What is the best software for GMs to run their games?

[sagevine]

Just curious what everyone else likes to use. I tried obsidian, but find it takes too much time to look stuff up. Using a wiki now, but would like something better.

Thanks in advance.

 

[joemarsh]

www.questkick.com looks impressive. Already pre-ordered a membership.

 

[Alan Shutko]

I use a Mac application called DEVONthink. It allows me to import most document types, including PDF, and indexes them for rapid search. That's a big help for my Dragon Magazine collection, old BECMI D&D PDFs, etc. I can import pages from blogs with a quick bookmarklet. It can split up those file types, so for example I imported the Roleplaying Tips Weekly archives and split them into one file per tip, and organize them into subject areas.

It also lets me take notes in RTF format, and can automatically link terms to other documents like a Wiki. So I can be writing session notes and have character names automatically link to the character notes.

The coolest thing it offers is a limited AI text classification service. When I'm reading a document, it shows a pane for "See Also" where it suggests other documents that might be related. For example, I might be looking at a tip for speeding initiative in Rolemaster, and it suggested a few documents talking about initiative, some discussing other Rolemaster topics. And one for speeding up combat in general. Not all suggested articles are relevant, but it can be good for helping you make connections that you didn't think of.

This software has been good for keeping track of info as a GM, since the Wiki links and See Also let me find stuff fast. It also has a wicked-fast full text search function.

This is not a good piece of software for sharing information with your group. It's desktop software, and intended to be single user. Though there is a web sharing interface, it doesn't have the ability to keep some things hidden from the users while letting the GM see things.

Useful links:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?267864-campaign-software-what-do-you-use

 

[sagevine]

questkick.com looks impressive. Already pre-ordered a membership.

Thanks joemarsh. I like that they auto create links to related information. Should be very useful.

 

[Alarian]

I would suggest taking a look at Realm Works. It's getting close to being released to the public and it looks incredible. I invested in the Beta and the are planning on opening it up to us Beta's in the next few weeks with an August commercial release.

http://www.wolflair.com/index.php?context=realm_works

 

[sagevine]

I would suggest taking a look at Realm Works.

Thanks for the link. Quest Kick looks like it has a much nicer design though out of the 2 though. Plus they say its web based and will work on tablets and phones. Looks like I'd have to download and instal RW, as well as require my players to do the same.

 

[Nytmare]

I myself am a huge fan of programming vbscripts in Excel to help organize and run my games. A combination of Photoshop for map design and simple html for limited at the table player interface. And then a combination of Google Groups and Sites for between session interaction.

 

[Alarian]

Quest Kick looks interesting, but at least so far, it seems like all there is currently is a single pretty webpage. I would need to see a lot more information about it before I could make any type of decision about it.

 

[Hand of Evil]

here is a thread from last month:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...g-for-generic-quot-GM-assistant-quot-software

 

[Ajar]

Quest Kick looks like it only includes a subset of the features of Roll20, and it's missing the key one for me -- video chat.

I also backed the RealmWorks Kickstarter, because while Roll20, Quest Kick, MapTool, etc are virtual tabletops, RealmWorks is really a campaign builder -- it's like MapTool plus Masterplan or Obsidian Portal in a single package, but it also allows you to determine exactly what your players can see.