How To Use Storybook

[Mike Serfass]

There were subtle, underlying changes made to Story and Reference Manual / Book that make them usable in a different and useful way.
These changes are what Moon Wizard, Zacchaeus, and others have been talking about, but I missed what they were saying.
So here goes my explanation.

Here's my host game campaign. It's what players connect to for weekly play.
gm_view.jpg
The Book - Campaign is what I create by clicking the Campaign button on the Books list inside my game campaign.
This is not a module that I created outside of the game campaign, then exported, then referenced in my hosted game session.
In Book - Campaign I created a Missions chapter. I have one that is shared with the players (Gather the Crew). I have one that's private to me, the GM (Gather the Crew (GM)).
The other pages in the other chapters are shared, because it's the running lists of known NPCs, etc. I created these pages directly in the campaign book and can update them as I go. I don't need simple story entries for them any more.
The green boxes are to show how I got to the Book - Campaign.
The yellow boxes show a mission that I want to share with the players. I'll update this as the story unfolds. After I add the page, I share it on the Story list.
The red boxes are to show the GM only stuff. I don't want to share this with players.

Here's the player's view.
player_view.jpg
They don't see the current session's Book (this threw me). So they can't load it like referenced modules. They won't see the nice layout that the GM sees.
They do see the story entries, however.
The yellow box is the mission I shared with them.
The player doesn't see the GM version of the mission.
They also see the other pages in the game session Book that I shared. (green box)


So, I don't need to create separate campaigns where I create game modules and export them to reference in the game campaign.
I do all that directly inside the game campaign I host for our weekly game.
The down side is they don't have the storybook layout. They only have the Story version. To give them storybook presentation and navigation, I would need to create it as a module outside of the game session.

I hope this helps others understand how Storybooks are used, and the direction SmiteWorks is going with this.

[FundPirate]

...To give them storybook presentation and navigation, I would need to create it as a module outside of the game session.

I hope this helps others understand how Storybooks are used, and the direction SmiteWorks is going with this.

The semi-related question I have is once the Storybook IS exported to a module, can it be changed edited?

[Trenloe]

The semi-related question I have is once the Storybook IS exported to a module, can it be changed edited?

If the module is not exported as Read Only then the story entry can be edited within a specific campaign, the base data in the module itself can't be edited.

[Jiminimonka]

There were subtle, underlying changes made to Story and Reference Manual / Book that make them usable in a different and useful way.
These changes are what Moon Wizard, Zacchaeus, and others have been talking about, but I missed what they were saying.
So here goes my explanation.

Here's my host game campaign. It's what players connect to for weekly play.
gm_view.jpg
The Book - Campaign is what I create by clicking the Campaign button on the Books list inside my game campaign.
This is not a module that I created outside of the game campaign, then exported, then referenced in my hosted game session.
In Book - Campaign I created a Missions chapter. I have one that is shared with the players (Gather the Crew). I have one that's private to me, the GM (Gather the Crew (GM)).
The other pages in the other chapters are shared, because it's the running lists of known NPCs, etc. I created these pages directly in the campaign book and can update them as I go. I don't need simple story entries for them any more.
The green boxes are to show how I got to the Book - Campaign.
The yellow boxes show a mission that I want to share with the players. I'll update this as the story unfolds. After I add the page, I share it on the Story list.
The red boxes are to show the GM only stuff. I don't want to share this with players.

Here's the player's view.
player_view.jpg
They don't see the current session's Book (this threw me). So they can't load it like referenced modules. They won't see the nice layout that the GM sees.
They do see the story entries, however.
The yellow box is the mission I shared with them.
The player doesn't see the GM version of the mission.
They also see the other pages in the game session Book that I shared. (green box)


So, I don't need to create separate campaigns where I create game modules and export them to reference in the game campaign.
I do all that directly inside the game campaign I host for our weekly game.
The down side is they don't have the storybook layout. They only have the Story version. To give them storybook presentation and navigation, I would need to create it as a module outside of the game session.

I hope this helps others understand how Storybooks are used, and the direction SmiteWorks is going with this.

I will have to read this properly when I get back to my PC next week.

[FundPirate]

riiight ok thanks, so effectively you are 'publishing' it using the read only mode

[Mike Serfass]

If you're asking if a module that was exported can be edited and updated then exported again, yes.

If you're asking if an exported module can be edited in a different campaign it's loaded in, yes, as Trenloe said. Just don't check the read only option when you export.
Note that those changes are local to that campaign. If you open the module in a different campaign, those changes won't carry over.
That includes story entries, maps, images, NPCs, and items.

This is a nice feature when running the same module for different groups. You can make notes and adjustments for each group and not affect the module or other campaigns.

[Trenloe]

If you're asking if a module that was exported can be edited and updated then exported again, yes.

@36FundPirate - to clarify this statement... the key thing is that you create a module within an FG campaign and export the data from that campaign into a module. You can go back into the campaign, update the data (edit, delete, add new records, etc.) and then export the module again. You may read on the forums about "module making" campaigns, these should be campaigns that you don't use for playing, but use them for the data that will create your modules. Use one module making campaign per module.

[claedawg]

@36FundPirate - to clarify this statement... the key thing is that you create a module within an FG campaign and export the data from that campaign into a module. You can go back into the campaign, update the data (edit, delete, add new records, etc.) and then export the module again. You may read on the forums about "module making" campaigns, these should be campaigns that you don't use for playing, but use them for the data that will create your modules. Use one module making campaign per module.

I may be mistaken, but editing a module that way (and the creating a new module from the new campaign) would break all links in the stories, NPCs, classes, table, etc., that are specific to the original module. You would need to replace all links from, using the links from the current campaign.

Atleast, that is what has happened to me when I attempted that.

[Zacchaeus]

I may be mistaken, but editing a module that way (and the creating a new module from the new campaign) would break all links in the stories, NPCs, classes, table, etc., that are specific to the original module. You would need to replace all links from, using the links from the current campaign.

Atleast, that is what has happened to me when I attempted that.

Trenloe said that you should use a campaign specifically for creating modules (if that is what you want to do). Going back in and editing that creation campaign and re-exporting to the same module won't break any links to anything in the exported module.

[claedawg]

My apologies. I misunderstood what he was trying to relay.