using open source tools

[gizmomathboy]

A thing I wrote just got published.


https://opensource.com/article/17/6/open-source-gaming

[Chainsaw]

Nice! Congrats.

[tetramorph]

Nice. Just read it on my iPhone so I didn't follow the links.

Will I need to be a programmer to use these tools?

Sorry, liberal arts / humanities around here!

[gizmomathboy]

Nice. Just read it on my iPhone so I didn't follow the links.

Will I need to be a programmer to use these tools?

Sorry, liberal arts / humanities around here!

I would say half would need some help to use, the others not at all.

Inkscape, freeplane, vim, Thunderbird you should be able to figure how to use rather easily. I might do s follow up post that is specifically about how I use inkscape.

The Roland stuff is a bit rough but I could walk you through how to use it. I am working on a web page for the hyperborean encounter stuff. I suppose I could do the same for the treasure tables as well I guess.

[Philotomy Jurament]

Out of those, I'd guess vim and roland would have the steepest learning curves.

I use vim a lot, for work, but lately I've been using atom for text editing. It's a heavier app than vim, but it has a nice interface that looks good cross-platform and has a ton of plugins. It would probably be easier to learn than vim, for many users. If you're a die-hard vim guy, you probably wouldn't like it, though.

I tend to write gaming material (keys, et cetera) in plain text with markdown. Can't recall the last time I used a word processor. I still hand-draw maps (just haven't bothered to learn Inkscape, et cetera).

I haven't used Roland, but will check it out. I typically write generators in either python or javascript. These days, it's mostly javascript (ES6).

[francisca]

<IT Grog>
Been using vi so long, all the functions are like macros built into my arms below the elbow.
</IT Grog>

[Philotomy Jurament]

<IT Grog>
Been using vi so long, all the functions are like macros built into my arms below the elbow.
</IT Grog>

I've always liked the idea of vi/vim, but I never dived in fully enough to become an expert with it. I can use it fine, but not to its full potential. When I first started using Linux, I went for emacs as my main editor (mainly because the keystrokes were largely compatible with bash). If I had to do it over, again, I'd pick vi instead, but that ship sailed a long time ago.

[ligedog]

I use a lot of open source/freeware myself for work and game prep. I use Inkscape (mainly for noting up hand drawn computer colored maps). I like paint.net as an easily understandable graphics (non vector) program. I just found a plugin someone made for a hex overlay that will be getting some use! If anyone uses Autocad (after nearly 20 years of using it for work it's like breathing to me - I'll use it instead of Inkscape to do graphics layouts) there are a number of clones out there - I use Draftsight by Dassault which has a free version that is pretty good.

[tetramorph]

Thanks for your reply.

I looked over things. I'm cool with hand mapping and hand keying. Or keying up in plaintext or even (gulp) Word.

But the main thing that would super help me would be to automate all my branching tables.

It seems like that, alas, would require me to learn how to code!

Do you think I could learn Roland? (That sounds like the one closest to meeting my desire, yes?)

[gizmomathboy]

Out of those, I'd guess vim and roland would have the steepest learning curves.

I use vim a lot, for work, but lately I've been using atom for text editing. It's a heavier app than vim, but it has a nice interface that looks good cross-platform and has a ton of plugins. It would probably be easier to learn than vim, for many users. If you're a die-hard vim guy, you probably wouldn't like it, though.

I tend to write gaming material (keys, et cetera) in plain text with markdown. Can't recall the last time I used a word processor. I still hand-draw maps (just haven't bothered to learn Inkscape, et cetera).

I haven't used Roland, but will check it out. I typically write generators in either python or javascript. These days, it's mostly javascript (ES6).

Yeah, the vim stuff is really just whatever editor you want to use. Since the post was open source software and what I use that's what's there
And if you're crazy enough to use git, git doesn't really care what you are using...mostly.

Roland is an interesting beast to learn. The 2 hurdles to cross is getting it installed and then wrapping your head around what it's trying to do.

[Philotomy Jurament]

And if you're crazy enough to use git, git doesn't really care what you are using...mostly.

I use git all the time. Great tool. (I went from cvs -> mercurial -> git. Never did the svn thing.)

[gizmomathboy]

Thanks for your reply.

I looked over things. I'm cool with hand mapping and hand keying. Or keying up in plaintext or even (gulp) Word.

But the main thing that would super help me would be to automate all my branching tables.

It seems like that, alas, would require me to learn how to code!

Do you think I could learn Roland? (That sounds like the one closest to meeting my desire, yes?)

I'm not sure you would learn have to code to use Roland. As I wrote above, the first hurdle is getting it (and Perl) installed on you system. Then understanding what Roland expects and how it works. Rik was really patient with me to understand how to create the tables and work with the Roland.

Maybe I'll write something about how I use Roland in more detail, but probably on one of my sites and not opensource.com. Although I might write something about how I use Inkscape for my maps.

I'm available to help you with getting Roland up and running.

[tetramorph]

gizmomathboy

That would be cool!

Send me a PM when you have time for something like that.

All: I'll tell you what would be awesome:

There used to be things called "databases." Now everything is a spreadsheet and I hate spreadsheets.

I want something that does this:

Looks like: Index Cards
Title
Text
Tags (as many as I want) (Hyperlinkable)
Hyperlinks in text (to other index cards and beyond)
Easy user interface

Any hope there is anything like that out there?

Awesomeness: I think up a town. Link it to the wilderness I am working on. I figure out an NPC who lives there. Link him to it and it to him. He is a merchant. Travels to the next village a lot. Links. Campaign organizational joy ensues. (Someday, even linkable to my hand drawn maps scanned in to my computer! Oh my!)

[Flambeaux]

tetramorph,
Sounds like you miss Apple's Hypercard. Back when I tried to use it like that, it never worked in reality the way it did in my head.

I'm not really sure what you mean by this:

There used to be things called "databases." Now everything is a spreadsheet and I hate spreadsheets.

I used databases for work every day, even more than spreadsheets. As such, I do most of my gaming stuff offline, analog, and old school.

[tetramorph]

Guys, I think I found it for now.

A guy at work convinced me to try Evernote and I hated it for work related stuff.

But I've just opened up a "notebook" for my campaign world and I am having a blast. I can drag in pictures and maps. I can tag things and then search by tags. This may work for me. I'll keep you posted.

Still, it won't randomly roll up stuff for me. So I still may want to learn Roland, if I can.

I will PM you, shortly, gizmomathboy.