'll be a nice surprise, but don't hold your breath.

[kbs666]

Calendars are a significant feature of the Kickstarter and the feature was not just a possible one.

[Ash Nazg]

I understand that some people are really resigned to this, some have developed work-arounds, and some people really don't care, but it's an important part of serious campaign management. I'm particularly surprised (and somewhat concerned) by users' apparent resignation, given their past posts on the matter.

For what it's worth, here's my opinion:

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

For what we pay for RealmWorks we get a very useful and feature-rich campaign manager. We are not owed anything else.

I would say "feature rich" can still be lacking -- even lacking important features. Yes, there's no denying that RW has a lot of nifty management capabilities (like linking) but from a mechanical standpoint, custom calendars are an important feature of managing a campaign and campaign events, and not having it also hobbles other features. For example, timelines and even linking are less useful without custom calendars. From a role-playing standpoint, as some folks on this board have already pointed out, they really add to the immersion.

Calendars have long been asked for, a desire fueled by it being a possible feature that was highlighted in the Kickstarter (if I remember correctly).

As Kbs666 pointed out, custom calendars were more than a "possible" feature. Custom calendars are highlighted as an existing feature in the Kickstarter video (at the 6:40 mark) and they're listed on the Kickstarter page under the "summary of the most important features" (note the phrase, "most important"):

• Create custom calendars for your world. Link multiple calendars together and see how all the dates translate to your master calendar. Calendars can reflect different in-game cultures, lunar calendars, and worlds.

I'm sure at least some people purchased RW believing the tool supported custom calendars. This sort of feature is prominent -- and well-implemented -- in other world/campaign managers, such as World Anvil.

... for most users this is apparently not a priority. Other features have been voted for over calendars.

There isn't enough data to support this assertion. The only thing we know(?) is that other features seem to have been voted higher in a survey. That does not necessarily indicate "most users." Surveys are notorious for receiving a small number of responses relative to the number of potential respondants.

Also, custom calendars do not seem to be enough of a competitive advantage nor something that is going to draw lots of new users and drive much revenue. No, I don't have any numbers to back this up. Just conjecture on my part based on years of conversation with other users and the devs in this forum.

Similarly, I obviously can't speak for others but I, for one, started using World Anvil because they support custom calendars and integrated timelines.

Then you have individual player reveal, enhanced and customizable pins, and many more features that have equally vocal users.

These are all good, useful, and desireable features (customizable pins!), but none of them are integral to a campaign setting/information, itself. I can't reveal date/time information to my players -- individually or all at once -- if I can't record the information to begin with.

Again, just my two cents.
~Ash