D&D 4E D&D Minion, app for managing 4E encounters

[h112211]

(Sorry if this is a wrong forum....)

Hi,

I've created a small web app I call D&D Minion to help my gaming group to keep track of the numbers and conditions during a 4E combat encounter. Our group has found it invaluable for our gaming sessions, so I decided to release it to the general public.

The main purpose of the app is to provide a single, easy to use view that shows all relevant combat data with a glance. This includes the initiative order, character names (both PC and NPC), defense values and current conditions. Conditions are displayed using (hopefully) informative emoticons.

A design principle is that it will not roll any dice for the players, though there is a single concession for this: it will roll initiative when adding a character if the initiative bonus is defined.

It's free to use and you can access it here: D&D Minion

There is a brief help file within the app which I hope will give you more info.

It should be usable, but it's largely untested so there probably is a plenty of bugs. Please report any problems to me at thedndminion@gmail.com.

Any other questions or thoughts about the app?

--
Henri Muurimaa (thedndminion@gmail.com)

 

[sfedi]

Cool.

Very simple, very clear.

I'll try it out and then post my comments.

From just looking at it, it lacks a way to track HPs, but that's ok, I can put it in the name of the creature.

BUG: I've added the Blind condition, when I removed it it didn't remove the Grant Combat Advantage condition and even didn't let me remove that because it depended on other condition.

I don't like the adding of extra conditions I didn't explicitly told the program to add. One problem that brings is that you can't make a 1-1 relation between conditions it has and icons you see.

 

[Bagpuss]

Under campaigns you should allow people to add their own setting names. Or at least include Greyhawk, Planescape and Birthright if you are going to have Dark Sun and Dragonlance.

 

[h112211]

From just looking at it, it lacks a way to track HPs, but that's ok, I can put it in the name of the creature.

Tracking HP manually on paper is way faster and easier than continuously updating the values using keyboard/mouse.

I've been thinking about adding a preferences screen (zoom level is already stored using login info), and this could be a togglable feature.

BUG: I've added the Blind condition, when I removed it it didn't remove the Grant Combat Advantage condition and even didn't let me remove that because it depended on other condition.

Thanks, I'll fix that asap.

I don't like the adding of extra conditions I didn't explicitly told the program to add. One problem that brings is that you can't make a 1-1 relation between conditions it has and icons you see.

The conditions or their effects do not stack, so if a character has the same condition from multiple sources it suffers from it only once, and the icon is shown only once. Also, you can see in the tooltip if a condition is caused by a another condition.

Besides, we've noticed that "cascading" the conditions is quite informative, because it's all too easy to forget about them otherwise (eg. the very common and important combat advantage). Cascading could be another togglable feature, though.

 

[Bagpuss]

The condition icons could do with changing to something more reflective of the conditions, but the mouse over is great and I personally like that it adds combat advantage icon if I add prone.

One issue, is there some way to have it so other people can see my initiative board without logging into my account?

 

[h112211]

Under campaigns you should allow people to add their own setting names. Or at least include Greyhawk, Planescape and Birthright if you are going to have Dark Sun and Dragonlance.

The way the setting is currently stored makes it impractical to allow freeform settings, but I just uploaded version 0.40 which includes the ones you mentioned, and "Custom". Any others?

Btw, if you run into weird problems after I've updated, you can try these workarounds:

• Use "File > Reset" to close your current application instance and start a new one.
• If you can't get to the File menu, try appending "?restartApplication" to the end of the URL.
• As a last resort remove all cookies to dndminion.appspot.com from your browser.

Note that all of the workarounds will reset the character table (but not your saved campaigns etc.), so if you have an encounter going on take a screenshot before trying any of those...

If none of those work email me at thedndminion@gmail.com.

The condition icons could do with changing to something more reflective of the conditions

Yes, I had great difficulties finding suitable emoticons (I'm no artist...). Anyone want to draw better ones? There are a few restrictions, though: they need to be square, and at small zoom level icons are 27x27px, so they need to be quite simple to be still understandable at that size.

One issue, is there some way to have it so other people can see my initiative board without logging into my account?

Ah yes, multiuser support, I was afraid someone'd want that

It's not simple but it is doable, at least the read only version. I'll add it to my todo list.

 

[AZ_ST]

Minion

Could you have the focus change to the Name field when you add a PC or NPC so that you can add then immediately start typing? That would be nice

 

[willows]

I can make icons! It's Thanksgiving, so it'll have to wait a few days, but I'd be happy to pitch in.

 

[sfedi]

(...) but the mouse over is great (...)

The mouse over is AWESOME, I loved the feature the first time I saw it.

VERY handy.

 

[h112211]

BUG: I've added the Blind condition, when I removed it it didn't remove the Grant Combat Advantage condition and even didn't let me remove that because it depended on other condition.

Deployed 0.41 which should fix this.

Could you have the focus change to the Name field when you add a PC or NPC so that you can add then immediately start typing? That would be nice

... and this