Locations

[jaydarkson]

Under the World button on the right menu there is another button labeled "Locations". What is this used for? Is there a video tutorial somewhere I can watch?

[LordEntrails]

It's new as of yesterday. I don't think their is any documentation on its use yet.

[wndrngdru]

I use them a lot for world-building and they are nice for presenting a general "vibe" to a location. The Description field can be easily dumped to the chat window using the small button at the top of the window. Anything outside that field is not shared. So I put general descriptive narrative in the description box and all my other notes about a location in the GM Notes field.

The Pictures tab (bit of a misnomer since it only allows one) can be used to create "a thousand words" when needed or available.

Sub-locations are pretty much what they sound like. You can also drag and drop other locations to this area. One thing to note about doing that, though, is that it creates a copy of the location rather than a link to the original. This means that any edits to the original would need to be copied to the Sub-locations as well, though it's easiest to just delete the copy and re-drop the original.

As far as what they're used for: I use them mostly for places the PCs may visit multiple times. Locations where what's there is more important to know about so that the what's happening can be improvised. Locations in a town or city end up there a lot for me.

[Zacchaeus]

Under the World button on the right menu there is another button labeled "Locations". What is this used for? Is there a video tutorial somewhere I can watch?

It is there in preparation for the New DMG.

[Moon Wizard]

They're meant to be used as @wndrngdru mentioned; just as a placeholder for location type of data. They can contain general description (sharable with players via button), GM-only description, and sub-locations.

It's going to be used to define Bastion Facilities from the 5E DMG. Then, you can create a campaign Bastion location record for a PC; and drag and drop the Bastion Facilities into the Bastion to create copies of those facility records and customize.

If using for world building, use the Add button to add new sub-locations records, instead of copying.

Regards,
JPG

[Mephisto]

I would love to see the "GM Notes" functionality of not being shared in books. :)

[JHEverson]

I would love to see the "GM Notes" functionality of not being shared in books. :)

The "GM Notes" section of Quest records (and the calendar, too) is very useful to me, and I was glad to see it implemented for the new Location records. But I was surprised to find that sharing a location with players also automatically shared all associated sub-locations. It would be nice if the sub-location list were part of the GM Notes so that each one could be revealed separately.

@Mephisto - I'm still building campaigns with simple Story records, and have only dabbled with Books. Not sure how the GM Notes would be implemented in that context, but in general, I agree with you. When I share a record with the players, I find it useful to have a section for myself that is always kept secret. Since Story records don't work that way, I have a lot of duplicate records with one for me and another for them.

As an aside, since this is my first post, I want to thank the community for this valuable resource. To Zacchaeus, Lord Entrails, and Moon Wizard, a special thank you for all of the help you have given me over the last four years without even knowing it. :)

Looking forward to the new DMG!

[Zacchaeus]

The "GM Notes" section of Quest records (and the calendar, too) is very useful to me, and I was glad to see it implemented for the new Location records. But I was surprised to find that sharing a location with players also automatically shared all associated sub-locations. It would be nice if the sub-location list were part of the GM Notes so that each one could be revealed separately.

@Mephisto - I'm still building campaigns with simple Story records, and have only dabbled with Books. Not sure how the GM Notes would be implemented in that context, but in general, I agree with you. When I share a record with the players, I find it useful to have a section for myself that is always kept secret. Since Story records don't work that way, I have a lot of duplicate records with one for me and another for them.

As an aside, since this is my first post, I want to thank the community for this valuable resource. To Zacchaeus, Lord Entrails, and Moon Wizard, a special thank you for all of the help you have given me over the last four years without even knowing it. :)

Looking forward to the new DMG!

You can keep locations hidden by linking them to the DM notes section and then dragging them from there into the sub locations section when you want then revealed. As mentioned the locations are designed primarily for the Bastions part in the new DMG which imagines a small location being built up over time; so the initial location isn't fully fledged but rather a small castle, or keep, which the players can add to as their wealth, power, and prestige increases. However because of the flexibility built into the system there's no reason why they can't be used for a complete castle, village, city, or even a dungeon with multiple sub locations. Since you can link anything to the DM (and player) descriptions, locations could conceivably be used to run an entire adventure.

[JHEverson]

Thanks, Zacchaeus!

I couldn't wait to see what was possible with this new feature, so I just started dabbling. I would never have figured that out on my own. I'll try it out!
Thanks for all you do. :)

[JShadow007]

I do wish there was a way to allow for a GM choice when you drag a location into another to make a sub-location, to allow for it to be the SAME record, just nested underneath, instead of making a copy.

If I make a location in the location list, i can specify the type and then you can filter the locations by type right from there.
If you make a sub-location in the Location, then the sub-locations don't show up in the Locations list, and you can't filter them that way / they're less discoverable.

Either way you can, I suppose, get around by just being diligent about copying records, and maybe keeping a version number in the GM notes field but...more work.

I have and am exploring using the World Builder feature in the Player Agency extension, but there's some bits of it that are frustrating me, and the players were finding confusing so I was keen to see if I could make the Locations work for me, but I'm not sure they will.

I know that the feature is primarily intended for use with Bastions, but it seems like we could do more... I'll ponder throwing together a feature request maybe.

[LordEntrails]

Either way you can, I suppose, get around by just being diligent about copying records, and maybe keeping a version number in the GM notes field but...more work.

I have and am exploring using the World Builder feature in the Player Agency extension, but there's some bits of it that are frustrating me, and the players were finding confusing so I was keen to see if I could make the Locations work for me, but I'm not sure they will..
Just drag the child location to the text box and not the sub location window. Then it makes the link and not a copy.

[JShadow007]

Oh. Hrmph. Simple enough workaround I suppose. Still fairly readable... I'll work with that for now.

I think the biggest "oh this is handy" part of the Location records for me is that there's a GM text box as well as a public one.