Hero i.c.s.

[Dreamstreamer]

Hey all,

I've been assembling an interactive character sheet over the past little while and thought I'd share what I have so far. As it is still a little rough around the edges, and I still have a few features that I want to add to it, I'm listing it as an alpha. Once I get all of the features I want into it and give it a little polish, I'll switch it to a beta.

Some of what it can do was already previewed over in another thread (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/85609-Help-Finding-A-Hero-Dice-Roller-Program). You can check that thread for some of the history of this project.

Here is a rundown of current features:

ICS - The Interactive Character Sheet allows you to display and interact with data imported from a renamed Hero Designer character save.

Display Characteristics
Display Powers (includes button to use power)
Display Skills (includes button to use skill)
Can be saved to automatically load when the ICS is run again
Can be cleared


Standard Die Roller (3D6) - Shows what each die rolled and gives a total.

Shows results of a standard roll
Shows results of a combat roll when a power is clicked in ICS
Shows results of a skill roll when a skill is clicked in ICS
Can be cleared


Hit Location - You can randomly roll for a location or click on a location to see the modifiers for the location.

Shows Roll Made, Location Name, Stun Multiplier, Body Multiplier, and/or Penalty To Hit
Can be cleared


DC-Based Damage/Effect Roller - Supply the DC and whether it is normal or killing damage and see the dice results, broken down by side.

Shows number of dice in total rolled for given DC of normal or killing damage
Shows number of each result (1-6) for the roll
Shows result from power effect when power is clicked in ICS
Can be cleared


Features to be added before beta (subject to change):

Better power and skill handling (i.e., non-combat powers, etc.)
Speed Chart based off of the SPD characteristic (in alpha 2)
Applying/removing damage to stun and body (in alpha 2)
Endurance handling (both modifying manually and when using powers/strength) (manual modification in alpha 2)
Taking recoveries (in alpha 2)
Modifying combat rolls if a location is selected on the Hit Location table (stun modifiers, etc.)
Inclusion of Standard Combat Manuevers


I'm open to other suggestions for inclusion and welcome feedback. Remember, it is an alpha release so things are still a little raw. I just wanted to kick it out the door before the long weekend, in case anybody wanted to take it for a test drive. If you run into problems, let me know what OS and Browser you are using. Everything but the ICS should work on a local machine (SVG in Opera notwithstanding). The ICS currently needs to be hosted.

My main testbed uses IE 9 on Windows 7.

I'll continue updating this thread as I make progress.

Alpha 1:39208
Alpha 2:39355

[Dreamstreamer]

No replies? Oh well.

- Progress report -
For alpha 2 I've:

Added a Speed Chart (of sorts)
Created buttons to handle Endurance, Body, Stun, and recovery
Tabled and tiered power and skill categories (Click the category name to open/close


It is still pretty ugly (I'll clean it up a little bit after the features are all in), but should be serviceable. I played with the idea of getting a character image to display, but it's going to take more work. Getting it to automatically handle endurance when a power is clicked is also a much larger task than I had originally imagined. I might drop that feature. Also, I haven't implemented a way to handle an Endurance Reserve yet.

I've tried including more of the character stats, but it's still kind of hit or miss. I need to handle them better. I intend to add additional buttons that will allow users to modify any stat (temporarily) to handle the effects of aids and drains, but it will have to wait until alpha 3 at the earliest. Many of the powers aren't where I want them to be, but I have a roadmap for improving them. The files have ballooned and will continue to get bigger, so feedback on performance would be appreciated. Code refactoring will probably help out there.

I've included an Unhandled category for skills and powers I've missed. If you have a skill or power end up in that list, please let me know.

As always, feedback is appreciated.

39354

P.S. Anybody know what the power "Differing Modifiers" in Hero Designer does? I can't seem to find it anywhere. Thanks!

[pruttm]

I tried with Firefox 3.6 and IE 8 on XP and couldn't load up a character xml file. No more time right now to experiment.

[Dreamstreamer]

I had a feeling IE 8 would have problems. I'm trying to replicate my success with Firefox to no avail. Firebug is helping, but I don't have a fix for it yet. I'll keep poking around and update if I find anything. i'll also try to do a little more testing on different browsers before submitting the next alpha. Just to eliminate one more variable: Were you trying to load it directly from your hard drive or were you hosting the web page?

Thanks!

[pruttm]

I just launched the app from the hard drive. I didn't take note to what would work or not based on how launched.

[Dreamstreamer]

Yeah, launching from the hard drive creates problems. Something to do with browser security and cross-site scripting, I believe. I'm looking into it, but for now, the I.C.S. portion of it only works hosted. I've sent you a PM with an alternative.

[ngross]

Testing Alpha 2 on Snow Leopard....
Firefox 4 - Cannot load character as described above. Everything else seems to work. No difference with functionality between clicking on the HTML file or loading it into the browser. Firefox is my default browser and clicking on the HTML just opens it in a new tab.
Safari - Cannot load character as in Firefox. Hit location graphics does not work. No difference with functionality between clicking on the HTML file or loading it into the browser.

[Dreamstreamer]

ngross, thanks for the feedback. According to http://caniuse.com/#feat=svg-html5, Safari 5.1 (next version?) should support inline SVG and show the hit locations when it comes out. In the mean time, I'll look at providing an image-based alternative. Does the character you are trying to import have anything in the Appearance field? How are you loading it into the browser? Do you find the other features (aside from the unresponsive ICS) useful? Thanks again for your feedback.

[ngross]

Sorry for the delay on getting back to you.

I am currently using the Thug character sheet (provided by the program) for the testing. I figured that I would make sure that the one provided worked first before trying any funky tests.

As far as loading it into the browser, I am loading it two ways: 1. Right click and then select 'Open with'. 2. The windows equivalent of Control-o (letter O).

Do I find it useful, yes. I am curious about the interactive character sheet aspect. About the only thing that would be great for me would be the ability to 4 or 5 preset damage/effect rolls. That way as a GM, I would not have to keep on entering new damage values for NPCs or enemy combatants.

Thank you for doing this.

Norm.

[Dreamstreamer]

Hey Norm,

No problem! We gamers live busy, exciting lives, right?

I'm not sure that either way you are loading it would work for the ICS. Like I mentioned earlier, browsers don't seem to like to load files stored locally. If I haven't already (darn my waning memory!), I'll PM you with a web address that I use for testing.

Good suggestion on the presets, I'll look in to it. I was already contemplating doing something similar for loading characters using a list of the last four or five characters loaded.

[Hyper-Man]

P.S. Anybody know what the power "Differing Modifiers" in Hero Designer does? I can't seem to find it anywhere. Thanks!

See this post from an old thread:


Here's a HDv3 build of the example from the book on pages 276-277:

Gift of Flight Spell (by Arkelos)
[Notes: Total Cost = 5 points. END cost for Caster = 2*. END cost for recipient of spell = 5. HD figures the END cost from Active cost for parts 2 & 3 seperately but they should be counted together (3 + 16 = 19, 19/10 = 2 END). edit: Now I confused myself again. More later.]
13 1) GIFT OF FLIGHT, Part 1(Primary Effect): Flight 10" (20 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2) - END=4
3 2) Casting GIFT OF FLIGHT, Part 2 (Casting via Naked Modifier): Usable By Other (+1/4) for up to 13 Active Points of Part 1 (3 Active Points) - END=1
-11 3) Casting GIFT OF FLIGHT, Part 3 (Limitations on Primary Effect & Castiing via Differing Modifier): (16 Active Points); OAF (Magic Wand; -1), Requires A Magic Skill Roll (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4) for up to 16 Points of Parts 1 & 2 - END=2

The post references 5er but it works exactly the same in 6e, just the page references are different.

[Beast]

I've tried it on Firefox 4,Safari,Chrome and IE 8

the die rolling works fine (IE sometimes rolls the Hex man logo)
could not get it to load either Thug or any character I exported to XML then dropped into the data file
look to be great once you get the bugs out

all you need after that would be a map to move the characters around on (GM drops in the terrain) that is update able by all and skype for a realtime game

[Dreamstreamer]

I've tried it on Firefox 4,Safari,Chrome and IE 8

the die rolling works fine (IE sometimes rolls the Hex man logo)

Is that when a one is rolled? If so, I believe that is as intended. If not...


could not get it to load either Thug or any character I exported to XML then dropped into the data file

Yeah, I'm looking at an alternative to sucking up the data from an external XML file. My current thoughts are having a text field so that people can just copy and paste the xml. Also, if you export the character as XML, the fields are changed. It currently looks for particular fields, as they are in the .hdc files. You shouldn't have to export to XML. Just copy the .hdc file to the appropriate directory and rename the file so that it uses an XML extension. For example, Thug.hdc was renamed thug.xml. I hope that clarifies how it is supposed to work.


look to be great once you get the bugs out

Thanks! I'll try to IM you with the same info I provided to a few of the others who've posted.


all you need after that would be a map to move the characters around on (GM drops in the terrain) that is update able by all and skype for a realtime game

You mean, like MapTools? ;) You should check out Nolgroth's Campaign Framework for MapTools (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/75007-6E-campaign-file-for-Maptools).

[Dreamstreamer]

Ok, I think that I have a way to get all of the data from a text field, but it requires the user to make one modification to the xml before it is copied into said text field. This should overcome any problems with running the program locally, as it will no longer be trying to access a local resource. Unfortunately, as a 'body' tag is already in use in HTML, the body element in the xml needs to be changed from 'BODY' to 'BDY'. I might be able to create a custom export for Hero Designer that does that for the user, but then I'm left asking why not go all the way and add the interactivity to the export from the get go and just export a ready-to-use, interactive HTML character sheet.

Thoughts?

[ngross]

That was one of the things that I was going to ask/beg of you when i.c.s. was finished. I was going to ask to borrow (steal) some of your code and try to make an export.

[Dreamstreamer]

Well, let's cooperate and see what we can come up with! Do you already have an HTML export that we can work from or will we need to start from scratch?

Edit: By cooperate, I believe I meant collaborate. Also, looking at the Barebones HTML export, formatting doesn't look too intimidating, though it will probably take me a bit to get everything transfered. Which is unfortunate, as I was trying to get something out before GenCon.

[ngross]

Sorry for the delay. Life has been nuts and I have pretty been a hermit for the past 3 to 4 weeks. Finally started to game again after a 6 week hiatus.

I do have my own export template. My HTML is horrible. It is all old fashioned tables and such. Let me PM it to you.