RPM: Beta features update

Cergorach said:
In the items Tab in the Creatures Screen, select on the items Qty and fill in the quantity, ce simple ;-)

OK, in that case:

* Add quantity to the initial selection screen
* Change the weight calculation to include multiples (it doesn't)
 

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* Feats: ... a human Ftr1 should have 3 feats.
And so it should have. Perhaps an issue because you were in "In-Game" mode, and not in the default "Preparation" mode. If, so, you should see it work in the next release. The only difference is that "in-game" mode won't constantly update the statblock.

* When leveling a human Ftr from 1st to 2nd, it listed all skills as exclusive skills.
I've seen this occasionally in the past, and will test for it. Are you sure you didn't have "Race" selected as the class at the time?

* Important suggestion: multiples of items. It's not bad to add a week's rations by clicking 7 times, but what if I had more? What about the scholar with 100 sheets of parchment?
Fixed up weight/value for multiple items, with spin controls to change them.

* Initiative, saves, and skills don't have "+" (Jump 5 instead of +5)
This is for statblock? Will put that "+" in...

* Artisan's tools aren't differentiated and don't provide a bonus
Where appropriate, the option does appear in-game, but is not automatic. For example, you may perform an alchemist check, but may not have the lab handy.

* I'm having trouble refereshing the data...
See "mode" above. Should be fixed.

* Gold isn't included in the total weight carried, AFAIK - important when you have 1,000 gp weighing 20 pounds
Done. There are now separate entries for "carried" and "Stored" gold.

* There's no way to add coins of other types (that I can see) - important for level 1 characters
Not happy with entries for all the different monetary units. Too much screen real-estate, and item values are always in gp. I *do* now let you work with (enter) decimal values got gp, so you get a work around for the "brief" stay on 1st level.

* Is there a way to hide the automatic feats in the stat block?
Mentioned previously. Not yet.

Regards,
 

Still possible for "private" copy?

Hey Luke, this is Andrew (posting here now instead of the Message board). I had a few quick questions:

1) Instead of the current tile mapper, have you considered using Dungeoncrafter.com? They seem to have a pretty good program with a large number of tilesets already available online.

2) For skills that require a further selection (such as Craft and Profession), is the best way to just create new skills rather than place a modifer after adding the "base skill" to a character? For instance, adding Profession (Fisher) and Profession (Miner) as separate skills?

3) Is it possible now to save "house rules"/changes between the different updates? If not, is that planned to be included in the next version?
 

Re: Still possible for "private" copy?


1) Instead of the current tile mapper, have you considered using Dungeoncrafter.com? They seem to have a pretty good program with a large number of tilesets already available online.
DungeonCrafter is a top recommendation to create your maps. You them simply import the BMP into RPM. You can also do this with CC2, and other mapping programs.
The point of the current tilemapper is that I have source code, and can do other things, such as multi-player "fog-of-war" in the future.

2) For skills that require a further selection (such as Craft and Profession), is the best way to just create new skills rather than place a modifer after adding the "base skill" to a character? For instance, adding Profession (Fisher) and Profession (Miner) as separate skills?
That's exactly what happens. Under "Level Up", you enter the subtype, and add point(s). If it's a new subtype, it is entered as a new skill.

3) Is it possible now to save "house rules"/changes between the different updates? If not, is that planned to be included in the next version?
I'm planning to add an import/export "Source" soon, so you can do this relatively easily.
 

Re: Re: Still possible for "private" copy?

I'm planning on a public release within the next day or so, if anyone has specific suggestions for quick inclusion.

The items already mentioned in this thread are, of course, already included.

Regards,
 

Bugs?

Hey Luke, been playing around with your version of RPM and a few other things I've noticed.

1) When creating a new character, I can drop an unused skill's rating into negative ranks to gain extra skill points. I think you should put the lower limit on ranks as 0.

2) I'm not sure if this is true for all weapons, but the description of the dwarven waraxe is the dagger's description.

3) How do you determine a weapon to be used two handed and therefore gain the 1.5 Str bonus to damage? I tried creating a dwarven barbarian with a Greataxe but i couldn't figure out how to turn the two hand option on.

4) Interesting error -- when I was trying to work on the html of the report output and also clicked on generate report of the current creature, I got an error which prompted me to quit in order to preserve the integrity of the database.

5) I'm willing to work on the html outputs and make them even more user friendly, how would you like me to get the changes to you?
 
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Re: Bugs?

Fu-Man Chu said:
Hey Luke, been playing around with your version ...

Thanks. I'll look into these points for the release.

You can simply e-mail me the files from your "reports" sub-directory, to pass on any new reports you create.

Regards,
 

Re: Beta release

I've been working pretty hard on what I've always thought as been the real reason I started work on RPM.

This is mostly concerned with in-game management, where RPM does almost all that can be done to automate the rules mechanics, and provide the best assistance with managing all the myriad rules.
The latest work is largely as a result of play testing over the gaming table - getting the features in that are the biggest help at the gaming table, and provide the least intrusive help to help game flow.

The latest work revolves around the following:
- Providing a game log window that show the history of results.
- Quicker editing of initiative rolls in combat.
- Recording all actions and targets selected from round to round.
- Action attack selections to show all the attackers modifiers, and all the defenders AC modifiers, adjusted as appropriate for the current conditions. Combat is then fully resolved.
- Action skill selections to show all the relevant modifiers, including DC selections and theor modifiers.
- Action skill selections that have opposed checks to show the modifiers and rolls for both sides, and resolve the results.
- Action selections of spells to show available spells and process them correctly (with saves for targets), and also keep track of durations, with opportunity to code spells for full automation (eg. "Cat's Grace" raises the Dex of the target for the duration of the spell).
- Show the effects of duration spells in the "Conditions Status" for creatures.

I'm not aware of any other utility that even comes close to doing all this, so I appreciate that the full extent of what I'm trying to describe might be a bit difficult to appreciate.

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, this is part of the currently working vision...
- Wizard selects "Cast Spell" after targeting the fighter, and chooses "Cat's Grace" from his spell list.
- Since the spell is "Harmless" and has no save, the action proceeds directly to applying the spell's code, which adds a temporary Dex modifier to the fighter.
- Later work would first recognise that the spell produces an attack of opportunity, and ask if anyone is going to attempt a hit on the wizard first. For any hits made, a concentration check screen would automatically pop up, with a chance to spoil the spell.
- The fighter's dex would be automatically raised, and his AC, along with his bow attack, initiative modifier (and all other Dex related effects), will automatically see the resulting effects.
- When the "Cat's Grace" expires, the effects are automatcially filtered through.

What I'm thinking of, is to provide some screenshots of the work-in-progress, to make it clearer, and get people's opinions on my ideas. It's a LOT of work, so I'm also interested in finding out if continuing to make the effort is worth it.

Let me know if you have opinions, or think you may get some benefit of screenshots with explanations.

Regards,
 
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As per another thread, the beta has a further "small" delay to incorporate in-game automation of processing actions.

This is about automatically processing attacks, skill checks, spell casting etc. It will include include targeting (both single, and multiple targets, as for fireball area affects, or attempting to "Hide" from several "Spot" checks).

Additionally, the "Damage" window is being enhanced, to correctly support damaging of creatures. As an example a block of damage could include standard weapon damage, type of damage, critical threat damage, and poison. This is important, so that RPM can automatically handle the following types of situations:
- Creatures that don't include critical threat damage.
- Skeletons getting half damage from certain weapon types.
- Creatures with damage resistance ignoring a certain amount of damage.
- Creatures that may be resistant to cold, electricity, or other damage.
- Subdual options, and things such as poison affecting things other than straight hit points.
Whilst the damage window may look more complicated than a simplistic "Enter Hp Damage" window, RPM can actually build it up for you, and automatically process it. The only reason for even showing the dialog is so that you can override things, such as damage rolls, before pressing "Ok".

In all, a pretty exciting time for RPM. I've put a few lines of script behind some spells (such as "Cats Grace" or "Mage Armor"), and tested casting it on party members. It's pretty cool when the AC from "Mage Armor" increases less than you expected, but closer examination reveals that RPM correctly applied the stacking rules!!! ;)
 

Hi Luke, it's been a while, sorry about that.

I've got my new laptop up and running *drool*, and have installed the 'new' RPM. Did a test run with it last week and my players are really happy with it. I used it to run an encounter with 3 Mind Flayers and 5 Grimlocks (bar7) against a 13th level party. The only problem was that i had to manually add a lot of info to the notes section. This could probably have been avoided if i had spent some time entering the information into the database, but at the time i didn't really have that time. I'm now planning an encounter with a Black Dragon and am going to start with editing the info in the database, let's see how much RPM can do ;-)

I love the ability to copy a creature from current creature, that saved me so much time last week!

Log window is excellent, can it save to file so you can reference it later? The automation of combat sounds good, only problem is that i probably wouldn't use it in game untill it's fully finised, i would not want to risk it that RPM messed up something that gets one of my players killed in the end. I will use it to test combat, just to get a feeling of an encounter.

How are you handling whether creatures are threathened or not? Are you going to use a coordinates system? I have some thoughts on this, but before spending an hour trying to explain them, are such thought appreciated and usefull?

Use of RPM in both a fully managed and partially managed way:
What my players would like to see is that they can still throw their own dice (that's part of the kick ;-) and let RPM use those results to calculate the correct results (so that the bonuses of that vorpal sword they don't know anything about are added correctly). What mode would this be? I'm guessing fully managed, but does that allow of editing of results (or more corectly, giving it data)?

The two weapon attack looks sound, i was afrai that it would be troubl. How are you handeling multiple natural attacks? Especially at high BAB, then RPM says that the creature gets multiple attacks, but because they are only using natural attacks they should only get a single attack with each natural weapon.

In all the future of RPM is burning bright! How is it going with the amount of responses you get? Still abysmal?

Regards,

Mr.C
 
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