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posted by n1 on Thursday June 22 2017, @02:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the /dev/null-dungeon dept.

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


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  • (Score: 2) by darnkitten on Friday June 23 2017, @03:36AM (1 child)

    by darnkitten (1912) on Friday June 23 2017, @03:36AM (#529800)

    Dang. Sorry to hear that. I had assumed that PDF documents, being a "universal standard" (in finger-quotes) would just naturally be readable, if they were professionally made. I guess it ain't so universal after all. I also suppose columns also screw with OCR.

    What readers do you use normally, if I may ask?

    And--speaking as someone who has an interest in formatting and layout of gaming materials, and who has never even thought about accessibility for blind gamers: In order to make a better reading experience for blind players, do you just prefer text and tables, or do you like descriptions of cartoons and illustrations as well, appropriately set apart, so they don't interfere with the flow of the main text?

    I am assuming you want tables, because, well, you play D&D. I am also assuming that you would also want them in-line at an appropriate spot in the text (as opposed to wherever they fit visually), as well as in a separate section for easy reference.

    Is there a standard for something like the descriptive track on DVDs for illustrations and ornament? Is that even something you would want?

    I was also going to ask about how tables appear in text readers, but I suppose I can just fire up a screen reader and hear one for myself. I wouldn't have any idea of intelligent questions to ask until I've done that.

    And now that I have typed this, it occurs to me to ask: how do HTML formatting tags like italics and blockquotes and such appear in your screen reader?

    Forgive me if any of the preceding has appeared rude--if so, it was purely unintentional.

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  • (Score: 1) by ShadowSystems on Friday June 23 2017, @05:19AM

    by ShadowSystems (6185) <ShadowSystemsNO@SPAMGmail.com> on Friday June 23 2017, @05:19AM (#529846)

    I took no offense at your questions, they show that you're actually *thinking* about the situation & for that I'm very happy!
    =-D

    Tables are best (understandable) when arranged in Comma Separated Values rather than Tab SV.
    Tabs are nice visually but offer no distinction between values when read by a screen reader.
    For Example, the following two tables sound vastly different to a reader.
    Table 1: Stuff
    Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special
    1st +1 +1 +1 +1 Something.
    2nd +2 +2 +2 +2 Something else

    Table: Stuff.
    Level, BAB, Fort, Ref, Will, Special.
    1st, +1, +1, +1, +1, Something.
    2nd, +2, +2, +2, +2, Something else.

    The first one reads as a run on sentance with no pauses between values nor lines.
    What you see visually sounds like utter rubbish to the Reader.
    The second table on the other hand has the commas to make pauses between the values ("+1" pause "+1" pause "+1" pause "+1", etc) and it gives a full gutteral stop at the end of each line, exactly as if a person were reading a list & came to the end of the line.
    You can HEAR that you've switched to a new value or line, there's no guessing if you're still on a line or where you might be in the line's sequence of values.
    (You heard four pauses, you know you've probably hit the 5th cell in the table.)
    The commas & periods make the difference.
    =-)

    As for describing images & such, only if they contain game data we need.
    If the pic is just of an Orc brandishing a sword & scratching it's nose with it's elbow, you can say so in a format like:
    [Image of an Orc. He's hairy, ugly, probably stinks like poop, & looks like he hasn't groomed for a year. He's got various critter skulls braided into his chest fur. Oh gross, I think that one's still got skin on it! YUCK! Anyway, he's thankfully wearing a soiled loincloth of brown & black ratty cloth, is carrying a VERY large sword in one hand as if it were a mere toothpick, & he's picking his nose with the other hand. Oh dear lord, he's got his entire FIST up in there! Excuse me, I gotta go barf..."}

    We'll understand that everything between the Braces is the image description & can either ignore them or read as we wish.
    HOWEVER, if it contains game data we need to have in order to play effectively, then include such as a plain text addendum after the image, probably like this:
    {An image of a chart. The chart lists the Ability Scores & their Modifiers. Please read the Table of the same name below.
    Table: Ability Scores & their Modifiers.
    Ability Score, Modifier.
    1, -5. Note that a Player Character can't have an Intelligence score this low or it is too stupid to play.
    2, -4. Same here.
    3, -4. This is the minimum Intelligence Score you can have as a sentient, playable character.
    4, -3.
    5, -3.
    6, -2.
    7, -2.
    8, -1.
    9, -1.
    10, +0.
    11, +0.
    12, +1.
    13, +1.
    ...}

    A Reader ignores the visual only bits of the presented text.
    Font styles, size, color, embellishments (B/I/U), & reads it all as if it were pure typewriter stuff.
    This makes it harder to tell when a speaker wanted to emphasize something by bolding it for example, but it ALSO means that a web site can't hide text as a single point size in some demented font like "MS New Calidonia Elongated Hyper Serif".
    It also means that some dork putting everything as 99 point illuminated, blinking, rainbow irridescent can go fornicate themselves.
    The Reader ignores it all & just reads it all as if it were hammered out on a standard typewriter: all the same size, all the same color, all the same font, & no extra stuff to get in the way of just reading the text.
    Unfortunately it means that any foreign fonts (say the stuff for French accents, German umlauts, etc) also get either stripped (if possible) or ignored (if not).
    So something like naive appears as I've written it, not in proper French accents.
    =-J

    As for the OCR, all the different fonts, sizes, levels of serif, kerning, blah blah blah all combine to give OCR software fits.
    If *everything* you scan is the *exact same* font/size/etc, then eventually the OCR will learn that "Oh! That's an i not a 1!" and stop screwing up.
    But if you've got thousands of documents all using different ones, the OCR software can only give a one-pass best-guess.
    Which is where words like "c@+" come from, or splitting words across pages, or sto-
    A differeent paragrApHs c0nT3ntz
    -ops & another one interrupts the flow.
    I only know what those two parts just said because I wrote them, but if the OCR gives me something like that, I have to figure it out the hard way.
    =-|

    I use Jaws, it's the number 1 reader for Windows.
    However I'll be getting a Linux machine once my Win7 reaches EOL in 2020, and then there are plenty of others for me to play with.
    I was given a copy of Jaws when I was first getting retrained on "how to use a computer now that you're blind", & that's what I've stuck with ever since.
    There are others out there for Windows as well, but none of them hold a candle to it.
    Worse, there's a built in reader (Windows Navigator) that is SO bad it is an insulting & festering pile of poop.
    "Navigator? Dude, you couldn't find your ass with both hands, a GPS unit, a Thomas Brothers map, a live satelite shot, a Sherpa Guide, & a trail of breadcrumbs!"
    *Cough*

    I know the Apple OS has a reader built in, I wouldn't mind giving it a try, but I'm wary of the stupidity Apple has pulled lately & I'm unlikely to buy a computer from them.
    It may be the best reader out there bar none, but if I have to accept a prison-like walled garden to use it, I'd rather not.
    =-J

    I know MS is no better, it's why I'm buying Linux for my next system.
    Enough of that, back to D&D!

    The tables would be best given as soon as possible to the material to which they relate.
    If you can include it at the end of the section (Feats, Skills, Disarming someone larger than you, etc) then that's great.
    It also helps to save the table as a separate text file with the table name as the file name.
    YES it means more files, but it ALSO means that a player can go *directly* to that table to get the data, rather than having to hunt for it first.

    Freedom Scientific offers a free trial of Jaws.
    It runs in "40 minute demo mode" permanently until/unless you register it.
    That means it'll speak for 40 minutes then require a reboot before it speaks again.
    That is the ONLY restriction, rebooting, & it'll continue to operate that way indefinitely.
    Be sure to use the internal update function to keep it up to date.
    You can use the Jaws modifier (usually Insert) + F11 to bring up the System Tray, select the Jaws icon, hit the right Application key (right click menu) to alter the settings.
    The easiest way to REALLY find out how accessible your creation might be is to launch Jaws, open your creation, then *turn off the monitor*.
    No peeking, so if you can't do it entirely by the audio clues, take notes to change those bits.
    If you can launch Jaws, turn off the screen, & have a random stranger figure out the creation, then you've Done It Right!
    =-D