I may not be switching to D&D 3.5 (Crossposted)

[Ranger REG]

Maybe I'm old school, still sticking to the antiquated pen & paper method, but it would be nice to have electronic aid support as a bonus. If you have to revise the rules, make sure they are mathematically sound so that a calculater or a computer can figure them out. Then develop the software.

BTW, EricNoah, you are not suggesting that Wizards rehire Fluid, are you?

I vote for CodeMonkey (I hope that is the company name who makes PCGen).

 

[Cergorach]

I am more pratical, i go with what works best. At low level, most encounters where pretty straightforward, but when people started to reach level 10+ it became a bit more complicated and i had to keep a complicated score across multiple pages. RPM solves a lot of the tracking issues and lets you able to automate some issues. I can now use without much of a problem individual initiative for all the monsters, ou just push a button and the computer rolls and calculates whether you hit and how much damage you do. This frees me up for more 'roleplaying': "The Marilith approaches you like a whirlwind of death, the blades go so fast you can hardly see it, then suddenly she strikes at you and you receive 13, 9, 17, and 14 points of damage, and unless you have got some ace up your sleave your now poisoned for 6 poits of Con damage...".

 

[Shapermc]

Maybe I'm old school, still sticking to the antiquated pen & paper method, but it would be nice to have electronic aid support as a bonus.

I find that I can still make a character quicker with a blank character sheet, pen/cil, and scratch paper than with PCGen (Granted I too gave up on PC gen, but that was because I spent alot of time editing the exported HTML and XML information). Plus knowing how to create a character with the above items means that I also know the rules better for making the game quicker.

Now OTOH as far as DMing a game and the prep time for that. . . well I try not to think about that.

What I recomend is do what I am going to do. Wait for the second printing of D&D 3.5. See what computer programs have come out, then you also get the eratta fixed

BTW does anyone find it strange that this is D&D 3.5? I mean this way they dont give too much room to evolve before 4th ed. I think that it should have been 3.1 then they have a while before they hit 4th ed

 

[Chaz]

I realize that 3rd edition does create a very strong need for software tools, and I hate to hear about people considering giving the game away (or even the 3rd edition) because of lack of software support. I especially hate to hear it from people like Chaz or Eric.
I realize that theres big gaps in what ETools will do, and thats why I developed RolePlayingMaster - specifically to do what ETools (even MasterTools) wouldn't.

For 2 years now, I've developed RPM according to people's feedback of what they wanted.....

Luke, I dont want to give anyone the impression that there arent great or even potentialy great fan made utility programs out there. Because there certainly are. Ive looked many times at the RolePlayingMaster, Campaign Suite etc. web sites. And im impressed with the level of commited developement that continues to go on with these programs. And ive purchased and supported some other extremely usefull programs like Fractal Mapper6, TableSmith etc....
In fact your program and camapign suite both have had my attention for a long time. No the problem for me isnt realy that there isnt any usefull programs for 3rd Ed. For me its more a feeling of betrayal by a company that ive litteraly spent thousands of dollars with over the years. When they made the commitment back to me saying they would support me with quality 'official' software, I was happy. But then the whole MasterTools - ETools - Fluid - Promises - misdirection - No info - Info but no substance .. Stuff started happening. Its basicaly telling me that my support has little meaning. Things have changed since the TSR days.

So I offer my apology to you and any others if I made it seem that your efforts to "fill the viod' with the needed software had gone unnoticed. It hasnt. Keep up the good work. My decision to maybe return to 2nd Ed is simply my wanting to return to a time where the game seemed more like my game then it does now. To a simpler time of not feeling betrayed.

 

[MythosaAkira]

BTW does anyone find it strange that this is D&D 3.5? I mean this way they dont give too much room to evolve before 4th ed. I think that it should have been 3.1 then they have a while before they hit 4th ed

I don't recall WotC officially calling it "3.5", or anything other than "revised". The on-line community is the only place I've seen that label.

Personally, I'd reserve judgement before giving it any "version number", particularly if the majority of changes are simply clarifications to existing rules.

 

[DMFTodd]

I don't recall WotC officially calling it "3.5",

The latest Dragon magazine has an article on the revised stuff and they call it 3.5 (or at least there is a big 3.5 graphic, don't know if they say that in the article or not).

they would support me with quality 'official' software

I see this attitude a lot and I just don't get it. Why do customers look for the "official" products and that's it? Why not look beyond the official?

By all accounts, E:Tools is a steaming pile. Yet if you go over to RPGShop you'll see that E:Tools is selling much better than far superior products (not referring to my program specifically).

Everyone complains how bad the support from WotC and Fluid is. Meanwhile Chris, Luke and others knock themselves out providing great support. Yet E:Tools continues to outsell them by a huge margin.

And I'll make this prediction: E:Tools will not support any substantive changes from "3.5". Campaign Suite, RPM, and DM's Familiar will support 3.5 very soon after it is released. And people will continue to complain about E:Tools while ignoring all the rest. We'll see more threads like this with people saying they are going to quit playing D&D since they can't get "official" software rather than looking beyond the official.

I just don't get it. Or maybe I'm just grumpy this morning.

So my hope is that people who get feed up with the "official" software will go look at the other software that is out there. There's existing software that does a great job, is fantastically well supported, and is made by people pouring their heart into the product for basically no money.

Or they can just continue to whine about E:Tools.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I see this attitude a lot and I just don't get it. Why do customers look for the "official" products and that's it? Why not look beyond the official?

In my case, I've looked beyond, and too many of those programs require me to do too much. If it takes more than a few mouse clicks, if I have to input a lot of data, I might as well write it all out by hand or type it all up on a word processor.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Another HUGE reason people don't look beyond the "official" stuff is because many of them simply aren't aware of anything else. Getting one's program into the gaming public's consciousness is a difficult but necessary task.

 

[Ds Da Man]

Ya know, talking about using all these cool tools on the computer, the only one I really, really want is a damn magic shop, alchemist's shop item generator. One that gives the item, and the base cost. Maybe a selector for a small, medium, large store. Gosh, that would subtract half of our "trip to town" time. What items do they have here, ummm.... let me start rollin'......aaarrrrggghhhh!!!! Just a simple program that doesn't add stupid rugs, and paintings and crap. Maybe one that I could add some "special" items if I wanted. Please, anyone?

 

[Luke]

Ya know, talking about using all these cool tools on the computer, the only one I really, really want is a damn magic shop, alchemist's shop item generator. One that gives the item, and the base cost. Maybe a selector for a small, medium, large store. Gosh, that would subtract half of our "trip to town" time. What items do they have here, ummm.... let me start rollin'......aaarrrrggghhhh!!!! Just a simple program that doesn't add stupid rugs, and paintings and crap. Maybe one that I could add some "special" items if I wanted. Please, anyone?

"Ds Ma Man" you're an inspiration to me.
I've been tracking down ideas in "Ultimate Generators" for a new generators framework I've put into RPM (another thread).

I already had some magic equipment lists (wondrous items categorized by price categories), so I created new lists for potions, rods, staves, armor, shields etc (takes minutes to do the lot with search/filter capabilities).
From this I created a "Magic Shop" generator, which links all these different item type categories together, with "appropriate" chances".
I can then ask the generator to give me 10, 50, or 400+ items - whatever, and it will generate the items in a list for me.

I can make a copy of an existing magic shop, and tailor its profile (eg Wizard shop has more focus on wondrous magic, wands etc), whilst a Magic Armourer will focus more on weapons, shields and perhaps potions.

The need for a price threw me a bit, since the generic generators can generate races (encounters), classes, feats, skills etc, and price isn't normally relevant.
You inspired me to put a mouse click function on the generated list to show the full details (be they items, feats, skills, spells, abilities etc). It makes a big difference! The price is then available, although not as obvious as a "shopping list" - which may be a good thing.

I can see that RPM scripting may be useful in generators, but I'm pretty happy with the capabilities of the bare framework.

Thanks!