Going to attempt a new version of Track n' Troll for Android

[exspecto]

I still need to work out the dice roller and new character creation wizard. If I had to guess, maybe a couple weeks.

Don't hold me to that though, it depends how smoothly things go.

[exspecto]

Looking for some input here.

So I'm trying to think of what sort of interface I'll make for the die roller (combat, monster roll, saving roll). I was looking back at my old program for bearings on how I should approach it here, but there are some problems:

1. the original TnT program was geared to 5e and so a monster roll was always (MR/10 + 1) dice + 1/2MR adds
2. the original program doesn't deal with both sides of the combat, so not very useful for rolling an entire side at a time
3. the original program only tracks characters, not monsters
4. has no knowledge of missile (other than adding double DEX bonus) or spell damage in regards to damage *type* or damage sequences (i.e. when missile damage is calculated vs spell vs melee)

So the scope of it was limited in several ways.

That being said, I have more possibilities with this new app.

Should I make it work just like the old program? If I do this, then I'll have to come up with a good way to handle the new MR approach where damage comes off the adds, but doesn't affect the dice. This would require a "session" of sorts where you start at a certain MR then subtract from it by applying damage. If I did this, it would be difficult to switch back and forth from a combat roll to a running MR session if for no other reason than it being done on a mobile device with a relatively small screen. To me, it seems like having the roller contained within the Character area would mean it should be scoped to the character. Allowing a monster roll here would be a convenience of sorts, but limited due to how they are handled in 7.x (and Deluxe T&T?).

Should I move all rolling out into a separate area scoped to the campaign? With this method, you'd need to make sure each character involved in a roll was already set up with the correct equipment selected, adds defined, etc. Then you'd choose the characters that would take part in a roll (one or more) and it would total them all up. The benefit would be the ability to simulate an entire side's rolls as a GM. The downside would be the complexity required to do this *right*. You'd have to choose which type of damage each character is doing (melee/missile/spell). Melee would be the easiest, missile might require more choices such as which weapon to use, spell damage would likely require manually defining dice and adds at roll time (since spell combat can vary greatly depending on *how* you're casting it and its intended purpose). Seems like a lot of work on a mobile device for both the player and the GM (or one and the same).

How would people want to use this? Should I even have anything other than a simple combat roller in here? Maybe I should make a second program after this one to handle combats from a GM perspective? Should I add monsters as an asset in this program to be set up similar to characters? Should I take out dice rolling altogether?

A lot to consider here, so I'd love to hear from those of you who want to see this app come to light. How would you like to use it?

[mosker]

Expecto: if you need any more encouragement, links to your videos are consistently one of the most clicked-on items in the T&T Newsletter.

[exspecto]

Apr 6, 2014 15:48:18 GMT -5 mosker said:

Expecto: if you need any more encouragement, links to your videos are consistently one of the most clicked-on items in the T&T Newsletter.

I know the thread itself is frequented, but I was just wanting to know if the videos themselves were of use to anyone. I'm guessing that YouTube must not show the real view count, for whatever reason.

If you come to this thread on a desktop machine, the videos are embedded (I find this the most convenient), but on a mobile device it's just links. Based on my own usage, I'm less likely to click a link off to YouTube on my phone. I wonder how many people browse this forum with their phone/tablet?

[Aramis of Erak]

Really, treat it as a new project, not as a rehash of an old one, since you're having to recode from the ground up anyway.

[exspecto]

Yes, it's a new project but, in programming, it's best not to reinvent the wheel. I've modeled most of the new program off the old one where I could (at least in structure) because it still applies.

What I'm looking for now is some input as to how people would like the dice roller to work and what it should provide. As I explained earlier in this thread, it has some inherent limitations, so I know it can't account for every scenario. I just need input on what I should aim for, or if I should even try to put it in this app.

[Aramis of Erak]

Having the ability to track/roll monsters and PC parties and perhaps even do full battle round would be good.

What I really meant by:

Apr 6, 2014 23:31:33 GMT -5 Aramis of Erak said:

Really, treat it as a new project, not as a rehash of an old one, since you're having to recode from the ground up anyway.

is that "Just because it wasn't done in the original is no reason not to do it now, especially if it is a good fit to the needs of the harried GM, or the solo player." But I posted the original at a distracted point in time.

[exspecto]

Apr 8, 2014 12:32:31 GMT -5 Aramis of Erak said:

Having the ability to track/roll monsters and PC parties and perhaps even do full battle round would be good.

What I really meant is that "Just because it wasn't done in the original is no reason not to do it now, especially if it is a good fit to the needs of the harried GM, or the solo player." But I posted the original at a distracted point in time.

Yes, adding MR-style monsters is a good idea. The more complicated monsters will probably be a slight variation on characters (the addition of spite abilities).

Those changes will be fairly quick.

I'm not looking forward to handling full combats in some sort of roller though. Finding a balance between automation and room for custom situations will be problematic. I'll likely start small in that arena and mark everything else as a possible future feature.

[exspecto]

Also, thank you for the input, Aramis! I hope more people voice opinions and concerns in the following weeks.

I wonder if this would be used more by GMs or by solo players?

[unclecranky]

I could see this being used by both - and by players in that GM's adventures, as well - it's certainly an improvement over the sheets and sheets of paper being used by players and GMs currently, exspecto. I can certainly see the day when a "game" consists of us sitting around with our smartphones and laptops going, as the GM runs through his dungeon map - carried, no doubt on another such device (or maybe splitscreen?). Think of the savings to the trees! Plus, there might be no need for every player to be together physically with the GM with such an advancement!

[Aramis of Erak]

I found that, when doing my Monsterator tool, it was useful to me to have a single line for player roll for playing solos. It even divvies out the damage vs monsters. When I have run T&T in the last 2 years, I've always used it. The thing is, by having multiple button presses per turn, it actually increased usefulness.

Here's the Monsterator sequence:
Press to generate monster total
Optionally, press to generate player total; if not, manually populate the player portion of the totals block.
Press to run the comparison and populate the damage to be taken.
Optionally, adjust the damages to be taken.
Press to apply the damages to MR's. (This also depopulates the Take column.)

The ability to adjust mid-stream for "stunts". This is about where the level of functionality lies for me - I can make the adjustments when needed, and just click onward when not.

[unclecranky]

Now that looks interesting and useful, Aramis. Exalt!

[exspecto]

Aramis, that looks handy! I'm not sure I could approach it the same way, but it's food for thought.

[Aramis of Erak]

Oh, and the coding on monsterator is all javascript in the page itself - it's downloadable (just save the page as). All in one!

Exspecto - food for thought is why I posted the link here.

[exspecto]

New vid of the character gen screen

Right now it only allows selection of the standard kindreds (human, elf, dwarf, hobbit, fairy, and leprechaun). This allows me to auto apply modifiers to height/weight/stats. It uses the fractional mods from v5 at the moment. There are some minor differences from v7+ but not much (usually it's just a decimal form of the same number like 1.5 vs 3/2).

I'm considering adding the optional kindreds but haven't decided which version to adhere to (5, 5.5, 7, 7.5). I'd have to add some more campaign options for choosing which version's modifiers to use. For now, I just want something that works and didn't want to do the tedious table entries for every kindred+version.