4e Fan Creations and House RulesWorking on variant powers? Statting up a PC race or your version of a monster? Creating or converting an adventure? Put it here!
Not sure what kind of icon junkies we have here, but I wanted to share the icons I made since deciding to tackle magic item and magic item power cards. I made them out of shapes in PowerPoint, dragging curve handles around and such to get everything nice-looking, but I'm not sure if there is an easy way to get those shapes out into other programs people use.
I wanted to keep the orange template from the PHB for the card borders but wanted to visually communicate the daily/encounter/at-will, and now healing surge/consumable power types in addition to the normal power icons. And I figured when thumbing through magic item cards, it would be nice to visually note how many of a given equipment type you had instead of reading it.
The icons have been added to my template files, which you can access here.
Click on the JPG popups for a nicer view of the images.
Very nice! The potion icon makes me think more of alchemy or chemistry (bubbling beaker) than end-product magic potion, which I would expect not to have wide base and to have a cork or other stopper, but I like it a lot nonetheless.
Very nice! The potion icon makes me think more of alchemy or chemistry (bubbling beaker) than end-product magic potion, which I would expect not to have wide base and to have a cork or other stopper, but I like it a lot nonetheless.
Yeah, I started with a vial but the concept never worked out. I haven't gotten to the section on potions yet so I may try something else.
It was tricky to come up with a magic item layout I liked. For template simplicity, I decided to separate the sets for magic items that have powers and magic items that don't (3 icons in the master slide for those powers, 1 for those w/o). The level / bonus / cost tables in the PHB didn't fit well and seemed of minimal use when people mostly care about the bonus of their magic items, so I created cards without that information, assuming it will be filled in wherever someone wants (upper-right in the card, or in one of the info boxes), and only called out info box requests for other specific abilities based on item level or character attributes.
Ultimately, I knew my players would want to personalize their items with names and the specific armor / weapon type, and I thought this was the best balance of information presented on generic cards for everyone, and making the transition from those cards to personalized cards for those that wanted to tweak them in PowerPoint. I might try a couple more things, but those are the considerations.
I'm about halfway through the set. I'll add them to the complete card set soon. Here's a preview of a generic magic item and a personalized version:
After about a week of wrangling and design, Black Plauge and I have come up with what we feel is a serviceable design for using MSE to make character cards.
Great work! I've been hoping someone would come up with some great monster/PC cards. These look great. I look forward to testing them this coming week at my 4E game.
I'm still looking for a good magic item template. I like the Lord Tirian design from page 2 in this thread, so I may just work with that. I'm just short on time, you know, writing mods and such. <grin>
Yeah, I started with a vial but the concept never worked out. I haven't gotten to the section on potions yet so I may try something else.
It was tricky to come up with a magic item layout I liked. For template simplicity, I decided to separate the sets for magic items that have powers and magic items that don't (3 icons in the master slide for those powers, 1 for those w/o). The level / bonus / cost tables in the PHB didn't fit well and seemed of minimal use when people mostly care about the bonus of their magic items, so I created cards without that information, assuming it will be filled in wherever someone wants (upper-right in the card, or in one of the info boxes), and only called out info box requests for other specific abilities based on item level or character attributes.
Ultimately, I knew my players would want to personalize their items with names and the specific armor / weapon type, and I thought this was the best balance of information presented on generic cards for everyone, and making the transition from those cards to personalized cards for those that wanted to tweak them in PowerPoint. I might try a couple more things, but those are the considerations.
I'm about halfway through the set. I'll add them to the complete card set soon. Here's a preview of a generic magic item and a personalized version:
Great work on this! FYI for all interested, it is very easy to make this into a B&W copy to print out on color cardstock (which is what I am looking for) by simply changing the master slide. I change all of the header's to white, all of the text to black, and all of the circles to light gray. This has been a huge help - thanks for your work and look forward to seeing the items!
Yeah, I started with a vial but the concept never worked out. I haven't gotten to the section on potions yet so I may try something else.
It was tricky to come up with a magic item layout I liked. For template simplicity, I decided to separate the sets for magic items that have powers and magic items that don't (3 icons in the master slide for those powers, 1 for those w/o). The level / bonus / cost tables in the PHB didn't fit well and seemed of minimal use when people mostly care about the bonus of their magic items, so I created cards without that information, assuming it will be filled in wherever someone wants (upper-right in the card, or in one of the info boxes), and only called out info box requests for other specific abilities based on item level or character attributes.
Ultimately, I knew my players would want to personalize their items with names and the specific armor / weapon type, and I thought this was the best balance of information presented on generic cards for everyone, and making the transition from those cards to personalized cards for those that wanted to tweak them in PowerPoint. I might try a couple more things, but those are the considerations.
I'm about halfway through the set. I'll add them to the complete card set soon. Here's a preview of a generic magic item and a personalized version:
Wow... these look excellent. I look forward to seeing the item cards when you finish them.
Thanks, Mercutio. Coming from a power-card pro like yourself, that means a lot.
BTW - If I get a few moments, I'll see if I can PhotoSlop something for your Item card background. You were talking about having problems with it on the Dragon thread.
__________________ See the UCS site: Here
Make sure to check out the Universal Card Set as well as all the templates being moved to it!
Not sure anyone still cares, but I've updated the sidebars on my cards with a third type that I think is much better looking.
My goals may not be the same, but your cards are super beautiful. And I think the changes you made are a definite improvement, but wish the thin opening / closing lines you use on the right were used as a design template for the areas between each info box (instead of the thick pattern). Hopefully the feedback is welcome. Nice work!
My goals may not be the same, but your cards are super beautiful. And I think the changes you made are a definite improvement, but wish the thin opening / closing lines you use on the right were used as a design template for the areas between each info box (instead of the thick pattern). Hopefully the feedback is welcome. Nice work!
Thanks, Grandpa!
Excellent advice.
I added a new style setting for Flourish called Thick / Thin. Thick is the original setting, thin is the new one you suggested. Here's a pic for each setting.
As usual, the set can be found in the link in my sig.
-- Hirahito
__________________ See the UCS site: Here
Make sure to check out the Universal Card Set as well as all the templates being moved to it!
Grandpa, I'm looking at your card set, couple questions. In your main post at the bottom you mention Feat powers being in the set, am I missing those somewhere? I can't seem to find them. Also, how about Second Wind, and skill-based powers, ie. Bluff and Intimidate? Are they in there somewhere?
I've been using Ander00's set but I really dislike the MSE program, I think Powerpoint is a lot easier to work in. Basically I want a set that has all the racial features, class features, powers, skill features, feat features, and the "other" stuff (Second Wind, Bluff, Intimidate, others?) all included, plus the ability to add custom ones for items and such. Too much to ask?
Grandpa, I'm looking at your card set, couple questions. In your main post at the bottom you mention Feat powers being in the set, am I missing those somewhere? I can't seem to find them. Also, how about Second Wind, and skill-based powers, ie. Bluff and Intimidate? Are they in there somewhere?
The feat powers are encounter powers located after the racial powers near the beginning of the set. I didn't make cards for any of the combat or skill-based abilities (not powers, per se), but may consider it a bit later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Relbanan
Basically I want a set that has all the racial features, class features, powers, skill features, feat features, and the "other" stuff (Second Wind, Bluff, Intimidate, others?) all included, plus the ability to add custom ones for items and such. Too much to ask?
We'll see. I focused strictly on powers, but the templates zip contains a "generic" template (based on the blue color in the PHB) specifically for the creation of non-powers. The tutorial in the templates zip should make it really easy to do these and other customized cards, and I'm sure others would love it if someone added them to the set.
Or you can wait, but after wrapping up magic items and artifacts tonight (will post late tomorrow night after doing a once-over for errors and errata) I think I will be pooped out for a bit. Doing all those was a helluva lot of work for one poor fella. I need a break; my OCD can only get me so far.
But I did update with magic item and artifact templates tonight. The artifact templates are based on the same colors found in the DMG.
Just a quick note regarding MSE page sizes, as I've seen a few people wondering what "A4" is all about. A4 is the default size paper we have here in Australia and I think much of Europe uses it too. It's a little taller and thinner than Letter size paper, which means my sheets for most games have always been cut off at the sides - but MSE prints the cards just right!
I like many of the set styles we're seeing, though I have to ask if it's time we decided on a consistent format for D&D power cards in MSE? If we could come up with a suggested set of fields, then card sets and templates could be compatible, making it simpler for users to mix 'n' match for different player preferences.
I haven't tried making a set from scratch myself, but one thing I have noticed is that the fields for class, level and power type etc. don't match up between templates, and they're often combined rather than separate (i.e. "Wizard Attack 1" shows up as a single field, rather than there being separate fields for Class, power type and level). Would it be a good idea to have separate columns for those things, which are then combined in the template? It would make sorting and filtering sets easier, too.
Finally, I also notice that I can't edit keywords when using any of the templates I've tried (mainly Ander and Hirahito). Is this is a function of the way the templates are set up? I think this is what prevents me from adding my own classes, or homebrew ones I've seen posted here.
Last edited by guybrush; 15th July 2008 at 09:57 AM..
Just a quick note regarding MSE page sizes, as I've seen a few people wondering what "A4" is all about. A4 is the default size paper we have here in Australia and I think much of Europe uses it too. It's a little taller and thinner than Letter size paper, which means my sheets for most games have always been cut off at the sides - but MSE prints the cards just right!
I did a quick look up on A4 sized paper and found this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wikipedia
The most frequently used of this series is the size A4 (210 × 297 mm). A4 paper is 6 mm narrower and 18 mm longer than the "Letter" paper size, 8˝ × 11 inches (216 × 279 mm), commonly used in North America.
Just a quick note regarding MSE page sizes, as I've seen a few people wondering what "A4" is all about. A4 is the default size paper we have here in Australia and I think much of Europe uses it too. It's a little taller and thinner than Letter size paper, which means my sheets for most games have always been cut off at the sides - but MSE prints the cards just right!
I recognize the A4 paper format. But it's much more fun to mock it, isn't it?
Quote:
I like many of the set styles we're seeing, though I have to ask if it's time we decided on a consistent format for D&D power cards in MSE? If we could come up with a suggested set of fields, then card sets and templates could be compatible, making it simpler for users to mix 'n' match for different player preferences.
I haven't tried making a set from scratch myself, but one thing I have noticed is that the fields for class, level and power type etc. don't match up between templates, and they're often combined rather than separate (i.e. "Wizard Attack 1" shows up as a single field, rather than there being separate fields for Class, power type and level). Would it be a good idea to have separate columns for those things, which are then combined in the template? It would make sorting and filtering sets easier, too.
I can only speak for my set. And I can say that: 1) It's still evolving - I'm thinking of adding a landscape version of my card as well as one that has an entirely different look; so I can't 'fix' to a standard game definition yet, because it would be like shooting at a moving target. 2) Filling in all of those fields is possible with my C# program (there's no freaking way you could make me do it by hand), but no one's come up with a definition for all the fields and what should be in them yet. 3) Different symbol sets. Some of the guys have similar symbol sets. Some of us (like me) don't. I completely redefined my symbol set because I thought it was easier than trying to fit it in the one that was already out there. 4) We're artists with some programming skills - we don't like to be confined into a system created by the man to put us in a box, man!!
Quote:
Finally, I also notice that I can't edit keywords when using any of the templates I've tried (mainly Ander and Hirahito). Is this is a function of the way the templates are set up? I think this is what prevents me from adding my own classes, or homebrew ones I've seen posted here.
Download my latest set. The keywords has been placed back into a text field and is freely editable. I had it as a keyword list for a while but I've found that too limiting because people make up their own keywords for new cards. If I don't have the keyword in there for your new race or new class or new power source, you can't select it. With a text box you can type whatever the hell floats your boat.
__________________ See the UCS site: Here
Make sure to check out the Universal Card Set as well as all the templates being moved to it!
I like many of the set styles we're seeing, though I have to ask if it's time we decided on a consistent format for D&D power cards in MSE? If we could come up with a suggested set of fields, then card sets and templates could be compatible, making it simpler for users to mix 'n' match for different player preferences.
Like hirahito, I can only speak for myself. I wanted to avoid the standard cut and paste which is the general way these cards are being made. To that end, I made specialized icons and tried to make the card do as much visual work as possible.
Also, Black Plauge is doing most of the coding for the sets we have so far (icon only, icon with text, text only, and a character card) and they are all keyed off the same game file, which is distinct from the others, meaning that none of the cards we make are even switchable between other people's templates.
We in the US should not make fun of A4 paper. The A-series is, like the metric system, a superior system. Each paper size is proportional to the next. Thus, when you make something for A4 paper, and then decide you want to make it poster-sized (A-somebiggernumber) you don't have to redesign the document. It is a great system, used all across Europe and many other parts of the world.
In MSE, changing the paper size to letter is easy and works perfectly. Click on print, select properties for the printer, then click on the Advanced tab. You should see a place to select the paper type, changing from A4 to Letter. The cards will print just fine, fitting in a standard gaming card sleeve. You can print on cardstock or just insert over an old CCG card you don't need.
That works really well on your cards.
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