So I am intrigued by this product but unsure if it is right for me. I will be the only person using the produce and I am the DM. It looks like this product is for the DM and the players to use in conjunction. I am looking for something to help me keep organized with NPCs, people, places, current player characters, you know, all things helpful for a dm. I am also using Hero Forge and Pathfinder specifically. Is this recommended for me and why?
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- The Lone Wolf Development Team
Help deciding to purchase
- Thread starter vorlek
- Start date
Lexin
Well-known member
I use it alone, none of my players are that interested and it works very well for me.
I play at my house, and it allows me to show the players maps as they find things, it's very good for that. And it allows me to keep track of what they've found out and what they haven't.
It does require a bit of time and effort to put stuff on, but you'd have to do that preparation work one way or another anyway.
I've not regretted spending the money.
There is definitely work involved in setting things up but it is actually enjoyable to do and you can do it in spare time very easily. My players are not that invested yet either but that is mostly due to external factors.
It is easy to get overwhelmed with options but watching the videos helps and the group here is awesome when you get stuck. We all started in the same spot though take different paths to accomplish things sometimes.
As I have said before, it makes being the DM fun again because of the crosslinking and many other reasons.
It is easy to get overwhelmed with options but watching the videos helps and the group here is awesome when you get stuck. We all started in the same spot though take different paths to accomplish things sometimes.
As I have said before, it makes being the DM fun again because of the crosslinking and many other reasons.
MNBlockHead
Well-known member
Vorlek, it sounds like this is especially a good choice for you. Look at LWD's December Update: https://t.e2ma.net/message/196ng/9bi44k
Starting in early 2016 all of Pathfinder's content, the rule books, major adventure paths, etc. are going to be available in RW. I'm jealous. I run DnD 5e and would love to have the monster manual and rules in RW so that everything is cross-linked and easily searchable.
I used RW for almost a year before any of my players got the player editions. I bought it as a campaign-management tool for myself. Then I started using it to also display maps and other content to players on a plasma TV set up near the game table. Now I have players that use it to reference content that's been revealed.
I spent a lot of time looking for campaign-management options before buying RW and I still keep an eye out for competing products, but I've seen nothing that comes close to RW.
One thing, however, that may be a deal-breaker for you is that you cannot print or export content yet and it may be a while before such functionality is available. That means you have to have a laptop at the table to make use of the content in RW. You can't just print the content for a session and run things from paper. Also, your content is pretty much stuck in RW, you can't export the content into a format that can be brought into another tool.
For me, I prefer to have RW on a small laptop at the table, behind the DM screen. Even if I could print, I wouldn't run my games from paper. Exporting is something that I think RW really needs because I hate having my content locked in. But the program has been so helpful to me that I'm willing to take the risk. Also, LWD has been around for a while and seems to be a healthy company and the developers have been very open in their communications. That gives me confidence to put my content into RW.
Starting in early 2016 all of Pathfinder's content, the rule books, major adventure paths, etc. are going to be available in RW. I'm jealous. I run DnD 5e and would love to have the monster manual and rules in RW so that everything is cross-linked and easily searchable.
I used RW for almost a year before any of my players got the player editions. I bought it as a campaign-management tool for myself. Then I started using it to also display maps and other content to players on a plasma TV set up near the game table. Now I have players that use it to reference content that's been revealed.
I spent a lot of time looking for campaign-management options before buying RW and I still keep an eye out for competing products, but I've seen nothing that comes close to RW.
One thing, however, that may be a deal-breaker for you is that you cannot print or export content yet and it may be a while before such functionality is available. That means you have to have a laptop at the table to make use of the content in RW. You can't just print the content for a session and run things from paper. Also, your content is pretty much stuck in RW, you can't export the content into a format that can be brought into another tool.
For me, I prefer to have RW on a small laptop at the table, behind the DM screen. Even if I could print, I wouldn't run my games from paper. Exporting is something that I think RW really needs because I hate having my content locked in. But the program has been so helpful to me that I'm willing to take the risk. Also, LWD has been around for a while and seems to be a healthy company and the developers have been very open in their communications. That gives me confidence to put my content into RW.
Dark Lord Galen
Well-known member
Key words >Starting
Clarification MNB,
They may start releasing some modules in early 2016,,,,,,, the setting and likely the core books you refer are "to follow" whenever that is... more will be defined when the " Later this month, we’ll launch our “Realm Works Spotlight Series.” This weekly update will outline our Content Market release plans, showcase upcoming RPG products within Realm Works". This is unlikely "All" going to be available in early 2016, but we wont know till we see LWD plans as noted in their weekly update.
Since I don't have any relationship with pathfinder (other than communications with Eric Mona about Greyhawk stuff) I don't have a vested interest. However those that do utilize PF might consider this detail worth noting. This is not suggested in any negative tone, it simply clarifies that LWD has not as of yet, committed to a release of ALL PF materials in early 2016,
YMMV
MNBlockHead
Well-known member
Good point. Still, it looks like the plan to get it all in...how long that will take will remain to be seen.
Yes, it can do all this. You can also plan your campaign plot within RW. It provides automatic linking between topics so when your adventure text references an NPC then the NPCs name will be a link to the topic about that NPC.
The actual PC statistics can be stored either as a stat-block, or you can upload a HeroLab portfolio file to store that specific character's details. RW works really well alongside HeroLab so that you can merge an encounter's herolab portfolio into a running copy of herolab in which you already have loaded the PC party; this allows use of the Tactical Console in HeroLab for managing actual combat situations.
For adventure text, you can also put in little notes to indicate what type of skill roll is required in order for the party to discover a new snippet of information. This "GM note" is highlighted quite well above the paragraph of text to make it clear that the text is conditional on the skill check.
Dr_Automaton
Well-known member
Vorlek, it's also worth noting that LWD appears to have a pretty good return policy. As far as I know (and I'm not a company rep, so take this with a grain of salt), if you buy Realm Works and find it's not a good fit, you can probably contact LWD and get a refund.
I use it and none of my players use it yet, they're waiting for the web edition as they're all mac guys.
I don't even use player view much as it requires turning my monitor around and that interrupts the game too much.
What I do with RW is organize and manage my campaign for myself all, or mostly, in one place. Previously I had stuff in a bunch of word files and then in a Obsidian wiki but both were clunky IMO. Now it is all, except my campaigns history, in RW where it all cross links and gives me additional ideas for things simply by the way my own ideas fit together.
IMO RW is worth the price and the effort of doing the data entry for two things the automatic linking and the visual tools. Being able to see the visual web of links across my entire campaign or a subset I've found to be a very useful thing. The same goes for the storyline feature. Building up a visual storyline of what will happen in an adventure is very helpful.
I don't even use player view much as it requires turning my monitor around and that interrupts the game too much.
What I do with RW is organize and manage my campaign for myself all, or mostly, in one place. Previously I had stuff in a bunch of word files and then in a Obsidian wiki but both were clunky IMO. Now it is all, except my campaigns history, in RW where it all cross links and gives me additional ideas for things simply by the way my own ideas fit together.
IMO RW is worth the price and the effort of doing the data entry for two things the automatic linking and the visual tools. Being able to see the visual web of links across my entire campaign or a subset I've found to be a very useful thing. The same goes for the storyline feature. Building up a visual storyline of what will happen in an adventure is very helpful.
Thanks for all the information folks. Sounds like it will work good for me. I will be using it mostly for a campaign management tool. I do have a question though, If I use it with my laptop at the table (which I will always do), is there a way to push maps to my Ipad so my characters can see the map with the fog of war on? I heard someone say they use a TV, but I don't want to relocate a TV for that, if I can somehow push the map to my Ipad, that would work as well.
Thanks again for the advice.
Thanks again for the advice.
Not presently. Once the web version is available you could reveal part of the map you want and sync but that would be fairly tedious.
Fog of world is mostly meant for people with 2 monitors or for players who use the player edition to access their GM's realm between sessions.
Fog of world is mostly meant for people with 2 monitors or for players who use the player edition to access their GM's realm between sessions.
There are apps available for the iPad that turn your iPad into a second monitor for the laptop. Realm Works can then use that as the player view screen. I have used a free app in the past that appears to no longer be available. A google search of "use ipad as second monitor windows" shows several possibilities.
Lexin
Well-known member
There are six or seven possibilities for this, but it took me ages to find one that worked.
There were reasons for this. If you have something on your PC called "dual graphics switching", unless things have changed with the iPad apps, none of the wireless ones work. It's something to do with the way that graphics is handled by the iPad arguing with the way they're handled by the PC. Only three of the apps tell you this on their listing, the other three let you spend your money and then don't work, so you have to ask for a refund. Apple are very good about refunds, but it's a bit of a pest to have to do it repeatedly.
Nor do they tell you what 'dual graphics switching' looks like on your PC. If you have trouble with this, contact me and I can help.
I found the one program which did work was a wired one called 'Duet'.
It's less hassle than it sounds - I bought a 6 foot iPad cable, and used it with my players with great success.
The down side was that (1) there was only one iPad to five players, they had to share, and (2) because most of them were used to an iPad being interactive, it took a bit of time to convince them that the iPad in this case was just a dumb terminal, and I had control over what they could see. It was just a small TV, basically, and not interactive.
They got the hang of it eventually, but we had some fun and games at the start of the game, because whenever they touched the iPad screen, they 'stole' the cursor, and I had to get it back to use my PC.
Come the glorious day (o glorious day! let it be soon!) when we can use the web version, all this will be over with.
I recommend seeing if you or one of your players has a older spare LCD monitor/TV or look for a cheap used one or hey, boxing day isn't far off!!
There is a lot of use for that spare monitor beyond RW, we now use two external screens for the GM to show stuff, and our current GM does not use RW just Herolab.
There is a lot of use for that spare monitor beyond RW, we now use two external screens for the GM to show stuff, and our current GM does not use RW just Herolab.
You can get a flat panel monitor (e.g. on-lap) which is powered from a USB port and plugs into the video output of your laptop. I use this arrangement for putting the player view on the second screen (which sits on the other side of my laptop).
MNBlockHead
Well-known member
I have a large plasma TV in a TV room that is next to my game room. I unplug it, have someone help me move it to a tall table behind my seat at the head of the table and connect it to my laptop.
Throwing up a map with Fog-of-War on a large plasma TV is amazing. Plus, keep in mind, you can share more than the map and can display multiple items at once. Having a huge screen make this easy. Plenty of screen real estate. When I've DM'd at a player's home, they've had smaller LCD displays that could be set up at the table, which also do the job.
I really would not like using a small tablet, even if it were simple. It just doesn't have the same impact. I especially wouldn't want to display on multiple tablets at the same time. I like having the whole group look at the map together. One player started bringing a laser pointer to point at areas as they discussed their next move. It's like having a large map printed on plotter paper that the entire group can stand around and discuss, but without the cost of ink or the need for a large plotter printer. And you get to incrementally reveal the map...something that is much more of a hassle on paper.
Actually, I've printed my world map as a large poster with a plotter printer and have it hung on the wall. It is now just decoration. The color and detail is so much sharper on the plasma TV and I can easily zoom in and pan around to focus on certain areas. Then I can bring up a second area map, like an instant blow out map. Then I can reveal pins. Then I can show a drawing of the castle they are going to and a portrait of the castellan. It is simple to do but has high-impact and is certainly worth the few minutes of unplugging and moving the TV.
ShadowChemosh
Well-known member
Just an FYI, maybe you know but for others, red laser pointers will often get absorbed by modern Plasma/LCD monitors/TVs. But you can find "green" laser pointers and they display perfectly on such devices.
You can find them pretty cheap on Amazon. Its currently what my group all use.
MNBlockHead
Well-known member
Didn't realize that. Thanks!
Just as a point of reference:
I use realmworks on my macbook pro running parallels hooked up to a 46" tv laying on it's back to display content and maps for players.
This setup works well for us as I can access all realmworks content on my laptop and share what I like with the players on the TV (we also use miniatures on top of the TV with the digital maps).
It works pretty well for this.
My players have not purchased the player edition despite my continued urging because it's pretty useless for anything in-session and they only bring phones/ tablets along no laptops.
Here's to the web version coming out soon so they can use their tablets at the table!
I use realmworks on my macbook pro running parallels hooked up to a 46" tv laying on it's back to display content and maps for players.
This setup works well for us as I can access all realmworks content on my laptop and share what I like with the players on the TV (we also use miniatures on top of the TV with the digital maps).
It works pretty well for this.
My players have not purchased the player edition despite my continued urging because it's pretty useless for anything in-session and they only bring phones/ tablets along no laptops.
Here's to the web version coming out soon so they can use their tablets at the table!