In my campaigns I create a wiki page of quests, and add an indicator whether they are completed. If the lists get too big, you can split them into two pages, or maybe two plus an index. For personal quests, they could be in separate sections on the quest page - as player secrets if only part of the party knows about them.
One way to indicate open/completed quests is with a checkbox symbol (either checked or not) as a bullet. ( ☐ is ☐, ☑ is ☑ )
Unless/until features are implemented to support this, you can make the behavior consistent across multiple pages using paragraph classes and the following CSS:
That's what we have now, but there should really be a built in feature, since quests are a basic part of any campaign.
we hae a page with open up sections for each quest, a slider with images of the characters that lead to their personal quest pages, etc.
The check-boxes might be an interesting idea. We currently move finished quests to a designated place, but it could be perfect for partial quest items.
What would the built-in feature provide that the current wiki page solution doesn't? I'm trying to get a better idea of what this feature would look like and what it's essential functions would be.
I mean, the simplest way would to be adding checked and unchecked icons to the content edit menus when you're writing posts? If people want to customize them (colors, different check mark icons, etc.) then some sort of check mark box would have to have box and CSS properties. Not sure what that would look like on the back end. But could it almost function like the "add survey" we have on the forums here as far as just adding boxes to click? And the "questions" would be the different quests? Just spitballing
@Conan_Lybarian, thanks for the idea. That sounds pretty similar in functionality to the idea that @ragnarhawk shared, which looks like a great solution to this. There are even lots of other "emojis" that could be used as the "checkmarks" like some of these:
So it seems like this is something that's already possible with the currently available tools without needing to create anything "built-in".
Is there an ability that would be added by making this an explicit feature of the system? For example, the "survey" couldn't be done with the existing tools because it has to "remember" (store in a database) the answers of the respondents.
Could something like the survey function be implemented as a "Quick Edit", where the state of each checkmark is stored in the page state - perhaps with a confirmation that you intend to change the checkmark state permanently?
@ragnarhawk, I appreciate the idea. That would potentially make checking the "checkmark" faster.
Generally, when looking at the benefit of a potential new feature, I'm looking for something that can't be done with the current tools, or that is so difficult to do with the current tools that it's prohibitive.
For this quest log idea, you gave a great solution above that allows it to be done with the current tools and without much effort or time. So making that faster doesn't really add much, in my opinion. Feel free to disagree!
I was using the survey as an example because after the data is stored in the database, then that data can be tallied, and calculations can be done on it to show what the majority vote was, or create a visual graph of the data to better show the general group feeling on it. For a quest log, it seems like after the checkmark is added, there's no further processing that would add any benefit. Again, feel free to disagree.
It also makes checking the checkmark much more intuitive. As my solution stands, you need to be more technical than the average player to make an update. Conan's suggestion of adding to the content selection menus would be a really good halfway point. I am pretty sure that is not available in the Textile editor, and I think that the CkEditor is considered by many to be a disappointment that is best avoided.
My concern with adding to the menus is that we end up cluttering the menus with things that aren't going to be used frequently, so they crowd out things that are going to be used frequently, and also overwhelm new users that see the extra buttons, making the system look complicated. The simpler a UI looks, the easier it feels to use.
Totally agree about CkEditor.
In this case, for Textile, which is currently the default, the solution can be even simpler than your solution. The GM can just put ☑ right in the text and Save, and it will show up as: ☑. For a GM that wants to setup a quest log like this, that seems like a pretty straightforward solution. (Your solution adds the benefit that the GM can later choose a different "emoji" and have all of them change at the same time, rather than having to edit each instance.)
Just so I don't seem like I'm dismissing for no reason, every new feature we spend time on is a tradeoff against all the other potential new features that we didn't spend time on.
One potential solution here is to just add your solution, or the even simpler solution, to a list of "things you can do with the tools", and then have a link to that list near the editor, so that when a GM feels comfortable with the "simple" UI, they can start exploring the more advanced things that can be done with the tools.
perhaps a built in list you can fill with objectives (and those can be checked and uchecked), like a quest lof in computer games.
And have those logs connect to other objects - wiki pages, characters, items, etc. Then when you go into something that is connected you will have a section "Related to" and the list of quests that are connected to the pages.
So, GMs can already create links to any other objects (wiki pages, characters, items, adventure logs, files, etc) in a wiki page, and GMs can create a list of items in a wiki page, and GMs can create checkmarks in a wiki page.
If I am following, what you're adding here is the "Related to" piece. That sounds like this Feature Request:
So you would create a wiki page for each "quest" that contained links to the various objects that are related to it.
You could then also create a "quest log" wiki page that listed each of the quests with the checkmark or not depending on if they were done.
And if/when the "backlinks" feature exists, then any objects that the quest wiki page references would have that noted in "what links here" section. We need some more GMs saying that they want to beta test the backlinks feature before it makes sense for us to work on it. But in the mean time this can be done manually as some of the respondents in that thread are already doing.
Thanks for saying that it's not as comfortable as it should be, and that it is to the point that your players stopped updating it. That's good feedback for us to get!
Comments
In my campaigns I create a wiki page of quests, and add an indicator whether they are completed. If the lists get too big, you can split them into two pages, or maybe two plus an index. For personal quests, they could be in separate sections on the quest page - as player secrets if only part of the party knows about them.
One way to indicate open/completed quests is with a checkbox symbol (either checked or not) as a bullet. ( ☐ is ☐, ☑ is ☑ )
Unless/until features are implemented to support this, you can make the behavior consistent across multiple pages using paragraph classes and the following CSS:
p.open::before { content: "☐ "; }
p.completed::before { content: "☑ "; }
The HTML would be something like this:
<p class="open">Another quest </p>
and the result would look something like this:
☑ Another quest
That's what we have now, but there should really be a built in feature, since quests are a basic part of any campaign.
we hae a page with open up sections for each quest, a slider with images of the characters that lead to their personal quest pages, etc.
The check-boxes might be an interesting idea. We currently move finished quests to a designated place, but it could be perfect for partial quest items.
What would the built-in feature provide that the current wiki page solution doesn't? I'm trying to get a better idea of what this feature would look like and what it's essential functions would be.
Obsidian Portal Developer
I mean, the simplest way would to be adding checked and unchecked icons to the content edit menus when you're writing posts? If people want to customize them (colors, different check mark icons, etc.) then some sort of check mark box would have to have box and CSS properties. Not sure what that would look like on the back end. But could it almost function like the "add survey" we have on the forums here as far as just adding boxes to click? And the "questions" would be the different quests? Just spitballing
@Conan_Lybarian, thanks for the idea. That sounds pretty similar in functionality to the idea that @ragnarhawk shared, which looks like a great solution to this. There are even lots of other "emojis" that could be used as the "checkmarks" like some of these:
https://www.w3schools.com/charsets/ref_utf_dingbats.asp
So it seems like this is something that's already possible with the currently available tools without needing to create anything "built-in".
Is there an ability that would be added by making this an explicit feature of the system? For example, the "survey" couldn't be done with the existing tools because it has to "remember" (store in a database) the answers of the respondents.
Obsidian Portal Developer
Could something like the survey function be implemented as a "Quick Edit", where the state of each checkmark is stored in the page state - perhaps with a confirmation that you intend to change the checkmark state permanently?
@ragnarhawk, I appreciate the idea. That would potentially make checking the "checkmark" faster.
Generally, when looking at the benefit of a potential new feature, I'm looking for something that can't be done with the current tools, or that is so difficult to do with the current tools that it's prohibitive.
For this quest log idea, you gave a great solution above that allows it to be done with the current tools and without much effort or time. So making that faster doesn't really add much, in my opinion. Feel free to disagree!
I was using the survey as an example because after the data is stored in the database, then that data can be tallied, and calculations can be done on it to show what the majority vote was, or create a visual graph of the data to better show the general group feeling on it. For a quest log, it seems like after the checkmark is added, there's no further processing that would add any benefit. Again, feel free to disagree.
Obsidian Portal Developer
It also makes checking the checkmark much more intuitive. As my solution stands, you need to be more technical than the average player to make an update. Conan's suggestion of adding to the content selection menus would be a really good halfway point. I am pretty sure that is not available in the Textile editor, and I think that the CkEditor is considered by many to be a disappointment that is best avoided.
My concern with adding to the menus is that we end up cluttering the menus with things that aren't going to be used frequently, so they crowd out things that are going to be used frequently, and also overwhelm new users that see the extra buttons, making the system look complicated. The simpler a UI looks, the easier it feels to use.
Totally agree about CkEditor.
In this case, for Textile, which is currently the default, the solution can be even simpler than your solution. The GM can just put ☑ right in the text and Save, and it will show up as: ☑. For a GM that wants to setup a quest log like this, that seems like a pretty straightforward solution. (Your solution adds the benefit that the GM can later choose a different "emoji" and have all of them change at the same time, rather than having to edit each instance.)
Just so I don't seem like I'm dismissing for no reason, every new feature we spend time on is a tradeoff against all the other potential new features that we didn't spend time on.
One potential solution here is to just add your solution, or the even simpler solution, to a list of "things you can do with the tools", and then have a link to that list near the editor, so that when a GM feels comfortable with the "simple" UI, they can start exploring the more advanced things that can be done with the tools.
Again feel free to disagree.
Obsidian Portal Developer
I thought of something more streamlines.
perhaps a built in list you can fill with objectives (and those can be checked and uchecked), like a quest lof in computer games.
And have those logs connect to other objects - wiki pages, characters, items, etc. Then when you go into something that is connected you will have a section "Related to" and the list of quests that are connected to the pages.
@NimrodYanai, thanks for clarifying!
So, GMs can already create links to any other objects (wiki pages, characters, items, adventure logs, files, etc) in a wiki page, and GMs can create a list of items in a wiki page, and GMs can create checkmarks in a wiki page.
If I am following, what you're adding here is the "Related to" piece. That sounds like this Feature Request:
https://forums.obsidianportal.com/discussion/5459/absolute-killer-feature-backlinks-what-links-here
So you would create a wiki page for each "quest" that contained links to the various objects that are related to it.
You could then also create a "quest log" wiki page that listed each of the quests with the checkmark or not depending on if they were done.
And if/when the "backlinks" feature exists, then any objects that the quest wiki page references would have that noted in "what links here" section. We need some more GMs saying that they want to beta test the backlinks feature before it makes sense for us to work on it. But in the mean time this can be done manually as some of the respondents in that thread are already doing.
Feel free to say if I'm missing something.
Obsidian Portal Developer
That's what we've been doing so far, but it's not as comfortable as having something more built in.
Our current one is ok, but again, it's just not as comfortable as it should be.
So much so that my players just stopped updating it.
Thanks for saying that it's not as comfortable as it should be, and that it is to the point that your players stopped updating it. That's good feedback for us to get!
Obsidian Portal Developer