[Tool] D&D 4E Monster Token Generator

[Xennon]

So when DMing, one of the things that took me the most time when setting up my encounters was creating usable tokens for all the different monsters. I liked to try and macro all their powers to make the game flow quicker, but sometimes it just took too long to create everything. Other DM's had mentioned the same issue so I decided to create this.

The D&D 4E Monster Token Generator will take a .monster file from the D&D adventure tools and output a maptool token with properties completed, handout generated and macros for every attack the monster has.

Requirements

• Adobe AIR 3.3 (Sometimes installed along with the App, if not, download from http://get.adobe.com/air/).
• Monster Properties (A set of properties is provided with the tool. The only set required is the 4th Edition Monster set, so this can easily be copied into your current campaign properties and used for your monster tokens without impacting other areas of your campaign properties. If the property set is not used, macro's and handouts will still work but no properties will be populated).
• D&DI subscription.

Features

• Converts a .monster file into a .rptok file with all properties filled out, all powers turned into macro's and all traits listed in the tokens 'handout'.
• Allows selection of multiple .monster files and a 'template' token (one is provided) to copy and produce multiple tokens at once.
• Automatic updates to the latest versions as and when they are released.

Please note that this is a DESKTOP APPLICATION. It needs read/write access to the file system to read .monster files and write .rptok files. If you are not happy with installing a desktop application, do NOT download this. If people who are happy could post confirming that this is a genuine application and not something nefarious, that would be great

Images, light sources, auras etc will have to be assigned to the token manually within maptool. (support for choosing an image may be added as a future feature).

A screenshot is attached showing example output from the tool.

The tool is available from

http://www.xennon.co.uk/xennons/tokenge ... erator.air

instructions are available at

http://www.xennon.co.uk/xennons/tokenge ... readme.txt

Please post with comments, requests, bugs etc Hope this is useful for someone! Our current DM seems to like it! hehe.

[Doktor Avalanche]

How do I open/run a .air program?

[mfrizzell]

I downloaded Adobe Air 3.3

[Xennon]

Just double click it. It will automatically install everything you need.

[mfrizzell]

Nope Windows can't figure out what an "air" file is.

Edit. You must download and install Adobe Air first then install the token generator.

[Xennon]

Hmm, interesting. Same didn't happen for me on my test box

You can get air from here

http://get.adobe.com/air/

[Tokamak]

I've been using this tool and I really like the results except for one major flaw: All of the macros include the /self tag, so none of my players can see the pretty macro that I spent very little time working on! Even when I remove the /self tag, all of the rolls are hidden as well. I'd prefer to have the macro and the rolls visible to my players so they know I'm not fudging the numbers.
I can remove all these tags manually, but it takes enough time to do that for every macro that it almost makes the token generator tool useless. Is there any way to change this property in the tool?

Again, I want to thank you profusely since this has cut my monster token generation time by 90%.

[Xennon]

I'm glad you like it Thanks for the kind words.

Currently there is no option for this and here is my reasoning.

My personal preference as a DM AND as a player, is to not see the DMs rolls. My players need to trust i'm not fudging the numbers (and sometimes I like to fudge the numbers to make an encounter harder/easier or to add some tension at important moments). The reason my preference is this way is because the less meta data a player has, the more immersed they are in the game. As a player, if I see the rolls the DM is making, I immediatly know the attack/damage bonuses of the monsters and therefore can immediatly tell the relative strenghts of all the monsters in a fight. It makes the fight less immersive and more about meta gaming than playing.

I actually explained this to my current DM (when I made the tool for him) and he has actually changed the way he DM;s (he now keeps a lot more private) and in fact, he has embraced it. He even hides all the initiatives of the monsters as well. I love it, as it is then up to us as the players to learn about the monsters, take a round to discover the initiatives (and if we don't write them down and we forget, it's our own fault). You'll be amazed at how much more the players have to get their heads in the game when you stop presenting them with information and make them learn it as their characters would have to

All that said, I appreciate some DM's like to play their way, so if there really is a call to add this feature, I can probably put in a toggle. I urge you to give 'private DMing' a try though, it really is much better for everyone And if you players complain, explain to them that they a) need to trust you and b) stop worrying and enjoy the game. If all they're playing is the meta, then they aren't enjoying some of the best parts of tabletop roleplaying

[Xennon]

P.S It was a very easy thing to add, so i've just done it for you (should auto update). I still recommend giving private DMing a try tho

[Tokamak]

Thanks man! I appreciate the advice too. I'll have to give it a shot sometime and see how it works out.

[Xennon]

No problem

Just as an anecdote, one of the most fun encounters my players ever had was when I did some stuff that you can't actually do at a real tabletop. I turned on individual views and limited just about every bit of information I could. Then the players got overrun by a magical fog, limiting their visiblilty to 5 squares. Of course, lying in ambush were sneaky truesight cyclopses.

The players were freaking out, they couldn't see how many enemies there were (as they weren't on the initiative list either) and if they moved too far, they couldn't see where their allies were either. They were constantly shouting 'I'm to the SW, and I can see..... not a lot except... oh feces.... something big to the NW'.

Bolts of horribleness kept errupting from the fog from any ranged enemies while the melee enemies kept appearing with, as far as the players knew, no end in sight. They eventually whittled them down and then had to use the direction of the bolts coming at them to run down the ranged enemies while at the same time giving instructions to their allies to make sure noone was too far away or people knew where to run.

For me as a DM, being able to see the whole map, it was hilarious. Hearing them talk about what they thought they knew and moving to places they thought was good only to be 1 or 2 squares shy of a target with no idea it was there.

At the end of the session, they all said it was the most fun they had had in an encounter so far. That was the point I first realised that 'less is more' in terms of information

[mfrizzell]

I'm not finding the properties you mention that need to be imported.

[Xennon]

In the directory where you installed the application will be a file called

4eProps.mtprops

If you have trouble finding it, let me know and i'll put it up for download.

[Xennon]

There have been a fair few bugs squashed recently so hopefully anyone using has been getting the auto updates.

If anyone find bugs, please let me know

Cheers

[Sol Invictus]

Hi!
I love your tool, I have been using it a bit, and since I am not using any particular framework, it's a big help! It's also working a bit better than JamesManhattan's tool http://forums.rptools.net/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13237 that is a bit outdated now and does have trouble with some stat block format details that are different depending on the source they are from. Plus, it's slow.
But JamesManhattan's stat block parser has 1 major advantage over the Monster Token Generator that makes me reluctant to use the Generator exclusively: You can summon up a window where it gives the whole monster's sheet. That makes all info on the monster available in MT, even if it's in a non-standard format, like possesions, languages, alignment, weird modifications of otherwise easily parsable details, plus whatever data I forgot now and you might forget.
The text shown may not have any specific formatting. It just would be very nice to have a quick reference in case I forget an important detail about a monster and suddenly need that during the session.
Also, if you do incorporate that info/sheet/popup/(chat output)text somehow (maybe by adding another makro to the token so that it can be summoned when needed?), you have an interim solution for bringing all the yet-to-implement details to the DM within MT. If there are any. Well, apart from images.

Anyway, I am in no way complaining about the tool, it's a great application! This is merely a suggestion.

Edit: Even though you have that fancy auto update I suggest you use some kind of version numbering. This way it's easier to keep track of what's happening for forum readers.