3 ms·

I run an active PbP on Paizo.com and pre-covid I ran a lot of in-person games. Before I was active DM, I thought computer initiative and rule aids would be gre

I run an active PbP on Paizo.com and pre-covid I ran a lot of in-person games. Before I was active DM, I thought computer initiative and rule aids would be great. As a DM, I don't imagine they would be for several reasons. A) I have accumulated an encyclopedic master of game rules (running the Pathfinder system, perhaps the most complex D&D variant). B) Dice and tables have a certain "feel" to them that stopping and doing something on one's laptop just doesn't. C) In person, I keep each players stats on a 3"x5" and stack the cards for initiative - this solve 99% of initiative problems, it has a nice physical feel and all my players, some of who will be computer-incompetent if not computer-illiterate. I say all this because I think there are places where computer aids could shine: 1) Character generation - despite lots of projects, there's nothing yet that quickly and complete edittable characters for Pathfinder at least. 2) Map-aids for PbP. Roll20 and related systems simulate the whole in person game framework. Discord and most PbP basically just let you roll dice and maybe change stats with markup. A markup system that also allows change one's location on a map, along with system to manage that, would be cool and make the PbP system richer without forcing it into a "heavy" Roll20 type approach.

mikkelpaulson 5y ago
My experiences have been similar. I do still need to look up spells and item prices and such from time to time, so I did integrate those from 5e since the data is readily available[0] under a free(-ish) license. I figure if you need to look up rules, you're probably better off pulling out a book and using the index. I don't expect my character generators to surpass the many resources that are out there already. The one way in which they might be superior is that they'll offer suggestions that make more sense given the current setting, as well as being readily available. I do want the app to help with stage management, since I don't have the attention to spare for picking out music or managing lighting as I'm trying to tell a story. Definitely agree about Roll20 being too heavy. I just want to drag tokens around on a map. Unfortunately, that's also a very different project from the one I'm building. I haven't used it at the table, but Schmeppy[1] might be closer to what you're looking for. I look forward to trying out the Dynamic Dungeons Editor once I'm back to playing in-person, too.[2] [0] https://github.com/5e-bits/5e-database https://github.com/5e-bits/5e-database [1] https://shmeppy.com/ https://shmeppy.com/ [2] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1694430/Dynamic_Dungeons_Editor/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1694430/Dynamic_Dungeons_...

mikkelpaulson 5y ago

My experiences have been similar. I do still need to look up spells and item prices and such from time to time, so I did integrate those from 5e since the data is readily available[0] under a free(-ish) license. I figure if you need to look up rules, you're probably better off pulling out a book and using the index. I don't expect my character generators to surpass the many resources that are out there already. The one way in which they might be superior is that they'll offer suggestions that make more sense given the current setting, as well as being readily available. I do want the app to help with stage management, since I don't have the attention to spare for picking out music or managing lighting as I'm trying to tell a story. Definitely agree about Roll20 being too heavy. I just want to drag tokens around on a map. Unfortunately, that's also a very different project from the one I'm building. I haven't used it at the table, but Schmeppy[1] might be closer to what you're looking for. I look forward to trying out the Dynamic Dungeons Editor once I'm back to playing in-person, too.[2] [0] https://github.com/5e-bits/5e-database https://github.com/5e-bits/5e-database [1] https://shmeppy.com/ https://shmeppy.com/ [2] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1694430/Dynamic_Dungeons_Editor/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1694430/Dynamic_Dungeons_...