This is high up on my wish list!
As there are so many different VTTs in use, it would be unfair to focus on Foundry exclusively, and for supporting more than one VTT, we don't have the capacity at the moment.
BUT: If someone wants to create that integration, I will happily support them in accessing CL.
>.>
<.<
So I'm not a programmer, let me say that.
I AM a Solution Architect with enough knowledge and experience to be dangerous, though.
I had come to the forums to see if Foundry VTT was being integrated already, so since we're here at the start of the concept, I'd like to get a sense for how and what people would like to see this feature. Here's a rundown of how I use Campaign Logger and where it fits in my overall process, for context to my questions below.
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When I'm doing campaign prep, I'm writing heavily in OneNote to start. The ability to copy/paste text and pictures from anywhere and automatically get links to the source is critical for me and my process. I don't have a lot of time, so I end up doing it in fits and starts and will totally lose track of what I was thinking or where I got ideas / content from. Attribution is important to me, as well, and this helps me keep track.
My prelim writing is cleaned up in either OneNote, Word, or Scrivener depending on what I'm doing and how much I'm writing from scratch. This content will be a combination of Foundry Journal Entries and Player's Guide material (PDF I share with my players).
Campaign Logger is what I use to keep notes during play. Content there is for reminding me between sessions and while I'm prepping what happened and what I need to prepare for the next adventure.
As a result, Session 0 is where CL comes into use for me - I use it to record the responses and details that come out of background questions, connections to PCs and NPCs, actions, rewards, reminders to create resources or things to support what we thought up and decided on during this "fleshing out the party and world" parts.
This then continues in a cycle, where CL feeds what I do in OneNote / Foundry, and sometimes info gets put into CL.
If i were writing adventures from scratch, I feel like I would prefer to use CL to do the initial planning and it would get more use in my prep. Since I'm mostly running pre-made adventures (even though I customize / re-write some still), I usually end up with a PDF that I use PDF Viewer to Highlight / comment in with different colors. The comment coloring separates "in-between session prep items" for stuff I want to get into Foundry or work on between sessions and "during play items" like room descriptions, stat block, maps, etc. This is much easier than trying to scan through a PDF for a few sentances about a room's decor. lol
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Given all that, and the fact that I'm just now transferring to and learning Foundry so I'm no expert, I'm running into the following challenges; just thinking it through out loud here:
- I want my journals in Foundry to be formatted differently, by default. i.e. Have a few types of journal with their own default style automatically, like a hand-written letter that is a script font at a larger font size and a background of parchment with a wax seal graphic at the bottom, along with a newspaper format, public announcements, dialogue between characters that maybe looks more like a book page, etc.
- I'm not sure this is even possible right now and I DO know that Foundry v10 is completely revamping the Journal elements of Foundry. I have not looked into exactly what has changed programatically from v9 to v10, but it's likely to be much more feature-rich and robust from what I've read about it so far.
- I'm currently using Custom Journals and Monk's Enhanced Journals, but Custom Journal isn't really well supported and I'm afraid it's going to break in v10 without truly being "integrated".
- I honestly don't think I care if I can open CL directly in Foundry. I'm sure it would be super easy to do - Foundry essentially runs on Chromium, but I can't drag windows to tertiary monitor screens and the Pop Out! module currently is broken / incompatible with some of my mods. Just opening up CL in a browser window on the side is just fine for note taking. I don't think this is the answer for everyone (or even most people).
- So what would I want CL and Foundry integration to DO?
- Bi-directional integration of CL Entries <--> foundry Journal Items. If I write a journal item OR a CL entry, I want to be able to click and drag it or click and generate the opposite type from the one I wrote.
Metadata questions:
- CL Entries hold Foundry Item ID to make go-to link to/from generated item?
- Assuming the formatting options can be worked out, being able to assign a journal type/template/formatting options to the generated entries probably would require building a pick list at minimum in CL. That would likely need to be cached to allow CL not to require Foundry to be up and running all the time.
- Drag and drop Foundry Actor objects onto a CL page, which grabs the name and makes a @ link?
- Drag and drop Foundry Item objects onto a CL page, which make the appropriate quartermaster, money, etc. style links?
- Query a tag in CL for a person (@), and automatically add / update the results into the Notes section of the linked / matching Foundry Actor Item, with the entries in order by date descending. Same for locations and other similar types to item links.
- Allow CL to be a target for log output, just as the foundry chat window is. Even better if we can parse specific sources or types of messages to auto copy from the Foundry chat log (ignore weapon attacks, for instance, but purchases).
Anyone else have a wish list or thoughts on what's above? This is all first draft, just thinking through it now, so apologies if it doesn't all make sense.