When I see Campaign Managers and the like, they are either system specific or OS specific. As an "Old School" gamer with a Mac as my desktop, I'm usually shit outa luck from one side, the other, or both.
The City of Brass seems to be the exception.
It's web based, so it's not locked to a specific OS.
It is system free, but has stretch goals to include certain open game license rulesets as stretch goals get hit.
Color me very interested, even with a monthly sub. I'm in for $39 - Beta access plus a year sub. Maybe I'll be able to work on some gaming stuff from my phone...
From the Kickstarter page:
The City of Brass is a fully-featured web app designed to manage the mechanics of pen-and-paper roleplaying games, allowing you to focus on what matters: playing that game.
We bring together your characters, monsters, NPCs, setting, adventure, and campaign, allowing you to easily manage all these elements in a single location, from any device, anytime, and for any game system!
Create characters, creatures, and NPCs with Entity Builder.
Build your setting quickly and easily with World Builder.
Write your adventures using Story Builder.
Run your game and talk to your players with Campaign Manager.
But that's not all you'll find in The City of Brass. We also have:
A stock art library with over 100 images right now from characters, to locations, to scenes!
Dozens of stock maps for you to use in adventures and encounters.
I just asked them if they are going to allow a locally hosted version of content or if everything will be on their server. This could be a crucial selling point for people running convention games if there are issues with getting a reliable connection. If they answer yes I'm in. If not then I'll be sticking to my trusty grid notebook.
ReplyDeleteI just received a reply and no, there will not be an offline mode. So in effect one pays a subscription for some pretty chrome on a version of google docs. Pass.
DeleteIndeed. The fact that "The Keep" from NBos software runs locally but can back up to a cloud is why I stick with it rather than go for a web-based solution. I like the idea of cross-platform apps (even with a monthly sub) but I'd hate to think that all of my campaign data was locked away (and possibly lost for all time) if something went wonky on their servers.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, there are many web apps that provide reasonable data export capabilities. However that's quite different from working reliably when the internet doesn't.
DeleteThat said, online+offline web apps are totally doable these days with modern browsers, and anyone building a campaign manager should realize this is a major selling point.
"Everyone that uses The City of Brass is required to have their own account. With the exception of World Builder Districts, content is visible only to those with active subscriptions."
ReplyDeleteYeahh.... nope. Not happening.
I'll stick with paper and pencils.
ReplyDeleteNice idea. But no offline-mode = I'm out.
ReplyDelete