New User - need help understanding how to use plot points

[MNBlockHead]

I recently bought Realm Works and am moving content from Master Plan to Realm Works, but I hit a snag almost immediately.

In Master Plan, there is a fairly rich amount of data you can enter into a plot point and it is easy to view. In Realm Works, there is just a title and a description box, which is so limited in terms of all other elements of the tool that I feel I must be missing something or not using the feature as intended.

For example, in master plan, you put your DM notes in one box and what you'll read to the players in another. You can also add Game Elements like encounters, skill challenges, traps, quests, and tactical maps. There are other options as well, but what I would most like to see in RW is to have an easy way to display all the details about the plot points. Right now, with a rich description and read-outload text, there is no easy way to display that text. I have to go into edit mode and scroll down in the small description box.

I realize that you create encounters separately and can link them to plot points and that should work, but in terms of DMs instructions and read-outload text, where am I supposed to put that?

 

[pyremius]

Glib answer: wherever it feels most appropriate.

Slightly more in-depth answer: there are a number of pre-defined structures (called Topics) within Realm Works which are intended to help you organize and consolidate your information into a coherent format, as well as demonstrate how you might create new structures of your own if you would find that helpful.

Overly (?) in-depth answer:
Your Skill Challenges and Traps would go in the Mechanics Reference section, under Gameplay and Dangers respectively. Encounters and Quests would go under Story Almanac (while actively used, World Almanac if someplace the party wont be visiting any time soon), under Events as Scenes and Quests respectively. Tactical Maps sound more useful in a VTT, but they can be embedded in whichever Topic you feel is most appropriate.

The Storyboard section allows you to graphically lay out your adventure using Plot Points to identify all of the key incidents during the adventure. These Plot Points, in turn, are each linked to the most relevant Topic you've created. The Auto-linking capability of Realm Works means that each of these Topics can in turn contain links to other Topics, allowing you to access that information where and as needed. Think of it like a wiki that does all the hard work for you.

Topics are broken up into discrete pieces called Snippets. Each Snippet is placed within a labeled section of the Topic, and will have some associated descriptor of what should logically go there - this helps focus the mind on what might be missing, and defines a consistent structure to make finding similar information across multiple Topics more easy.

Linking is done to a Topic's Name (or any alias created, for situations where multiple names might be used by different people). Whenever you save a Topic it is scanned, and any instance of any existing Name is highlighted for you to create a link if desired.

Finally, there is something called "GM Notes" this is a second text field which can be added to every Snippet. Snippets themselves cane be revealed, so that they can be seen in the Player View, or by players using the Player Edition of Realm Works. The GM Notes cannot be seen by the players, so you can use them for the GM instructions, or simply the statement "Read this out loud". I frequently use the GM Notes for things like Difficulty Checks, with the results in the Snippet so it can be shared if the players succeed at their check. I also use it for the real value of treasure items, and add a false value to the Snippet when they fail their Appraise check. That way I can reveal the Snippet so they know what treasure they've found and what they think it's worth, but I also have the real value attached for when they try to trade or sell the treasure.

 

[Seregil]

I had been toying with the idea of making a quick tutorial on how I use Plots. this question finally gave me the push i needed. The videos are here:
How to use Plots:

• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Part IV

Forgive the rough edges, I made it quickly.

 

[MNBlockHead]

Thank you guys! After a good nights sleep I went over the manuals again and am starting to get the hang of it. I'm getting comfortable with scenes and other topics and am getting better with my use of snippets, including the use of GM notes (rather than posting everything into one field and wasting time with formatting instructions differently than read-aloud text). The auto-linking feature has given me some real A HA moments as I start really building up my content. Now I'm see the point of and am using aliases. (E.g. I'm not going to type "Captain Thomas 'The Ringer' Hornigold" every time I mention him, so "Hornigold" as an alias is sufficient to auto link).

I have not delved into mechanics yet and will have to play around with it to see how I work into my adventures. I thought that the mechanics were just a sort of "home rules" sections for the GM to share with players, so I've ignored it for now in favor of focusing on building my world. So you are saying that I can build a bunch of traps, locks, challenges etc. in mechanics and add them to a scene rather than retyping every time I make a scene or rather than crating the traps as their own scenes linked to a scene in an adventure?

Would you do the same thing with NPCs?

For example, how do you deal with guard, villagers, and other frequently encountered NPCs (and creatures/monsters for that matter)? Would you create them under "people" and organize into containers of some sort so that you can easily link to a scene for easy access to stat blocks etc? Or should I be looking to use the Game Mechanics seciont for this?

Should I create my "monster manual" and NPC pick lists under the Characters section in the Mechanics Reference and save the "People" topic for use with specific, non-generic individuals?