Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dagda" data-source="post: 425121" data-attributes="member: 1558">I just wrote this comment yesterday at rpgshop.com.  You might want to check out the other reviews <a href="http://www.rpgshop.com/product_reviews.php?products_id=31624&" target="_blank">here</a> too. I have been using DM's Familiar since it first appeared a year or so ago. It has been steadily improved the whole time, and is a fantastic aid to my games. I run a couple of games that are approximately weekly. DMF's combat board and references have sped up our gameplay significantly allowing me to spend that effort on improving my descriptions and such. The combat board handles all the initiatives. I use the option in DMF to let my players roll their own dice, so DMF rolls up the initiative for all the NPC/Monsters, and I enter the PC’s as they roll them. They are then sorted in initiative order. All the PC/NPC/Monster attacks are listed, and with a click I get the rolls that tells me what AC is hit, what damage is done, if it’s critical and what damage that would do. It even handles monsters like dragons that have multiple attacks, breath weapons, special attacks and all. Once again, I choose to let my players roll their own dice on most rolls instead of using DMF. But when I need a search roll, or another roll that the players shouldn’t see, two clicks of the mouse, and I have a search rolled for everyone. DMF is also central to my preparations for a game. I enter the necessary info on NPC’s and special monsters easily, and review any existing ones to remind me of all their abilities. You just click on a feat, skill, or spell, and the description pops up for you to review. It even imports stat blocks from Etools and PCGen! I setup the Codex Tree, which is a list-like tool that holds all the info I want about a game. Some games, I have each room listed, with it’s monsters, description, and treasure. I just drag and drop the room to the combat board, and all the monsters in that room are loaded into the combat board for me, with their initiative already rolled. The codex tree can hold links to things too. I sometimes put links to music (mp3s) in it so with a click, I can play the sound. And if all this isn’t enough, it comes with incredible support. The author has a message board that he actively participates in. (<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmsfamiliar/" target="_blank">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmsfamiliar/</a>) You can get so much help and ideas there, as well as make suggestions for things you’d like to see. I’ve seen my suggestions show up in a release as quick as a few weeks later. Also, there is a community message board where people are sharing the data they’ve input into DMF. I have trouble coming up with negatives about DMF. If you don’t have access to a computer at your gaming table, it would reduce the benefit of DMF a lot. I’ve rearranged out game room to allow me to have a PC next to the game table, and the entire group really likes it. I’ve just barely glossed the surface of DMF. If you want a gaming aid for prepping for and running your games, give DMF a try.</blockquote>

Verification