Realm Works - Working With Maps

Today I show the various features available when working with maps within Realm Works.

Realm Works - Where Do I Begin?

So one of the challenges with Realm Works is it's a massive piece of blank paper.

Starting out can be overwhelming and the question is often asked, where do i begin?

Realm Works - Working With Tags and Creating Custom Categories

Here I had a play with using Tags within Realm Works to see what sort of functionality I could obtain by placing tags on specific content.

I played largely with Monsters, adding a tag for the creature type. I like the way this gives me the ability to easily filter on all 'Beasts' or all 'Fey' creatures.

I then go on to show how I added the custom tag to all of my monster categories and from there showed how to create a completely new custom category.

Realm Works - Forgotten Realm (Faerun) Interactive Map

I've been slowly chipping away at this project for a number of week now. But I finally completed entering all of the location date from the Storm King's Thunder into Realm Works as an interactive map.

Now I can click all over the realm to find out more information about the area!

This is achieved using the Smart Image functionality within Realm Works.

Hero Lab - Player Character Creation Software - A Player Tour for D&D5e

Many would argue that you don't need software to assist with the creation of Player Characters (PCs) in D&D 5e. And they are correct, you don't... I do however want software to assist the the creation of PC's.

I spend quite a bit of time playing with brand new people. My ground and I have only been playing for around two years. We are surrounded by people who love board games but have never played a table-top RPG. These are the type of people that want to come to the table and try it, but don't necessarily want to read the Player Hand Book prior to trying it for the first time.

This is where Hero Lab shines in my opinion. I can sit a player in front of my PC for a few minutes and quickly whip them up a character in a method that feels familiar to the new player as it follows a similar process to many RPG video games.

Then I simply print the sheet out for them and it comes with all the descriptions for spells and abilities. I can't stress how much simpler this is for introducing new people to the game.

It's not just handy to new players though. My experienced players love using it as it reduces the down-time at the table usually involved with people having to stop and look up rules from within the books.

Check it out below.

If you decide to pick up Hero Lab for 5e be sure to get the D&D 5e Community Pack.

MapTool - Virtual Table Top Software

In my last video I showed how to create a dungeon map using Campaign Cartographer 3+. Watch it here

Creating a map is great. But how do you go about using it at the table?

This video runs through an application called MapTool. It's a VTT solution that works great for those of us using VTT software at the table. Alot of people love Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, which are both amazing applications, but I had a few requirements I needed met, and MapTool met them all.

My Requirements:
Offline (my internet connection was dodgy in my game room)
Ability to control the player screen from the DM screen (Server and Client)
Free if possible
Ability to control Fog of War

Examples of what it looks like displayed on the actual table.

What is this Hirst Arts?

So one of the constant thing's I see on social media circles is people posting photos of Hirst Art terrain that they have made. The response is always fantastic and there's always a handful of people who reply stating they wish they could afford or were artistic enough to create such terrain.

First off, if you are one of those people get on over and join DM Scotty's Craft N' Games. It's a Facebook group dedicated to creating terrain and RPG material. It's focus is on making things from cheap household items and the stuff you see posted daily is incredible.

However, just from reading my blog you should know that I work mainly with Hirst Arts. Bruce Hirst is the artist responsible for Hirst Arts. He creates silicon molds that you pour plaster or resin into. The output is effectively LEGO blocks designed specifically for creating terrain. And the results speak for themselves.

Photo from HirstArts.com showing the potential with the cavern system molds.

Photo from HirstArts.com show the potential with the Gothic setting molds.

Photo from HirstArts.com showing the potential with the Inn Builder molds.

Now most people look at these photos and immediately fall in love but at the same time start cringing at the thought of the cost involved. And I'm not going to lie, to create everything you see above would cost quite a bit due to the number of molds you would need to buy.

BUT... What is you could start creating terrain for approximately $100? 

Because that's all it really takes to get started. For about $100 you could create terrain similar to what you see below. The best part is, you can make as much terrain as you like, because once you have the molds, you only need to buy more plaster to go into the molds and then you can just keep creating.

Photo from HirstArts.com showing a basic dungeon setup.

To create the pieces above all you need is two molds. You can get them for $63 (postage not inc) from the Hirst Arts Store. The molds required to build a dungeon that looks like this are:

Gothic Dungeon Builder #45
Floor Tiles Various Sizes Mold #201

You will also need something to pour into the molds. Don't bother with Plaster of Paris. It will chip. You want to look for something like Hydrastone or Merlin's Magic. I personally use Hydrostone which I can pick up 22.6KG for $49.50. This make's a metric shit tonne of dungeon!

You're going to need a few other things. But you probably have some of the stuff lying around at home. For details on how to cast check out these instructions.

With your molds and plaster in hand it's as difficult as following the instructions provided, the result will be an amazing Gothic themed dungeon!

There's really not a whole lot to it. You can create professional looking dungeons that are comparable to the mighty Dwarven Forge but for the price of one of their sets you can instead own the molds and create a much larger quantity of dungeon pieces.

Obviously only having two molds is going to limit you to creating specific looks. But this is just a starting point. You can simply buy new molds to create new looks and completely different terrain!

I've had so much fun working with Hirst molds. I seriously recommend checking it out for anyone wanting to bring some 3d terrain to their table!

Hirst Art molds with plaster poured.

Some pieces straight out of the molds.

My first floor and mold pieces, Playing around with different configurations.

Some painted pieces.

My first dungeon pieces made mainly with the molds listed above.

My first dungeon pieces painted. 

How large you build is up to you.

Realm Works - Creating Worlds

I run through a tour of how I setup the D&D world within Realm Works. Starting with the Planes of Existence and zooming all the way in to a planet, body of land, location and even the NPC living in that location within the world.

Realm Works - Where to begin?

My journey as a DM has shifted significantly this year. If I think back, there was alot of trips to Office Works, buying paper, pencils, ink, binding, laminating. I liked to display information to my players, and I like it to look professional when I do that.

It was costing more than it was worth.

I posted a while back on how I have moved to using Realm Works and Hero Labs. Doing away almost completely with paper and books.

In the next couple of posts I will expand on that experience and offer some examples of how I use the tool to my benefit.

If you are reading this, I am going to assume you already have a basic understanding of what Realm Works is and that you have got as far as creating a realm.

It can be completely overwhelming when you first start Realm Works. It begs for alot of information, and if you are even slightly OCD chances are, you are going to want to enter all the information. I'm here to say STOP, take a deep breathe and lets think this through.

Understanding Where The Information Should Go
Realm Works breaks information down into two basic categories at a high level:

• World Content
• Mechanics Content

World Content should be put under the World Almanac. This of this as a huge bucket container to put all of the information specific to the adventures and worlds you are creating. 

Mechanics Content should be put in the Mechanics Reference section. This is where you put your system rules, spell descriptions, monster descriptions, equipment descriptions, etc. This is the type of stuff that is going to be re-used over and over again. 

So Where Should I Start?

I am a firm believer in starting with the mechanics section. Mechanics get used over and over again, and it's beneficial to have common mechanics that you will want to refer to often linking to the content you create from the very start. 

To enter new mechanics click the Mechanics Reference button from the menu. You will see a number of sub-categories. You can click the little + symbol's to get an idea of what should be entered in these categories. 

In here is where you want to create items for things that you are going to want to link to. You might want to enter every rule and detail. Personally I think the best way to start is to enter every Monster and every Spell. Yes, this is a large task, but what you want to do is simply get an entry for every spell and every monster, not necessarily the detail contained within each entry, that's not required yet.

The reason why I do monsters and spells is because these are the things I have to constantly flip through the book to find. I generally know the basic rules of the system I play (D&D 5e) but I don't even try to remember every spell and monster.

It's a huge amount of work to fill these in completely. That is why I only enter the names. Then as I prepare for my next session; or when I have spare time, I go back and fill in the details.

Plan Your Plural's Now
Plural's are something we take for granted. Well at least I'm pretty sure the Dev's did before they began programming this software. The auto-linking works great for most things, but it struggles with Plurals.

If you have an entry called 'Orc' then links will automatically generate for the following: 'Orc' and 'Orc's'.

It will not however recognize 'Orcs'.

This is annoying as that's exactly how WOTC handle plurals in all of their books.

As such I recommend creating the plural version of the article's name during the wizard creation process as an 'Other' name. This creates a duplicate entry for the article enabling it to be recognized.

Content Name: Orc
Other Name: Orcs

How To Create A New Topic
Just like Windows, there are always multiple ways to do almost everything.

Ctrl - Q: This open a quick and efficient wizard. Enter the monster name (example: 'Orc'). Enter the monsters plural name (example: 'Orcs') and click 'Create'.

Right Click > Create: Right click a pre-existing topic and click 'Create Contained Article'. This is my favored method. This creates a new topic underneath the one you right click.

Click The Plus Buttons: Probably the most obvious method. This lets you select what you want to create but is slower in my opinion as it skips the wizard pictured above.

It's up to you if you enter in the details of each entry now. I certainly wouldn't enter monsters yet, but spells can be entered with relative ease and you will benefit greatly down the track from getting this information entered.

Use Topics To Organize Other Topics
As you start to enter a lot of information into the tool, you will quickly realize that organization is vital. A huge list of all the monsters or spells is messy. An alphabetical list with all of the relevant monsters and spells underneath that is much easier to manage however. Below you can see I also organize by book name.

Jeez That's ALOT of Work
Yes it is... but consider the benefit. Every encounter you copy or create in the tool once you do this, will recognize and create a link automatically to the content you are creating now. You type: 'the players encounter 10 Orcs'. Orcs linked automatically to the Orcs entry meaning you never never need to slip through the Monster Manual again to look up Orcs.

If you create a special Orc Shaman that can cast 'Sleep' at will, then that spell will link automatically every time the program sees 'Sleep' written in any text within the software.