Posted on behalf of Kevin Mathis, d20 Magazine Rack Staff Reviewer
“Designed for game masters and players alike to streamline their game preparation, this web-8friendly roleplaying game database provides a smooth interface for character, dungeon, weather, treasure generation, and much more. Boosted with a powerful XML back-end to allow for even more customizability than ever before, this popular engine features stats for 3.0, 3.5, and d20 versions of your game.”
Initiative Round
Twin Rose Software’s Campaign Suite Extended (CSX) is a very powerful tool. Like many powerful tools, there is a rather steep learning curve, but once the user gains some experience, its true utility becomes apparent.
Keep in mind that this tool is designed to produce “web based” content. You can export just about any information to HTML files for viewing on-line. The installation directory is full of XML and XSL files; for those unfamiliar with Web programming, these are text files that contain all of the program data in a relatively readable format. Style sheets are also used to manage the output.
CSX segregates user data into (at least) two files: the Configuration file and the Campaign file. The Configuration file is the container for all of the feats, classes, races, and other rule related material that you use. The Campaign file (or files) holds the specific encounters, characters, and locales. These files are also XML. For the knowledgeable and/or brave, you can make edits to these files directly. However that is almost never needed. I recommend making backups before changing anything!
Unfortunately, my initial impression of the program was not of its attractive output or of its truly amazing level of configurability. I had to work to figure out some simple tasks; others I would have never successfully accessed without the on-line support avenues. The Help files are out of date - while they cover the configuration tools well, a novice user is mostly left guessing.
Twin Rose recognizes this weakness as they have created a Tutorials page and a Forum page on their web site as well as a Discussion Group on Yahoo. With these resources, the program’s user interface weaknesses can be handled.
The program opens into a relatively blank screen – only a menu bar is displayed across the top of the window. Having used other programs for this task, my initial interest centered on the Character Management tools. The New Character Window opens to display controls for race, class, statistics, and buttons for accessing other “pages”. I only lately found that performing a “mouse hover” over certain sections provides context sensitive notes. Additionally one must also experiment with double-clicking and right clicking in order to access various features. Even after building several dozen characters, I’m still stumbling about somewhat. The Gear window has “hidden” dropdown lists that are somewhat difficult to open, at least from my laptop’s touchpad mouse. Also I’ve triggered a few problems by adding and removing equipment – somehow my character ended up with a lot more gold than I began with! And I was not using the “Free Purchase” toggle!
For spellcasting characters, the Spells page is not very friendly either. It opens with two unidentified and empty columns. A row of “check boxes” for each spell level is near the middle of the page. One should “check” a spell level to see a list of spells of that level in the left-most column. Double clicking moves this spell name to the right hand column. A button labeled “Export” does not seem to provide any function.
My only issue with the character output is that the Print button has the same appearance as the page navigation buttons. I have accidentally started printing several times by absently hitting what appears to be just another page button. The printed output is quite well done, however. The default character sheet contains most of the information a player could want. Again, if it’s not exactly what you want, it can be modified with only a little effort!
Bothersome to me, the Campaign Window has a different “look and feel”. This window presents a list containing “Campaign”, “Communities”, “Credits”, “Demographics”, and “Tips, Hints, and FAQs”. The “Tips” selection is empty but allows the user added notes. Double-clicking only has an effect on the “Campaign” entry; the others require right-clicks to accomplish anything.
The Demographics element must be configured to use the Community generator page. This is not at all obvious from anything on either of those pages and is totally missing from the Help files. Personally, I think demographics should be linked to a specific community and thus subordinate in the display.
Double-clicking the Campaign element explodes it to show “Adventures”, “Character Lists”, “Dungeons”, “Notes”, and “Weather”. Data entry into these areas is somewhat tedious due to the lack of consistent methodology.
These elements provide data entry space for the various levels of the campaign. You can place character data in at several levels depending on their relevance: campaign-wide, community-based, potentially present in a range of encounters, or only in a specific dungeon. However I’ve noted two problems. First, the gear placed on automatically generated characters, such as NPCs created with the “Taverns and Inns” script, is a bit messed up. I don’t know how a Dwarf Commoner1 can have an Incorporeal Touch Attack! The second issue appears to be a simple oversight; the Dungeon Export style sheet does not exist. Since the styles are missing, one cannot export this data to another format. There doesn’t appear to be any way to print this data either, but that is likely due to the export problem.
“Weather” contains a random generator that displays from 1 to 40 days of weather events after querying about the climate. I cannot find a way to clear this page after the first usage.
The user interface is difficult in several areas. If the program’s functionality ended here, I would have no use for this program at all. But there are a lot more useful tools hidden away!
Selecting the “Character Info” element on the main Configuration menu opens the most interesting part of the program, the Character Configuration window. From here most, if not all, of the rules elements can be altered to fit your campaign. House ruled that Rangers should get d10-hit dice? Change it within seconds under the Classes section!
For users with access to Profantasy’s Campaign Cartographer 2 Pro mapping software, a rudimentary level of integration is provided. Using CC2’s external file links to connect to specific areas detailed in CSX is only a four-step process. This greatly improves my organization of my custom adventure data.
Campaign Suite Extended: Psionics data set:
The only problem with adding this data set was my assumption that the install program would actually place the data where it would be immediately usable. However, it really cannot do that. It cannot know which Campaign data file is which. Thus after running the installer, a manual Import must be executed to pull the data in.
Critical Hit
The adaptability of this software is its saving grace. With a little work, one could implement nearly any Open Game License game! I am rarely impressed with software because I work in that field. But the organization and design of the database engine underneath this program is truly incredible.
Another wonderful aspect of this software is the price of update data set packages – the psionics pack is only $1.25!! Several other data sets are FREE!!
Critical Fumble
The version of software reviewed has many flaws – none of which are fatal, merely annoying. Most are simply the result of more focus on the engine than on “polishing” the user interface.
Most screens are non-intuitive to a beginning user. The help files are nearly useless for those getting started. The Help files are out of date, lacking any information about the Communities section of the Campaign window. Additionally, the Help files as well as the main menu point toward a built-in Mapping capability that was removed some time ago. Why these menu items were not pulled along with the functionality, I do not understand.
If you are ready to jump into making modifications to the rules, the Help file is helpful, otherwise spend your time in the on-line resources mentioned above.
Coup de Grace
The program has its barnacles. Its “look and feel” are not as smooth and polished as CMP’s “E-tools”, for example. However, its underlying engine design is nothing short of genius! With the ongoing support that Twin Rose is providing ensures that it will only get better.
Avail yourself of the online tutorials, the support forums, and the Discussion areas on Yahoo. From these one can learn to make real use of that powerful engine lurking beneath the currently tedious-in-places user interface. Stick with it. Practice makes it much more valuable.
Access to non-OGL data is not provided. So if you require a particular element from a new book, it is not likely to exist yet and perhaps not ever. However, user-creation of such data is a relatively painless task. Sharing of these configuration files is illegal under the OGL though. Almost the entire burden of creating campaign data falls on the user therefore.
My Review Score below assumes that CSX is used alone. Anyone proficient with Campaign Cartographer 2 Pro has the endurance to scale a steep learning curve of a complex software package.
Final Grade: C+ (Solid ‘B’ if used with CC2 Pro)
See additional comments regarding this review here.
