Programs to organize campaigns

[pensiv]

I have however, found that using a TabletPC to GM a game is absolutely invaluable.

What are the advantages of a TabletPC over a laptop in this situation?

 

[MaxKaladin]

I may have to try Treepad. I looked at GSNotes and a couple of others but I wasn't terribly impressed with most of them. GSNotes isn't bad, but I'm a bit nervous about the proprietary format. I've never been burned like that but I'd like to keep that record intact. There are also enough nagging little issues with the user interfact that I'm not crazy about using it. The others either had way too few features, a clunky interface, or lacked the important (to me) feature of tables (I like to use tables as an organizational tool).

It looks like Treepad might address my concerns. The only thing that leaps out at me as a potentital problem right now is only being able to have one database open at a time. I like the idea of being able to have a database with, say, the SRD open in it while I'm working in a seperate database that has my campaign info in it. It looks like you have to buy the $90 "Enterprise" version to get that.

I'll have to take a look at it.

 

[frugal]

It looks like Treepad might address my concerns. The only thing that leaps out at me as a potentital problem right now is only being able to have one database open at a time. I like the idea of being able to have a database with, say, the SRD open in it while I'm working in a seperate database that has my campaign info in it. It looks like you have to buy the $90 "Enterprise" version to get that.

By "one database open at a time" what they mean is that "each instance of the program can only have one database open at one time".

You can have a many copies of the program open at once, each with a different database, given that the executble is only 1Mb that is not a problem.

When you access the manual this is exactly what it does. It kicks off another copy of the program using the manual database.

 

[Kaji]

DM's Familiar has a basic tree-view tool in it as well - The Codex Tree. You can use it to write your adventure but you can also use it to drop in D&D specific things - rules, spells, monsters, etc. So you can have a note that has the text for your room, and a link you can click to open the monster that is there, and a link to open up the spell that is the monsters special ability, etc. Andit has a combat manager if you can get a laptop to your game table, et.c

Roleplaying Master has a tree-view tool init as well.

Dunnjinni (or however they spell it) from Fluid is a mapper and writing tool combined. My understanding is that it is the part that was pulled from E:Tools.

No disrespect inteded, but I tried to use DM's Familiar to organize my campaign, and I was pretty disappointed. While I'm sure it has many other cool features, this one worked out poorly me. I spent some time with Roleplaying Master's tree-view, and that was a little better, but not what I wanted. I'll have to check out all these other tools, i'm jazzed about that...

 

[Mystery Man]

What are the advantages of a TabletPC over a laptop in this situation?

I could go on about it but one huge thing for me at least, I can draw maps and pictures like I'm drawing with pencil and paper and print them out. Or import them into my journal.

I can record my thoughts and have them typed out for me with the voice to text program.

Plus with my tablet I can flip the screen and it converts to a laptop.

 

[gravyboat]

So far I have tried:

what I am looking for are the following features:

• Ability to import data from HTML files and keep the formatting (this includes stylesheets
• Ability to create a new html node from a stylesheet and template
• Ability to search over all of the nodes.
• Ability to link to nodes
• Ability to dump the whole lot as a set of HTML pages (including stylesheets and links)
• Abiltiy to move information around between nodes and not loose information (i.e. move the Bless spell from the SpellsA-B node into it's own node easily and retain formatting).
• Abiltiy to drag and drop selected text into a new node
• And most importantly: Auto hyper linking. I want any occurance of the word "bless" to be linked to the node "bless".

These are all items I would really like in a good adventure organizer program. The ability to set up auto-hyperlinking would be a lifesaver. It would be great to do a one time set-up for each NPC's name and thereafter everytime you type that name, you would get a link to the NPC's statblock and writeup. The HTML nodes would be great also, as I would like to create image maps within my actual adventure maps so that when you click on a hot spot it would take you right to the node where that locations write-up, encounter, etc. is located.

I like the idea of a non-proprietary format, so that all rtf or html files within the program could be reused in separate programs. Although I believe a good adventure organizer program would need to include its own rtf and html editor as well as the integrated browser for viewing the html nodes. And above all, a simple, fast, and clean intuitive interface is a must.

I've got a stack of books at home on windows forms and gui programing in C#, and its been burning at me to attempt to write such a program. But I really lack the time right now for such an undertaking as I've got a thesis in math to research. Too bad they don't offer degrees in D&D

 

[gravyboat]

I agree a tablet PC would be great to have for gaming. But I think if anyone were interested in bringing a computing device to the gaming table, an older laptop would work fine. I only say this in regards to cost concerns. This is why I believe a good campaign organizing tool should also not be a resource hog, so that older laptops could be used also.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I could go on about it but one huge thing for me at least, I can draw maps and pictures like I'm drawing with pencil and paper and print them out. Or import them into my journal.

I can record my thoughts and have them typed out for me with the voice to text program.

Plus with my tablet I can flip the screen and it converts to a laptop.

This is why I am wondering about MS OneNote, while it is made for the tablet it works both on laptop and desktop, allows you to draw and place sound files.

 

[frugal]

I've got a stack of books at home on windows forms and gui programing in C#, and its been burning at me to attempt to write such a program. But I really lack the time right now for such an undertaking as I've got a thesis in math to research. Too bad they don't offer degrees in D&D

I think I am going to have a crack at a Treepad file reader in Java that will automatically add all the hyperlinks it can when you view a node.

When you read in the file you know all of the node names. then when you view a particular node you can scan the text for all of the node names and then replace the text with a hyperlink to the appropriate node. As individual nodes are not that big doing this on the fly should not be too slow, especially if you cache the results after you have done it.

 

[pensiv]

This is why I believe a good campaign organizing tool should also not be a resource hog, so that older laptops could be used also.

That's something I liked about Treepad. It's a very small program in spite of all it's features.