WISE RPG Beginner (Levels 0-5)
Organize your worlds, conquer procrastination, and master stress-free gaming.
Originally funded for over $4000 in its Kickstarter campaign, here is your chance to get a copy of WISE RPG now.
This is the beginner levels of the WISE RPG Course + Kit.
Content Breakdown
I have over 10 hours of content in the Course + Kit which I have been sharing about the status of in the backers-only and student-only discord server.
Video
There is over 110 minutes of videos available in the course.
Words
Totals: 115,500+ words for 9-10 hours of content.
There is over 46,500 words in the main lessons and notes. This is a total of around 4 hours of lesson content.
I have an additional 69,000+ words in resources mostly centered around worldbuilding. This is a total of around 5-6 hours of resource content.
(Time estimates based on an average of silent reading speed of 238 words per minute and aloud reading speed of 183 words per minute)
Images
There are 260+ images I have created for the kit, so it is hard to work that to any kind of time unit. There are some that are screenshots to help guide you through Obsidian and there are others that are custom pixel art to help you in the worldbuilding process.
WISE RPG
WISE RPG is a system-agnostic approach to worldbuilding that helps you create immersive worlds with engaging stories.
It can be customized for specific systems, but the base works even if you were just planning and role-playing a collaborative story.
WISE RPG stands for Worldbuilder’s Immersive Storytelling Environment for Role-Playing Games.
It is designed to help you write better, think faster, and create with more confidence.
Hi, I'm Your New Instructor
I'm Trent Ford, a lifelong tabletop game lover and the creator of WISE RPG. I have years of experience running Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition as a game master (GM) and even more time as a player. I publish my game supplements under my Construct Turtle Studio company and also work with Fiona Shade Stories on some projects.
In addition to my game-related experience, I have a master's degree in computer science (Computer Systems and Software Design) and have worked as a software developer and web developer. You could say I have an eye for systems.
The Creator's Kit
This Creator's Kit has been developed over years of trial and error. I used my personal system to brainstorm, plan, and write my supplements.
In the past I was frustrated with the limitations or costs of available worldbuilding and writing tools. I often combined my GMing expertise with my background in computer science to develop tools to help me. Through this, I learned a lot of things that did and didn’t work. I can bring in techniques from outside the tabletop game world and show you the difference they can make in your process. You will be able to use the Creator's Kit without much setup; but it's open to customization if you are a tinkerer like me.
I have used the early forms of this kit to help write my own supplements, which you can see in the add-ons area. It allows you to write notes easily, connect ideas, not lose your creations, and so much more. I had tried making my own content off-and-on for years, but it wasn't until I used some of what would become this system that I was able to get things to a publishable level and really get my campaign notes under control.
The kit is a specialized writing environment that operates inside a free software called Obsidian.
The kit will include templates, lists, and advice. It will also include other more specific mental tools that will be explained during the course. If licensing works out or we hit enough stretch goals, it will also include maps that you can use and more ready-to-go content for your use. The kit will also be able to include discrete reference units, which I'll cover in the course section below.
This is a toolkit to help you write and think better, but it is not a tool that makes your content print-ready for publication like Adobe InDesign or Affinity Publisher.
The Course
I'm creating a self-paced course that teaches you the WISE RPG method, complete with video lessons, prompts, and templates. It comes with a creator's kit that will be your new writing environment.
This course is perfect for both new and experienced GMs who want to streamline their worldbuilding process and focus on what matters most - fun and storytelling.
The course will cover topics including worldbuilding help and inspiration, TTRPG tips, writing exercises to get you thinking, some easy-to-use prompts, helpful templates to guide you, and knowledge management tricks.
With enough funding, I'll also be able to expand the course with an intermediate or advanced option.
Discrete Reference Units
One other thing to note in the course and kit is the use of discrete reference units. These are actively being worked on and will be added to the course soon.
I create discrete reference units for different game systems by taking the reference document and turning it into very specific notes for each item. I will go over how to use discrete reference units to help you work faster and have examples to help your own writing and design.
I have already turned the D&D 5e SRD into discrete reference units. If the campaign hits the appropriate stretch goals, I'll be able to create discrete reference units for Pathfinder 2 and other systems that you and the other backers choose.
I am limited on which systems I can do based on copyright and legal licenses.
These discrete reference units allow you to write for your specific system more easily, like you can see in these videos:
Demo Video: The Power of Discrete Reference Units
Demo Video: Random Lists and Discrete Reference Units Help Session Planning
A Few Technical Details
- The Creator's Kit works inside of Obsidian. Obsidian is an app built for simple linked notes, but with some superpowers under the hood. Obsidian runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. Obsidian is a free application.
- The Course will require internet access to watch, but the Creator's Kit does not after you download it.
- All of your data you create in the Creator's Kit stays local to you.
You get the Course and Creator's Kit. The Course is the instructional videos as described in "The Course" section of the page. The Creator's Kit is the digital environment and writing kit as described in "The Creator's Kit" section of the page. See the "Timeline" section of the page for more specifics.