Alternative while waiting for release?

[AEIOU]

I agree that creative thinking is a personal thing that a program can't replace. But a good tool can also guide your thoughts and keep you focused.

I'm finding that RW provides a framework that can indeed spark ideas. As I enter the data from Rise of the Runelords, I'm doing complete rewrites of sections, adding campaign tie-ins, ensuring there are recurring NPC's and maintaining consistency. Notes in the module margins are a thing of the past. Maps, HL portfolios, portraits, plot lines, etc are easily maintained. So much easier than binders....

 

[Giddoen]

Yes I am building a Hell on Earth campaign and was stuck a few times and RW really got the brain going and I am loving the way it works.

Giddoen

Interestingly, one thing I have experienced with note-taking tools is that even the ones that are absolutely brilliant in their feature set (OneNote and The Keep both come close) somehow leave me unsatisfied. I suspect that this is mostly because I need more than "just" a note-taking tool - I need something to tease my imagination and/or give me a road to follow when I'm stuck. This is actually something Realm Works seems to do fairly well, due to the way it is organized - which is why I'm looking forward to it.

Does anyone else feel that way?

 

[woobyluv]

I just want you to know Giddeon, that I am stealing your quote for my own use! Love it

 

[Mystic Lemur]

The only serious software I've used (As in, other than Word and MS Paint) is Masterplan. It does some things that Realm Works is doing better, like maps with pins, flow charts, wiki-like linked topics, rules, and character tracking. It's designed around 4e, but is roughly useable with other systems. Earlier versions tended to crash randomly, but I haven't tried it lately (up to version 11.11, and I used 11.5). But it's free, which for me makes up for any flaws I encountered.

 

[monsterfurby]

The only serious software I've used (As in, other than Word and MS Paint) is Masterplan. It does some things that Realm Works is doing better, like maps with pins, flow charts, wiki-like linked topics, rules, and character tracking. It's designed around 4e, but is roughly useable with other systems. Earlier versions tended to crash randomly, but I haven't tried it lately (up to version 11.11, and I used 11.5). But it's free, which for me makes up for any flaws I encountered.

I really like the concept behind it, but found it just unusable for my campaigns which have absolutely nothing in common with any dungeon crawler/fantasy RPG, let alone 4E. Not unusable in the proper sense, really, more "distracting" as I was constantly aware that this software worked based on completely different assumptions. Well, I guess I already established in this thread that I am kind of easily distracted by small inconsistencies.

 

[Acenoid]

Really nice tool, But I agree with the previous poster. It's hard to stay focussed with all those D&D specific options. But the tool is great. Maybe the auto-mapper can be used.

Are there libaries available somewhere to load tiles in?

 

[evildmguy]

I really like the concept behind it, but found it just unusable for my campaigns which have absolutely nothing in common with any dungeon crawler/fantasy RPG, let alone 4E. Not unusable in the proper sense, really, more "distracting" as I was constantly aware that this software worked based on completely different assumptions. Well, I guess I already established in this thread that I am kind of easily distracted by small inconsistencies.

I'm trying to remember why I stopped using MasterPlan because I used it a lot and even wrote a few add ons for it.

I think what I didn't like was that MasterPlan was implemented for a particular way of using it. It forced me to plan things their way. What I really used it for was the dual monitor and map reveal but I couldn't just drop in a jpg or anything. I had to use their map creator based on dungeon tiles, which as others said was limited. So I couldn't do anything on the fly at the table. If I wasn't ready for it, I couldn't use it.

After two years, I think, of using it, I found that planning became a chore and I attributed it to MasterPlan. It's a good program if that's already your style but it didn't fit me.