I'm currently working on a Wordpress website to keep all my homebrew stuff on and in the past I have used word documents, pdf's, facebook groups, and Google drive none of which really felt optimal to me. This got me wondering how does everybody else organize and distribute their homebrew materials to their players?
Google Drive. I can edit and access it anywhere. I can use documents as pseudo-webpages. It has tools for access control and revision history built right in. I can export anything I make with it to any format I want.
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I use Google Drive, though my players don't seem to get that they can access it, too. No matter how many times I tell them. So I just have to print stuff out and hand it to them the old fashioned way. Or scream at them in a scarcely coherent tone.
Google drive. I use legal-sized paper to make 'broadsheets' for the players with current events on the front and homebrew information on the back (names for the hours, days, weeks, currency, maps, etcetera).
This limits me so that I don't overload the players. Then they can access it through the Google drive whenever they way.
Even better for choosing loot. Put up a doc that everyone can edit and players can hash that out over e-mail between game sessions.
I also have a google drive document that contains a list of all the loot the party shares or where no party member has claimed. Most of the wealth is shared in a pool.
I like that loot sharing idea so I will probably still need to use Google drive for loot and handouts, in the past I used to do everything in paper but since I have moved away from my primary gaming group we are trying do do it online, which makes everything more difficult.
I also use Google Drive, although mine is currently pretty empty cause I took everything down to edit and I've not put it back up yet.
A binder. No, I'm not being cheeky. I tried Obsidian portal, googledocs and a shared site but no one ever went there but me after like game 2 of any campaign. Then I went back to my roots.
I took a ginormous 3 ring binder off the shelf and then grabbed 2 pannels of an ancient DM's screen that came apart. These are now used as the front and back cover.
Inside are 2 pocket folders and three "subject" folders. There's also loose graph and hex paper. The folders are stuffed with (in no particular organization since I suck) hand-drawn maps, small adventures stapled together, NPC bios, cool art stolen and printed out and notes.
My usual MO is to write up an adventure, print it out, draw out maps of the battle sites, and put these on top somewhere. Some stuff I make copies of and give the players as handouts, keeping extra copies for myself to hand out AGAIN when one of them inevitably loses theirs.
Similar to Mark, I have tons of small binders with different things in each. Alternate rules from 3PPs, stock NPCs I can draw from, and for things like the house rules I simply print them out and give them to the players. I have a Google drive chock full of gaming goodness, and like Obsidian Portal and Yahoo! Groups before that setting it up was a waste of time because no one uses it.
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Well, then, you have to leave them goodies. Buried at the bottom of the loot doc that the players need to choose is something like, "Every player who edits this doc will receive max hp at next level." Or "your first hit in your next combat does max damage." Or "your next critical threat is automatically confirmed." Nothing game-breaking, but just a little something to make sure they read/do it.
It really helps.
I use RTFs (Rich Text Files) on my computer and flash drives. As I'm between campaigns I just post stuff on this homebrew board. Secret stuff including what thing in the Cleaves cures another thing in The Cleaves, I share via PM with fellow GMs or GDs(Game Designers). Clouds usually cost money or crash the system by using too much system resources.
I have some stuff on photo bucket, like my version of the Deck of Many Things. It's printable on cardstock.
I like that loot sharing idea so I will probably still need to use Google drive for loot and handouts, in the past I used to do everything in paper but since I have moved away from my primary gaming group we are trying do do it online, which makes everything more difficult.
I've found that online campaigns are actually much easier to run. I require my players to use a Google Sheets template for their character sheet so I can look at it whenever I please.
Getting the players invested seems crucial for any homebrew stuff, regardless of the means of contribution.
For our current homebrew campaign, we decided to crowdsource the campaign world as a group. A shared google document is ideal for this purpose - every player can add locations, rumors, NPCs, or history, thereby expanding the campaign world and introducing elements that they like (though it took us a while to settle on some core concepts to which we'll stick). It's very experimental and I don't know if it is going to work out on the long run, but so far, it has kept everyone invested and we are having lots of fun. Also, having to write a short text every week makes for a great creative exercise.
Google Drive is awesome. I swear by it.
As soon as I get special discoveries done I plan to start the Cleaves in forum games. As I have concerns about the lethality I'll ask for 10th level characters minimum. Aside from banning Kender and fumbles, would anything goes be a draw?
People who have contributed to, or used ideas from, The Cleaves might be already invested, but what would draw you in?
Also, please link Google Drive.
I'm currently working on a Wordpress website to keep all my homebrew stuff on and in the past I have used word documents, pdf's, facebook groups, and Google drive none of which really felt optimal to me. This got me wondering how does everybody else organize and distribute their homebrew materials to their players?
I have an RPG folder that is broken down into things such as AP's, adventures(modules), books(rule books), and so on.
I don't really have a lot of homebrew stuff, but if I did have a lot I would do it like that.
Example
Classes(Folder)
class A (File)
class B (File)
Feats(Folder)
Feats(File)
I would likely use dropbox, mediafire, or google drive to store them.<--I know with google drive and dropbox you can just give the players the links, and anytime you change the file they can just visit it to look it or download the updated version. I think mediafire will save an uploaded file to the same link address also.
If you use wordpress then I suggest having a plugin that backs up your site in case something bad happens.