Code Monkey Lose WoTC License (Merged)

[DonTadow]

Not real sure about this since I've never needed it. Check out the DM Genie forums - they may have advice.

There is a script someoen designed last year that adds weapon groups. I have it installed in my game but only use it when the party is battling a regional foe.

 

[mattcolville]

What do you consider the "average D&D player"? Each generator out there has their own band of followers, so I'm rather curious what, in your opinion, is the average player.

The average player does not, for instance, participate in internet fora. They don't know anything about Java, don't want to or know how to install any "environments." They just want the damn thing to work, and work intuitively.

The people who praise the CMP stuff all have something in common; they're all highly educated on how the stuff works. They learned about the data sets and how to get them and how to make them work, how to buy them and install them, they learned about the nearly-invisible software in the first place.

Each generator has its own tiny band of followers because each is designed by a dude or a bazzar-like group of dudes who code and enter data. They produce results optimized for...themselves. So they attract end-users who are...like them. And if you're not like them, maybe you'll put up with it's idiosyncracies, but probably you will not.

It's not easy designing and implementing robust and intuitive software, I know, I deal with it on a daily basis. But I'm not super concerned with how hard it is. My hats off to everyone involved for all their hard work. But really I just want something that's easy and powerful and everyone in all my gaming groups can grok.

 

[buzz]

The average player does not, for instance, participate in internet fora. They don't know anything about Java, don't want to or know how to install any "environments." They just want the damn thing to work, and work intuitively.

I have a lot of sympathy for this position. One oft he reasons I love Hero Designer for HERO System so much is that, despite being a Java app, it's very easy to use and doesn't "break." You can pound on it all you like without cracking the manual, and it just plain works. I.e., it feels like most of the other software on my machine. The non-computer-savvy people in my HERO group use it without hesitation.

PCGen, otoh, still feels very fragile to me. You really need to read the documentation to learn how to use it correctly, as just diving in will usually cause weird things to happen. I find myself always keeping a close eye on the memory usage in the status bar (glad I finally noticed that was a feature I could turn on), and have realized that it's always better to just close and restart it when I want to unload sources or switch modes. And even with this expertise, weird things happen that I can't explain.

Granted, I still find it a very useful tool, not to mention it's one of the few that work on a Mac. Still, I'm one of those people who has some experience (having taken Java classes) and is willing to work towards expertise with the app. Ditto for the others in my D&D group who've started using it; they're all IT professionals.

 

[borc killer]

I just want my steve 3e sheet back

http://home.wi.rr.com/dndsheet/

A little bit of my died that day.