Extolling the virtues of Masterplan

[Negflar2099]

Just wanted to say thank you to the posters on Enworld that pointed me to Masterplan (Masterplan) and of course to the designers of that software.

It is just an amazing thing, especially now with the latest version which connects to iplay4e (my second favorite program). With those two programs I'm able to track all my player's characters, all my plots and NPCs and I'm able to run combats at triple the speed I was at before using those programs. I can't believe how much Masterplan in particular has improved the speed I run the game and the enjoyment I derive from DMing. Whoever designed these programs is to be commended.

That's all I wanted to say.

 

[Ferghis]

Agree wholly.

 

[latinoosvaldo]

I totally agree. I'm now planning a new FR Campaign and trying to use everything the software has to offer, and I am very amazed by its resources!
Combat management, map management, campaign wiki, it's all very handy and practical!

 

[DanmarLOK]

FYI be aware there's an issue right now if you build monsters in the DDI monster builder and import them into MP. The defenses on the imported creatures will be incorrect for some or all of them AC/F/R/W with R/W being the most likely to be high. A straight export from MB to MP will typically result in +3 to R/W. If you modify the defenses from the defaults in the MB then these can be significantly high.

If you import your monsters from the DDI option in MP you won't have this issue. It's only if you export a monster from the adventure tool monster builder and import it into MP that the defenses are off.

I don't know when the issue arose, I only started really using it with 8.3. But it made for a really long and drawn out fight my last two fights as I didn't pick up on the too high defenses of the monsters I was using against the PC's and they kept missing.

I've posted the bug to the creator of MP and I would expect given his past performance we can expect a bug fix in the next iteration.

In the meantime, in MP if you're using imported monsters just modify them manually in MP after you do the import to get the defenses where they should be.

 

[Negflar2099]

In the meantime, in MP if you're using imported monsters just modify them manually in MP after you do the import to get the defenses where they should be.

Thanks for catching the bug and for the tip. I'll start doing this until they fix it.

 

[SabreCat]

Negflar, can you give a brief run-down of how you use the program for your game? What features do you use?

I gave it a brief try, but found it fought me at every turn on what I actually wanted to do with it. Since people speak so highly of it, I feel like I must be missing something.

 

[Devereaux]

Negflar, can you give a brief run-down of how you use the program for your game? What features do you use?

I gave it a brief try, but found it fought me at every turn on what I actually wanted to do with it. Since people speak so highly of it, I feel like I must be missing something.

What is it that you want to do with it, that it doesn't allow?

 

[DanmarLOK]

8.5 fixes the import bug FYI.

 

[Ferghis]

8.5 fixes the import bug FYI.

Thanks for letting us know. Do we have to reinstall?

 

[DanmarLOK]

Just copy over the top of the existing install. There are some bugs with XP and .net in terms of how it's showing entries in lists but if you hit F5 in a list view it'll fix it and they're going to put a fix in place in an upcoming release.