World Anvil vs. Scabard

Comparison from a Scabard Customer (cdwjava)

What most of the WorldAnvil (WA) pages (that are well done) have in common is that they are colorful, have varied options for palettes and styles, allow for scripts to change backgrounds, colors, styles, etc. to give a unique feel for the page, and you can create a custom and pleasing asthetique.

Update from Stolph: You can now make your RPG campaigns beautiful in Scabard too! But in a way that's super easy to use. No web developer/designer skills needed: Beautify your RPG campaign with Scabard

However, I find myself being frustrated by WA much of the time because there can simply be TOO MUCH for each article, page, item, ad nauseum. Too many options. Far too often I find myself doing something and getting an appearance or entry placement I like and not understanding what I did or how I did it. I also find it tedious to update and modify on the fly. I find myself reverting to my old amateur web designer mode when I get involved there and it has turned me off of the projects I started there.

I did a side-by-side comparison some time back on setting up a world in Scabard and the same one in WA. I was able to be done with Scabard in less than half the time of WA with all of the information and maps, and even more details! Details were easier to add on the fly in Scabard than WA.

I had to ask myself, was the visual wow factor worth the added time? As a GM, not really. I might be able to attract players with the visuals, but MY job isn't any easier. What Scabard does for me is it provides me with a far easier means by which to convey INFORMATION to my players and about my world. It also easily allows me to add players or even a co-GM as my world and my game expands. Yes, these can be done in WA, but the process does not seem as streamlined as it is with Scabard.

WA is a great product, and I can see a lot of great things about it. But, I prefer a system that can allow me to link and update images and information quickly, intuitively, and efficiently so that I can run a more effective game.

I'm not creating a web page, I'm creating a narrative experience for my players, and Scabard allows me to do that better.

And! The Graph feature opens up no end of possibilities to me as games progress and you want to search for connections between characters, places, events, items, etc. There is no equivalent graphic in WA.

I have found that Scabard is far more attuned to my needs, and that the features that are coming out are more attuned to the needs of players and gamemasters and not world/web designers. While there may certainly be some lessons to be learned from what WA does, I understand that to incorporate some of them might be nigh on impossible given the programming language or system used, and might well tax the time and resources of our esteemed administrator/designer/programmer.chief-bottlewasher (i.e. you!) and take away from the meat and potatoes of what I like Scabard to do for me.

I really enjoy your product, and wish to support you as you continue to improve and move forward! You are among the most responsive and communicative programmers/administrators out there, and that means a lot to me! I intend to get a lot more out of Scabard, and look forward to any future innovations and improvements as they are revealed!