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Post by yeknom on Aug 11, 2014 11:49:44 GMT -8
OK, recent episodes have led me to install Microsoft OneNote on my Mac. I am a couple of episodes into a steampunk Fate game, and I would like to see whether I can use this as a tool to replace my composition notebook full of countries, cities, NPCs, and general reminders about different parts of the game. It will have to be a pretty useful program for me to be willing to allow a computer at the table.
So, does anyone have experience running a campaign with OneNote as the main database for keeping information? If so, could you give me some pointers? I'd hate to start trying to put my campaign together and then after a few more sessions, come to the realization that I could have done it better if I had chosen to run my notebook differently at the start. Things like screenshots with examples could be really useful.
(BTW, Hi. This is my first post on the forums.)
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Post by Malex on Aug 11, 2014 14:37:57 GMT -8
I have used One Note. I like it a lot since it let's me use any media in my games.
I wanted to incorporate a map from a printed adventure in my session notes. I had the map in a pdf file, so I opened the tools in One Note, selected the map, and pasted it into my session notes on Google Docs. Easy peasy.
I could have written on the map to change what it said, but I am lazy and decided to just not let the players see it.
Sent from my LGL55C using Tapatalk 2
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Post by jazzisblues on Aug 11, 2014 16:42:23 GMT -8
I use OneNote constantly. They just added a number of features that make it even better.
I set up tabs for
Story Characters NPC's Places Things Events Notes
Most of the sections have a "cover page" which is really just a page with a table with links to the pages in the section.
It's very handy to drop media and pdf's into OneNote, but be warned they will balloon the size of the notebook.
Just a handful of quick thoughts, if I can be of any further help do not hesitate to ask.
JiB
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Post by yeknom on Aug 11, 2014 19:32:12 GMT -8
JiB - could I trouble you for some screenshots of how your notes are set up? I don't do well learning potentially complex things that start you off with a blank canvas, but I can usually take ideas and adapt them.
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Aug 12, 2014 8:53:44 GMT -8
I loves me some OneNote now. I gave it a shot thanks to all the hosts repeatedly gushing over it, and I have to agree that it's really damn handy for keeping lots of notes organized in one searchable index.
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Post by Stu Venable on Aug 12, 2014 10:05:24 GMT -8
JiB converted me several months ago, and I went all-in using it. In fact, except for when I'm making props, it is also my prep tool as well. I've included some screen shots below. Like JiB, I have tabs for NPCs, Places, etc. Though I do organize it a bit differently. For instance, the Inukai 2 tab contains a page for each session (containing pre-game prep and during-game notes). It also contains a page for every major story element (for instance the Lion's Claws has it's own page). I also keep one page with a summary of each PC's character sheet here. I also have a Combat Encounters tab. Here I've made a page for possible combat encounters, and within each page, I copy in the stats for every bad guy in that fight -- including space for tracking hit points, etc. I also have a Rules Exceprts tab. Here I have a page where I've cut & pasted the text from the rule book for specific rules I think I might use in future sessions (eg. the Fear Rules) and any rules I find we need to refer to often. This has actually become pretty handy for me. Quite honestly, there are probably several products that can do this. I just happened to pick this one. The important thing (for me at least) was to figure out how I could set it up for my particular use case. It took quite a bit of time to import everything from google docs, but now that I have, it's working great for me. Here are some screen shots:
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Post by mook on Aug 12, 2014 10:36:00 GMT -8
Super helpful screenies!
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Post by yeknom on Aug 12, 2014 11:11:03 GMT -8
Oh man, Stu, this is exactly what I was looking for. You've given me some cool ideas on how to set up my new notebook. I wish that cross-referencing links to other pages in the notebook were a little bit easier, but I'll surely be able to deal with that.
Damn, this is going to save so much time on page-flipping alone.
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Post by Malex on Aug 12, 2014 12:50:44 GMT -8
Wow. I may be using One Note a bit more now that I have seen those pics and heard about what else it can do.
Sent from my LGL55C using Tapatalk 2
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Post by ironnikki on Aug 12, 2014 19:23:18 GMT -8
Thanks for the screen shots, Stu. I've been using OneNote for session prep, but not very effectively. That gives me an idea of how better to organize things.
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Post by jazzisblues on Aug 15, 2014 18:01:08 GMT -8
Here are some images of the way i use OneNote for my games. JiB
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Post by mook on Aug 15, 2014 19:11:56 GMT -8
Nice! Very helpful, fellas. I have no screenies to share atm 'cause they're a friggin' rat's nest.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2014 7:48:35 GMT -8
I've been using Evernote on the Mac to manage my game, but the tabbed interface looks like it would be easier to quickly grok what you need for the game. So answer me this: Is OneNote moderately better than Evernote, or much much better?
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Post by yeknom on Aug 21, 2014 13:09:12 GMT -8
I have not used Evernote within the last three or so years, but I noticed that OneNote blows my older Evernote experiences out of the water.
Unless you are running an earlier (pre-Mavericks) version of OSX, I'd say there's no reason not to give OneNote a shot, because it's a free download in the App Store. It's been very copy-and-paste friendly, so you could probably make copies of your existing game notes very easily.
The only thing I wish I could find was a keyboard shortcut for cross-referencing and making a link to another page in the notes. Because I want to make everything clickable like Wikipedia.
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Post by Andy Evans on Aug 22, 2014 7:21:13 GMT -8
For those who prefer to bring something more portable to the table like an iPad, I can recommend Outline, which is an app you can use to sync your OneNote docs.
I'd be interested to hear of alternative solutions though.
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