Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Rerednaw 10-06-07, 01:03 PM	It may be too late for LG, however for LFR I humbly suggest that the scenario templates use spreadsheets for creature's statblocks. Doesn't have to have macros or anything in fact I prefer if it didn't, but being able to tab or cursor across instead of painstakingly one space at a time would cut down on some of the busy work. Comments?
Madfox11 10-08-07, 07:28 AM	Well, deciding on the format before we even have seen the new rules is a tad difficult ;) Take in mind that the adventures are made available in pdf format so that people can read and print it regardless of their prefered operating system. How you put that text in the adventure before it is reviewed by the administrators is of course up to the individual authors. Although I am sure that if a vollunteer writes a good tool it will be applauded ;)
KarmaInferno 10-10-07, 11:56 AM	I think what he means is tables, not spreadsheets. Similar but not the same. Most word processing programs have the capacity to put in tables with rows and columns. Regardless of how the new rules work, it should be possible to format stat blocks so each statistic or number is in a separate cell. Of course, you could get a similar effect by just putting a tab space between each stat. The downside to this of course is it increases the time and effort in formatting adventures, to gain a feature that I can't see THAT many people paying any attention to. -karma
PCI_StatMonkey 10-10-07, 02:49 PM	Well, you can do what we do in LA... all the stats are a separate PDF, split up by CR. You sit at a table, find out what CR you are dealing with, whip it out right APL pack and go. It also makes life a lot easier for Convention organizers who could pre-print packets for pre-reg tables.
Madfox11 10-13-07, 06:55 AM	Your conventions must be blessed that the APL information of preregistered tables is always correct ;) The amount of times we had to redo the whole preregistration stuff right before the slot starts are almost 100%...
JamesMaissen 10-13-07, 05:38 PM	Your conventions must be blessed that the APL information of preregistered tables is always correct ;) The amount of times we had to redo the whole preregistration stuff right before the slot starts are almost 100%... Wow that's a high percentage. Sounds like an accepted fact for your area by now then.. I would assume that in an another area where this has not set in that the numbers might prove to be nearly the opposite, i.e. where a few tables might change, but not many. The more you plan out a con the smoother it runs during the crazy days that it actually runs. -James
tombollis 10-13-07, 07:02 PM	Wow that's a high percentage. Sounds like an accepted fact for your area by now then.. I would assume that in an another area where this has not set in that the numbers might prove to be nearly the opposite, i.e. where a few tables might change, but not many. The more you plan out a con the smoother it runs during the crazy days that it actually runs. -James And the less appealing it is to some of us. I preferred the old cons without premusterring, where you got together with strangers or old aquaintences and formed tables on the fly, picking which character to play based on what was needed for everyone to play. I often wasn't even sure which adventures I would play until the last moment, and I liked it that way. I was never disappointed. I'm a chaotic person; I don't like too much regimentation. It has kept me away from cons over the past couple of years. Tom Bollis
Madfox11 10-15-07, 04:28 AM	Mustering at site only works if the convention is big enough. When you have around 30 players per slot it fails misserably and causes a lot of aggrevation (as I personally experienced a couple of years ago). The reason preregistering tends to fail around here btw has nothing to do with the convention organizers, but all with the people that attend. They forget to take leveling into account, don't show up, preregister only 1 or 2 days in advance or not at all. Mind you, it is only a minority, but if there are only 30 players only 4 people can completely destroy the preregistered tables.
JamesMaissen 10-15-07, 05:14 PM	The reason preregistering tends to fail around here btw has nothing to do with the convention organizers, but all with the people that attend. That's where I was getting at when I said became 'set in'. That is that the attendees don't take premustering seriously and thus make it meaningless. Mustering at the site can work, but it can also led to people not getting to play, judges needing to run mods that they weren't prepared to run, and all kinds of other 'nice' side effects of the chaos. Another bit allows mods to run in different slots rather than all at once to allow for random mustering (thus you don't get to hear 'surprise' from the next table over a minute before it happens at your table). If premustering can be made to fully work for 3/4+ of the tables that you plan then the amount of chaos at a convention is reduced greatly. -James
jhorred 10-17-07, 02:02 AM	Premustering works wonders for the smaller cons. It can greatly reduce the chaos of mustering and allow things to run smoothly. The only time I've seen it really fail is the last slot of a 4 day con.
KarmaInferno 10-17-07, 04:13 PM	At smaller cons sign up lists work pretty well, post them on a wall for each event near the gaming area. At larger cons, setting aside an area for each APL, or issuing color coded index cards to the players for each APL they can play, at works better. Having them gather in one spot and expecting them to muster themselves is a recipe for disaster, though. -karma
PCI_StatMonkey 10-23-07, 03:18 PM	At smaller cons sign up lists work pretty well, post them on a wall for each event near the gaming area. At larger cons, setting aside an area for each APL, or issuing color coded index cards to the players for each APL they can play, at works better. Having them gather in one spot and expecting them to muster themselves is a recipe for disaster, though. -karma Ya but even with big cons... you have someone walk table to table and just hand out the right APL packet for the encounters. It just seems to work with us.. besides as a GM I would normally print out all the APLs and have them set up with clips... I get the right packet and I'm ready to go.
KarmaInferno 10-24-07, 03:24 PM	One thing that always bugs me when judging: Please, PLEASE do not put the information for a particular APL / combat across multiple pages if you can help it! It's way too easy to get lost flipping back and forth trying to find this or that stat or item or ability. Especially if the mod was handed to you unstapled so the page order can get messed up across multiple runnings. -karma
cetiken 10-25-07, 08:47 PM	What I'd like to see in terms of formating is a single column format so I can run the mod off a laptop without either scrolling back and forth or squinting. Ye gods we must be desprate for more information. Just a hint please?
pedr 10-26-07, 09:58 AM	What I'd like to see in terms of formating is a single column format so I can run the mod off a laptop without either scrolling back and forth or squinting.Hear hear. I'll say that again; hear hear! Please do this. It would make life so, so, so much easier!!
TempleLion 11-12-07, 12:53 PM	It may be too late for LG, however for LFR I humbly suggest that the scenario templates use spreadsheets for creature's statblocks. Doesn't have to have macros or anything in fact I prefer if it didn't, but being able to tab or cursor across instead of painstakingly one space at a time would cut down on some of the busy work. The thread seems to have been hijacked a bit ... good conversation re: cons, but not on topic. To pull us back to topic, I think the real solution here is the D&D Digital Initiative. If all of the critters are online, then it should be relatively easy to advance them by an 4E/LFR standard set of rules and then export stat blocks to an XML/DOC/PDF file to be included as an addendum to the scenario/mod. In fact, if done with forethought, the entire online system could automatically generate and save alternative formats (landscape PDF for laptops, XLS files for Excel, etc). This judges could log in and download supplementary files that allow them to run the game in a manner which best suits their style. As new format requests come online, it should be a simple matter of writing the export filter to get what you need. Whether WotC does this or the community, it does not matter. The data should be there and be easily manipulated.