Hey everyone!

My son and I are thrilled to share a project we've been working on together for over a year: Alkemion Studio, a free web application built to make it easier to brainstorm, organize, and develop adventures, campaigns, or backstories.

Speaking of backstories: I've been writing RPG content for my own campaigns since 1989, and I've always enjoyed that creative process just as much as running the adventures as a GM. I took a long break from gaming, but during the pandemic, I reconnected with it and started a campaign with my son and a few friends from my earliest RPG days. Along the way, I came across 'The Alexandrian' blog, where the series of posts on node-based design put precise concepts and language to a way of writing modules that I had been intuitively using for years. That inspiration led me to begin working on Alkemion Studio, a tool for designing RPG modules in a flexible, non-linear way. Soon after, my son, also a software engineer, joined the project and took on the technical lead, allowing us to combine our skills and bring this vision to life together.

Alkemion Studio started as an extension of the way I naturally work, but has since evolved into something far more versatile and flexible. It's part mind-mapping tool, part rich text editor and outliner, with a heavy focus on the unique needs of tabletop roleplaying game creators - such as a random table editor. The heart of the system is its node-based design, where you can break down your ideas into bite-sized elements like locations, NPCs, plot hooks, or anything else that drives your story. These nodes can be visually mapped out, grouped, linked, and customized with images or connected to random tables for on-the-fly inspiration.

We invested a lot of effort in the user interface, because we understand how much time creators can spend in an application like this. It was important for us that the experience be as enjoyable as possible. We also made sure the application works on touch devices, so you can switch between your desktop, tablet, or phone and keep editing or consulting your modules in different contexts. Interestingly, many of our early users have also been using Alkemion Studio for solo role-playing, which further highlights how crucial a smooth and adaptable user experience is.

The application is still in its early stages, having been released to a few hundred users in early July. However, we've been working steadily with a solid and exciting roadmap, regularly updated based on user feedback. We release new versions almost every other week, adding features and improvements. The positive feedback from our community, combined with the joy my son and I find in working on this project, has fully motivated us to stay committed for the long term. We're dedicated to ensuring Alkemion continues to grow, making it a tool that only gets better with time.

We're keeping Alkemion Studio free because the goal from the beginning was never to build a commercial product. It's more of a passion project for us, something we wanted to share with the RPG community. We've had amazing feedback from early users and are looking into ways to fund the most requested features (such as an offline version) through our Patreon for now, and maybe with a crowdfunding operation later on. But the core application will always be free.

If you'd like to try it out or offer feedback, you can check it out at https://alkemion.com. We'd love to hear what you think and hope it can be a useful tool for your adventures!

Thanks for reading!

This looks very attractive.

It's been a fun way to throw together a diagram of a fetch-quest out of Peaks & Anvils that I'm trying to add more cues & context to.

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Quote from: Naburimannu on October 12, 2024, 07:09:42 AMIt's been a fun way to throw together a diagram of a fetch-quest out of Peaks & Anvils that I'm trying to add more cues & context to.

Nice! Thanks for giving it a try

I think this is really good to be able to build out stuff over a map before publishing. Really good job.

Two things I'd love to see:

• Directionality on links.
• The ability to put images as the backgrounds on groups. (You can "brute force" it using widgets, but not exactly the same.)

This looks exactly like the application I need.  My wife developed a scenario, and I'm trying to make sure everything flows correctly.  I have a scenario of my own, and this app will help me get it organized.  I think it will save me a lot of hours.  Thank you.

Quote from: Suarachán on October 14, 2024, 06:43:17 AMI think this is really good to be able to build out stuff over a map before publishing. Really good job.

Two things I'd love to see:

• Directionality on links.
• The ability to put images as the backgrounds on groups. (You can "brute force" it using widgets, but not exactly the same.)

Thanks for giving it a try!

Directionality on links will come soon. We are in the process of refactoring how links are managed now that we have a bit more experience using them. Among other things it will include directionality but also easier ways to create links and the possibility to add properties to links.

For the ability to put images as the backgrounds on groups, it's already possible You can do it by using the "Token Settings" option in the context menu of a group. In the token settings window you will see a "Background image" option. You can also apply a mask, like in the following screenshot:



Hope this helps!

Quote from: Cathode Ray on October 14, 2024, 08:31:47 AMThis looks exactly like the application I need.  My wife developed a scenario, and I'm trying to make sure everything flows correctly.  I have a scenario of my own, and this app will help me get it organized.  I think it will save me a lot of hours.  Thank you.

Thank you! Hope it will help you in building the scenario

I tried to verify my email address (to login) but i get some kind of unresolved host error.  I couldn't find any download links

Quote from: Cathode Ray on October 14, 2024, 09:31:20 PMI tried to verify my email address (to login) but i get some kind of unresolved host error.  I couldn't find any download links

I double-checked on our side and the email links seem to work, and we can see that many logins happened at the time of your post. So it may be more of a local network issue, or maybe a corporate proxy or a browser extension that prevents the link to work. If the problem persists on your device, an option would be test another device (mobile or desktop computer) or outside your current network environment.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful here

Hi everyone!

We just released Alkemion Studio v0.7.1, an update with some nifty color customization options!

You can now customize the font and icon colors of each Node Token. A new board-wide 'icon color' setting has also been added to the Board Settings.

We improved the board settings interface so you can now open it in a floating window. This way, you'll be able to view your board as you edit its properties which will make the whole process much more convenient.

Along with these new options, we added multiple quality-of-life enhancements, such as the possibility to save the page breaks layout per page theme (you no longer need to readjust your page breaks every time you want to switch themes and export as a PDF), or a "Roll all Random Nodes" button to shared boards with active Random Tables.

The complete release notes is available on our blog.

Thanks again for everyone who tested the application and shared their feedback and improvement ideas!

- The Alkemion Team.

Hello!

We're excited to announce that Alkemion Studio v0.7.2 is out!

This is the Tags release! You can now create Tags with names, colors, icons, and descriptions to organize Nodes efficiently. Each Tag can be displayed on Tokens and has its own customizable visual settings. Tags have also been included as selection filters throughout the application.

It's a powerful, flexible way of adding a layer of meaning to each part of your adventure. You could use Tags to organize your Nodes by themes or story beats, to track PCs knowledge, structure your workflow, highlight factions or relationships, track story arcs or challenge levels.

We also added a new Action History panel to let you keep track of recent actions you've performed, and various interface enhancements!

The complete release notes is available on our blog.

Thanks again for your feedback and improvement ideas!

- The Alkemion Team.