Editing Talk:DnD4eCM (section)

== Second Window Request ==

I love this program it works great. However there is one request I have. Could you add a second window that displays the initiative order, HP %, as well as conditions? so you can display it to the players on a second monitor.

I would second this request.  While the ability to copy the init to a clipboard is available, It would be nice to have the above information updating in real time on a second monitor.

~Ktulu

I've been mulling this over, and would like to do it, but I need some input.  How much information do you guys think the window should share?  Personally, as a DM, I don't always tell my players how many combatants there are at the beginning of a fight, or what their opponents are called, for example.  Trying to think of a way to "control" this information a bit.  I'm open to suggestions on this :)  -- DarkSir

From my point of view, I think only combatants who've rolled initiative should display.  Anything that's not in the active list of rolled shouldn't show up.

I think having the monster's names are ok, since it's easy enough for the DM to change the name right before rolling, or during import, or even during the building.

I would display:

*the initiative count
*the % of health for each creature (not the actual HP) 
*whether or not it's bloodied
*any conditions currently affecting (both creature and player, of course).

I can't think of anything else I'd display.  Have it populate in a second window, then it could be drug to a second screen for player display.

~ Ktulu

Here's my thought:
A percentage could be a giveaway.  I don't know about you, but my players would look at how much damage was done, figure out how much the percentage they did, and figure out the opponent's HP immediately.  So how about this:  Undamaged, <blank>, Bloodied, and Near Dead?

This would all be in a slightly larger font, of course, so the creature name would be on the left, then the NAMES of any status effects, comma separated, on the right.

Was also thinking about showing 10 or 12 lines.  The first two lines would be the prior two turns, in a lighter grey, the Current combatant in bold black, perhaps with a box around it, then the "On Deck" combatant a bit lighter below, and then the next 6 or 8 combatants again in a lighter grey, though still readable.  

I'll play with it, of course, but that's just what I'm looking at now.

--DarkSir

Initiative Window: 

I second Ktulu's suggestions. 
Also if possible make the font re-sizable, some of my players need their eyes checked heh.
If bloodied put it under conditions, but also turn the Hitpoints into bold red. 
Monsters that are in Reserve don't go into the window. 
Have a little window on the bottom right where I can type notes as reminders for the players. 
For the current combatant, why not use blue, same as the DM init tracker? Also for current combatant have the font for that blow up to 100% more size. The box is a good idea too. 


I'd imagine it' look like this (My secondary monitor is 4:3 so not widescreen):

Player 1 Hitpoints 
Conditions (including bloodied)
Player 2 Hitpoints 
Conditions (including bloodied)

-- Bryan


I think all comments above are good.  a percentage isn't required, was just a thought..  I think having the monster name go red and bold when bloodied is a good enough option.

I would probably format it like this, though

Init


* 13  Player 1   Conditions (marked, bloodied, etc..) along with the specifics (save ends, next turn, etc..)
* 12  Monster 1  Conditions  (marked, bloodied, etc..) along with the specifics (save ends, next turn, etc..)

~Ktulu

Good suggestions.  Bear with me a bit, guys.  For the last 5 days, I've been dealing with a busted furnace, and it's taking up most of my extra energy right now.  Plus I'm likely to have to work some overtime to help pay for it, so I may not get much done REAL quick, but I'm toying with it already, so bear with me :) --DarkSir

Merry Christmas guys! Hope you got your furnace sorted out DarkSir! Best of luck!

- Bryan


No pressure, DS!  Perceive our interest for the gratitude that it is!  Your continued work on the builder has helped to greatly improve my combat encounters.  I'll wait with anticipation for any updates that come along.

Hope the floundering furnace was fantastically fixed!  Happy New Year!

~Ktulu

All great ideas. I think including a check-box menu at the top of the window with a list of things you can include/exclude from the second screen may be a good idea so the GM can keep some degree of secrecy when they want to. Another idea I had for the second screen was maybe it could list effects that are always active like the +2 to death save throws, or +2 to diplomacy checks, or any other constantly active racial or class ability/powers to help the players keep track of them. I figure it could pull this info from the character sheet when you upload it to the tracker. Hopefully your not freezing without a furnace and happy new years to you all.

~OP Sinner Dragoon.


I '''LOVE''' what you have done so far so I really don't want to make this sound like I'm complaining but I have a handful of points I'd like to make.  First, I think I found a bug.  The "Round" column seems to show the current round for all encounter members.  I think it is meant to work like the app itself where it shows the player/NPC's upcoming turn number.  Secondly, the way you have the one URL "/content" that returns an HTML table makes it really hard to truly customize the layout of the page.  Returning tags that don't imply any format such as divs and lists would allow the css to do all of the formatting/presentation.  This would open the door for people to start designing "skins" for the web app.  Lastly, I have 2 feature requests.  First Request: I would find it handy to at a glance, know when one round was over and the next starting.  I think this could be represented graphically by a small red line between the last and first initiative. (Again, this could be done by css if the tag for the first person had an attribute of "firstplayer" or something.)  Second Request: In my group, I always show the players the NPC's defenses on a whiteboard.  It would be great if I could show these underneath the initiative table.  If there was a way to get that info, perhaps another service like "/attributes", I could use that information elsewhere on the page.  I don't want to sound like I'm just complaining because I'd love to get into the code and make the modifications myself, but I see it's no longer open source.  I have lots of experience doing this kind of stuff, and if you'd be interested in letting me help you out, I'd love to! Thanks again for all your hard work

- Todd