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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 9:27AM
#31
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- Dragon Slayer
- If only he would apply himself
- Dammit Jim, this is Star Trek, not D&D!
Date Joined:
Jan 31, 2006
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Building up the rest of the infrastructure 
This may be asking for too much information, but does that mean the now completed infrastructure can hold things like traps and hazards, magic items, etc. and that at this point front ends are all that needs to be added to have functional builders for other elements in the game?
No one official, but in looking at the screen shots it seems they have created an underlying way to edit the monsters. The flow of screens would be pretty applicable to other applications (especially traps and hazards, but potentially more). I like that it has a resemblance to the CB but is different in ways more suited to monster editing.
Also, let's keep in mind that they are giving us a teaser of things to come next week. That doesn't mean we will be getting the answer to all of our questions we can come up with (either this week or after next week). There are many reasons why it makes sense for WotC to hold back information on where they are headed. Paolo suggests this may work differently than the CB (perhaps not storing monsters in the cloud? Unknown) and that there will be more than one tool. Depending on how they built the infrastructure, that could be possible. We won't know.
I can easily go back and get all sorts of angry about the history of Adventure Tools, but when I see something good I have to call it "good" because that is what it is. A working MB is a fantastic addition. I could easily have seen a paranoid WotC not delivering what I am seeing in those screenshots, so I'm feeling nothing but positive.
Follow my blog and Twitter feed with Dark Sun campaign design and DM tips! Dark Sun's Ashes of Athas Campaign is now available for home play (PM me with your e-mail to order the campaign adventures).
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 9:28AM
#32
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Date Joined:
Jan 28, 2006
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A big thanks to Steve and Paolo for the information! Looking forward to seeing this thing in the flesh - and especially looking forward to the next few months and what may or may not be in the pipeline!
Blakey
+1
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 9:42AM
#33
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Date Joined:
Jun 24, 2008
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Nice, I really like the looks of it! Everything except the first screenshot. You guys should really remove that "S" in "Adventure Tools" for the foreseeable future.
But then it would be incorrect!
Just to give you guys an idea, this took about five months and that included building the AT infrastructure from scratch (this is completely client code, vs the CB that has a distributed architecture) and implementing the MB. Next tools should be quicker
If this were facebook, I'd like the heck out of this post.
[20:53] [SadisticFish] yeah  Llamas convinced me
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 9:48AM
#34
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Date Joined:
Dec 10, 2008
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Another question that may be too soon for WotC to answer: any plans to consolidate all the online tools into one interface? I've posted something before where my dream is to go to one place, like an Adventure Tools site, and find icons for the CB, MB, VT, Compendium, Dragon and Dungeon Magazines, Character Sheets, Name Generator, etc. all in one place, kind of like we have on the side of the dndinsider page.
Also, as much as I liked having local storage of characters, I can see the beauty of keeping all created monsters in the cloud as long as we don't have a low limit on storage and we have an option to export. I'm used to being able to access my stuff anywhere now and I'd hate to have monsters be the only thing that isn't available from the cloud. And seeing that there's an Export button makes me think cloud storage is how it will work.
OD&D, 1E and 2E challenged the player.
3E challenged the character, not the player.
Now 4E takes it a step further by challenging a GROUP OF PLAYERS to work together as a TEAM.
That's why I love 4E.
"Your ability to summon a horde of celestial superbeings at will is making my ... BMX skills look a bit redundant."
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 12:22PM
#35
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Date Joined:
Sep 13, 2007
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Hey Steve,
Can we get a list of native supported export "formats" (XML, RTF, plain text, etc.) or even a screenshot showing the options?
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 12:45PM
#36
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Date Joined:
Jan 28, 2006
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Hey Steve,
Can we get a list of native supported export "formats" (XML, RTF, plain text, etc.) or even a screenshot showing the options?
Heck, I'll be happy if it will just export a .jpg or .pdf in standard Monster Manual format (i.e. green card).
:-)
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 12:56PM
#37
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Date Joined:
May 11, 2004
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Hey Steve,
Can we get a list of native supported export "formats" (XML, RTF, plain text, etc.) or even a screenshot showing the options?
Heck, I'll be happy if it will just export a .jpg or .pdf in standard Monster Manual format (i.e. green card).
:-)
If it has any kind of print capability, you can convert it to a .pdf pretty easily with any of a variety of free programs (Cute PDF and Primo PDF spring immediately to mind).
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 1:17PM
#38
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Date Joined:
Jan 28, 2006
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@Nyarl
True, that would work. But really, a high res jpg export would work easily enough also. The CB had issues with printing to PDF (file size bloat). In the old MB, I'd just use its "export as image" function and paste into InDesign, and away I'd go! Quick and easy! Perfect world is if you could set the MB to print "multiple up" of different monster cards for easier printing and cutting.
We'll see!
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 2:04PM
#39
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Date Joined:
Dec 21, 2003
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It'd be great to get some answers to some more of the questions that have been asked.
Specifically...
1. Can we copy the stat blocks as images to paste on something else, such as MS Word? That's what I do with the old MB. I can get about 4 stat blocks to a page.
2. Are we going to be limited on the number of custom monsters we can keep?
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 2:06PM
#40
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The PDF print driver typically will export it as an image, not as text, which may not be what people desire if they want to use the text in a third party program (Word, etc.).
An RTF export format would be one export format that would be very welcome.
Reflavoring: the change of flavor without changing any mechanical part of the game, no matter how small, in order to fit the mechanics to an otherwise unsupported concept.
Retexturing: the change of flavor (with at most minor mechanical adaptations) in order to effortlessly create support for a concept without inventing anything new.
Houseruling: the change, either minor or major, of the mechanics in order to better reflect a certain aspect of the game, including adapting the rules to fit an otherwise unsupported concept.
Homebrewing: the complete invention of something new that fits within the system in order to reflect an unsupported concept.
Default module =/= Core mechanic.
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