DM Encounter Helper - updated to v0.7

[Negflar2099]

I love this program. Very nicely done. Unlike a lot of the other programs out there you've managed to squeeze a lot of functionality into a small well designed space with no clutter or confusion.

Now having said that, and know that I hate to add to the litany of I love it but can you give me more crowd, I really think it needs a way to swap out initiative order. Right now once I have clicked on the start encounter button the initiative box greys out and won't let me change the data. I have a player playing a warlord who loves guileful switch and I really need to be able switch initiative order on the fly.

Otherwise this is a really incredible program. Good job.

 

[insideru]

Thanks for the support Negflar. I'm sorry about the initiative switch, it isn't possible right now, but it's not hard to add in. I wanted to add this option to .6 anyway, but for some reason I eventually considered it is useless. Will "dragging a character from the list over another character will swap them in the initiative list" do for you?

PS: Ands thanks for the "well designed space" compliment. I had complaints that the program over-stretches too much, I myself, after one year or so of DMing 4E have never fought an encounter that featured more than 6-7 monsters, unless you go crazy on the minions. What i tend to do with minions is actually input only one in the program per each type, just to have the initiative order. Since there is no hp to track, I just flip the tokens when they die, and when the last of em dies, i kill my 1 minion in the program.

I have to add, after seeing some other tools alike, they went too far into simulation. I don't wan to and will never go that way. I don't want to end up clicking more than actually rolling the dice. For example, I could have implemented a way to auto-roll initiative, but I prefer to roll it by hand and i advise you guys do the same. Half the fun of the game is in the actual dice rolling, you take that away, you're playing Diablo.

 

[Corwynn Maelstrom]

STOCK encounters in the published series of modules feature 12-15 creatures on a regular basis.

Add to that the fact that it is possible to have creatures flee and summon help, and you have the potential for even more . . .

From module H1 you have an area that has 13 creatures, and should it appear dangerous (which arguably could happen if a number of minions get iced very fast) you have the potential to alert 17 creatures inside the caves, plus the one who flees to warn them . . . 18, and if the PCs get overzealous, that means they could en up fighting inside before they finish outside . . .

 

[insideru]

I'm not saying the cake is a lie, i was just saying i didn't see it ... yet.

I did change the max npc number to 20 in the last didn't I? But don't worry i am already designing a new interface, to be even more compact and with 1280x600 in mind, and i will remove all the caps. They were there in the first place just to avoid the window to grow to enormous sizes

 

[Negflar2099]

Thanks for the support Negflar. I'm sorry about the initiative switch, it isn't possible right now, but it's not hard to add in. I wanted to add this option to .6 anyway, but for some reason I eventually considered it is useless. Will "dragging a character from the list over another character will swap them in the initiative list" do for you?

That would do nicely. It's not a huge issue but if it's not too hard to fix...

I'm with you. When I have duplicate minions I just write down one instance of that minion and discounting minions I don't see how an encounter could ever have more than 8 monsters at once, unless you're running a huge group. I mean the standard is one monster per PC. Now if you want one instance for every minion than sure you could easily get up to 20 monsters but I don't see why anyone would need to do that. It's not like you need a space to keep track of each minion's HP right? I mean when a minion dies just take it's figurine off the board. At least that's how I keep track.

 

[eriktheguy]

Can anyone who uses this comment on whether it is a time saver or not?

 

[Xphile]

On both my windows Vista and XP machines, the program will open for a few seconds and then crash to the desktop.

 

[insideru]

On both my windows Vista and XP machines, the program will open for a few seconds and then crash to the desktop.

Do you have .NET 3.5 SP1 installed?

You can get it from here: Download details: .NET Framework 3.5 Service pack 1

 

[Xphile]

Do you have .NET 3.5 SP1 installed?

You can get it from here: Download details: .NET Framework 3.5 Service pack 1

On my laptop yes. Followed the link and "repaired" my install of it though and things seem to work fine now.

I used the program this weekend with my group and I think that I'm going to use it more in the future. I had an XLS spreadsheet that was doing what this app was mostly doing, but I really like the way that this handles most things.

Two things I couldn't figure out:
1) While you can mark a creature, is it possible to make a note of who it is marked by?
2) how to re-order people when they delay their turn.

 

[insideru]

1) While you can mark a creature, is it possible to make a note of who it is marked by?

Afraid not. I haven't done this as my group has only one defender, and if other players use marking powers (i think our Cleric has one) they just keep that in mind for the rest of the turn. Tbh i don't use the marking thing myself, my group's defender has stated that she marks everything she can unless otherwise stated (and she decided not to mark round 3 times in 9 levels). But if you guys think this is important, i guess we could work a solution out.

2) how to re-order people when they delay their turn.

I know the help for this application is non-existent. Yet, the change log is some sort of help file. If you didn't take the time to read it (it's in right click on the window - help - changeLog) i'll paste what you are interested in:

Ready/Delay tracking. Once a PC/NPC delayed/readied an action and you pushed the Delay button, his name appears highlighted in green. When the player decides to step back in the initiative order, double click his name and he will be placed right after the current player.

Edit: The Delay button is the one underneath the End Turn one, with a clock icon.