Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Virtual Online Tabletop for 5e
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6988808" data-attributes="member: 6787650"><p>(1) Text-accessible interface: it should be at least <em>possible</em> to drop a Hypnotic Pattern on a clump of orcs without clicking on a single button. Doesn't have to be natural language-based but it would sure be nice if it were smart enough to know that "cast Hypnotic Pattern" should default to casting it on the largest group of <em>enemies</em> instead of casting it on one's current location or throwing a "you must specify a target" error.</p><p></p><p>(2) Ability to smoothly handle extremely large battles. If I say, "You open the door and see 44 zombies come boiling out of it to attack you," I <em>shouldn't</em> be tempted to drop back to a whiteboard and ToTM in order to handle the battle. The product should make my life easier, not harder. Related to #1.</p><p></p><p>(3) Automation and machine learning capabilities, e.g. for learning more-effective zombie scripts, or for solving Internet arguments like "I bet a Warlock 10 could beat a Fighter 20" via Monte Carlo sim.</p><p></p><p>(4) Ability for the DM to prospectively or retroactively modify things by fiat, no matter what the rule engine says. "Actually there are two ogres here." "You're right, Brad, I forgot that you still have that magical boon. The ogre doesn't hit you--that is now a miss."</p><p></p><p>(5) Related to #2 and #4, should be usable on the fly as well as with pre-planned adventures. "Add ten ogres in random locations throughout the area" should be a thing it can do.</p><p></p><p>(6) Shareable (via URL) post-combat logs that are able to include non-combat activities, so you can see from the log all the roleplaying activities as well as the pure combat stuff. "Jack looks really mad that the ogre would say such things about Grizella. He snatches up a table leg and hits the ogre with it! 'She's NOT yummy, she's MY FRIEND!' <em>Jack hits the ogre for 3 points of damage.</em>"</p><p></p><p>(7) Deeply transparent explanations available for why things happened. "Jack hits the ogre for 3 points of damage" is just a summary which can be drilled down to a full explanation of what the ogre's AC was, what Jack rolled, whether Jack used any resources like Superiority Dice on the attack, why he did or didn't use Superiority Dice if he had them, what dice were used for rolling Jack's damage, what features caused those dice to be selected, etc.</p><p></p><p>(8) Good path-finding for AI-controlled creatures. Doesn't have to be perfect but should look like something a real creature would do.</p><p></p><p>(9) Partial information capabilities. E.g. it should be possible to use this tool to automatically track the movement of ten off-screen ogres moving around through the dungeon while the players are examining the cooking pots in another. Then when four ogres suddenly show up all at once, it should be possible (after the fact) to show the players that the ogres were there all along, and that they were just attracted by the noise when the PCs started banging pots together. This allows you to play Kriegspiel-like scenarios without the players having to feel like the DM might be handwaving unfairly or cheating, because they get to audit the game afterwards.</p><p></p><p>Partial information scenarios, 3D (e.g. a fort with hanging bridges that let you go over things and tunnels that let you go under them), and large battles are some of the real killer apps for virtual tabletop software, because you can't really do them easily at a real tabletop.</p><p></p><p>I don't really expect you to create a VTT that has all these capabilities, but as I've been working on my own little hobby project these are some of the design requirements I've come up with for a useful 5E software tool. And if you <em>do</em> happen to have any of these capabilities I would definitely like to know about it. I see you support at least some AI PCs but from the web page I can't tell what the experience is like.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FormerlyHemlock, post: 6988808, member: 6787650"] (1) Text-accessible interface: it should be at least [I]possible[/I] to drop a Hypnotic Pattern on a clump of orcs without clicking on a single button. Doesn't have to be natural language-based but it would sure be nice if it were smart enough to know that "cast Hypnotic Pattern" should default to casting it on the largest group of [I]enemies[/I] instead of casting it on one's current location or throwing a "you must specify a target" error. (2) Ability to smoothly handle extremely large battles. If I say, "You open the door and see 44 zombies come boiling out of it to attack you," I [I]shouldn't[/I] be tempted to drop back to a whiteboard and ToTM in order to handle the battle. The product should make my life easier, not harder. Related to #1. (3) Automation and machine learning capabilities, e.g. for learning more-effective zombie scripts, or for solving Internet arguments like "I bet a Warlock 10 could beat a Fighter 20" via Monte Carlo sim. (4) Ability for the DM to prospectively or retroactively modify things by fiat, no matter what the rule engine says. "Actually there are two ogres here." "You're right, Brad, I forgot that you still have that magical boon. The ogre doesn't hit you--that is now a miss." (5) Related to #2 and #4, should be usable on the fly as well as with pre-planned adventures. "Add ten ogres in random locations throughout the area" should be a thing it can do. (6) Shareable (via URL) post-combat logs that are able to include non-combat activities, so you can see from the log all the roleplaying activities as well as the pure combat stuff. "Jack looks really mad that the ogre would say such things about Grizella. He snatches up a table leg and hits the ogre with it! 'She's NOT yummy, she's MY FRIEND!' [I]Jack hits the ogre for 3 points of damage.[/I]" (7) Deeply transparent explanations available for why things happened. "Jack hits the ogre for 3 points of damage" is just a summary which can be drilled down to a full explanation of what the ogre's AC was, what Jack rolled, whether Jack used any resources like Superiority Dice on the attack, why he did or didn't use Superiority Dice if he had them, what dice were used for rolling Jack's damage, what features caused those dice to be selected, etc. (8) Good path-finding for AI-controlled creatures. Doesn't have to be perfect but should look like something a real creature would do. (9) Partial information capabilities. E.g. it should be possible to use this tool to automatically track the movement of ten off-screen ogres moving around through the dungeon while the players are examining the cooking pots in another. Then when four ogres suddenly show up all at once, it should be possible (after the fact) to show the players that the ogres were there all along, and that they were just attracted by the noise when the PCs started banging pots together. This allows you to play Kriegspiel-like scenarios without the players having to feel like the DM might be handwaving unfairly or cheating, because they get to audit the game afterwards. Partial information scenarios, 3D (e.g. a fort with hanging bridges that let you go over things and tunnels that let you go under them), and large battles are some of the real killer apps for virtual tabletop software, because you can't really do them easily at a real tabletop. I don't really expect you to create a VTT that has all these capabilities, but as I've been working on my own little hobby project these are some of the design requirements I've come up with for a useful 5E software tool. And if you [I]do[/I] happen to have any of these capabilities I would definitely like to know about it. I see you support at least some AI PCs but from the web page I can't tell what the experience is like. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Virtual Online Tabletop for 5e
Top