Programs to organize campaigns

[wombatmaster]

Another type of program that I find useful, especially in the development phase, is mind-mapping software. It's a great way to visually brainstorm ideas and develop links between them. It gives a greater dimensional representation of info as compared to the more traditional hierarchal view.

MindManager (commercial)
FreeMind (freeware)

Regards

Wombatmaster

 

[Hand of Evil]

I went with GS Notes, tab databases, selectable databases, tree structure, import of pics and text, drag and drop freatures, hyperlinks, tables, template printing (have to find out if I can create a template) . I am still looking at a couple of the others and now that mind-mapping.

 

[gravyboat]

Here is a sample of some of the PIMs (Personal Information Managers) I have come across on the internet. This is by no means a full list as I have seen many more of these types of programs on the internet.

If anyone finds any creative ways to use these programs for their RPG adventures please post them here.

eNotebook
http://www.enotebook-home.com/index.asp

Nootex
http://www.smartgesture.com/

TreePad (various versions)
http://www.treepad.com/

TreeDBNotes
http://www.softviewer.com/treedbnotes/

Secure Notes Organizer
http://www.secureaction.com/notes/index2.shtml

GoldenSection Notes
http://www.tgslabs.com/

NotesTree
http://ex-code.com/treeedit/

AcuteNotes
www.acutenotes.com

Maple Professional
http://www.crystaloffice.com/mproinfo.html

Ideaspad
http://www.mindwarp-consultancy-software.com/ideaspad-sharewa

re-download.html

My Notes Center
www.mynotescenter.com

ActiveTreeNotes
www.windine.com/Software/ActiveTreeNotes/activetreenotes.html

AnyNotes
www.anynotes.com/index.htm

HyperClip
www.risksoftworks.com/products.html
NetPicker
www.fastbrowser.net/netpicker

ActionOutline
www.actionoutline.com

Info Angel
www.angelicsoftware.com/infoangel.html

Mybase
http://www.wjjsoft.com/download.html

Black Hole Organizer
www.lincolnbeach.com

The Journal
www.davidrm.com/thejournal

KeyNote
http://www.tranglos.com/free/theindex.html

 

[barsoomcore]

The killer for me is file format. I got burned once by a program that used a proprietary file format -- when the program went kablooie and I found out the company that made it was no more I was hosed -- and all my data went bye-bye.

Save it in text files, rtf files, html -- but don't pack it into some binary format that nobody else can read.

Word to the wise.

For features, I don't want "drill-down" functionality, really. What I want is quick access to disparate items -- to be able to switch from my campaign calendar to my NPC description, or whatever. To be able to create and group items. To be able to print items out for reference at the game table.

 

[CL]

Before I ran across this thread, I had started work on WorldBuilder, a program in java used to organize the various entities of a D&D world. Basically, it is a tree structure organizing specific nodes for planes, characters, etc, with specific data for each and the capability to randomly generate an entire plane. Attached are some early screenshots of what's done. I'm kinda glad that there seems to be intrest for this type of thing...

 

[Mercule]

For features, I don't want "drill-down" functionality, really. What I want is quick access to disparate items -- to be able to switch from my campaign calendar to my NPC description, or whatever. To be able to create and group items. To be able to print items out for reference at the game table.

As a software engineer, I'd be interested to hear what sort of interface you'd recommend in place of a drill-down. Are you differentiating between a strict drill-down and one with a tree/folder structure?

 

[pensiv]

quick access to disparate items

I think this is what the icon-based gui is all about.
Most of these organization programs aren't any more functional than your average filesystem with a gui interface (e.g.: Finder, Explorer, Nautilus, Konqeror)

However, on the other hand, I do really like TreePad's publish to HTML feature.

 

[barsoomcore]

As a software engineer, I'd be interested to hear what sort of interface you'd recommend in place of a drill-down. Are you differentiating between a strict drill-down and one with a tree/folder structure?

Yes, exactly. A folder structure is perfect -- AS LONG AS I can quickly switch from one item (in path foo/bar/hidyhoo) to another (in path tom/dick/harry). What I like about my ProjectBuilder is that as a development environment, it keeps track of files I've opened and builds up a pop-up menu with them all. Which does the trick admirably. It also provides "Back" and "Forward" buttons so I can flip between two files easily. And finally, it allows me to create a "split-screen" view so I can view two files simultaneously. Those final three features (the menu, the buttons and the split-screen) provide far more useful functionality than any "drill-down" would be. To me, anyway.

But see, for me, "Publish to HTML" is useless. When I want HTML, I write HTML. But I'm a bit of a cantankerous old coot when it comes to HTML.

 

[gravyboat]

One thing I noticed that most of these PIM programs don't have is an html note format. I would like to see one of these programs with the ability to create an html note or an rtf note. Where the html note needs both a source editing pane and a browser pane. Of course links within either type of these notes should be able to jump to any other document wihtin the program. I would like to be able to create an image map over one of my adventure maps and be able to link the areas description in another note within the program. A standardized microsoft gui is always welcome also.

 

[Hand of Evil]

It will be interesting to see how MicroSoft's OneNote program works for a campaign organizer, the cost is high 100$ but intergration to all things MS and a very common format.