The D&D Encounter Builder Bonus Tools could become much more handy and useful if it could get all the 3,700+ Monsters datas in it, as well as the 416 Traps & Hazards currently available.
If there any plans on bringing it up to the level of material we have now, would it be a Program you would actually use ?
If there any plans on bringing it up to the level of material we have now, would it be a Program you would actually use ?
Am I just doing it wrong?
I couldn't get it to do anything in either Firefox or Chrome. Both browsers are up date, and I'm running XP. Crashed the plugin after showing an unresponsive script message.
Am I just doing it wrong?
No WotC is...
I couldn't get it to do anything in either Firefox or Chrome. Both browsers are up date, and I'm running XP. Crashed the plugin after showing an unresponsive script message.
Am I just doing it wrong?
No WotC is...
Be fair, it's a free tool that one of their programmers wrote for themselves and got permission to put on WotC's site. It's not an official tool other than that and likely hasn't had any (cross platform/broswer) testing whatsoever. Think of - provided "as-is".
On a side note having just tried it: If I try to click the "Build Encounter" button without filling in the name it practically locks up with script errors and a pop-up saying "do you wish to continue running scripts?". If I fill in the name it seems to work fine.
I couldn't get it to do anything in either Firefox or Chrome. Both browsers are up date, and I'm running XP. Crashed the plugin after showing an unresponsive script message.
Am I just doing it wrong?
No WotC is...
Be fair, it's a free tool that one of their programmers wrote for themselves and got permission to put on WotC's site. It's not an official tool other than that and likely hasn't had any (cross platform/broswer) testing whatsoever. Think of - provided "as-is".
On a side note having just tried it: If I try to click the "Build Encounter" button without filling in the name it practically locks up with script errors and a pop-up saying "do you wish to continue running scripts?". If I fill in the name it seems to work fine.
You are about 75% right.
One of the original programmes was using something like that, but more bare bones, for his home campaign, and thought it would be a good idea to put it up (after being prettied up) for DDI. He brought it up to the head of DDI, who said yes, and got the program assigned to that programmer as part of his tasks.
You are about 75% right.
I'll take 75% as close enough for the idea to be expressed.
There is still no excuse why we don't have an official one at this point in time...
I wonder (and this is not based on anyuthing I have heard) if it is due to the number of encounter builders out there for 4E?? (Note, I have not looked for any enounter builders via Google.) It seems to me (based on my complete lack of programming knowledge) that this would be relatively trivial for someone to put together.
An ideal tool would add much more. It would integrate with the Monster Builder, allowing you to find monsters within the allowed level (and even higher and lower so you can then use the MB to customize and level them) and assign them to the encounter. You would do the same for traps, hazards, and terrain components.
A mapping component, with functionality similar to PyMapper or other programs, would allow you to design the play surface. An ideal tool can use tiles or free-form grid with line art.
The tool would allow you to write the encounter boxed text, perhaps having a simple style format. In a perfect world, the output would be one that DDI writers (people writing officially for Dungeon, for example) could use (the current Monster Builder output is not compatible with WotC templates for Dungeon and the new Adventure Tools viewer has no output). In a super-perfect world it would also create output that could easily be added to Ashes of Athas, LFR, or other organized play campaigns.
The tool would integrate with the VTT, allowing you to link all the tools together. Encounter Builder to choose parameters, MB to pick and customize monsters, Compendium for searches, CB for pregenerated characters, and VTT for an online game.
To be completely honest, that this doesn't exist right now speaks to a real problem in what is being provided to DMs. I forget the date, but the survey conducted many moons ago pointed to this need and WotC even identified the need and hinted at providing a solution. That's the whole idea behind "Adventure Tools"! (Note the original unused icons when you open the Monster Builder. One of them was likely the VTT, and another probably an Encounter Builder).
There is still no excuse why we don't have an official one at this point in time...
I wonder (and this is not based on anyuthing I have heard) if it is due to the number of encounter builders out there for 4E?? (Note, I have not looked for any enounter builders via Google.) It seems to me (based on my complete lack of programming knowledge) that this would be relatively trivial for someone to put together.
Yes and no. Based on the licensing a 3PP tool such as this would be prevented from having actual stat blocks which makes them next to useless (or nothing more than a glorified calculator for XP budget). IMO the point of an encounter builder would be a tool that integrates with the monster builder in a way that allows you to get all your monster stat blocks together and print them in a nice format (such as you could do with the offline builder by exporting to RTF and pasting into another document and then arranging to taste) in addition to calculating XP.
Edit: What Alpha said!
There is still no excuse why we don't have an official one at this point in time...
I wonder (and this is not based on anyuthing I have heard) if it is due to the number of encounter builders out there for 4E?? (Note, I have not looked for any enounter builders via Google.) It seems to me (based on my complete lack of programming knowledge) that this would be relatively trivial for someone to put together.
It's not that difficult to assemble. It's a glorified calculator. The difference is having one integrated into the Adventure Tools and/or that uses the Compendium. There's no API currently, and those out there that do, now how to get a secure connection to the database and scrape the HTML (I don't know how to do the former, as of yet).
And if it's not that difficult, why don't we have one??
I wonder (and this is not based on anyuthing I have heard) if it is due to the number of encounter builders out there for 4E?? (Note, I have not looked for any enounter builders via Google.) It seems to me (based on my complete lack of programming knowledge) that this would be relatively trivial for someone to put together.
As a DM, if WOTC created an encounter Builder like Alphastream1 describes I would resubscribe in perpetuity... ;)
I would gladly take the monster builder as is if it had a robust encounter builder... "sigh"
It really isn't trivial. Most DMs would like help with the process for creating an encounter. In addition, there is some reference work (encounter levels that work for a given party level, encounter XP budget, monster level ranges for an encounter level, DCs, etc.). I use my own spreadsheet and I've seen LFR admins create one for their use. I would gladly have a tool that did even the basic construction (basically a more robust version of what is in that old plugin).
An ideal tool would add much more. It would integrate with the Monster Builder, allowing you to find monsters within the allowed level (and even higher and lower so you can then use the MB to customize and level them) and assign them to the encounter. You would do the same for traps, hazards, and terrain components.
A mapping component, with functionality similar to PyMapper or other programs, would allow you to design the play surface. An ideal tool can use tiles or free-form grid with line art.
The tool would allow you to write the encounter boxed text, perhaps having a simple style format. In a perfect world, the output would be one that DDI writers (people writing officially for Dungeon, for example) could use (the current Monster Builder output is not compatible with WotC templates for Dungeon and the new Adventure Tools viewer has no output). In a super-perfect world it would also create output that could easily be added to Ashes of Athas, LFR, or other organized play campaigns.
The tool would integrate with the VTT, allowing you to link all the tools together. Encounter Builder to choose parameters, MB to pick and customize monsters, Compendium for searches, CB for pregenerated characters, and VTT for an online game.
To be completely honest, that this doesn't exist right now speaks to a real problem in what is being provided to DMs. I forget the date, but the survey conducted many moons ago pointed to this need and WotC even identified the need and hinted at providing a solution. That's the whole idea behind "Adventure Tools"! (Note the original unused icons when you open the Monster Builder. One of them was likely the VTT, and another probably an Encounter Builder).
I agree with you 100%
`Teo
It's not that difficult to assemble. It's a glorified calculator. The difference is having one integrated into the Adventure Tools and/or that uses the Compendium. There's no API currently, and those out there that do, now how to get a secure connection to the database and scrape the HTML (I don't know how to do the former, as of yet).
Hmmm, I wrote a program which allows you to browse lists of monsters in the Compendium based on filters covering role, level and name. You can get that info without any DDi login - there is a simple API which lets you get that info. Then once I've selected a single monster it goes off and connects to the Compendium with my DDi login and grabs that monster's details and makes me a MapTool token for that monster. I've never been given a C&D from Wizards who are well aware of my program. I can only guess that's because it doesn't do large scale downloading of monsters - it's literally only building a token at a time and there is no facility to grab all monsters out of the database - there is no need for it to do that as I only want one monster at a time. It's not actually much different from logging into the Compendium by hand, finding the monster you want and then copying the text from the web page which is displayed and pasting it into a parser. My program just automates that process for one monster only.
I've just realised that this means I've actually already done most of the hard work in terms of getting monsters by level/role etc out of the database. It wouldn't be too hard to write a different front end using the same low level classes to generate encounters. Maybe I should do it!
Please do! It would be great to see someone fill the whole. And man, if someone could find a way to get the most recent monsters into the old monster builder in a legal way... that would be incredible.
I don't have a huge amount of spare time on my hands at the moment. However I am more than willing to share my code with anyone who does have an interest in taking this on. It's java code, hopefully well documented (and I can provide help where it's not clear of course). So if anyone wants to do this, let me know. PM or post here I guess. Jharii? ;)
Please do! It would be great to see someone fill the whole. And man, if someone could find a way to get the most recent monsters into the old monster builder in a legal way... that would be incredible.
I don't have a huge amount of spare time on my hands at the moment. However I am more than willing to share my code with anyone who does have an interest in taking this on. It's java code, hopefully well documented (and I can provide help where it's not clear of course). So if anyone wants to do this, let me know. PM or post here I guess. Jharii? ;)
I have the regular expressions built already. My issue has always been that I don't know how to connect to the Compendium and access it in the code behind with a user supplied login/password.
I'm a C# (rookie) guy myself, so I may be able to decipher the Java, especially if you have it commented. So yeah, I'm definitely interested in giving it a shot.
It's not that difficult to assemble. It's a glorified calculator. The difference is having one integrated into the Adventure Tools and/or that uses the Compendium. There's no API currently, and those out there that do, now how to get a secure connection to the database and scrape the HTML (I don't know how to do the former, as of yet).
Hmmm, I wrote a program which allows you to browse lists of monsters in the Compendium based on filters covering role, level and name. You can get that info without any DDi login - there is a simple API which lets you get that info. Then once I've selected a single monster it goes off and connects to the Compendium with my DDi login and grabs that monster's details and makes me a MapTool token for that monster. I've never been given a C&D from Wizards who are well aware of my program. I can only guess that's because it doesn't do large scale downloading of monsters - it's literally only building a token at a time and there is no facility to grab all monsters out of the database - there is no need for it to do that as I only want one monster at a time. It's not actually much different from logging into the Compendium by hand, finding the monster you want and then copying the text from the web page which is displayed and pasting it into a parser. My program just automates that process for one monster only.
I've just realised that this means I've actually already done most of the hard work in terms of getting monsters by level/role etc out of the database. It wouldn't be too hard to write a different front end using the same low level classes to generate encounters. Maybe I should do it!
You are in my list, right?
You are in my list, right?
Hi Paolo,
Yes, I'm on your list.
Cheers
Blakey
Is this little application available to the public?
@blakey Is this little application available to the public?
Yes it is, but be aware it only works with my personal framework for MapTool which you might not find useful. It doesn't work if you're using other people's frameworks. i.e. the monsters and PC tokens it makes will only work with the Campaign Properties and Lib:Blakey token included. Not with Rumble's framework or Veggies framework or Deviant Null's framework for example.
A zip of the program and the framework to support it is available here: www.rodinia.info/downloads.php - the file called "Blakey Framework.v1.17.zip"
If you do grab it and use it, let me know how you get on?
Anyway, enough thread derailing...
EDIT: Just added a README.txt file which will hopefully help anyone using the framework. Any issues PM me so we don't derail this thread.
It's not that difficult to assemble. It's a glorified calculator. The difference is having one integrated into the Adventure Tools and/or that uses the Compendium. There's no API currently, and those out there that do, now how to get a secure connection to the database and scrape the HTML (I don't know how to do the former, as of yet).
Hmmm, I wrote a program which allows you to browse lists of monsters in the Compendium based on filters covering role, level and name. You can get that info without any DDi login - there is a simple API which lets you get that info. Then once I've selected a single monster it goes off and connects to the Compendium with my DDi login and grabs that monster's details and makes me a MapTool token for that monster. I've never been given a C&D from Wizards who are well aware of my program. I can only guess that's because it doesn't do large scale downloading of monsters - it's literally only building a token at a time and there is no facility to grab all monsters out of the database - there is no need for it to do that as I only want one monster at a time. It's not actually much different from logging into the Compendium by hand, finding the monster you want and then copying the text from the web page which is displayed and pasting it into a parser. My program just automates that process for one monster only.
I've just realised that this means I've actually already done most of the hard work in terms of getting monsters by level/role etc out of the database. It wouldn't be too hard to write a different front end using the same low level classes to generate encounters. Maybe I should do it!
You are in my list, right?
Are you soliciting a job offer or preparing to send a C&D?
Are you soliciting a job offer or preparing to send a C&D?
If you have to ask, then you don't know what he's talking about.
Are you soliciting a job offer or preparing to send a C&D?
If you have to ask, then you don't know what he's talking about.
Well yeah. Obviously.
What is he talking about? Enquiring minds want to know!
So, the deal is that AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!