Draw Steel General Thread [+]

[CommodoreKong]

We tried The Codex last night and...I've got mixed feelings about it. It doesn't feel janky the way most VTT do, and it handled doing (most) things automatically without us having to do a lot of work. And I think once I understand how it works better the way prebuilt adventures are implemented will be very smooth to run.
But it will sometimes let you do things that are not actually legal. I vaguely recall DMHub saying that was an intentional decision, because they want you to be able to ignore the rules when you want to, which is a fair choice to make because how obnoxious some VTT make that sucks. It just doesn't work with my group. They ignore things like the very obvious glowing outline that tells you where you can move or all the legal places you can push someone. At one point the Tactician was even hitting enemies with ab ability they weren't in range for, which he said it mentioned but he did anyway because it let him. It was also an issue for the Fury, who consistently thought when it prompted her to roll for HR from being winded, would think that it was her turn and start moving around/taking actions.

Well the codex still is in alpha, it’s not super surprising there’s still a lot of issues with it.

 

[ffanxii4ever]

We tried The Codex last night and...I've got mixed feelings about it. It doesn't feel janky the way most VTT do, and it handled doing (most) things automatically without us having to do a lot of work. And I think once I understand how it works better the way prebuilt adventures are implemented will be very smooth to run.
But it will sometimes let you do things that are not actually legal. I vaguely recall DMHub saying that was an intentional decision, because they want you to be able to ignore the rules when you want to, which is a fair choice to make because how obnoxious some VTT make that sucks. It just doesn't work with my group. They ignore things like the very obvious glowing outline that tells you where you can move or all the legal places you can push someone. At one point the Tactician was even hitting enemies with ab ability they weren't in range for, which he said it mentioned but he did anyway because it let him. It was also an issue for the Fury, who consistently thought when it prompted her to roll for HR from being winded, would think that it was her turn and start moving around/taking actions.

A toggle to turn on "strict rules-as-written" mode, like AdmundfortGeographer suggested would be a good way to stop that, but I will say those examples feel more like a group culture/player trust issue, than a Codex issue. And I don't mean that as an attack on your group! Just that it is very difficult to both satisfy keeping it open enough for GMs to not be overly restrictive, but also help as much as possible (which it sounds like it is doing, with warnings and big glowing outlines)

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I know that the Foundry's permission and vision setting is one of the most frustrating things sometimes. "Hey, I put up a new journal entry" "Can't see it?" "Oh yeah, I have to set up permissions."
"Okay, I put you all on the encounter map." "It's black" "Still loading?" "No." "Oh, yeah, I need to drag in a token. And set up your vision". "I can only see my char?" "Oh, wait, the windows still block vision"...

But I get it, for some stuff it's super-useful to have. Seperating DM and player notes, unlocking your exploration or battlemap slowly with fog and war and all.

 

[gnarlygninja]

A toggle to turn on "strict rules-as-written" mode, like AdmundfortGeographer suggested would be a good way to stop that, but I will say those examples feel more like a group culture/player trust issue, than a Codex issue. And I don't mean that as an attack on your group! Just that it is very difficult to both satisfy keeping it open enough for GMs to not be overly restrictive, but also help as much as possible (which it sounds like it is doing, with warnings and big glowing outlines)

I agree with all of this. It's why I mentioned it was a fair choice to make, it probably is better for most people to work that way. And aside from me the rest of the group was really happy with The Codex, because (almost) everything just worked and they didn't really need to do much.