Thanks! Yea I'm playing around with UI improvements here and there. I'm not a designer so I dont really know what's objectively good layout. I'm not too fond of the color scheme right now as its just some default colors. I think I might do some work around that next. I also dont love the cream background color either so that might get a redo at some point. Any ideas/pointers appretiated!
Something very, very minor: when creating a new Challenge, the field for creating challenge aspects has the monicker 'challenge entry' (which seems a little ambiguous), and is pre-filled with 'challenge description' (which is misleading).
Come to think of it, a challenge description - essentially a line without a checkbox - might be another nice touch. I've found that sometimes I like to give a general description before listing the actual overcomes needed. That, or maybe even simpler, a feature to define how many checkboxes (0-x) a challenge has. This way, we could even cover timed challenges.
Example: Old uncle Billy is down because his heart wasn't up to all this trouble. Yep, that looks like a heart attack!(general description). He needs immediate medical attention (task 1) and someone to call an ambulance (task 2). Timer is 2 rounds.
With multiple boxes per line, I'd arrange this so:
One last request though: Can you make the scene tracker fields a smidge smaller, so that a standard 8-round tracker fits into one line on a common 1800px-wide screen? Resizing to 90% (104x100px) should do the trick.
I added a drawing board on the bottom of the page. This allows the GM to have a "board" layout. I was getting a little frustrated at my players being like "well all the minions are nearby so my ability can attack all of them". Now there will be some representation to show who is in what location. I hope it helps out your games!
Interesting feature, still getting the hang of it... :)
New Bug:
When demoting Minions, their number is copied, not split.
Example: 5 d6 Minions => click "demote" => 5 new d4 Minions PLUS the existing 5 d6 Minions.
Edit:
Also, the two entries seem connected afterwards - promoting them will increase numbers on both, and adding/removing will also affect both lines simultaneously..
Edit 2:
The same thing happens when a mod is applied, and removed. In both cases, Minion numbers just rise and rise... weird stuff going on there :)
It's basically just another visual representation of the environment and all the actors in it. While SCRPG doesnt have a board like other RPGs, there are some mechanics that are dependent on location and proximity. Certain challenges only exist in certain locations, some abilities say "attack all nearby targets", and moving from one location to another may use up some of your hero's actions (depending on a couple of factors). If I were to run my games in person, I would likely have the center of my table contain all these components. I found myself in my games trying to remember where everyone was, especially when theres several minions, some lieutenants, a villain, 4-5 heroes (and their minions), and some challenges. I had to ask the players multiple times, which minion are you attacking? I thought that minion was over there, I dont think you can use a melee attack on two minions in different locations. etc.
This map feature is intended to solve all of that. It's totally an opt in system, so if you dont want to use it, you dont have to. Right now all of this is theoretical, and I'll be running my first session with it this weekend so I'll know more effectively if its helpful or just gets in the way, and I'll post updates on my findings (and I encourage you to do the same).
Does that help bring some clarity? Any other questions on it?
I ran my game this weekend and used the drawing board a little bit. There were a couple of bugs (fixed 1.4.25), but for the most part it was successful and my players seemed to appretiate having the visual aid so I think I'm going to continue working on it. As I mentioned before, its a complete opt in feature so don't feel like you need to use it.
One thing that crossed my mind over a few reaction-heavy rounds - do you think we should track if a Hero has their free Reaction still available, or already spent?
I can't really think of a good mechanic to do that automatically (they refresh at the start of a player's turn); maybe it is just something to check and un-check manually, much like we edit HP...
I can look into adding something like that, but before I do so I'm just curious why your players arent keeping track of that themselves? Right now, the players are expected to keep track of their own mechanics (boosts, hinders, defends, hp, and now adding reactions to that list). The only reason why I've added the HP to the app is that (for my games at least), different minions will prioritize certain heroes (i.e. some minions attack the highest hp, others attack the lowest hp, just like in the card game); due to that, I wanted to be able to easily identify the targets without stoping the flow of the game and asking "what's everyone's hp at? ...oh okay so the minion is going to attack Absolute Zero since you have the highest HP." In addition, the amount of mechanics and complexity in SCRPG is drastically less than that of other RPGs so I dont think that there's much book keeping for each individual player needs to do.
In my opinion, it seems relatively easy for the players to keep track of their own reaction status. A coin, any card from a standard deck of cards, even a scrap piece of paper with "Available" and "Used" written on each side would work. Why do you think this feature in the app would be better than the players keeping track of it themselves?
I thought more of a means to transparently keep track of what players have at their disposal.
Especially when the group starts strategizing the turn order, it can become fuzzy who may or may not have another Reaction ready... and some cases, even argument may arise.
But you are right, it might be a step to finally turn a GM tool into a babysitter app... :)
Thanks! Yea I'm playing around with UI improvements here and there. I'm not a designer so I dont really know what's objectively good layout. I'm not too fond of the color scheme right now as its just some default colors. I think I might do some work around that next. I also dont love the cream background color either so that might get a redo at some point. Any ideas/pointers appretiated!
SCRPG GM Helper
Something very, very minor: when creating a new Challenge, the field for creating challenge aspects has the monicker 'challenge entry' (which seems a little ambiguous), and is pre-filled with 'challenge description' (which is misleading).
Come to think of it, a challenge description - essentially a line without a checkbox - might be another nice touch. I've found that sometimes I like to give a general description before listing the actual overcomes needed. That, or maybe even simpler, a feature to define how many checkboxes (0-x) a challenge has. This way, we could even cover timed challenges.
Example: Old uncle Billy is down because his heart wasn't up to all this trouble. Yep, that looks like a heart attack!(general description). He needs immediate medical attention (task 1) and someone to call an ambulance (task 2). Timer is 2 rounds.
With multiple boxes per line, I'd arrange this so:
Uncle B is down!
[His heart... blablabla]
ΠΠ Time's running out
Π First aid
Π get ambulance / more professional care
Or, with the tasks even more concise:
ΠΠ help, and get others to help too
There is no "I" in "vowels"
Been working on v1.3.19 for a couple weeks now and i honestly forget the full list of what ive changed.
Most notably though, I made some changes to the UI, formatting, and colors. Hopefully thats easier to see everything and better on the eyes!
SCRPG GM Helper
Wow, what a change! Thanks again!
One last request though: Can you make the scene tracker fields a smidge smaller, so that a standard 8-round tracker fits into one line on a common 1800px-wide screen? Resizing to 90% (104x100px) should do the trick.
Looks so much cleaner ;)
There is no "I" in "vowels"
Ask and you shall receive
SCRPG GM Helper
Rather large feature in coming on this in 1.4.22
I added a drawing board on the bottom of the page. This allows the GM to have a "board" layout. I was getting a little frustrated at my players being like "well all the minions are nearby so my ability can attack all of them". Now there will be some representation to show who is in what location. I hope it helps out your games!
SCRPG GM Helper
Interesting feature, still getting the hang of it... :)
New Bug:
When demoting Minions, their number is copied, not split.
Example: 5 d6 Minions => click "demote" => 5 new d4 Minions PLUS the existing 5 d6 Minions.
Edit:
Also, the two entries seem connected afterwards - promoting them will increase numbers on both, and adding/removing will also affect both lines simultaneously..
Edit 2:
The same thing happens when a mod is applied, and removed. In both cases, Minion numbers just rise and rise... weird stuff going on there :)
There is no "I" in "vowels"
Whoops. Should be fixed 1.4.24
SCRPG GM Helper
Would just like to say, thank you once again for all your work. I am a bit confused on how the map feature can and should work?
Dean J Day
It's basically just another visual representation of the environment and all the actors in it. While SCRPG doesnt have a board like other RPGs, there are some mechanics that are dependent on location and proximity. Certain challenges only exist in certain locations, some abilities say "attack all nearby targets", and moving from one location to another may use up some of your hero's actions (depending on a couple of factors). If I were to run my games in person, I would likely have the center of my table contain all these components. I found myself in my games trying to remember where everyone was, especially when theres several minions, some lieutenants, a villain, 4-5 heroes (and their minions), and some challenges. I had to ask the players multiple times, which minion are you attacking? I thought that minion was over there, I dont think you can use a melee attack on two minions in different locations. etc.
This map feature is intended to solve all of that. It's totally an opt in system, so if you dont want to use it, you dont have to. Right now all of this is theoretical, and I'll be running my first session with it this weekend so I'll know more effectively if its helpful or just gets in the way, and I'll post updates on my findings (and I encourage you to do the same).
Does that help bring some clarity? Any other questions on it?
SCRPG GM Helper
I ran my game this weekend and used the drawing board a little bit. There were a couple of bugs (fixed 1.4.25), but for the most part it was successful and my players seemed to appretiate having the visual aid so I think I'm going to continue working on it. As I mentioned before, its a complete opt in feature so don't feel like you need to use it.
SCRPG GM Helper
One thing that crossed my mind over a few reaction-heavy rounds - do you think we should track if a Hero has their free Reaction still available, or already spent?
I can't really think of a good mechanic to do that automatically (they refresh at the start of a player's turn); maybe it is just something to check and un-check manually, much like we edit HP...
There is no "I" in "vowels"
I have a card I flip. One side says my reaction is available, and the other says it isn't. :-)
So yeah, a checkbox would be great!
"See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart." - Mal
Unicode U+24BD gets us Ⓗ. (Thanks, Godai!)
I can look into adding something like that, but before I do so I'm just curious why your players arent keeping track of that themselves? Right now, the players are expected to keep track of their own mechanics (boosts, hinders, defends, hp, and now adding reactions to that list). The only reason why I've added the HP to the app is that (for my games at least), different minions will prioritize certain heroes (i.e. some minions attack the highest hp, others attack the lowest hp, just like in the card game); due to that, I wanted to be able to easily identify the targets without stoping the flow of the game and asking "what's everyone's hp at? ...oh okay so the minion is going to attack Absolute Zero since you have the highest HP." In addition, the amount of mechanics and complexity in SCRPG is drastically less than that of other RPGs so I dont think that there's much book keeping for each individual player needs to do.
In my opinion, it seems relatively easy for the players to keep track of their own reaction status. A coin, any card from a standard deck of cards, even a scrap piece of paper with "Available" and "Used" written on each side would work. Why do you think this feature in the app would be better than the players keeping track of it themselves?
SCRPG GM Helper
I thought more of a means to transparently keep track of what players have at their disposal.
Especially when the group starts strategizing the turn order, it can become fuzzy who may or may not have another Reaction ready... and some cases, even argument may arise.
But you are right, it might be a step to finally turn a GM tool into a babysitter app... :)
There is no "I" in "vowels"
Thank you for all the work you continue to do.
I've noticed that Defends, Bonuses & Penalties cannot be removed to Minions & Lieutenants once added.
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