Rec: 'Chronicler' - Free, offline worldbuilding tool for writers and GMs
I've been using this program for a couple of weeks now, and it's proven absolutely invaluable while pre-writing my current longfic, so I wanted to recommend it here.
Chronicler is a free wiki-style program that lives on your computer. There are no subscriptions and no reliance on the cloud; it's all local to you. It's a single-dev labour of love, and - while there will eventually be a one-time-purchase 'Pro' version of the program, with some 'nice to haves' added (dynamic family trees, interactive maps you can drop pins onto, timelines with the ability to create your own calendars for them, etc) - the dev has promised that the core product will always be free.
And, honestly, it's brilliant. Really easy to pick up, and the dev has created some walkthroughs on how to use it, here on YouTube. (Start with the earliest video, to get an idea of what the program can do.)
Below is a screenshot (with text and images redacted, because this story is still in progress and not ready to be released yet!) of how I'm using it:
That's just one of my character sheets. And that's not the only visual style for it, either. You can also customise fonts, etc. Want a neon SciFi look? You got it. Medieval scribe look and fonts? You got it.
There's also a very active Discord server, where people are sharing templates and chatting generally about worldbuilding.
I can't recommend this program enough. I have a ton of notes and worldbuilding for this story (even the backstory has backstory!) and it was honestly starting to feel a bit overwhelming. Chronicler has helped me to get everything sorted out, and I wanted to share it here.
