Pre Beta RPM release

[nickT]

Hi,
Just thought I would get something on screen to show that I am awake. I have played with RPM and must admit to being favourably impressed, I am in the process of writing a similar piece of software for my Gurps Campaign, and I am painfully aware of how the computer can get between the GM and the players. Because of this I have not yet used RPM in my D&D campaign, (first impressions are important, and I didn't want my players to see me struggling with RPM, since this would build up resistance to my employing it later). Having said this I hope to use it next Friday, assuming I have time to get the controls under my belt. I have done a small amount of testing using the tutorial, and have noticed a couple of points, some of which I think have already been addressed :-

Skills input.
why do you disallow 1/2 points in skills? If I am attempting to mirror a PC in RPM, I can see the possibility of an odd half point hanging around waiting for their next level advance.

Subtype not clearing if creature type is changed.

Printing option.
If you click the right-arrow when on the last item of a creature list, then attempt to print , you will get a blank page displayed, (problem does not appear to occur when trying to print the item before the first creature on the list.

Bonus's for Masterworks/magical weapons.
The Player's Manual (very end of page 114) specificly states that the Masterwork bonus does not stack with Magical bonuses, (yes I know, I think that stinks as well, paying 2000GP just to gain +1 damage!)

 

[nickT]

Damn, I knew there was something I forgot!

I am not sure whether I mentioned this before, but as a personal wish list entry I would LOVE the ability to extensively layer the battlemaps,
I now use PSP for my maps on screen during play, and the ability to show the players new bits of map as they turn corners or open doors, greatly improves the suspense of the game, and adds to the feel of exploring a hitherto unknown realm.
What do you think? is that a possibility for a later enhancement?
NickT

 

[Luke]

Skill 1/2 pts:
You can do this. If you put points into cross-class skills you'll see that it goes up by halves. The total bonus is rounded done (no problem there), but the ranks are quite distinctly progressing by halves.
If you look at the "Skills" tab of the creature list, you'll see the halves there as well.

Subclass reset on race change:
As per the web page/e-mails, this should be addressed in the next release.

Printing issue:
Thanks. Will investigate.

MasterWork stacking with enchantment:
Thanks. Used to work fine. I'll look into it.

BattleMap Layering:
Are you sure you don't mean reveal tiles rather than layers? I do have ideas for "fog of war" in the future, building on the "layered" tilemapper, especially for internet play.

Thanks,

 

[nickT]

Battlemap reveal tiles vs Layers

I call them layers since that is the way Paintshop pro refers to them and that is the program I was using at the time. Revealing tiles would work equally well, with the proviso that you could reveal more than a single tile with minimal keystrokes, I don't fancy 'revealing' a 200' by 200' room consisting of 400 individual tiles!!

I have done some work looking at the combat system honest!

I was just trying to set up my PCs for next Fridays session.

Combat

I sometimes seemed to reach the end of a round without getting the 'End of Round' notifier, I will give more information when I have worked out how I managed it. The result was that I would be stuck on the highest initiative combatant until I manually clicked on the new round button.

It would be useful to have some kind of warning if you are attempting to attack an opponent who is already downed, in a frenzy of 'repeat' button pressing I found I was beating the living daylights out of a corpse!

Dying creatures do not appear to be losing the requisite 1 hit point per round until stabilised,

There will be more to follow I am sure, since I am still trying all the permutations I can think of in the combat

NickT

 

[nickT]

OK Combat

If you kill an opponent before his 'turn' the program will remove the 'active' flag but not the 'to do' flag this stops the end of round
notification box appearing. Is this deliberate? I can see some justification for keeping the 'to do' flag set , but I think if you do that you need to have an alternate 'end of round' notification
saying something along the lines of, "all active creatures have completed their actions" what do you think?

I am a little confused by the Critical Hit window.
it appears to be giving 3 X 1d8 damage for a longsword
also I have not noticed any attempt to roll a second attack to see if the critical attack was valid, am I missing something here?

Working through slowly, I expect to get to the battlemap options tomorrow!
NickT

 

[Luke]

OK Combat

If you kill an opponent before his 'turn' the program will remove the 'active' flag but not the 'to do' flag this stops the end of round
notification box appearing. Is this deliberate? I can see some justification for keeping the 'to do' flag set , but I think if you do that you need to have an alternate 'end of round' notification
saying something along the lines of, "all active creatures have completed their actions" what do you think?

It now stops properly and prompts you for the next round.

I am a little confused by the Critical Hit window.
it appears to be giving 3 X 1d8 damage for a longsword
also I have not noticed any attempt to roll a second attack to see if the critical attack was valid, am I missing something here?

I'll put in a "critical hit succeeded" confirmation dialog.
You should be allowed to override the auto-dice roll.

Working through slowly, I expect to get to the battlemap options tomorrow!
NickT

Tomorrow it is then. If my stability regression tests go okay, there shouldn't be a problem...

I got a decent amount of feedback asking for more BattleMap features, so expect a few small features there that have a good high impact.


It may be better to post under Cergorach's original thread here , rather than have lots of RPM new thread posts ????