MapTool 1.3 Development Build 6

[RPTroll]

I once talked about a 'view' on a character sheet. The mini sheet would would be a cool view off of data in character sheet tool.

[Nys]

I think I've been viewing the statsheet in the "wrong" way. I was thinking it was primarily for the GM's benefit. However, it doesn't have enough room to show all the things a GM needs to regularly look at, hence the need for a minisheet. The statsheet is a better fit for the few bits of info the players regularly need in order to check out the status of the other people in their group. So, you're better off putting info into there that players commonly want to know about each other.

Edit to go into more detail of how I view the purpose of the various sheets:

A player will look at their own full character sheet more than anybody else. A player will only be interested in basic status info of their allies: Hitpoints, Wounds, etc. The statsheet is a good fit for this. Players will want as much info as they can get on NPCs, but the GM will likely only allow a few status details, much like they get with their allies. The GM will rarely want to refer to a full character sheet because it probably has more info than he needs, but he will need more than the basic info provided by the statsheet. The minisheet is ideal for a GM.

[trevor]

I once talked about a 'view' on a character sheet. The mini sheet would would be a cool view off of data in character sheet tool.

Exactly !

[Nadare]

I bolded the part of your commentary that made me say that.

Hehe, well, I guess that makes 2 of us XML advocates then. Sometimes I think people use XML for everything, even when it shouldn't be. Sometimes a relational database or binary format is better. (XML file sizes can really add up fast if you are generating a lot of data, due to the extra space taken up by the tag names).

That being said, I love XML because it is self-describing, and supremely flexible. You don't like the way the data is organized? Write an XML transform and change it without doing a lot of editing. Plus, it's platform independent, easy to view and work with, given its wide acceptance. You don't need any special tools to create it, but there are many out there if you desire that. Plus, it makes data import/export and rendering very easy, as you just write a stylesheet or transform to do what you want with it. Or you can attack the problem programmatically since most modern languages have built in capability to manipulate it.

I wish the PCGen datafiles were in XML format -- oh, the things you could do then. But PCGen is one of those cases where space savings are important. With the amount of data they have, their data files could get scary big, relatively speaking.

I'd still like to see an option to show a compact (text) stat block on a token mouse over or click. There's probably no more compact way of looking up statistics than that. I would love not having to figure out which darn monster manual to grab and flip through pages just to find out monster X's flat footed touch AC. I tend to use my books for adventure prep and idea gathering, then use software for reference at game time (possibly except for looking up rules in the PHB).

For example, you could write a stat block template like:

{Name}: {Sex} {Align} {Creature Type} {Race}; HP {HP}; AC {AC}, flat footed {ACFlat}, touch {ACTouch}; Abilities: Str {STR}, Dex {DEX}, Con {CON}, Int {INT}, Wis {WIS}, Cha {CHA}; Saves: Fort {SaveFort}, Ref {SaveRef}, Will {SaveWill}

And then the output (provided you filled in all the fields, would be something like:

Zyzzzzyx: Male Neutral Evil Dragon (Earth) Gray Dragon; HP 277; AC 47, flat 41, touch 25; Abilities: Str 41, Dex 29, Con 21, Int 22, Wis 14, Cha 22; Saves: Fort +25, Ref +19, Will +20

[Nadare]

..but I would still like a graphical character sheet, as I tend to like graphics over text and as a RPG game player for many years, I like having a character sheet to view

I think Nys's point is well taken though. perhaps I got the cases wrong: one simple mouseover view for only the most important properties, then the other case is the minisheet/full character sheet. The minisheet could simply be a special case of the full sheet that shows less stuff, as Nys was suggesting.

Maybe thinking about all of the use cases would help. Get input from people on exactly what they would want the micro/mini/full sheets to show and what they would do with them. Then maybe you could find the common ground and tailor each one to the specific cases people would use them for.

[trevor]

For example, you could write a stat block template like:

{Name}: {Sex} {Align} {Creature Type} {Race}; HP {HP}; AC {AC}, flat footed {ACFlat}, touch {ACTouch}; Abilities: Str {STR}, Dex {DEX}, Con {CON}, Int {INT}, Wis {WIS}, Cha {CHA}; Saves: Fort {SaveFort}, Ref {SaveRef}, Will {SaveWill}

This is actually exactly what I had in mind for the mini sheet

[dorpond]

I think one very important thing that is lacking in Maptool is player note taking. I think players need a place to write down notes and such - something that is saved with the campaign. Trevor, do you plan on this mini-sheet being that place? Since it is going to be open on the screen and it pertains to your character, it would be a logical place. No need to have multiple windows open all over the place.

Thoughts?

[Nadare]

New feature request list for MapTool:

1. Make it do everything!
2. See #1.

[Nys]

Thoughts?

Would chat logging fill the need for note taking?

[trevor]

do you plan on this mini-sheet being that place

The minisheet isn't planned to have any interactive controls on it, that'll be the character sheet.

I could potentially create a Player Notebook. Something like a button on the toolbar that you click and it pops up a text entry box. Save it with the campaign so it's there for you.

[dorpond]

I could potentially create a Player Notebook. Something like a button on the toolbar that you click and it pops up a text entry box. Save it with the campaign so it's there for you.

That would be fantastic! Doesn't have to be anything fancy although it would be nice for the player to be able to drop note flags on the map. Perhaps that option could go in there also.

This way player one can drop a little note flag by the dragon headed door. When it is clicked on, a note comes up like the hover notes that says "Tried to cast knock on this door and nothing happened. We also found a strange script in the mouth of the dragon. Make sure we cast tongues tomorrow so we can read it."

That too would be sweet!

Currently, only GM's can drop hover notes because they only work with stamps.

Thanks again Trevor!

[RPMiller]

Is the character sheet going to be specifically D20 or will it be customizable? I'm curious for reasons that should be obvious by now *cough*HERO*cough*

[trevor]

Is the character sheet going to be specifically D20 or will it be customizable? I'm curious for reasons that should be obvious by now *cough*HERO*cough*

It will be entirely customizable. Entirely

[RPMiller]

/Homer
WOOHOO
/Homer

[teban]

Well with the Mini sheet most likely having a repeat of the same info as the stat sheet, I'd like to use the stat sheet to track things like HP, # of arrows/clips....ect things that change. It seems like the ability to alter the info on the fly would be a real handy option.