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Nerfed2Hell
Senior Scribe
USA
387 Posts |
 Posted - 07 Oct 2008 : 19:02:36
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In this ever-growing digital age, I'm sure I'm not the only person that brings his laptop to the gaming table to keep track of campaign notes, NPCs, store a wealth of accumulated lore (much of it from this very site, I'm sure) and so forth.
Over the weekend, I went looking for a file with a particular NPC and couldn't find it until I looked again the next morning. I have dozens of NPC characters stored in Wordpad format, but I also have several documents that contain multiple characters (usually ones that are connected, such as adventuring companies and such). Putting every character in one file would be cumbersome, I think, just to scroll through... especially if I want to use more than one and they aren't side-by-side.
I thought about maybe some sort of character database, but I wouldn't know how to put a useful one together... and I don't have Access or other database software anyhow. A friend suggested a wiki style approach. They have personal wikis, you know. Currently, I'm looking at WikidPad (free) and I've been thinking I might be able to dump a lot more into it as one big searchable campaign resource rather than NPCs only.
Anyhow, I was wondering (while learning how to use it), does anyone else do something like this, or are you just mentally organized enough that you remember where everything you need is located? If not, what kind of set up do you use to manage your campaign?
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Some people are like a slinky... not good for much, but when you push them down the stairs, it makes you smile. |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3252 Posts |
Posted - 07 Oct 2008 : 19:08:47
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Mostly Excel workbooks. I have a pretty good (but BIIIG - 45+ Mb file) character builder sheet that has everything built in (did I mention the size?). A ton of other one-off sheets that are specific to the characters, but let me see their stats/etc. at different levels. I also have a NPC Builder sheet, a Treasure Generator sheet, and a complete Encounter builder sheet (with the NPC and Treasure built in).
I've also started using Ema's Character Manager. He's been tops in my book for years for his PDF character sheets (which he has so that you can dynamic generate them based on what books/setting you want). The Manager lets me enter all the character stats/etc. and save it on his site (for a small fee), but you can print it out in PDF beauty anytime you want!
Okay, enough selling. Mostly I still use Excel to track just about everything just because it's so much easier to add all the treasures and adjust stuff with one click. |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Nerfed2Hell
Senior Scribe
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - 07 Oct 2008 : 19:35:08
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| Character builders and character managers are okay... but I gave up on them and individual character sheets awhile ago in favor Wordpad. I add something, just type it in. Remove something? Delete it. Lumping characters together on one document? No problem. I never needed a fancy program to crunch the numbers when building characters, though. In fact, I really enjoy building characters one level at a time because it lets me shape them little by little in accordance to their backstory. With a character gen, I would click and move on and the process would be over and done with... whereas proceeding in a slow, organic manner gave me time to contemplate whether the option I was choosing was the right one or maybe there's a better way. |
Some people are like a slinky... not good for much, but when you push them down the stairs, it makes you smile. |
Edited by - Nerfed2Hell on 07 Oct 2008 19:36:15 |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3762 Posts |
Posted - 07 Oct 2008 : 20:00:10
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-I have a big Excel sheet broken up by class (3e) for all of the NPCs in my world, listing, name, location, deity, race, all that good stuff. Certain NPCs, I like so much, I create character sheets of. I have a binder filled with them. Some were characters I've played in the past, and some are NPCs I just statted up. All come with 1-3 page biography sheets.
-I've never had problems with keeping track of things, though. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know) |
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GRYPHON
Senior Scribe
USA
527 Posts |
Posted - 20 Oct 2008 : 14:56:46
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| Couple of PC sheets, a PHB, and an NPC log...and a great deal of patience. |
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Laerrigan
Learned Scribe
USA
195 Posts |
Posted - 21 Oct 2008 : 19:57:57
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| My campaign-management setup? Various marvelous organizational ideas that sound so delightful and prove so......not....in practice. A bunch of NPC sheets in WordPad form saved under the character names works well enough for a handful of NPCs, but time and the complexities it brings about create the need for a better quick cross-reference system. Thank you for pointing out WikidPad, Nerfed---exploring that will be my next idealistic project. |
"Your 'reality,' sir, is lies and balderdash, and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever." (Baron Munchausen)
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was not made for this world." (C.S. Lewis, "Surprised by Joy") |
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Arion Elenim
Senior Scribe
933 Posts |
Posted - 22 Oct 2008 : 00:00:18
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| The toughest thing for me is keeping track of store inventories - inns, weaponsmiths, etc (though I did once write an entire menu for the Whistling Stag in Quevarr...poor poor Quevarr....). I solved that by keeping the laptop open to the hypertext d20 website (http://www.d20srd.org/). Uber-helpful. |
My latest Realms-based short story, about a bard, a paladin of Lathander and the letter of the law, Debts Repaid. It takes place before the "shattering" and gives the bard Arion a last gasp before he plunges into the present.http://candlekeep.com/campaign/logs/log-debts.htm |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3252 Posts |
Posted - 22 Oct 2008 : 03:14:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Arion Elenim
The toughest thing for me is keeping track of store inventories - inns, weaponsmiths, etc (though I did once write an entire menu for the Whistling Stag in Quevarr...poor poor Quevarr....). I solved that by keeping the laptop open to the hypertext d20 website (http://www.d20srd.org/). Uber-helpful.
Heh... I subscribed to d20srd.org. Allows me to download the entire thing, which I keep locally on my laptop and on a thumb drive. Just change the bookmarks file for firefox to look for the drive letter instead of the site address.
Makes life much easier. |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Arion Elenim
Senior Scribe
933 Posts |
Posted - 22 Oct 2008 : 08:33:13
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| Yeah, I basically lived on that site for my last campaign. They got me through 17 levels with my pcs!!! Good stuff, that. |
My latest Realms-based short story, about a bard, a paladin of Lathander and the letter of the law, Debts Repaid. It takes place before the "shattering" and gives the bard Arion a last gasp before he plunges into the present.http://candlekeep.com/campaign/logs/log-debts.htm |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3252 Posts |
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maransreth
Learned Scribe
Australia
157 Posts |
Posted - 23 Oct 2008 : 10:28:43
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Microsoft OneNote 2007 - best program to store related data easily. Non-microsoft equivalent would be Evernote (I think it is called).
The beauty of OneNote is that I find something useful on the 'net, I send it to OneNote, delete what I don't want, add in what I want and it's done. Never I need to save, as soon as something is typed in, it is saved automatically.
You can have hyperlinks to files on your 'puter, embed templates for spreadsheets, etc. |
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Campaign management
