So, this is strange. I log on today and try to create some content, but everything I am creating is going to the world almanac and won't let me put into the story almanac. What's up? Am I doing something wrong and it's too earlier in the morning for me to see the obvious, or is this a bug? Even when I go in and manually put the new topic into a container that is in the story almanac it won't show up there. It is only visible in the world almanac.
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Help: Everything is going to World Almanac
- Thread starter meek75
- Start date
OK, I was able to get it to work. If I used the "Create Contained Topic" shortcut, it was not working and went only to the world almanac (and was stuck there), but If I created it first as a new stand alone topic and then moved it into a container it worked fine. This was a strange one.
MaxSupernova
Well-known member
EDIT: I don't think it's a bug, because I think it's intentional, but it's definitely not intuitive or clear behaviour.
To duplicate:
1) Select a topic in the Story Almanac
2) Right Click and select "Create Contained Topic"
3) In the creation dialog, set the content type to "World Topic"
4) Give the topic a name and click "Create"
5) Switch to the World Almanac
6) Notice that the topic is there, and also the container topics
7) Select any of the container topics and right-click
8) Notice that the only almanac option is "Move to World Almanac" even though you are in the World Almanac. (I THINK THIS IS WHAT YOU SAW)
9) Right-click the actual topic you created, notice that the "Move to Story Almanac" option is present.
10) If you move the created topic, notice that all the container topics in the World Almanac disappear.
I think if you create a container in one almanac, and a contained topic in another almanac, Realm Works creates "phantom" container topics in the almanac where the new topic is. This results in the the containing topic being in both almanacs at once. In my example, because the topic is already in the Story Almanac, there is no option to move it to the Story Almanac from the World Almanac.
The non-intuitive behaviour is this:
1) Create 2 root-level topics CONTAINER1 and CONTAINER2 in the Story Almanac
2) Create a contained topic TOPIC1 inside CONTAINER1 but in the World Almanac
3) Create a contained topic TOPIC2 inside CONTAINER2 but in the World Almanac
4) Check that CONTAINER1 and CONTAINER2 exist in the Story Almanac
5) Check that all 4 of CONTAINER1, CONTAINER2, TOPIC1 and TOPIC2 exist in the World Almanac
6) Delete TOPIC1 in the World Almanac
7) Notice that CONTAINER1 is removed from the World Almanac as well
8) Notice that CONTAINER1 remains in the Story Almanac
9) Delete CONTAINER2 in the World Almanac
10) Notice that CONTAINER2 is deleted from both the Story and World Almanac
11) Notice that TOPIC2 remains in the World Almanac with no container
The strange part to me is the "phantom containers" that seem to be created in the World Almanac in step 5. They are in both almanacs, but are tied to the existence of their contained topics. You can't move them, but if you delete their children, they disappear. You can edit them, and the edits affect the topics in both Story and World Almanacs.
I totally understand WHY this happens (so you can create contained topics where the container is in one almanac and the contained topic is in another) but it took me a while of playing around to really understand what was going on, and the idea of topics existing in both almanacs at once was weird.
Perhaps the "phantom topics" need to be greyed out, or somehow indicated in the almanac in which they are phantomed.
To duplicate:
1) Select a topic in the Story Almanac
2) Right Click and select "Create Contained Topic"
3) In the creation dialog, set the content type to "World Topic"
4) Give the topic a name and click "Create"
5) Switch to the World Almanac
6) Notice that the topic is there, and also the container topics
7) Select any of the container topics and right-click
8) Notice that the only almanac option is "Move to World Almanac" even though you are in the World Almanac. (I THINK THIS IS WHAT YOU SAW)
9) Right-click the actual topic you created, notice that the "Move to Story Almanac" option is present.
10) If you move the created topic, notice that all the container topics in the World Almanac disappear.
I think if you create a container in one almanac, and a contained topic in another almanac, Realm Works creates "phantom" container topics in the almanac where the new topic is. This results in the the containing topic being in both almanacs at once. In my example, because the topic is already in the Story Almanac, there is no option to move it to the Story Almanac from the World Almanac.
The non-intuitive behaviour is this:
1) Create 2 root-level topics CONTAINER1 and CONTAINER2 in the Story Almanac
2) Create a contained topic TOPIC1 inside CONTAINER1 but in the World Almanac
3) Create a contained topic TOPIC2 inside CONTAINER2 but in the World Almanac
4) Check that CONTAINER1 and CONTAINER2 exist in the Story Almanac
5) Check that all 4 of CONTAINER1, CONTAINER2, TOPIC1 and TOPIC2 exist in the World Almanac
6) Delete TOPIC1 in the World Almanac
7) Notice that CONTAINER1 is removed from the World Almanac as well
8) Notice that CONTAINER1 remains in the Story Almanac
9) Delete CONTAINER2 in the World Almanac
10) Notice that CONTAINER2 is deleted from both the Story and World Almanac
11) Notice that TOPIC2 remains in the World Almanac with no container
The strange part to me is the "phantom containers" that seem to be created in the World Almanac in step 5. They are in both almanacs, but are tied to the existence of their contained topics. You can't move them, but if you delete their children, they disappear. You can edit them, and the edits affect the topics in both Story and World Almanacs.
I totally understand WHY this happens (so you can create contained topics where the container is in one almanac and the contained topic is in another) but it took me a while of playing around to really understand what was going on, and the idea of topics existing in both almanacs at once was weird.
Perhaps the "phantom topics" need to be greyed out, or somehow indicated in the almanac in which they are phantomed.
Last edited:
Create Contained Topic opens the Quick Create dialog. In the upper-left corner you can pick the type of item created, including whether Topics go to the World or Story Almanac.
It doesn't default to the same location as the selected item; it remembers the last thing you did. This means it'll suggest you make Mechanics Articles even if you're looking at the World Almanac. Also, as MaxSupernova mentioned, if you pick a different location than what's showing, containment forces it to appear under the selected item but it's actually placed in the other. Thus it appears in both places.
I'm glad I don't use the Story Almanac. :)
This was my main problem. I have not been using the world almanac at all, so I never even checked the upper left corner of the quick create dialog. I think I was assuming that it would automatically put it into the almanac I was creating it from. MaxSupernova, thanks for the details, I had no idea all that was going on, because I don't use the world almanac much. Now that I am running the campaign I will be moving completed plots to it.
MaxSupernova
Well-known member
I seem to remember my bringing up the defaults thing (I'd like it to default to the almanac that I'm in, an employee (Rob?) pointed out that it defaults to your last choice by design) in the forums somewhere but I can't find it right now.
Hi guys,
I've watched the basic tutorials, but can anyone explain for me the functional differences between the story almanac and the world almanac and why the story almanac doesn't simply use elements from the world almanac?
Alternatively, feel free to link me in the right direction
I've watched the basic tutorials, but can anyone explain for me the functional differences between the story almanac and the world almanac and why the story almanac doesn't simply use elements from the world almanac?
Alternatively, feel free to link me in the right direction
I think the idea is to use the story Almanac to minimize the clutter of a large realm. As a realm grows to include hundreds of NPCs and dozens of plots the list of entries gets very long and hard to navigate. The story almanac is only supposed to contain the things currently being used in a game. For example, if your world has three contents and two of the three are not going to be used at all during a particular story arc or campaign, you move all those locations to the world almanac to get them out of your way. They can still be linked to and referenced as needed, but they are a removed from the primary almanac you use constantly. During my last session we wrapped up a short plot line. I moved that plot line to the world almanac now that it is complete. In the future LWD plans to add the ability to create multiple story almanacs to give us an even greater ability to organize our material. Others may have additional ways to utilize the almanacs, but that's what I do. I know some GMs prefer to keep all material in the World almanac and ignore the story almanac completely -- it's a personal preference for some.
Meek75 has it right; the two Almanacs are basically a first line of filtering.
I don't use the Story Almanac at all, but I'm also not running a campaign at present. I'm looking forward to the (guessing by the December 2014 Survey) upcoming addition of having an Almanac that always shows everything, which I feel is a better way of working it than having two views and choosing between one or the other.
I don't use the Story Almanac at all, but I'm also not running a campaign at present. I'm looking forward to the (guessing by the December 2014 Survey) upcoming addition of having an Almanac that always shows everything, which I feel is a better way of working it than having two views and choosing between one or the other.
I use Story Almanac intensively.
While preparing for each session I determine what is most likely to be used and I move those items into the Story Almanac. The NPCs they are likely to meet, the locations, the items and bits of lore.
This makes it easier and faster to find the things during play.
Should I need some information that I didn't foresee I now it will be placed in the World Almanac.
While preparing for each session I determine what is most likely to be used and I move those items into the Story Almanac. The NPCs they are likely to meet, the locations, the items and bits of lore.
This makes it easier and faster to find the things during play.
Should I need some information that I didn't foresee I now it will be placed in the World Almanac.
Hi guys,
I've watched the basic tutorials, but can anyone explain for me the functional differences between the story almanac and the world almanac and why the story almanac doesn't simply use elements from the world almanac?
Alternatively, feel free to link me in the right direction
I'm going to explain how I'm using them right now, and hopefully it will give you an idea of their differences.
Right now I'm building a world in Realm Works. Every topic I create is going straight into the World Almanac. Why? Right now I'm just building. I have a general sense of the story I want to tell, but I haven't figured out what topics would be needed for the game I'm going to run.
Once I figure out where my players are going to first start off, and where they may go and the people they may talk to, I'll move those topics over into the Story Almanac. That allows me to run out of there, without having the other topics get in the way and take up screen real estate. If my players travel away from a certain place and will not be returning any time soon, I'll move that topic back to the World Almanac.
Now if only I can figure out how I want to start off this campaign.
Now if only I can figure out how I want to start off this campaign.
"You are in a tavern..."
"It is the spring/summer/autumn/winter festival. Goblins attack."
"You have just survived the attack on the wagon, the guards are dead, the merchant is injured and possibly dying, you are all hurt... Now tell me how you got here."
(Customise to fit genre.)
ShadowChemosh
Well-known member
To show a different use. Everything I add is in the "Story" almanac because I am running an Adventure Path. So I enter the current "chapter" into the Story Almanac and only after that chapter is finished do I move all its stuff (locations, NPCs, items) to the World Almanac. Then I start to enter the next chapter into the Story Almanac.
It does make it nice to limit the amount of information I need to be looking at while running the game which is nice.
To give another viewpoint, most of the campaigns I've run (or am working on for running soon) from RW have been AP based as well. I've built a lot of world background into the World Almanac however, then used the Story Almanac for the core content.
I've tried several different approaches though, and will no doubt try more:
Running Reign of Winter (mainly during Early Access), I followed a similar pattern to Shadow Chemosh, as I was having to play catchup as I was already halfway through the campaign. I used Quests for the different sections, with each room entered individually.
This worked fairly well, but it was slow swapping between rooms when they were close together.
For Rise of the Runelords and Shattered Star, I had a lot more time available to prepare in advance, so I've built both using the approach of building the world from top down - started with the planes, then solar system, then world, then built on down through Varisia to the actual area of the AP, all in the World Almanac, before switching to the Story Almanac.
The stories were set up using a single Storyline topic for each book, then a Quest topic for each chapter & sidequest, including the entire chapter's text in there, though NPCs and places of note had entries in the World Almanac.
Most of the room information went directly onto the map tags, other than creatures and treasure, which stayed in the Storyline topic, along with any text that couldn't fit into the map entries.
This resulted in a much quicker go-between, as I only had to have the map and chapter topic open most of the time, but some chapters did turn out to be somewhat overwhelming quantities of information. What this was very good for was viewing the information in a storyboard layout, and getting a good idea of the progression.
I'm still working on the World Almanac for my next campaign (Council of Thieves - the players have probably got a few months of the current campaign to go before that though), but I'm probably going to go for an approach somewhere between the above. My overall suggestion would be to play with things and find out what works best for you.
I've tried several different approaches though, and will no doubt try more:
Running Reign of Winter (mainly during Early Access), I followed a similar pattern to Shadow Chemosh, as I was having to play catchup as I was already halfway through the campaign. I used Quests for the different sections, with each room entered individually.
This worked fairly well, but it was slow swapping between rooms when they were close together.
For Rise of the Runelords and Shattered Star, I had a lot more time available to prepare in advance, so I've built both using the approach of building the world from top down - started with the planes, then solar system, then world, then built on down through Varisia to the actual area of the AP, all in the World Almanac, before switching to the Story Almanac.
The stories were set up using a single Storyline topic for each book, then a Quest topic for each chapter & sidequest, including the entire chapter's text in there, though NPCs and places of note had entries in the World Almanac.
Most of the room information went directly onto the map tags, other than creatures and treasure, which stayed in the Storyline topic, along with any text that couldn't fit into the map entries.
This resulted in a much quicker go-between, as I only had to have the map and chapter topic open most of the time, but some chapters did turn out to be somewhat overwhelming quantities of information. What this was very good for was viewing the information in a storyboard layout, and getting a good idea of the progression.
I'm still working on the World Almanac for my next campaign (Council of Thieves - the players have probably got a few months of the current campaign to go before that though), but I'm probably going to go for an approach somewhere between the above. My overall suggestion would be to play with things and find out what works best for you.