The Viper Mercenary Company - Pathfinder RPG

Tell us how you are using our gaming tools and how your sessions are going.

Moderator: Azhrei

Post Reply
BeatnikTom
Kobold
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:57 pm

The Viper Mercenary Company - Pathfinder RPG

Post by BeatnikTom »

Hello everyone, lifetime p&p gamer since 1979, first time virtual tabletop user.

I DM'd my first session with MT. It was a remote game. We used v63 with imarkus' PF framework as is and Teamspeak 3 for voice.

Overall I think the players took to the technology very well and said they really liked it.

Problems:

Token properties were the biggest problem we had. I had saved the tokens with the Pathfinder properties but when I would drag the saved tokens onto the map, they would have "Basic" properties set. I think I was doing something wrong because it works now and saves everything.

However, when I drag in a new token (never before setup or saved), it would be pretty awesome if they had Pathfinder properties set by default. I'd also like them to default to size medium. Is there a way to do that? Maybe I want 8 zombies and just want to enter their hit points for example, I'd like to skip the steps where I have to open the token config and set the properties, size and stuff like that while the players are waiting.

The players could see the monsters' Armor Class for some reason.

How can you allow the players to see the stats for specific friendly NPCs like henchmen but not the other adversaries? Just set them as PCs?


Stuff that would be cool (and likely already exists):

Another thing that would be helpful would be a way to highlight on the map. I started using the drawing tools like I was John Madden, but then this becomes part of the map. It would be cool to grab a token, usually objects but maybe creatures too and have them halo when I want or even blink so players know what door I'm talking about that just exploded into splinters or what have you. Or to have another layer that is a temporary layer I could draw on and then delete the whole layer when I'm done with it.

Dice Rolling
We like dice. If there was one thing that we like about face to face, it's dice. (OK and maybe snacks.) For our session, we used the default tables for dice, we'd roll and then see if it was a success, you know by looking at our character sheets. ;) Then roll damage. I'd be open to start using the Macros for attacks if you could see the die roll (with the graphic) in line in the chat dialogue. How difficult would that be for me to tackle or has that already been done too?

Then for even more cowbell and "dice satisfaction" I'd like to add a dice rolling sound effect to each roll.

Coolest things we liked most about MapTools and the PF framework:
  • Vision/Fog of War
    Initiative tracking
So anyway, we loved it and with only a little fiddling for our group's preferences, I think this could be a really cool way for us to play either f2f or remotely.

Thank you to everyone for building and offering such a great tool for the community! I'm already considering several efforts of my own to contribute to the cause. As a (former) Perl programmer, I'm thinking about building some external scripts that can connect other tools directly to MT, like synching Pathfinder character tokens from PCGen or HeroLabs.

neofax
Great Wyrm
Posts: 1694
Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 8:51 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Contact:

Re: The Viper Mercenary Company - Pathfinder RPG

Post by neofax »

BeatnikTom wrote: Problems:
However, when I drag in a new token (never before setup or saved), it would be pretty awesome if they had Pathfinder properties set by default. I'd also like them to default to size medium. Is there a way to do that? Maybe I want 8 zombies and just want to enter their hit points for example, I'd like to skip the steps where I have to open the token config and set the properties, size and stuff like that while the players are waiting.
This can be done by deleting the basic property as I don't think it is used. However, the correct way is to drag the token and then hit the Setup Blank button. I make one of each token and keep it in my library and then it is easy to just drag and drop(maybe level the token up). Also, there is a macro to copy a statblock from a pdf and make a token.
BeatnikTom wrote: The players could see the monsters' Armor Class for some reason.

How can you allow the players to see the stats for specific friendly NPCs like henchmen but not the other adversaries? Just set them as PCs?
Only way is to set them as PC's as far as I know.
BeatnikTom wrote: Stuff that would be cool (and likely already exists):

Another thing that would be helpful would be a way to highlight on the map. I started using the drawing tools like I was John Madden, but then this becomes part of the map. It would be cool to grab a token, usually objects but maybe creatures too and have them halo when I want or even blink so players know what door I'm talking about that just exploded into splinters or what have you. Or to have another layer that is a temporary layer I could draw on and then delete the whole layer when I'm done with it.
Use the Halo function by right clicking the token.
BeatnikTom wrote: Dice Rolling
We like dice. If there was one thing that we like about face to face, it's dice. (OK and maybe snacks.) For our session, we used the default tables for dice, we'd roll and then see if it was a success, you know by looking at our character sheets. ;) Then roll damage. I'd be open to start using the Macros for attacks if you could see the die roll (with the graphic) in line in the chat dialogue. How difficult would that be for me to tackle or has that already been done too?
Hover your mouse over the die rolls and it will show you the breakdowns.
BeatnikTom wrote: Then for even more cowbell and "dice satisfaction" I'd like to add a dice rolling sound effect to each roll.
Grab the Dice program from the MapTools subforum and it does this, but currently does not hook up with MapTools. Or, find a dice sound wav file and play it every time.
BeatnikTom wrote: I'm thinking about building some external scripts that can connect other tools directly to MT, like synching Pathfinder character tokens from PCGen or HeroLabs.
PC-Gen is already done by mosat and Cosworth. I use it now and it is great!

BeatnikTom
Kobold
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:57 pm

Re: The Viper Mercenary Company - Pathfinder RPG

Post by BeatnikTom »

Aha!/Wow/Duh/Awesome/Thank You!

I knew I was probably doing it wrong. :oops:

For dice rolling, is there a way to play a wav file in MT and script it so the whole group hears it? Or are you suggesting just play the file in another program?

User avatar
lmarkus001
Great Wyrm
Posts: 1867
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:30 am
Location: Layfayette Hill, PA

Re: The Viper Mercenary Company - Pathfinder RPG

Post by lmarkus001 »

BeatnikTom wrote:
Problems:

Token properties were the biggest problem we had.
...

The players could see the monsters' Armor Class for some reason.

How can you allow the players to see the stats for specific friendly NPCs like henchmen but not the other adversaries? Just set them as PCs?
Glad to hear you had some success!

Visibility of token properties is a function of the property definition in Campaign Properties ( I HIGHLY recommend the basic training videos for MapTools). In the case of my framework, I let the players see the NPCs ArmorClass. But you can easily change this. Edit -> Campaign Properties then click on Pathfinder. Now scroll down until you find the line *AC (AC/TH/FF/CMD/CMDFF). The asterisk means display that field on the statsheet. If you only want the Owner of the token to be able to see that stat, add an @ sign *@AC (AC/TH/FF/CMD/CMDFF). After making the change, press Update, then Ok. There are other visibility options spelled out on that page.

Post Reply

Return to “Session Report-Back”