Tag: games

Calibre & TTRPGs

I’m going to talk about how I use Calibre to organize all my files for tabletop rpgs. If you don’t know, Calibre is a program for organizing ebooks that’s available for PC, Mac, Linux, and even as a portable version. I’m not going to go through everything you can do in it, because it has good documentation and a helpful forum.

It’s great because you can have multiple libraries (I have books, comics, sewing & embroidery patterns, papercraft – those two could be another post – and games). And in each library you can have “virtual libraries” to divide them further, along with saved searches, tagging, and the expected metadata. For my games, I pretty much just use the tags and metadata.

Calibre main menu

I keep my ttrpgs on an external drive so I can work with them from both my laptop and desktop. This works perfectly with Calibre as long as the drive has the same drive letter on all computers. I currently have about 600 files in Calibre with a couple hundred more that I need to go through before putting in there. (There is so much free content out there, folks)

side menu in Calibre, showing Authors, series, formats, Publisher, tags, and saved searches)

My content is split into games (tagged ttrpg, physical game, or system for stuff like Fate or Dungeons and Dragons which has a ton of supplementary content), adventures (mostly dungeons because I love dungeon crawls), and resources (monsters and creatures, tables to randomly pick from, gm-ing tips, and other behind the scene stuff).

Everything gets tagged with where I got it (usually itch.io or drivethrurpg) and a genre if possible. For adventures and resources I just have to tag what it is (dungeon crawl, monsters, NPCs, fantasy, horror, etc) and what system or game it was made for. Games are the easiest to tag, but also get the most tags. Here’s an example:

Dragonhearts cover with the Author and tags.

For games I tag:

  • genre
  • Game Jam or similar – like the Bundle for Racial Justice & Equality (2020)
  • system (Firebrands Framework, Belonging Outside Belonging, Fate Core, PbtA, FitD, etc)
  • what the gm situation if it’s not the standard gming (gm-optional, gmless, rotating gm)
  • number of players if it tells me or I can guess (solo, 2 players, etc)
  • equipment needed (diceless, d6, tokens, index cards, card deck, loads of dice, etc)
  • themes (collaborative, storytelling, empathy, humor, communication). This is the hardest to tag
  • info like minimalist, one-page, two-page, supplement, hack, etc
  • stuff that’s in it like goblins, dragons, crows, rodents, etc. (A game where I can play as a rat is a must-buy)

I also tag stuff as played once I’ve played it, because I have so much that I want to get to.

I only put the main file in Calibre and note in the description that there are multiple files. Character sheets, alternate formats, handouts, gm helpers, and other miscellaneous stuff goes in a folder. Alternative playbooks for things like PbtA games or Troika! get added to Calibre.

I don’t have to have very many folders. Currently I have 40.

Example of some of the folders – side bar shows separate folders for solo games, adventures, and resources, and then folders for specific games. Main area shows the files for Fate Core, including different formats, tutorials, and character sheets.

Aside from that, I get the description from wherever I got the files, add the authors and publisher (often the same name), and a cover if it doesn’t have one. If I’m really good, I mark the date it was published so I know what version I have (sometimes I put the version number in the description too.) I get that from more information drop-down box on itch.io (you may have to hover over the updated section to get the date instead of the number of days ago) or on drivethrurpg, in the right hand side product menu bar.

Here’s a good example of one that’s done (also, an excellent game and I recommend joining its Discord for more resources)

Mausritter with the author, tags, format, publisher, published date, and description shown. This one I actually did make sure the date was correct.

You can see:

  • this was by Isaac Williams, aka Losing Games.
  • It takes 3 to 6 players.
  • It’s fantasy, with mice.
  • I got it in the Bundle for Racial Justice & Equality on itch.io (although I believe it’s also on drivethrurpg)
  • It’s an osr (old school renaissance) and SwordDream game.
  • I’ve played it.
  • Since it wasn’t tagged otherwise, it needs a gm.
  • … I didn’t mark the equipment – it basically needs a standard set of 7 rpg dice
  • It was update in Jun 2020

All in all, it’s pretty easy except for the loads of files I need to do. (I still have 65 folders of stuff to do just from the Bundle for Racial Justice.) Let me know if you have any questions or if you want to see more examples. Also, if you find this helpful, consider buying me a ko-fi

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Conlang Stuff

I’ve uploaded the newest version of the Nyjichun wikis! There is now one for the grammar and one for the lexicon (aka, all the words). They are SO a work in progress and are full of notes to myself and half-finished stuff.

In addition to that, I recently made a twine game for a jam on itch.io. I redid my conlang Tynthna. It now has actual IPA sounds and a few more words than it did before. And lots of sound recordings! Which may or may not be accurately said! (when in doubt, the orthography is canon). You can play it in your browser on itch.io.

That makes three conlangs that I’m sort of currently working on: Nyjichun, Tynthna, and Ie. I’ve also done a tiny bit in Ylis (the language of the Thunderian capital) lately, because I needed to be able to say Thunderian for on A Heroic Moment without actually referencing Thundercats. (It’s Lunderka for singular and Lunderkusa for plural – and that’s literally the only words I have for it right now, because the old version was from before I knew what IPA was).

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Link Dump – Mandrill edition

Prints & Photographs, Tissandier Collection – hundreds of old prints, including lots and lots of hot air balloons. Good for steampunk stuff. (from the Library of Congress)

The Magazine Rack – free digitized magazines that are out of copyright. Omni, Galaxy, Heavy Metal, lots others. Available in PDF, epub, mobi, djvu, some more. Preview it before you download – if they did OCR it’s terrible, but scans are good. (from Archive.org)

My Robot Nation – design a robot and get it 3-D printed. It costs to get it printed, but it’s fun just to play with it.

Stagecoach Mary Fields – incrediably badass black woman. (link CN: violence, gun violence, historical racism). Apparently she’s going to get a movie soon, which will be awesome. (from BlackCowboys.com)

From gay marriage to cougar wives, the Victorians have much to teach us (CN: ableist language) (From Guardian.co.uk)

Pattern Cooler – where I got my background. You can customize the colors and size of thousands of seamless patterns. PNGs are free, other options cost.

What Good Writers Still Get Wrong about Blind People, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. A talk delivered at Readercon in 2010. (from Kestrell.dreamwidth.com)

How not to be a privileged ass: A lazy person’s guide (from Stealing Commas)

Giving the gift of worlds – “Non-fiction opens up the world we live in, teaching us more about our surroundings. Fiction opens countless others. It lets you climb inside the head of somebody else and see the universe through their eyes for a while. If the character in question resembles you, it can make you feel less isolated. If they don’t, you gain understanding and empathy for people whose experiences of life are entirely different from your own.” She’s looking for recommendations for ebooks with minority or women protagonists. (from Tea-Fuelled Musings)

(Sorry, I don’t have the energy to deal with selecting, resizing, and linking pictures. Look here for pretties.)

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