I'm new to CL, and trying to figure out how to use it: what it does, what it doesn't do, what terminology is used for various bits of functionality, etc. Unfortunately, my poking around hovering over and clicking on things has left me more confused than when I started. I have a lot of questions, but can't find answers. The documentation I've found is ... not useful to me. It either assumes I know the basics of how to use the app and tries to explain advanced topics, or consists entirely of links to videos that, while I haven't watched, probably won't help me. I don't process information from videos all that well; my brain tends to relegate them to "background noise" and makes it impossible to concentrate on learning anything. Is there a written form of a User's Manual for Beginners (with clear illustrations, mostly annotated screenshots) that I can read through? If there isn't, can it be put on a list of "Accessibility Accommodations" that are being worked on? At this point, I'm more frustrated with this app than I was after spending 5 minutes with Fantasy Grounds, and that VTT has a notoriously steep learning curve even with someone to teach you how to use it. Based solely on what I've seen in the documentation, this app seems like a really powerful tool with the potential to become even better, but only if you already know how to use its basic functions. I can't find accessible help on how to use the basic functions, or even if it will do what I'm looking for in a campaign manager tool.
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Text/Image-based User's Manual for Beginners?
- Thread starter Alyks
- Start date
JochenL
CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
Sadly, there is no comprehensive document taking you from 0 to 100. This is on my Want list, though.
Johnn demonstrated the basic features of the old version on his website: https://www.roleplayingtips.com/welcome-to-the-campaign-logger/
The new version changed the UI a bit and added Campaigns and Pages on top of Logs and Entries. We see Pages like Wiki pages and Entries like Tweets. The question most often asked is, "How do I use this structure/hierarchy?" And the answer could be, "However you like/What best suits your needs!" The idea is that you structure your stuff how you think of it and not how we think you should do it.
A wide-open white field can be daunting, though. There are a couple of threads where different users explain how they approached things. Let me look them up and link them here...
Johnn demonstrated the basic features of the old version on his website: https://www.roleplayingtips.com/welcome-to-the-campaign-logger/
The new version changed the UI a bit and added Campaigns and Pages on top of Logs and Entries. We see Pages like Wiki pages and Entries like Tweets. The question most often asked is, "How do I use this structure/hierarchy?" And the answer could be, "However you like/What best suits your needs!" The idea is that you structure your stuff how you think of it and not how we think you should do it.
A wide-open white field can be daunting, though. There are a couple of threads where different users explain how they approached things. Let me look them up and link them here...
JochenL
CL Byte Sprite
Staff member
Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Gamer Lifestyle
Borderland Explorer
Here's two threads from when I was getting started as well that might help fill in a road map:
How I Got Started with Campaign Logger
https://campaign-community.com/index.php?threads/how-i-got-started-with-campaign-logger.1634/
This was primarily about me trying to scrounge my notebooks and folders INTO pages.
A question and answer format:
https://campaign-community.com/index.php?threads/campaign-logger-resources.114/page-2#post-20188
This can be a lot of confusion - so please do ask questions.
The main single thing I can say that helped me get started was to just think of each "Page" in my CL Campaign as an index card ... where the "front" was for the players and the "back" was for me ... front and back of the card became the Player top section of the CL Page, and the back went onto the "GM only" part of the same CL page.
NPCs were the first cards I moved into CL. No more flipping through the box - or pulling or sorting ... just click the name.
Locations were the second set of pages I started building.
The key to CL pages is that the first character of the name (called the Tag) is the TYPE of thing.
NPCs are tagged with @
@"Firstname Lastname" in the new page box, or somewhere in a description box will start a new page for that NPC.
Put in all of your NPCs and see what you get in your CL Campaign "Pages" view ... I think you'll see it starts to look like a GM screen noteboard where you just pick the NPC of interest right off the menu...
Then maybe put in some locations tagged with #"Location Name"
The MAP of the location (for me) always goes int he GM secret box.
If players make a map from description ... then that could go in the player box.
Just those two steps - add your NPCs - add your locations - and I think you'll see the world of CL open up for you...
How I Got Started with Campaign Logger
https://campaign-community.com/index.php?threads/how-i-got-started-with-campaign-logger.1634/
This was primarily about me trying to scrounge my notebooks and folders INTO pages.
A question and answer format:
https://campaign-community.com/index.php?threads/campaign-logger-resources.114/page-2#post-20188
This can be a lot of confusion - so please do ask questions.
The main single thing I can say that helped me get started was to just think of each "Page" in my CL Campaign as an index card ... where the "front" was for the players and the "back" was for me ... front and back of the card became the Player top section of the CL Page, and the back went onto the "GM only" part of the same CL page.
NPCs were the first cards I moved into CL. No more flipping through the box - or pulling or sorting ... just click the name.
Locations were the second set of pages I started building.
The key to CL pages is that the first character of the name (called the Tag) is the TYPE of thing.
NPCs are tagged with @
@"Firstname Lastname" in the new page box, or somewhere in a description box will start a new page for that NPC.
Put in all of your NPCs and see what you get in your CL Campaign "Pages" view ... I think you'll see it starts to look like a GM screen noteboard where you just pick the NPC of interest right off the menu...
Then maybe put in some locations tagged with #"Location Name"
The MAP of the location (for me) always goes int he GM secret box.
If players make a map from description ... then that could go in the player box.
Just those two steps - add your NPCs - add your locations - and I think you'll see the world of CL open up for you...