Comments on: How do you keep track of a whole world?

Question: How do you keep track of a whole world?

DetonatedManiac — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 15:56:59 -0800

Help me find a (hopefully free and easy to use) tool that could be used to create and organize a Fantasy world for a Paper and Pencil Role Playing Game. Something like a hypertext database that fiction writers might use.

I'm looking for something where Characters, Lore, Location maps, Politics, Godly affairs, Economic relations, Timelines and more can all become an interconnected tapestry that can also be easily updatable to account for Player Character's actions.

I am thinking some sort of Database where relations are dynamically created and altered and can be viewed visually (I am quite a visual thinker).

I am looking for something with a simple user interface as I will want to access and alter parts of the world on the fly while running games and keep a log of the Player's actions and how they are viewed by other characters in the world etc.

I know there are programs that screenplay and fiction writers use that have a hypertext database element, something like that might work but any ideas are welcome. Thanks in Advance.

By: Memo

Memo — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:05:38 -0800

Some kind of wiki seems the best choice. The ELotH:TES wiki looks like what you're trying to do.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:37:00 -0800

A wiki of some sort wold be your best options, but I don't know of any that have a real visual way to modify view/create/alter links & relations.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:37:37 -0800

I have a +5 dagger of spellchecking. Honest.

By: fings

fings — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:02:24 -0800

I'm using pmwiki for my game.

By: majick

majick — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 20:21:30 -0800

I've been eyeing Scrivener for this purpose.

By: DetonatedManiac

DetonatedManiac — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:49:12 -0800

Thanks for the responses, but to clarify, I am hopelessly stuck to Windows, so Mac only software is not so helpful.

By: lilac girl

lilac girl — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:07:54 -0800

It's not updated anymore, but try maybe Keynote? I used it for awhile to keep track of notes for classes and stuff.

You really should look into a Mac. I think a combination of VoodooPad and OmniGraffle would get you what you need.