The MacroPolicebox: Second Regeneration (D&D 4E Framework)

Framework(s) for D&D 4e, including Veggiesama's.

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StarMan
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Post by StarMan »

Time for yet another triple SL release! Not much to report this time as most changes are very minor operational tweaks. These are in the areas of importing, handout and trigger handling. Attack powers will now include overridden damage types in their keywords fields. You will also be given a check value of 100 for those you have previously checked. Having already fought them, you should know everything they can do, right? Enjoy!
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OneAmahira
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Re: The MacroPolicebox: Second Regeneration (D&D 4E Framework)

Post by OneAmahira »

As somebody coming fresh to Maptools from using Masterplan for their 4e, how would you say your framework compares? I'm concerned this may be more than we actually need and struggle for our less computer-literate players. I'm also having some trouble figuring out how to use this for two of our PCs who are built around implement/weapon juggling. I'm particularly struggling with accounting for hyper specific bonuses added by some superior implements like the incendiary dagger, which gives additional bonuses if an attack spell targets reflexes and does fire damage and also with our sorcerer's utility power Avatars of Chaos, which is rather complicated as far as utility powers go because it generates four images of the PC within 10 squares and each image gets a +1 to specific damage type, they disappear once an attack hits them, but the PC doesn't take damage from attacks to those images.
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1.8.3!

Post by StarMan »

Good to hear from you OneAmahira! Good questions but I think it's better to have more than you need and just ignore the features you don't. Just have your group watch my videos and they should be fine. I peeked at MasterPlan many years ago and would not put it in the same class as a framework. It's more of an adventure authoring tool whereas frameworks are combat management systems. At least mine is anyway.

The Attack Power macro will use bonuses from the Keywords section of the power editor so use the Arsenal menu to make sure your implements and weapons are properly edited. When running the powers, make sure the proper bonuses are being used and use the Sit Mod field at the bottom to adjust as appropriate according to the situation. You can also use Power Mgmt->Trigger Definitions to run certain macros like Incendiary Dagger Power for MeleeAttack events. You can also use Macro Mgmt->Rebuild Power to create alternate versions of powers to go after alternate defences. For example, you could rebuild the "Magic Missile" macro as "Magic Missile AC" and change the defence from Reflex to AC on the 3rd tab.

Yes, Avatars of Chaos is a complicated mechanic but we got it working pretty nicely last year. More on this later!

In case you all didn't hear, upgrading to MT 1.8.3 is now MANDATORY!!! We had our first session with it last night and can safely say this new version knocks it outta the park!!! It's leaner and meaner (faster and uses WAY less RAM) and the few bugs we saw are negligible (i.e. sounds don't play on OS X and generated macro buttons don't have state images). Please report any difficulties here.
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Avatars of Chaos

Post by StarMan »

OneAmahira wrote:
Wed Feb 17, 2021 4:13 pm
...with our sorcerer's utility power Avatars of Chaos, which is rather complicated as far as utility powers go because it generates four images of the PC within 10 squares and each image gets a +1 to specific damage type, they disappear once an attack hits them, but the PC doesn't take damage from attacks to those images.
Paste this code over what's there on your Library token

Code: Select all

[h:varsFromStrProp("Targets=;"+macro.args)]
[MACRO("Banner@Lib:MacroPolicebox"): "Power="+getMacroName()+"; FlavorText=You briefly embody four principles of chaos, dividing yourself into a quartet of poles, each of which is charged with a potent threat.; PowerSpecs=<b>Daily &diams Arcane, Conjuration, Fire, Force, Lightning, Psychic<br><b>Minor,  </b>Personal; Attack=Utility; Type="+Class+" Utility 16"]
<span style='color: purple'><b>Effect:</b> You conjure images of yourself in 4 unoccupied, nonadjacent squares within 10 squares of you, and then you disappear from the world. Each round at the start of your turn, choose one of the four images. Your essence occupies that image, allowing you to act normally (including moving and making attacks). When you conjure each image, choose a keyword for it from among fire, force, lightning, and psychic. You cant choose the same keyword twice. While you occupy an image, you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls when you use a power that has a keyword that matches that image. Each image lasts until the end of the encounter, until it is destroyed, or until you dismiss it. Each image occupies 1 square, and creatures cannot move through an images space. An image can be targeted by attacks and uses your defenses. Each image (including the one you occupy) has 1 hit point, and a missed attack never damages an image. An image is destroyed if it is reduced to 0 hit points or fewer. If you occupy an image when it is destroyed, you can immediately move to any other image still present. If you occupy the last remaining image when it is destroyed, you reappear in that square. As a minor action, you can dismiss all remaining images and reappear in any square that was occupied by an image when you took this action.<br>

[MACRO("Register Effect@Lib:MacroPolicebox"): "Name=Avatars of Chaos-AttackBonus ; State=AttackBonus ; Mod=1 ; Duration=Sustain"]
</span>
[MACRO("Place Spell@Lib:MacroPolicebox"): "Token=Avatars of Chaos Fire; Dest="+getName()]
[MACRO("Place Spell@Lib:MacroPolicebox"): "Token=Avatars of Chaos Force; Dest="+ getName()]
[MACRO("Place Spell@Lib:MacroPolicebox"): "Token=Avatars of Chaos Lightning; Dest="+ getName()]
[MACRO("Place Spell@Lib:MacroPolicebox"): "Token=Avatars of Chaos Psychic; Dest="+ getName()]

Sustain: None
Place these tokens on whatever map the caster is on (use FL->Polymorph if you don't like the halfling image):
Avatars of Chaos.zip
Tokens
(324.02 KiB) Downloaded 111 times
When the above macro is run, all 4 of these will get piled onto the caster token whom may then deploy them as needed. Use Get Caster Props on these to populate them with the caster's defences.
Last edited by StarMan on Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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OneAmahira
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Re: The MacroPolicebox: Second Regeneration (D&D 4E Framework)

Post by OneAmahira »

Thanks for the quick reply. I did upgrade it 1.8.3! I understand it's a big change for Maptool in this release. It's nice to see it's so well loved and supported by the community. Also nice to see others haven't all dropped 4e.

Since my co-DM has been slammed at work, I've been the one looking into VTT and I settled on Maptool and started on examining 4e frameworks, but you could say I'm tier one tech support for our group, he's tier four, and we got nobody in between. So I might have get him to find time to look at this one since he's the one with the computer engineering degree and the programming knowledge/experience. This seems more up his alley than mine because part of his job is implementing robotic process automation for data management. The interfaces in other frameworks do make it easier for me and memory isn't an issue for us since everyone in the group has gaming PCs, but it would be nice to have a framework that's still routinely updated and automating some of tedious parts of 4e would definitely speed up encounters. And altitude tracking because the sorcerer has a dragonling familiar that's always flying and hovering around the the dragonborn bard is eventually going to end up able to stay in the air instead of landing before the end of their turn.

For now I'm gonna save that code you just gave me and give it another go over the weekend. Of course for all I know, when my co-DM finally looks at things he might decide he wants to build his own and my efforts will all be for naught, lol. Thanks again for the help!
--One Amahira, MA
Yes, I'm stilling playing 4e.

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StarMan
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Re: The MacroPolicebox: Second Regeneration (D&D 4E Framework)

Post by StarMan »

You may want to watch my first two videos at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... cfXCFGCau0 where I answer some of your points live and in person. I assume by "interfaces in other frameworks" you mean Rumble, Veggiesama etc. Attempting to use these is an extremely bad idea which I explain at http://macropolicebox.ihostfull.com/ind ... c-creation . My interface is pretty straightforward as soon as you get comfortable finding the macros you need in the tooltip lists.

BTW last night's 1.8.3 session went very well for us and hope you are having good success with it too.
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Re: The MacroPolicebox: Second Regeneration (D&D 4E Framework)

Post by OneAmahira »

Yes, I have watched the tutorials but I'm gonna go through them again and I did read your reasons about the interfaces.

Naturally, you think yours is straightforward because you made it and you know exactly how it works. I don't think in the same way it's designed and neither do our other players; in human factors psychology we would call this a human-computer interaction issue. My branch is clinical psychology, but I still know a thing or two about human factors.

Fortunately, we have my co-DM and he should be able to bridge the gap once he gets a chance to look at things.
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Re: The MacroPolicebox: Second Regeneration (D&D 4E Framework)

Post by Tymophil »

OneAmahira wrote:
Wed Feb 17, 2021 4:13 pm
As somebody coming fresh to Maptools from using Masterplan for their 4e, how would you say your framework compares?
I also used extensively Masterplan for my D&D4E campaigns, and it was a blast.
Did you try to use it for online sessions ?
The software is old and cannot, as far as I know, be updated. Did you still use the 11.11 version ? Were you able to have the software evolve beyond this. I tried to contact the designer of the software, and he never answered.

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Re: The MacroPolicebox: Second Regeneration (D&D 4E Framework)

Post by OneAmahira »

Tymophil wrote:
Sat Feb 20, 2021 5:51 am
I also used extensively Masterplan for my D&D4E campaigns, and it was a blast.
Did you try to use it for online sessions ?
The software is old and cannot, as far as I know, be updated. Did you still use the 11.11 version ? Were you able to have the software evolve beyond this. I tried to contact the designer of the software, and he never answered.
We used to use it for face to face IRL group sessions with the DM having dual screens, one a computer monitor for the DM's view of the software and one a big screen TV that showed the player view to all the players sitting around it. Over probably about eight years of using it, software lag when moving tokens was slowly becoming and issue, especially if we needed a large map for a particular encounter. We had first picked it up when it was still being updated by the designer but are presently using the 11.11 version. Probably will still use it for the flowchart planning and its monster building. It did serve us very well for many years, although my co-DM never tried to modify or upgrade the software after the original designer abandoned it.

So, online play worked all right back when it was like, for one or two players that had moved or somebody was sick and wanted to still play but from home and we could screen share the player view map to them... but it wasn't working out so well for online play once social distancing became the norm and we needed to screen share to every person, particularly with as large a group as we are. Since myself and my co-DM have become the only DMs in active rotation, we decided it was time to start looking into other options that might be better suited to playing completely online and that are still being updated by their developers.
--One Amahira, MA
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Tymophil
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Re: The MacroPolicebox: Second Regeneration (D&D 4E Framework)

Post by Tymophil »

OneAmahira wrote:
Sat Feb 20, 2021 6:27 pm
Tymophil wrote:
Sat Feb 20, 2021 5:51 am
I also used extensively Masterplan for my D&D4E campaigns, and it was a blast.
We used to use it for face to face IRL group sessions with the DM having dual screens, one a computer monitor for the DM's view of the software and one a big screen TV that showed the player view to all the players sitting around it. Over probably about eight years of using it, software lag when moving tokens was slowly becoming and issue, especially if we needed a large map for a particular encounter. We had first picked it up when it was still being updated by the designer but are presently using the 11.11 version. Probably will still use it for the flowchart planning and its monster building. It did serve us very well for many years, although my co-DM never tried to modify or upgrade the software after the original designer abandoned it.
I must confess that I only used it for designing my campaign. It made the whole process a breeze. But I never used the "player view" : we used miniatures, and never had to resort to online play. Of course Covid changes it all...

Thanks for sharing your experience.

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Post by StarMan »

It's been over a month since I posted so it's high time for another although I did find the MasterPlan discussion interesting. I will try using it when next I write an adventure but for now I'm having just too much fun updating the MPB.

We are well into the 48x decade now and I think it's safe to say all the major bugs have been weeded out. All I'm really doing these days is tweaking features to make them run a bit more smoothly. I will try to keep the web site duly in-step with such changes. For example, you will now be ignored if you try to add a Daily power as an Initiative trigger. It doesn't get expended when you do that which is clearly wrong. Handouts are now working again and certain macros no longer crash.

There is little point in blogging here about fixes which you can see described in the release notes on my site. As such, I'll just wait until any of you post your questions here or something "major" happens. I don't consider the 1.8.4 release on the weekend to be major but would be interested in hearing your experiences with it. For now, my groups are VERY happy over the vast performance improvements over the lumbering memory-gobbling 1.7.0 release.

As always, please keep an eye on my site and use the latest SL only. Again, if you post here then please keep your questions as specific as possible. See http://macropolicebox.ihostfull.com/ind ... g-problems for guidelines on doing this. Happy gaming to you!
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48x decade completed

Post by StarMan »

Well the 48x series of SLs is now done and I can safely say the MPB is running along nicely indeed. My groups have thoroughly enjoyed recent sessions despite my brother significantly ramping up encounter difficulties.

Improvements include a notification if you try to run two Standards during your turn without running Spend Action Point, enabling some (but not all) macros on Lib:MMHoF to be runnable for the purpose of installing the corresponding trigger, the recent addition of a Teleportation trigger, Death Saving Throw sending distress messages, elimination of several trigger context problems and the clearing up of how certain effects should be handled.

I am once again out of improvement ideas and have no clue of when SL 490 will be released. Considering I haven't even started on it yet deepens that mystery further. Happy gaming to you and hoping my work is adding a little sunshine to your lockdown situation.
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Post by StarMan »

Hey fellow MPBers! Yes I'm still alive but less inclined to make these posts these days. That's a GOOD thing because running TWO groups means I'm spending more time having fun rather than working on the MPB. Nevertheless, I have something BIG to report. Believe it or not, against my better judgment I actually agreed to try Roll20. Yes, we all know it's an inferior system but aren't all of them when compared to MapTool? :) It's only in one of my groups and even then only for the space of one adventure. One of my players is a Roll20 fan and I didn't see the harm in broadening my horizons to see what another system is like. We had our first session on Tuesday and it went rather well. It was a challenge manually tracking everything the MPB does automatically but also fun to kick it old school for a bit.

The purpose of this rather long preamble was to introduce the MPB's newest major feature. Now when you create a macro through importing a dnd4e file, monster, use Rebuild Power, etc a frame will pop up with the equivalent Roll20 code! Just add the MH and KF properties as attributes to your token, set them to the appropriate values and paste in your macros. It's that easy! In the SLs ahead I might even add JavaScript code to said macros for more capability assuming you have the API. I did this to cut down on the manual creation process via a spreadsheet my Roll20 guy made. Needless to say this was all just done for a lark. Even with this new capability, Roll20 still doesn't hold a candle to our system but if it lets you have more fun then I am happy to help.

Other highlights of the last 5 SLs include the new Add Keyword effect (which I am using to give the Reliable capability to the party's Firepulse feat), "Finish Him" clip play is now a Global Toggle, Versatile weapons are now an option when editing them, Speak now has a Force Listen option and you will no longer be granted CA against tokens you can't see. Enjoy!
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Post by StarMan »

Loooong time, no talk, fellow MPBers! Nothing mysterious about that as I have been busy with other things. The biggest is buying another rental investment property in a neighbouring city which has taken most of my time this month. An equally big factor is that development on the MPB has slowed to a dead crawl. I simply can't find bugs and the few I do find are VERY difficult to replicate in everyday situations. I also can't think of new features to add that would be useful in typical play scenarios. Even the Roll20 generation feature is looking pretty solid these days.

Even so, I am still improving the MPB when and where I can albeit very slowly. I am still looking forward to the big SL 500 which should be done before Christmas at this rate. Stay tuned!
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BIG 500!!!!!!

Post by StarMan »

Happy New Year, MPBers! Now is as good a time as any for a post heedless of the ever-lengthening time between them. Yes, the landmark SL 500 has come and gone. I will be starting work on 507 soon! There wasn't much special about 500 itself but several macros have been added to the MMHoF since then. Big news since the last update is that apparently 3D flanking is against the rules! As such, you will no longer get CA when fighting on stairs and other slopes but large creatures should still work. Roll20 code generation has been overhauled in that macros have been grouped into Daily, Encounter, Free/No etc dropdowns. You no longer need to struggle with Roll20s awful macro list but still need to devise a way to track expended powers.

A few sound effects have been fixed and the ShiftBan state is properly supported. Weapon power and property macros will now check the MHName property to ensure the named weapon is equipped. For example, if you try to use a macro called "Jagged Weapon Power" but MHName is set to "Longsword" then you will get an error message. If you change MHName to "Jagged Longsword" then you will be able to run "Jagged Weapon Power". I have also made a few adjustments in response to feedback from a few new users. Increased advertisement on the 4e Discord server has yielded more new users in the past six months than the preceding 6 years! Of course the pandemic has played a role in that too. Hopefully they have fun playing in 2022 and beyond as does your group.
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