Before I start

[Dryder]

Hi there. I backed RW but only now have the time to start using it.

One thing which isn't clear for me is the following:

When I create a realm, does that mean:

- I create a realm for a given published module?
For example, when I want to insert the PF-Module THE DRAGONS DEMAND into RW.

- or do I create a realm for the whole Campaign setting?
Where all my stuff for Golarion will be inserted, as well as all the modules I plan to play...

Or can I incorporate Setting stuff, and use it in other realms?

 

[Shadowy_one]

I put My complete campaing(s) into the World Almanac. That way I have all the Information I Need in one place and can move whatever I Need for a module/adventure into the Story Almanac

 

[AEIOU]

Are you planning to run just the single module or will it fit into a longer campaign setting? I am setting up a world so I am inputting material for the larger world beyond and I'm inputting material for various modules into that same campaign.

Early next year when the marketplace is online, you will be able to transfer material between campaigns. At that point, it doesn't matter. For the short term, I'd recommend building it all as one campaign with the things you aren't needing to see for the current adventure stored in the World Almanac.

 

[JustinThomason]

In my method of using the software, Realm = Campaign.

For instance, I'm putting together a campaign using the Paizo Kingmaker AP. In the Story Almanac I'm putting all the material that is directly affecting the players (NPC's, Adventure Areas, etc). I'm using the World Almanac for information about Golarion at large (mostly the gods at this point). I'm not planning on putting in tons of Golarion info that doesn't have a fairly direct bearing on the campaign (Who's the Lord Mayor of Magnimar? What's the name of the current queen of Cheliax? Who cares for this Campaign?).

If I end up needing to add some other World stuff as reference as we go along, I will, but I'm trying to keep the scope of this Realm to something workable, and focusing my attention on what will be used at the table.

In the future, once content sharing is available, I might rethink this plan and start populating larger "seed Realms" that are basically only the generic information of the setting, so I can use them to bootstrap into another campaign.

Of course, I'm also hoping that Lone Wolf will strike some deals with content providers and I'll be able to buy an officially licensed package for, say, The Inner Sea World Guide - I'd pay quite a bit for a complete campaign setting that I didn't have to enter myself.

 

[Pollution]

Agreed with Realm = Campaign in general, BUT....

Okay, my Pathfinder game is RotRL. I have everything entered for the world, all the special rules, etc...

I wanted to do a one shot of We Be Goblins.... Why not put it in my Realm, just as a contained plot/story? So I did. I saved a ton of time on needing to put in descriptions, or character sheets, since a lot of the gobos in RotRL are mentioned in WBG!

REALLY, it's up to you on how you do it. I personally keep all my games separate, unless they obviously take place in the same area/world.

A great example of how I'd use a Realm as a general storage space for all games would be the old World of Darkness line. They all take place in the same universe. So if I'm running Vampire one week, Werewolf the next and the occasional Mage game, I'd put it all in one realm, with a tag on which game each NPC/Item/etc... pertains to (game system tag being editable would be amazing LW, get to it!).

Some characters (Samuel Haight) would be a pain to do like that, but most are one game line only. In Twink Haight's example, I'd just have him as an entity (not an individual) since those are overarching in my mind.

But generally, yes. Each campaign is going to be a separate realm. Some exceptions exist.

We REALLY need to get that marketplace and content sharing up though, I'm in desperate need to give LW my money so that I can stop putting RotRL into RW, my fingers hurt after 2 books and all the background material. lol

 

[Exmortis]

One thing to remember, the best part of Realm Works? There is no real wrong answer, its what ever works best for you.

However the above advice is really good, and I have done much the same. I am building my campaign in a new world of my own IP. So Game world information will go into World Almanac.

Each of the Campaign Plots/Modules/Adventure (I always break them up) will go in as Story Almanacs, with the intent of merging them as they are completed.

 

[Exmortis]

May recommend before you jump in, take the time watch and follow along in RW these tutorials.

They are very helpful and informative, and may help you figure out what is the best way to attack your current project. If nothing else, they really help you get used to and better undertstand the UI and its functionality. Also may make statements made here, make more sense.

My best advice? Do not be in a rush, take your time, this extra time now, will pay dividends in the end.

http://www.wolflair.com/realmworks/support/tutorial-videos/

 

[Kimco]

It sounds like some people are implying you could put the Pathfinder world Golarion into the World Almanac and the different AP into Story Almanacs?
If that is true, does it cause any issues having so much content in one Realm? It sort of makes sense since it is all one world.

 

[daplunk]

The 'Story Almanac' is just a view. Think of it like a filter of the 'World Almanac'.

 

[Kimco]

The 'Story Almanac' is just a view. Think of it like a filter of the 'World Almanac'.

Got it.

But are there any resource concerns if one was to input multiple AP's into a single Realm?

 

[daplunk]

I'll let you know as soon as I figure out

I've been using it for about a month and have implemented 2 full book modules and 2 smaller modules. Yes there is load time when moving articles but I don't have any idea if that load time is getting worse as i load more articles.

The load time was certainly noticeable at the table.

 

[Farling]

I have full 6-book adventure path in RealmWorks and the worst thing is when opening a new tab it takes some time (a few seconds) because it has to build the complete list of topics again (and there are a LOT of topics) for the navigation panel (on the left).

Even switching between tabs can take a second or so, presumably refreshing the topic list in the navigation panel or some such.

 

[MNBlockHead]

Normally, I'm able to have most of the tabs I think I'll need open before the game and I don't have much of an issue. I run a fairly sandbox-style campaign, though, and when the players throw me for a loop, I call a short break to get set up.

Sometimes I wish RW was a bit snappier—maybe a newer laptop would help—but it is still far, far, FAR better than flipping pages.

 

[Faerie]

What I do is I have the overall world details in the World almanac. This might be locations that may be important later, people who the party may meet later, and events which have/are occurring outside of the specific adventure. For example if Garglesox the Unlikely is king of the Walking Mountain dwarf clan, but this doesn't matter to the party right now, it's in my World almanac. Similarly the fact the Walking Mountain clan is under siege by a necromancer goes into the world almanac. I'm tracking this information because it will be important later, but for now it's not needed for what's going on. Although it may get mentioned as a rumor.

The current adventure, I put in the Story almanac. This includes any important NPCs, locations, items, the plot storyboard, and so forth. When I finish that particular adventure I move it (and all it's related content) into the World almanac, then start a new story almanac for the next adventure. All the previous content is still there. So if Redgnarl, the main villain of one adventure, escapes and pops up in a later adventure I don't have to re-enter the information. It just links to his pre-existing entry. Yet it doesn't clutter the story almanac either.

 

[Faerie]

Normally, I'm able to have most of the tabs I think I'll need open before the game and I don't have much of an issue. I run a fairly sandbox-style campaign, though, and when the players throw me for a loop, I call a short break to get set up.

Sometimes I wish RW was a bit snappier—maybe a newer laptop would help—but it is still far, far, FAR better than flipping pages.

True, and it seems ideal for a sandbox campaign. You can have all the various adventure hooks already entered in. Then call up the ones you actually need depending on the party's actions. Although, when you plan for options A through z and the party comes up with option Quark (which you didn't even know WAS an option) things get interesting.

Such as the time I set up clear clues for what's going on in a D&D adventure, and the party somehow concluded that instead of goblin raiders coming from overland to kidnap people... it was orc slavers working out of a complex base connected to the sewers which they were 100% convinced this no name little hamlet has. My reaction was basically then having to create a dungeon on the fly.

Isn't it wonderful when the players add 2+2 and come up with Rutabaga?

 

[MNBlockHead]

Isn't it wonderful when the players add 2+2 and come up with Rutabaga?

It is wonderful. Of course as you get to know your players better, you get better at planning things so that you rarely get thrown TOO far off course.

One thing I forgot to mention in my post above is that it made my life at the table much easier once I learned to move maps and plot diagrams into the navigation pane.

Initially, I would open up multiple tabs for encounters. Putting aside any performance hits taken from lots of tabs being open, it just gets more difficult to navigate among the tabs once you have a lot open. And I find that it is much quicker to load an encounter topic in the existing tab by clicking on on a map/diagram than it is to open in a new tab.

The more experienced I get DMing with RW to fewer tabs I find I need open.

The one area where RW hasn't been as useful as I thought it would be is in looking up monsters. I used to create danger topics for every monster as I was prepping my game, but eventually began putting the monster stats in the encounter topics as well, because I didn't like having to open up a new tab for anything but the most complicated monsters.

Now that HL has all the SRD monsters and makes it fairly easy to create your own new monsters, I use the HL snippet. I rarely take the time to create generic monsters in RW anymore.

I assume, however, that once the CM goes live, we'll have Monster Manual/Beastiary monsters available. If I can just buy them rather than having to create the articles myself--then at that point RW will be more useful to me as a monster reference.