4th & Dragon : Dungeons and Dragons...and stuff

I stumbled across this at ENWorld the other day and have been playing with it for the last day or two.

Screenshot from Masterplan’s homepage.

It has a handy export to HTML function, but I really didn’t like the way it showed up.  I exported a little test thing (because I was bored), and since then I’ve done a significant bunch of HTML and CSS recoding to my own personal tastes.  I present the half-assed combat encounter “Calopus Attack.”

(Incidentally, I’ve also been experimenting with GTDTiddlyWiki and repasting info from my Red Hand of Doom campaign, but just characters so far. Wiki coding is less intuitive and therfore more time-consuming.  Link)

EDIT - figures that dropbox breaks as soon as I post this.
EDIT2 - and it appears to be back.

This seems to have potential. Do you use Obsidian Portal? Would this compliment it well or be redundant?

Talae - 02 July 2009 07:12 PM

This seems to have potential. Do you use Obsidian Portal? Would this compliment it well or be redundant?

It’d be redundant.  I haven’t used OP, but based on the comments at ENWorld and my own look-through of OP, Masterplan would most likely be redundant.

The TiddlyWiki is far less featured than OP, and my guess is that your best bet is to stick with OP.

Me?  I’ll stick with the Open Office database for serious campaign tracking, but might use the web-coding I picked up today from Masterplan’s output to put stuff on the web.

Interesting. The free flowing nature of the plot outline is intriguing to say the least.

I use OP, think of it as a Campaign Gazetteer and an Adventurer’s log. The Map tab sucks, I redirect to my flickr page. The wiki is good, simple and easy to use. Check my site below.

The Masterplan, however, appears to be more of a Dungeon Design tool. It does not say where they are getting their programing from and I’m very wary of getting downloads from unknown sources. It does look good for plotting long term adventure paths or single adventures though.

But my campaign world is more of the “sandbox” variety. After 32 years I found that long term arcs don’t work well; unless you like beating players with a stick.  I outline broadly and let the PCs chose their path.  The world is more alive this way and PCs enjoy it more.

The two systems have their own merits and should work well for the DM.