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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
How I prepare for my tabletop RPG sessions has changed a lot over the last 12 years, and open source software has been a big part of those changes. It's now a vital part of every step in the process, from collecting and sketching out ideas, to dungeon map creation, to map keying, right through to the tools used during play.
When I first started gaming, around 1980, the idea of open source was just beginning to form. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D, 1st edition) was still very new and our tools were just paper and pencil. I didn't get to play very much back then because my closest friend lived several miles away.
I got back to it in 2005 when a coworker invited me to play in his game. Four years later he couldn't continue as the DM because Life Got Busy™ so I took over as DM.
Initially, I went back to the old pencil and paper tools, just like back in 1980, to prepare for gaming sessions. Quickly, though, my work as a sysadmin and open source user changed how I prepare and run my campaign, the series of play sessions run by a DM that create the world and the challenges the other player characters (PCs) confront in AD&D or the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea.
Guy had a few ideas I hadn't thought of yet. You lot care to add any of the tools you use to the list?
Source: OpenSource.com
(Score: 1) by ShadowSystems on Thursday June 22 2017, @08:57PM
Unfortunately there are already plenty of third party, unofficial, unlicensed, & thus of dubious use, desktop programs & mobile apps for character generation, manipulation, & tracking.
They all suffer from the fact that they can't legally include anything WotC has kept under copyright control, only being able to use the stuff WotC has released under Open Game Content.
If it's not OGC then it will get stomped on, the developer sued, & WotC will take a Dragon's BreathWeapon to the product.
*Fwhoooosh*
My personal character sheets are divided into sections:
Personal: where all the flavor text goes.
Main: where the Stat Block, HP, BAB, Grapple, Initiative, Fort/Ref/Will, AC, Weapons, Special Attacks, Special Qualities, & Languages is recorded.
Ability Score Rolls: where the player records their d6 rolls, how they applied them, the improvements they make at every 4th level, etc.
Skills: This includes the Class Skill Points per level, the Class Skills, any Special Notes (things that modify Skills), & the Skill List itself.
Feats: This lists all the SRD Feats in a condensed form (so each one takes only a single screen line), alphabetized, & presented as a quick block of "Feats Taken", "Feats List"; this makes it easy to check which ones you have & have yet to take.
Equipment: This includes Armor, Shield, Melee Weapons, Ranged Weapons, Ammunition, Gear, & a Armor Weight, Shield Weight, Weapons Weight, Gear Weight, Total Weight Carried portion to make it easy to check that you've not overloaded your character.
Class Progression: This is where the Class game data is listed with an easy to parse Class Progression Table, complete with single line condensed forms of any Special Abilities gained at each level.
With each section divided by a "---" I can simply search for that string to jump to the next section.
With everything turned into an equation with +2(Str) style bits, I can globally update the entire file in a single Find&Replace.
By having the Feats & Special Abilities in single line condensed forms, it makes them easy to Copy&Paste from their normal sections to under the "Special Attacks" line in the Main section, where I can then be reminded that I have that Feat/SA to use during play.
Once my players figure out how I've arranged things, how I've streamlined it all, they tend to love the results.
No more having to "spend an hour with a bucket of dice, a calculator, & the spell list" to update the character.
You do a F&R to change the appropriate Ability Score & *that* takes care of updating that score modifier everywhere.
You go to the Skills section, look that you get +2(Base) +1(Int) Skill Points per level, & then apply them to the clearly presented list of Class Skills.
New Feat? Choose it from the list, CutCopyPaste it under Taken & the Special Attacks section, & that's done.
You've got a SpellCaster? The Spells Known or PerDay are listed in the included Class Progression section.
You'll know exactly how many you get at each level.
Go to the $Class Spells section & there all the spells available to that class are listed in their quick block form.
(Just a C&P from the SRD, cleaned up to be easier for the screen reader, & merely to remind you).
Again, you CC&P the single entry into your Personal Spells section under the proper Nth Level Spells part, & bam you're done.
The whole update takes less than 5~10 minutes for a SpellCaster, or as little as *two* for a Fighter.
All your players can do their sheet updates in less time than it takes the DM to potty or order pizza!
=-D
If anyone wants to see an example of how I've set things up, send me an email.
Identify yourself as from Soylent in the subject line so I know not to filter it as spam.
I'll send back a random Race+Class sheet so you can get a feel for how I've tweaked things, the better to do it yourself if you like.
If you have a specific Race+Class combo you would like to see, just say so & I'll try to accommodate.
Note that I have *NOT* done any of the Psionic Races or Classes.
I *loathe* Psionics & never play them myself.
*Makes comical cat gagging noises*
=-)p
Please don't ask for "one of each Race & Class combo", that's over 75 Megs & won't fit via email.
You. Greedy. Bastages.
=-D Hahaahahhahhhahhahha