Some Questions about Realm Works (Not Owned Yet)

[Rednal]

Thank you for taking the time to look into this thread. I'm considering getting Realm Works, but I have a few questions, and I'm hoping for some answers to them before I begin. I realize that some of these questions may not have answers yet, and that's fine - anything you can tell me is appreciated.

1) According to "The Power of the Cloud", the cloud services are a necessity for:

• Sharing Content
• Using Content Others Have Shared
• Purchasing Licensed Content

Does this mean that I am required to have a paid subscription in order to access the Content Market and licensed material, or would it be possible for me to use those features even without the subscription?

I am aware that all new purchases come with 6 months of access, so it's not an immediate concern, but I'm not sure that I want to pay a fee just for access to the store.

I should note that I'm a bit atypical as a GM - at the moment, I have no need to share content with players through this system. I don't doubt that Realm Works is very good for most GMs, and going to get better over time, but I don't believe it would work very well for the play-by-post games I run. I'm mainly looking for campaign management and the ability to quickly and easily reference things - which I think Realm Works would be good at - not material to offer players.

2) Is there any way to not start the subscription to the cloud right away, and instead have my free six months activated on request? I would be entirely content to wait if it took a few days for somebody to enable my access.


Once again, thank you for taking the time to look over these questions, and I apologize if there were any obvious answers somewhere that I managed to overlook.

 

[Parody]

One of the LWD folks might share definitive answers, but for what it's worth:

Does this mean that I am required to have a paid subscription in order to access the Content Market and licensed material, or would it be possible for me to use those features even without the subscription?

Definitely to share things you've created. Possibly to purchase things. Probably not to use things you've already acquired. (Otherwise it's likely there will be Kickstarter backers who don't get their bonus content, as their free time will have run out before the market is released.)

There's a lot we don't know about how the Content Market and sharing will work.

Is there any way to not start the subscription to the cloud right away, and instead have my free six months activated on request?

Not as far as I know. All of the early adopters had theirs turn on in November with the release of Player Edition, whether or not they have any players who use it. Everyone purchasing it afterwards has it turn on immediately.

 

[Acenoid]

I asked the same question and answer was that access to the store does not cost a fee.

Edit: I just checked that old post and it was not a confirmed answer. So I'm also not sure how it will be implemented.

 

[Rednal]

One more question! Ah, and my thanks to those who have already chimed in. ^^

3) I know Realm Works doesn't have full support for tokens yet. I believe I read somewhere that they don't intend for the program to be a full replacement for a virtual tabletop - although anything with adjustable maps, a dice roller, and tokens is probably going to be used as such anyway, especially if players can move their own tokens - but what's the current status of adding things to maps? Is it just markers and notations, or a little more robust?

 

[Parody]

There are location pins and a mask for what's been revealed to your players. No tokens or any other VTT-like map features.

Also no dice roller yet, though I threw together one you could insert into an HTML snippet for now. (ESG Dice Roller.)

 

[Vargr]

1) According to "The Power of the Cloud", the cloud services are a necessity for:

• Sharing Content
• Using Content Others Have Shared
• Purchasing Licensed Content

Does this mean that I am required to have a paid subscription in order to access the Content Market and licensed material, or would it be possible for me to use those features even without the subscription?

Well, I do not believe you can use sharing in any way without a subscription.

As far as I understand, sharing in any form requires cloud access.

I should note that I'm a bit atypical as a GM - at the moment, I have no need to share content with players through this system. I don't doubt that Realm Works is very good for most GMs, and going to get better over time, but I don't believe it would work very well for the play-by-post games I run. I'm mainly looking for campaign management and the ability to quickly and easily reference things - which I think Realm Works would be good at - not material to offer players.

I do not believe you are atypical in that.

As a matter of fact, I only use the Player View (showing items on a secondary screen at the table, such as pictures, text and maps).

I use RW as a data management system custom made for roleplaying (or for authors, for that matter), keeping track of everything within my world.

Well, one of my players just bought RW (GM edition, I believe) so I guess I will start using RW for sharing with (one of) my players.

As for using RW as a table top tool, well, I guess you can do it, but it was not designed for that and the message from Lone Wolf is, that they are not planning on turning RW into a table top tool.

For what it is worth, I find RW a wonderful tool for world and campaign management.

 

[liz]

Thank you for taking the time to look into this thread. I'm considering getting Realm Works, but I have a few questions, and I'm hoping for some answers to them before I begin. I realize that some of these questions may not have answers yet, and that's fine - anything you can tell me is appreciated.

1) According to "The Power of the Cloud", the cloud services are a necessity for:

• Sharing Content
• Using Content Others Have Shared
• Purchasing Licensed Content

Does this mean that I am required to have a paid subscription in order to access the Content Market and licensed material, or would it be possible for me to use those features even without the subscription?

I am aware that all new purchases come with 6 months of access, so it's not an immediate concern, but I'm not sure that I want to pay a fee just for access to the store.

I should note that I'm a bit atypical as a GM - at the moment, I have no need to share content with players through this system. I don't doubt that Realm Works is very good for most GMs, and going to get better over time, but I don't believe it would work very well for the play-by-post games I run. I'm mainly looking for campaign management and the ability to quickly and easily reference things - which I think Realm Works would be good at - not material to offer players.

We have a plan for how cloud service and the Content Market will interact. However, we haven't announced our plan because technical limitations could change things. Unfortunately, history has shown us that if our plans change, some users will still hold us to it, even if we say our plans are subject to change. Therefore, we're going to keep things internal and only announce once we're past the technical hurdles that could change things.

2) Is there any way to not start the subscription to the cloud right away, and instead have my free six months activated on request? I would be entirely content to wait if it took a few days for somebody to enable my access.


Once again, thank you for taking the time to look over these questions, and I apologize if there were any obvious answers somewhere that I managed to overlook.

The free six months of cloud service begins upon purchase, and cannot be delayed.

For your third question, Parody was spot on with his answer.

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[Rednal]

That's fair enough - nobody really enjoys it when an announced feature or setup is changed, regardless of the technical issues involved, and I can hardly fault you for practicing good sense in your relations with customers. XD Thank you all for taking the time to answer my questions - I really do appreciate it.

For now, I think I'm going to hold off on getting Realm Works - it sounds like it needs to have a few more of the intended features out (and have decisions on them finalized) before I'll really be able to make use of it. Still, I like what I've seen so far, and I'll probably end up getting it at some point in time.

 

[liz]

That's fair enough - nobody really enjoys it when an announced feature or setup is changed, regardless of the technical issues involved, and I can hardly fault you for practicing good sense in your relations with customers. XD Thank you all for taking the time to answer my questions - I really do appreciate it.

For now, I think I'm going to hold off on getting Realm Works - it sounds like it needs to have a few more of the intended features out (and have decisions on them finalized) before I'll really be able to make use of it. Still, I like what I've seen so far, and I'll probably end up getting it at some point in time.

My gut reaction was to hit the "like" button, which is proof that I social media has taken a part of my soul. So instead... *thumbs up*

 

[Gord]

ESG Dice Roller[/url].)

Looks nice and simple Parody. I hate to ask what is probably a stupid question to a programmer, but what is the process for inserting it into an HTML snippet? I tried pasting the HTML as text but when I create a HTML snippet, it is asking for a file. Do I need to create a text file and reference it? Is the roller intended to be used to make links to to a specific die set (1d8+4 for example) that you would reference from another snippet or is it just for in game use and you need to set it for each roll (if the parameters are changed)?

 

[Parody]

You need to save the HTML file and load that into Realm Works. You can do that from the context menu for the link, on the page itself from the File menu equivalent in your browser, or in the context menu for the page.

I set the default roll to 3d6 just so I had something to test with. You can open the saved file, search for that, and replace it if you want.

Today I added query string handling, so you can add, for example, "?1d8" to the URL to set the text in the box and roll it once. There's also a link you can copy and reuse/share. Unfortunately Realm Works doesn't let you set query strings, but if you have Internet access you could link to the page on the site with the right roll instead of embedding it in RW.

Edit: I fixed a bug in parenthetical expression handling and made a minor change in how it presents links when in Realm Works. Current version is 1.2.1.

 

[Rednal]

Sometimes I feel like I have too many questions about this product... XD But here's a new one anyway.

How well does the layering functionality work out? This question may need some clarification, so...

Let's say that I import a map of the Inner Sea and set it as the World Map (looking over screenshots, I'm preeeeetty sure you can do that). My players might travel around a lot, so I add a marker denoting Absalom (the nation). Then, given the unusually dense nature of this area, I also add Absalom (the city) as a map, and may import maps from various PFS scenarios to add as individual areas/dungeons.

How practical would something like this be? Is it a simple click in-and-out? Would I have to click on a small icon, or could I draw custom borders where clicking anywhere inside would bring me to the next level?

 

[Vargr]

Sometimes I feel like I have too many questions about this product... XD But here's a new one anyway.

How well does the layering functionality work out? This question may need some clarification, so...

Let's say that I import a map of the Inner Sea and set it as the World Map (looking over screenshots, I'm preeeeetty sure you can do that). My players might travel around a lot, so I add a marker denoting Absalom (the nation). Then, given the unusually dense nature of this area, I also add Absalom (the city) as a map, and may import maps from various PFS scenarios to add as individual areas/dungeons.

How practical would something like this be? Is it a simple click in-and-out? Would I have to click on a small icon, or could I draw custom borders where clicking anywhere inside would bring me to the next level?

Well.... first off: Disclaimer: I haven't used maps a lot in RW.

However, my experience is, that you take a map or a picture (basically the same) and place it in RW. You can then:

• Show it on the player screen.
• Add pins.
• Reveal and conceal these pins as you want.
• Click a pin and go to another topic (which could have a new map among its snippets and you could then show this map). You could have a map with a pin for Booze Town. Clicking the pin would take you to the topic Booze Town (for example) and that topic could contain a map of the town.

This would - at least in part - do some of what you are talking about - I think.


But - there is always a but - RW is not a map creation or manipulation tool.
It can take a finished map (basically a picture) and show it. On top of that you can add pins and you can add World of Fog.


PS: Would be lovely with different coloured pins! Then all your inns could be blue, all your brothels red, all your tempels white...

 

[Silveras]

Sometimes I feel like I have too many questions about this product... XD But here's a new one anyway.

How well does the layering functionality work out? This question may need some clarification, so...

Let's say that I import a map of the Inner Sea and set it as the World Map (looking over screenshots, I'm preeeeetty sure you can do that). My players might travel around a lot, so I add a marker denoting Absalom (the nation). Then, given the unusually dense nature of this area, I also add Absalom (the city) as a map, and may import maps from various PFS scenarios to add as individual areas/dungeons.

How practical would something like this be? Is it a simple click in-and-out? Would I have to click on a small icon, or could I draw custom borders where clicking anywhere inside would bring me to the next level?

To expand on some of Vargr's answer, you could not do that last part... adding hot-linked regions to the map. Your pins would be like the icons you mentioned.. small object "on" the map that are linked elsewhere and would let you navigate there. They are currently shaped like the pins you see on Google or Bing or Yahoo maps (rounded top tapering to a point).

Each pin can be linked to a topic. So, in your example, Absalom would have its own topic that could be linked to the pin. In that Absalom topic, you could have a map of the city (the maps are not stand-alone topics of their own; they exist in Snippets that are part of a Topic).

Smart images allow for a mask layer, and a pin layer. There is not a collection of layers that you can define (such as to separate points of interest, or types of locations).