D&D 5E Technology for making my world more accessible for my players?

[Bupp]

I use Google Docs as well. Easy to use. You can easily set up pages with different permissions. Make it so all players or a single player can either view or can edit pages. If you don't share the page, it's DM only. Easy to link within itself. No problem looking at on my laptop or my phone.

 

[Lanefan]

Plan B might be to set up your own webpage and stick the info there. That's what we did 10 years ago or so and it's worked out better than anyone's wildest dreams.

If you can't afford hosting and-or your own url, maybe someone you know has their own site with a bit of free space you can piggyback onto at cost of a case of beer now and then...?

Lanefan

 

[Satyrn]

A wiki can easily be indexed to work like a book with a table of contents.

There is no simpler way to get your info across in than a book with a good table of contents.

 

[MNblockhead]

Although many hosting companies make it easy to install mediawiki or other wiki platforms, that too costs money.

Maybe look at Tiddly Wiki, which you can run locally and sync with dropbox (or just mail to your players): http://tiddlywiki.com/

Since folks are recommending OneNote and Google Docs, don't forget to look at Evernote.

To me, the most important feature was easy of cross-linking. The easiest is Realmworks, because it automates much of the cross-linking. Next would be Wiki's, though you have to know the name of the article to cross link to, so you'll want a naming convention with Wikis.

After Realmworks and Wikis, I would say Evernote does a decent job at guessing what additional related content in your account may be interested based on the note you are looking at. But there is no real cross linking in Evernote.

 

[S'mon]

I like using Blogspot, while it self organises everything by date of posting I can create links within posts, a side index etc. I tend to use it mostly for session records but I also put up world info.

Some of my games:
http://smonscurseofthecrimsonthrone.blogspot.co.uk/
http://smonskarameikos.blogspot.co.uk/
http://frloudwater.blogspot.co.uk/

 

[GX.Sigma]

Not an expert, but wouldn't a free Wordpress site do pretty much everything you need?

 

[Lanliss]

Not an expert, but wouldn't a free Wordpress site do pretty much everything you need?

Do not have a complete wishlist of capabilities yet. This is where I am starting my search.

Pictures on the same page as text (A good example of what I want can be seen on any Wiki page. Brief description, and table of contents to the left, picture on the right, followed by the full page about the chosen subject, with some pictures spread throughout.)

Easy linking, so my players don't have to shuffle through a string of links if they don't want to. I can just send them a link to the Forest page, or the Gnome page, and have them know the basic knowledge set associated with that subject.

All of this being said, I talked to my players a bit more. Turns out, they would rather be spoon fed the world bits, if they even want to know about something. Otherwise, they would rather just play in the world, and maybe keep a note or two. Thanks to all of you for the help, but it looks like this will have to take a backburner for a little while. I might still try for it eventually, but it will be a ways off since it would be purely personal reasons.

 

[Wepwawet]

All of this being said, I talked to my players a bit more. Turns out, they would rather be spoon fed the world bits, if they even want to know about something. Otherwise, they would rather just play in the world, and maybe keep a note or two.

Yes, that's what I was going to suggest. Myself I simply use a Facebook Group to keep in touch with my players.

When I need to give them some world info I write a message and that's it. Obviously keeping it as short as possible, because I know that otherwise they'd either not read it or just forget about it. You don't want to swamp your players with lots of info. Creating a whole world is exciting, but I've found that it's exciting only for the DM.

For longer texts Google Docs is great, it's as easy to use as a text editor, and you can send a link to the document to anyone, they don't even have to have a google account.

Facebook groups also keep all the pictures sent easily accessible. So if you send bits of info in a picture with text it will be visible right there by the side. It's not links, but can have a similar effect (obviously not for an encyclopaedic amount of info)

In the past I used google mail too, I like how it joins every email into a conversation, so you can see the whole history.

These are very simple solutions that do it for me. I really don't need anything else

 

[Shiroiken]

I have used Google Sites to provide campaign info to my players. It can be a lot of work, but you can start off only with what players should know, then add information they discover during play (such as NPCs and locations) for future reference. Here is an example I started, but never finished.

 

[Azurewraith]

Type up your stuff in word and upload it to Google drive you can then simply send them a link and they have it.