The Chronodex

[ELF]

Usually I'm not a big fan of campaign notebooks, as the the creator's design seldom matches the note-taking needs of my campaigns. But I have to admit that this beautifully designed, Creative Commons licensed PDF notebook may change my mind:

The Chronodex is a thoughtful, versatile and personal narrative tool. And it’s totally free. It’s been carefully designed to guide and organize RPG and literary pursuits.

http://www.thechronodex.com/

The PDF file is available with a Pay What You Want price tag:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/250244/The-Chronodex--Core-Set

 

[JohnnFour]

Beautiful design.

@JochenL maybe some ideas for formatting output here.

 

[ELF]

@JochenL maybe some ideas for formatting output here.

Indeed it would be great to have this kind of layout in Campaign Logger! It might even be possible to utilize that professionally made design as it is (barring any technical limitations of online layout). Quoting the ChronoDex FAQ:

If I want to use this project or part of it in my own source book / gaming aid/ project that I intend to sell, would I have to buy a licence off of you?
No, I'll happily grant a licence to anyone who remixes it into their own projects. The by-nc was specificly chosen to prevent direct reproduction and retail, and allow me to proof for quality. If you're interested in obtaining a commercial licence, contact me at TheChronodex (at) gmail.com.

(There might be some cross-promotion potential in here as well - the author is planning to release asset add-ons.)

 

[JochenL]

Beautiful design.

@JochenL maybe some ideas for formatting output here.

I like that!

 

[ELF]

Also the achievement lists in the end are inspiring. (Maybe CL could have a customizable achievement plugin for handling something similar...)

If carefully designed, achievements could even be used for encouraging roleplaying, new ways to play, and developing the group dynamics of the party.

 

[frans]

Meaning more like templated log items in combination with the already existing free-form logs?

 

[ELF]

Meaning more like templated log items in combination with the already existing free-form logs?

I appreciate the empty, freeform canvas offered by a new log entry, but after toying with Realm Works and World Anvil I have to admit that templates can be useful as well.

But to keep the good features from both approaches, I would prefer templates to be optional. Something that you could apply to an empty log entry to help you fill in all the useful details (or only some of them, whatever works best for the situation).

These template files could be created by the users themselves, or other users, and maybe there could be some 'official' templates that could be downloaded for a Campaign Logger repository, or produced in a partially filled form by a generator.

The Chronodex-style page designs could be great for exporting the templated log entries into PDF form, and maybe online log feeds as well.

But this is just my private daydreaming.

 

[frans]

Definitely freeform canvas will remain my core form and I wouldn't want that to change. Though I can see how templates could be rather useful.
The true usefulness I probably still need to see and figure out.

As a matter of fact I do think a lot of people here probably already use 'templates' in some kind of crude form. Like copy-paste or something similar.

Also, keep the dirty daydreaming coming. It's good to aim high, because I like it a lot!

 

[JohnnFour]

@JochenL has developed the API with templates and wizards in mind. He's also got them in mind with the upcoming Campaigning updates.

Things will remain freeform. But a programmer could create stat blocks and field-based GUIs. It's an I/O interpreter thing, imo.

I'd love to see templates too. I'd have a bunch from the Roleplaying Tips newsletter archive I could port over.