Favourite tools for adventure/campaign/world design?

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Mental Elf
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Favourite tools for adventure/campaign/world design?

Post by Mental Elf »

Hi all, noob here, first post.

Back after 30 years away from RPGs, and going to start a group with some friends. I have some basic ideas for a world setting, and some original adventure ideas that I want to realise. What digital tools, programs and apps (for Windows) do you reccomend for the creative design process, to capture ideas, flesh them out, link between sections etc etc? Anything that can help make the complexities logical and provides an inuitive creative process. Doesnt have to be bespoke for RPGs, just ANY program that you've found to be useful. EDIT: ALSO MAPS AND MAPPING TOO!

Ideally I would prefer free/cheap/opensource, and NOT an ongoing subscription service. I really really hate the current subscription and micro transaction business model that is absolutely EVERYWHERE at the moment. My brain, and finances, can't deal with that stuff!

If there is a paid-for tool that you think absolutely justifies the asking price with the sheer useability, and the results it produces for you then by all means I'd like to hear about that too, for future reference in more affluent times :)

Thanks for listening, super happy to have found this community!

-Dave
"I punched a bloke in the face once for saying "Hawk the Slayer" was rubbish. What I should have said is "Dad, you're right, but let's give Krull a try and we'll discuss it later"
- Bilbo Bagshot.
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targenthan
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Re: Favourite tools for adventure/campaign/world design?

Post by targenthan »

Firstly, as much as I share your detestation of subs and micro-transaction as a business model - I like World Anvil personally.

Getting that out of the way-

I've been using OneNote lately it's free from Microsoft - but if you don't like that it's M$ - there are a lot of recommendations for an application like Obsidian.md - link for info here - https://obsidian.md/

YT playlist with an extensive tutorial on applying it to TTRPG campaign/content management and authoring etc- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... T9b-vLslWu
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ThorinSchmidt
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Re: Favourite tools for adventure/campaign/world design?

Post by ThorinSchmidt »

I've gotten a ton of mileage out of Kanka.io. It has a different feel than World Anvil. If I had to compare the two, World anvil approaches things from a more literary perspective, while Kanka.io has more of a game design vibe. It's not a *pronounced* difference, mind you.

Anyhow, I found Kanka suited my creative processes better than WA. So what I'm saying is, try both. One will probably fit you better than the other, and use that. World Anvil and Kanka are the two best tools I've seen.
"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world" – Thorin
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dymondy2k
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Re: Favourite tools for adventure/campaign/world design?

Post by dymondy2k »

I really liked World Anvil. Its got a ton of great world building features and the people that run it are pretty cool.
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Neigdoig
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Re: Favourite tools for adventure/campaign/world design?

Post by Neigdoig »

Someone has yet to mention Fantaisa Archive (which is me). I just looked at AlternativeTo on alternatives to World Anvil. I did see Obsidian on there too, but for world building, maybe try Fantaisa. It's completely free, and is the closest to World Anvil like you can get. It's not licensed, but the source code is there. I will be seeing what it's like, so maybe hold off on that until a few of us take a look.
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JugglinDan
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Re: Favourite tools for adventure/campaign/world design?

Post by JugglinDan »

Neigdoig wrote: Mon May 01, 2023 10:03 pm Someone has yet to mention Fantaisa Archive (which is me). I just looked at AlternativeTo on alternatives to World Anvil. I did see Obsidian on there too, but for world building, maybe try Fantaisa. It's completely free, and is the closest to World Anvil like you can get. It's not licensed, but the source code is there. I will be seeing what it's like, so maybe hold off on that until a few of us take a look.
I've generally just used paper notebooks and/or OneNote, but Fantasia Archive does look good. Thanks for sharing.

For my current weekly BFRPG game, I'm using a simple A5 spiral notebook set up as a Bullet Journal. It's working for me, but more ambitious worlds might need more. I'm fortunate that my players are content for me to keep serving up locations and creatures they can interact with in an occasionally heroic way.
Last edited by JugglinDan on Sun May 07, 2023 3:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
I'm also on RPGG
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Boggo
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Re: Favourite tools for adventure/campaign/world design?

Post by Boggo »

I just use Libre office for text an the free version of Inkarnate for maps, my biggest suggestion, start relatively small and mine your players backstories for expanding the world (I got a Barbarian infested plain, a lot of Dwarven culture (and dwarven pantheon) and a nifty cultural Elven thing (they only use their real names with their family and very close friends, they use nicknames otherwise) from my players.
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targenthan
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Re: Favourite tools for adventure/campaign/world design?

Post by targenthan »

Neigdoig wrote: Mon May 01, 2023 10:03 pm Someone has yet to mention Fantaisa Archive (which is me). I just looked at AlternativeTo on alternatives to World Anvil. I did see Obsidian on there too, but for world building, maybe try Fantaisa. It's completely free, and is the closest to World Anvil like you can get. It's not licensed, but the source code is there. I will be seeing what it's like, so maybe hold off on that until a few of us take a look.
Checking this out now myself - thanks so much for the recommendation. Looks amazing.
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dymondy2k
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Re: Favourite tools for adventure/campaign/world design?

Post by dymondy2k »

targenthan wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 11:59 pm
Neigdoig wrote: Mon May 01, 2023 10:03 pm Someone has yet to mention Fantaisa Archive (which is me). I just looked at AlternativeTo on alternatives to World Anvil. I did see Obsidian on there too, but for world building, maybe try Fantaisa. It's completely free, and is the closest to World Anvil like you can get. It's not licensed, but the source code is there. I will be seeing what it's like, so maybe hold off on that until a few of us take a look.
Checking this out now myself - thanks so much for the recommendation. Looks amazing.
Same.. downloading it now!
Check out my BFRPG Campaign Setting
The Dragonclaw Barony
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miqued
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Re: Favourite tools for adventure/campaign/world design?

Post by miqued »

For creating maps, I use WonderDraft and DungeonDraft for overland and dungeon maps respectively. I believe each cost about $20 when I bought them, but they may be more now. Either way, they're both one-time payments with continuous access to updates. I am seriously considering buying the entire worldographer suite of licenses (I forget the price, it's less than $100 for the entire set), but I'm not fully sold on it, although I greatly prefer the overland portion of the software to WonderDraft.

For each software I mentioned before, I prefer making my own icons. I use Inkscape for that. It's an SVG illustration software that's free/open source. I just make simple icons, so it works for me.

For managing the actual campaign, I still just use a physical binder, but I want to move everything into FoundryVTT, which is a one-time $50 last I checked; it's definitely a one-time purchase, I just don't know if the price has changed. Same as the *Draft softwares, it receives continual updates, and there's a Basic Fantasy system for it based on the 3rd edition material, plus a module for the core rulebook material and one for Field Guide I.

All the softwares mentioned are Windows-compatible and run locally. Foundry can be hosted with an online service if you want though
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