PDAs at the game table

[d20fool]

Craft calculator?

Doh! I can't believe I failed to plug my OWN PalmOS utilities!

Designed to speed up needlessly complex rules, my 3.0 jump calculator worked out the DC to jump any distance (not needed since 3.5 streamlined the rules beautifully there) and a craft calculator which you can input the value, the DC, the skill and then click either "take 10" or "roll normally" and it calculates how long it takes and how much it costs (including wastage of materials rolls"). Incidentally it demonstrates nicely that if "take 10" will meet the DC, you are almost always better off doing that than risking a failure

I checked out your website, very cool BTW. I look forward to using Wordsmith. I found your character roller, but not your craft DC thingie. I'd love to give it a whirl.

For everyone, I actually forked over the $5 for tablesmith express/namemaker at mythosa.net. Those programs just seemed to handy, I couldn't resist. I'm considering PDAWarrior OR RPGSuite for keeping my stats for my players on. It would really help in planning if I knew what spells a character had or special feat, etc. And it allows me to look up their skill ranks during a session for that secret roll.

I'll post what I decide. Adieu.

John "d20fool" McCarty

 

[d20fool]

Cartoforge, interested renewed

OK, so browsing RPGnow.com I've found an expanded version of Cartoforge with new features. It indicates "templates" for NPCs and creatures. Apparently, you can use their cool little mapper to print out maps for minis. It has expanded art and even a gamemaster's journal (something I've been wanting, I actually got Dungeon Delver just for that alone.)

Still no word on direct d20 support, but very promising. Unfortunately, their website seems to be down. I hope it's not dead. It's www.cartoforge.com

I would like to know if I still need to buy the desktop companion if I buy the new package. I'm definately looking at this again though. Being able to write adventures while waiting for the kids during dance class or while tolerating my wife watching the "news" waiting for the weather report is interesting. The price is a little steep though if I have to buy both, almost as much as Dunjinni which I might prefer.

My Plucker hypertext SRD is missing descriptions of magic items, so I made a seperate document for magic items. Some descriptions are STILL missing, so I'm trying it again with another level added. Wish me luck.

I've also been attempting to convert some of the Tablesmith tables to Tablesmith Express. Sometimes this is very easy, othertimes seemingly impossible. I'll post results when I have more.

John "d20fool" McCarty

PDA programs used last session, Tablesmith Express (name generation), Plucker SRD (spell lookup), ACE XP Calculator, Palm Reader SRD (conditions), I haven't used Dungeon Delver to record yet, but plan to use Slayer and Itemiser today to note last session.

 

[d20fool]

Cartoforge is working

The Cartoforge site is up and working again. I got the "big" demo with even more tile sets for the mapper. I might have to break down and get this after all.

The Desktop Companion is suppoused to let you print out minature size sheets. The demo version just seems to let you print. It does not let you write in it. I posted to the Cartoforge forums to see if this is a demo version thing (I think it is) or is it a flaw of the system.

My magic item SRD still doesn't have all the descriptions. I'm going to try again tonight.

I've been having fun converting and even writing tables for Tablesmith. I might be attaching some soon. You can easily make custom tables. I plan to adapt sourcebooks I have to this, like 101 Unusual Treasures and such.

Adidos amigos,

John "d20fool" McCarty

PDA programs used last session.

Plucker SRD, Palm Reader Books, ACE XP calculator,

 

[Saeviomagy]

My Plucker hypertext SRD is missing descriptions of magic items, so I made a seperate document for magic items. Some descriptions are STILL missing, so I'm trying it again with another level added. Wish me luck.

Using Jpluck: If you download the SRD onto your home system, then you can just set the depth for something stupid (I think mine is at 43) and check the box that says "stay on host" to prevent it from following links into the wide blue yonder. That gets the whole thing done.

 

[d20fool]

Plucker

Using Jpluck: If you download the SRD onto your home system, then you can just set the depth for something stupid (I think mine is at 43) and check the box that says "stay on host" to prevent it from following links into the wide blue yonder. That gets the whole thing done.

I've tried that this week, but no luck. My virtual memory on my machine keeps shutting it down. Maybe if I delete some old crap to free up memory it'll work. I am still in love with my Plucker SRD. Is there any OGC set out in a similar format? I'd love to see that project, an "Ultimate SRD" sort of thing.

I've still been having fun writing and transcribing tables to Tablesmith Express. However, it did give me a fatal error this last session. I was able to reboot successfully and use it again. I wonder if there is a memory limit.

I still would really like a Mobile DB of all the SRD monster stats. I have them in Excel, but Mobile DB lays each row in an easy to read format. DOES ANYONE HAVE THE SOFTWARE TO CONVERT EXCEL TO MOBILE DM?

That's it for this week. I plan to retry using RPGsuite to load all the PCs into. I would be really handy for planning and seeing at a notice what anyones alignment or Spot ranks are.

d20fool

Programs used this week, ACE XP calculator, Tablesmith, Plucker SRD

 

[Saeviomagy]

I've tried that this week, but no luck. My virtual memory on my machine keeps shutting it down. Maybe if I delete some old crap to free up memory it'll work. I am still in love with my Plucker SRD. Is there any OGC set out in a similar format? I'd love to see that project, an "Ultimate SRD" sort of thing.

1. How much actual physical memory do you have
2. What operating system?
3. Do you let windows manage your memory?
4. Is your hard disk totally full or something?

 

[d20fool]

Oh, Plucker, I stab at thee!

1. How much actual physical memory do you have
2. What operating system?
3. Do you let windows manage your memory?
4. Is your hard disk totally full or something?

I've got an HP pavilion with Windows XP on it. 30 GB of memory, of which "only" 787 MB are free. I inherited the computer from my stepfather, who is notorious for loading programs on them. I'm trying to clean up the drive, but haven't had much time lately.

Plucker was again useful this week. Great for looking up spells in particular. I would really like to see a SRD+ with OGC on it. Does anyone know of such a project. I'm also planning on compiling the D&D/d20 index this week. The index is here
http://www.juicymango.co.uk/dndindex/

I got to use my "Spin the Bottle" program this week too! It's at this link.
http://www.freewarepalm.com/misc/spinthebottle.shtml

I used it to randomly determine where missles went. It worked beautifully.

I tried to use the Dungeon Delver's suite "Messenger" program with one of my players who also has a palm and a love of sending me notes of what he's stealing/killing next. It didn' work though.

Programs used this week: Name Maker, TableSmith Express, Plucker, ACE XP Calculator, Spin the Bottle.



d20 fool

 

[d20fool]

New tinkers

I've been adding doc. files from the ENWorld download section. I still haven't gotten a very usable index from the dndindex site. It seems to show that you can pick and choose which books you want indexed, but I can't find out how to do it. Anyone know?

I'm toying with the idea of putting adventures I write in HTML and then using Plucker on them.

Programs used this last session: Palm Reader book (conditions), Plucker SRD (spells, equipment, etc.) ACE XP calculator.

d20fool