Jeffrey Wise
First Post
Check out the kickstarter!
I have created an Android application for managing characters, creatures, adventures, etc... for popular tabletop role-playing games.
The current focus of the prototype is on player character sheets for 5e, but it is ready for the next stage which includes managing NPCs, monsters, encounters, towns, dungeons, campaigns, rulebooks, etc... in most popular game systems.
Character Sheet Screenshots
Creature Sheet Demo
[video=youtube_share;06P7tPgq-5M]https://youtu.be/06P7tPgq-5M[/video]
Perfect for New Players
The primary design focus of the application prototype is to provide ready-made character sheets for all classes and levels.
Ideally, a new or inexperienced player can download the application for free and begin playing with a character such as Casmey (featured in the project video) in a campaign, learning as they go simply by clicking around and following the rules and workflows embedded in the character sheet.
Here are some features that will be helpful for new players:
Why Create Tome?
Technology has a lot to offer the tabletop RPG experience, but the complexity of most role-playing games (both the rules and the data) makes designing intuitive and aesthetically appealing applications very challenging.
Many applications that I've seen are complex forms that do help to manage and save data, but still feel like more work than fun. Pen and paper character sheets are easy to read, easy to modify, and do not add a physical (or mental, for hard-to-use tools) barrier between the user and the other players. For these reasons, I've never felt the need to bring technology to the gaming table (at least as a player).
I built Tome as an experiment to change that. I felt that any digital character sheet should build off of the pen and paper experience by being, first and foremost, easy to understand and intuitive to use (the standard printed character sheets are very well-designed and everyone knows how to write). Then, there is an opportunity for technology to step in and really make the user experience interactive and fun while adding features that truly improve the gaming experience such as personalized character sheets, fully flexible homebrew (data + mechanics), help with rules and calculations, easy data sharing, etc...
I decided that mobile was the best platform to start with. Almost everyone has a smart phone and most players will have a phone with them at the table. Phones are far less intrusive than laptops, and the small screens and touch interface allow for a more focused and less distracting user experience.
I have created an Android application for managing characters, creatures, adventures, etc... for popular tabletop role-playing games.
The current focus of the prototype is on player character sheets for 5e, but it is ready for the next stage which includes managing NPCs, monsters, encounters, towns, dungeons, campaigns, rulebooks, etc... in most popular game systems.
Character Sheet Screenshots
Creature Sheet Demo
[video=youtube_share;06P7tPgq-5M]https://youtu.be/06P7tPgq-5M[/video]
Perfect for New Players
The primary design focus of the application prototype is to provide ready-made character sheets for all classes and levels.
Ideally, a new or inexperienced player can download the application for free and begin playing with a character such as Casmey (featured in the project video) in a campaign, learning as they go simply by clicking around and following the rules and workflows embedded in the character sheet.
Here are some features that will be helpful for new players:
- Everything on the sheet is clickable. Every textbox, table, and list is editable, while clicking other types of interface components will do something interesting such as rolling a die or expanding related information.
- Clicking any stat will show you how that stat was calculated i.e. it's components. Furthermore, if you change a component of that bonus somewhere else on the sheet, it will automatically be updated. The player can learn how abilities work just by changing values on the character sheet and viewing the result.
- Most bonuses or rolls, like the initiative bonus and attack rolls, are rollable within the app with a single click. The roll result (in the full-screen view) will show each component of the dice roll, so every rule and value is completely transparent.
- Just as everything is clickable, long pressing on anything on the sheet will open the relevant section of the rule book, so you never have to go far to find relevant information.
- The layout is designed be easy to use while role-playing e.g. descriptive data (name, ability scores, etc...) is grouped together while encounter-related information such as actions and abilities have their own tab.
- Perhaps most importantly, the sheets are designed to be fun and reflect the individual personality of the character. The intention is that new players will see that it's more fun when the player stats are not the game itself but part of the role-playing experience for that character. As a simple example, the headers on Casmey's sheet all start with "My..." because she often has a me-first approach to life; other character sheets may be have normal headings or headings that vary in some other manner (the Barbarian may have very angry ALL CAPS headings).
Why Create Tome?
Technology has a lot to offer the tabletop RPG experience, but the complexity of most role-playing games (both the rules and the data) makes designing intuitive and aesthetically appealing applications very challenging.
Many applications that I've seen are complex forms that do help to manage and save data, but still feel like more work than fun. Pen and paper character sheets are easy to read, easy to modify, and do not add a physical (or mental, for hard-to-use tools) barrier between the user and the other players. For these reasons, I've never felt the need to bring technology to the gaming table (at least as a player).
I built Tome as an experiment to change that. I felt that any digital character sheet should build off of the pen and paper experience by being, first and foremost, easy to understand and intuitive to use (the standard printed character sheets are very well-designed and everyone knows how to write). Then, there is an opportunity for technology to step in and really make the user experience interactive and fun while adding features that truly improve the gaming experience such as personalized character sheets, fully flexible homebrew (data + mechanics), help with rules and calculations, easy data sharing, etc...
I decided that mobile was the best platform to start with. Almost everyone has a smart phone and most players will have a phone with them at the table. Phones are far less intrusive than laptops, and the small screens and touch interface allow for a more focused and less distracting user experience.
