Hi all. I'm currently DMing a campaign that has been going for a little over 6 months. I organize all of the info on Google Drive, including maps, session logs, timeline, etc; I've been thinking about making a backup on another website or app just in case, but I don't know any that have the same level of organization I can achieve on Google Drive (I like to have everything in separate folders and documents).
What websites do you use, and what would you recommend to someone like me who has only ever used Google Drive?
Google drive is pretty well backed-up, and lets you recover old versions, so unless you're worried about your google account being deleted (which is not completely unreasonable, I admit), having a backup isn't that big a concern IMO, and keeping a local backup on your computer ought to do.
That said, you can do much the same level of organization with Dropbox, MS OneDrive, and Apple's iCloud. (And likely any other cloud file storage service, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind, and they all have free tiers.)
Kanka - https://kanka.io/ A great, but somewhat ugly tool for campaign and world management. If I had to use a cloud solution, this really is the best in my opinion. It's got the best balance of usability, price and quality.
Chronica - https://chronica.ventures/ One of the best looking and most intuitive of the tools out there that I've tried out. Building out your world and recording your campaign info is a good experience, however it's also FAR too costly. Basically, if you run more than one group it's double or even triple the price of competitors. That alone means I stopped recommending it.
Goblin's Notebook - https://www.the-goblin.net/ A really simple but cool tool, it can be styled differently which is nice. It's based around a lot of lists, so isn't going to be the way everyone finds organising the easiest.
Adventurer's Codex - https://adventurerscodex.com/ Another cool tool but haven't used it long enough to form much of an opinion on yet.
Lore Vault - https://lorevault.org/ This is on my 'to test out' list, recommended by another GM.
Solution for my Online Players For my online players, I use Discord and store stuff there. Given that you can have Categories, Channels, Threads, and Forums, it is possible to organise information really quite simply.
For In Person Games
Most often I use a Filofax notebook I've had since the early 2000s. It's basically a ring-binder datebook/organiser. I've got dividers and different coloured pages and a perpetual hardcopy of all my planning and worldbuilding. Despite (or perhaps because) my first career was in IT I keep most things in hard copy one way or another. Having one folder or binder that I can grab and run sessions from works well for my workflow. I genuinely do think that often it really is the best way of keeping and organising notes if you're a physical organiser.
Depends on what you mean by backup. If you're looking for a "just in case Google deletes my whole account" backup, I would recommend the most basic option: External hard drive. Copy your folder structure over (export docs and spreadsheets to Office formats) to an external drive, then unplug it and store it in a drawer. Once a month or so pull it out and redo the backup to keep it current. Always follow the old backup advice: Two is one, one is none. If your cloud files and local sync files get lost, corrupted, deleted, etc., you'll have the external drive as the last remaining version to copy back to the computer and work from.
If you're looking for different apps and services to use to replace Google Drive, the other folks who have responded have good suggestions. I use Office/OneDrive/OneNote myself. Buttons are in slightly different places and the formatting is a little different, but otherwise it's remarkably similar to your existing Google suite solution.
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Hi all. I'm currently DMing a campaign that has been going for a little over 6 months. I organize all of the info on Google Drive, including maps, session logs, timeline, etc; I've been thinking about making a backup on another website or app just in case, but I don't know any that have the same level of organization I can achieve on Google Drive (I like to have everything in separate folders and documents).
What websites do you use, and what would you recommend to someone like me who has only ever used Google Drive?
Google drive is pretty well backed-up, and lets you recover old versions, so unless you're worried about your google account being deleted (which is not completely unreasonable, I admit), having a backup isn't that big a concern IMO, and keeping a local backup on your computer ought to do.
That said, you can do much the same level of organization with Dropbox, MS OneDrive, and Apple's iCloud. (And likely any other cloud file storage service, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind, and they all have free tiers.)
Websites and Campaign Management Tools
Kanka - https://kanka.io/
A great, but somewhat ugly tool for campaign and world management. If I had to use a cloud solution, this really is the best in my opinion. It's got the best balance of usability, price and quality.
Chronica - https://chronica.ventures/
One of the best looking and most intuitive of the tools out there that I've tried out. Building out your world and recording your campaign info is a good experience, however it's also FAR too costly. Basically, if you run more than one group it's double or even triple the price of competitors. That alone means I stopped recommending it.
Goblin's Notebook - https://www.the-goblin.net/
A really simple but cool tool, it can be styled differently which is nice. It's based around a lot of lists, so isn't going to be the way everyone finds organising the easiest.
Adventurer's Codex - https://adventurerscodex.com/
Another cool tool but haven't used it long enough to form much of an opinion on yet.
Lore Vault - https://lorevault.org/
This is on my 'to test out' list, recommended by another GM.
Obsidian - https://www.obsidianportal.com/
Pretty well know, free, but in my opinion just not very simple to organise.
Solution for my Online Players
For my online players, I use Discord and store stuff there. Given that you can have Categories, Channels, Threads, and Forums, it is possible to organise information really quite simply.
For In Person Games
Most often I use a Filofax notebook I've had since the early 2000s. It's basically a ring-binder datebook/organiser. I've got dividers and different coloured pages and a perpetual hardcopy of all my planning and worldbuilding. Despite (or perhaps because) my first career was in IT I keep most things in hard copy one way or another. Having one folder or binder that I can grab and run sessions from works well for my workflow. I genuinely do think that often it really is the best way of keeping and organising notes if you're a physical organiser.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
I’ve been using world anvil. It’s got a pretty steep learning curve, but it’s got lots of bells and whistles and can give lots of detail.
Depends on what you mean by backup. If you're looking for a "just in case Google deletes my whole account" backup, I would recommend the most basic option: External hard drive. Copy your folder structure over (export docs and spreadsheets to Office formats) to an external drive, then unplug it and store it in a drawer. Once a month or so pull it out and redo the backup to keep it current. Always follow the old backup advice: Two is one, one is none. If your cloud files and local sync files get lost, corrupted, deleted, etc., you'll have the external drive as the last remaining version to copy back to the computer and work from.
If you're looking for different apps and services to use to replace Google Drive, the other folks who have responded have good suggestions. I use Office/OneDrive/OneNote myself. Buttons are in slightly different places and the formatting is a little different, but otherwise it's remarkably similar to your existing Google suite solution.