Hot answers tagged software
18
There's a thread on Story Games about this. Let me summarize:
Scribus is free, multi-platform, but has a steep learning curve because it's a desktop publishing tool, built for experienced layout folks. But if you're an experienced layout folk, you'll be annoyed by missing features.
Serif Page Plus is free for noncommercial use (very cheap for unrestricted ...
14
Use Google Wave one of the appengine ports of wave like walkaround. Embrace multi-threaded actions. Assume competence on the players' parts. Avoid boring combats wherever possible. Have the players give commands as a group instead of individuals. Have a timeout on actions of whatever the group decides with assumed actions being whatever's "reasonable" for ...
13
Battlegrounds hosts a table comparing popular virtual tabletop software. One of the comparison lines is whether it's "Suitable for offline use".
Based on the comparison, the best bet is MapTool since it explicitly notes that it supports dual map windows so that the player map can be moved onto an external monitor. The other entries indicate support for ...
10
I emailed the Incombat developer and figured out a way to effectively use the program on a larger display with low resolution.
If you download the Adobe AIR version of the software, you can right click on the initiative list and click "Show Player View". This gives a new window with just the initiative list. It also has a "use large font" option. When ...
9
I use Photoshop mainly, as do many professional cartographers. I often use Illustrator in combination with Photoshop. Things like initial outlines of coasts and things I find best in Illustrator, but then move to Photoshop for the real polishing of the look and feel.
Modern style floor-plan maps I've started to make in Flash, it's just turned out to be the ...
9
For my own games, I have used LaTeX (not using columns, but using fairly wide margins). I find the layout to be pleasing and easy to read and LaTeX to be relatively easy to use.
On the up-side, you can use any text editor to edit your document(s), but unless you already know a decent text editor, you have the double whammy of "editor" and "LaTeX".
Project ...
9
I run (and play in) games like this based on play by e-mail, and log the results in a wiki. The largest concern is your rules- not your game rules, but the meta-rules to govern player interaction.
There are several games that I have run and played in hosted on my wiki. Most of them have game logs so you can see examples of play.
Also, my general rules, ...
9
Roll20 is another online tabletop - recently out of kickstarter - that operates with Google+ Hangouts. It's got good card support, including recently added hands and more features. The changelog has more details, including:
Better support for multiple decks.
Switched from the "drag upward" draw motion to just "click" to draw.
You can now deal ...
8
The Tabletop Forge hangout app includes what they call a "table" - this is something you can roll random results from. It includes a default table that doesn't replace items rolled called Card_Deck-Default, which contains a standard 52-card poker deck plus 2 jokers.
You can draw publicly from this deck with /table Card_Deck-Default, and draw without ...
7
I've answered under the assumption that you want to make small-scale tactical or local maps - on the scale of city streets instead of the whole city and surrounding countryside.
GIMP strikes me as the wrong tool for the job. In my opinion, and based on the local-map assumption, you need a vector graphics program.
Dig out a copy of OpenOffice.org Draw or ...
7
You don't exactly need plugins for this sort of thing: the most important skill for using raster software like the GIMP for map-making is learning how to use the existing functionality to get the effects you're interested in. However, depending on what you're going for, there are plugins that can help.
The hardest part of making a fantasy city map is laying ...
7
OGL: Yes. For details, see the faq:
Q: I want to distribute computer software using the OGL. Is that possible?
A: Yes, it's certainly possible. The most significant thing that will impact your effort is that you have to give all the recipients the right to extract and use any Open Game Content you've included in your application, and you have to ...
6
I've been testing PMWiki with IPMWikiSkin. So far it seems to be doing exactly what I need, even if it is kind of weird seeing an iOS interface on a Droid.
Pros:
Flexible handling of multiple users
Handles mobile browsers
Completely customizable
Can reskin, create custom markup, even change the code if needed
Has a repository of add-ons
Self-hosted
Can ...
6
I've used ProFantasy's products for creating cities, continents, etc. They are excellent products and full featured though they can get a little pricey.
An alternative for creating dungeon maps is using a vector drawing program such as Inkscape (free) or Xara (pay). You can create objects that you can quickly cut and paste for repeated patterns. Since it's ...
6
I hate to say it, but is there any reason why you just aren't using Photoshop (or a free equivalent like Gimp)? You seem to be a more advanced mapper, and that is the route that I would recommend. I don't know if Photoshop elements would be enough to fit what you are looking to do, but I can't think of a better graphics program for large scale mapping.
6
I like MapTool. I've also been known to use the GIMP to tile together images, but that's only worthwhile if you've already got tiles.
I've actually used the toolkit from the original Neverwinter Nights to generate a map, but this is rather slow and whatnot.
I've also messed around with other things but they're mostly random in nature, so I'm assuming you ...
5
You might try Magic Set Editor. The stock templates are sort of M:tG-oriented, but there are a ton of alternative templates on the download page. For the sake of completeness, I'll note the 4e-oriented Universal Card Set MSE project -- some of the templates there could be useful as well.
Personally, I use OmniGraffle on my Mac to make cards, but it's not ...
5
I use Inkscape for all of the maps for the most recent adventures for Gods & Monsters, mainly House of Lisport and Helter Skelter.
Layers are your friend, and grouped layers are even better. They can make it very easy to use the same map for your own use as game master and for the players use; all you have to do is hide the layers with secret info.
...
5
GIMP or not to GIMP...
GIMP is, for what it does, highly powerful, and very awkward to learn.
There are stamps for GIMP that were designed for doing RPG mapping at an "old school D&D style map" level, both color and grayscale...
http://inkwellideas.com/worldbuilding/worldbuilding-resources-hex-map-gimp-brushes/
And a tutorial for you...
...
5
Take any virtual tabletop tools, setup a GM instance, and a player instance on the laptop and use the localhost address, 127.0.0.1, to connect the player instance to the GM instance. The localhost address doesn't require a network to be hooked up. I have done this on Fantasy Grounds. I believe Maptools can do this as well.
5
It just occurred to me you could use yEd, if you want simple diagrams.
It's designed to draw flowcharts and other sort of ordered diagrams, but it allows you to add labels to connections (called edges) and it has a very nice auto-arrange feature.
And it's free!
4
We're using Obsidian Portal in our current game; it allows us all to take notes of what happened, have character sheets visible, and share wiki entries, and generally manage the shared pool of imagination our game accumulates. I recommend it.
4
WFRP 1E - Games Workshop and Hogshead Productions
WFRP 1E comprises 3+ printings.
GW 1st Printing, Hardcover. Major errata issues
GW 2nd Printing, Softcover. Minor errata issues; most of the 1st ed 1st printing errors got fixed. GW may or may not have run a 3rd printing, but if they did, it was using the same plates.
HHP Printings, softcover. Exact ...
4
I think what you're talking about is a classic "mind map" situation. There are a number of tools that can help organize something like this, many of them free, though of varying capability. Since you're mapping a campaign, you'll want something that supports cross-linking of branches, so that will narrow things down a bit. It's been a while since I was ...
4
I wrote an application for doing this kind of thing: RPG Ambience. It's an HTML5 app that works in at least the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.
At this point it's intended to be controlled with the keyboard, which is pretty handy and fast if you have a limited selection of sounds. I'm working on a visual playback interface that ...
3
I wrote and published my 24 hour RPG entirely using OpenOffice. It came out looking pretty alright.
http://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/downloads-games/geodesic-gnomes/
Personally, I prefer heavier layout applications, but the benefit of open office is that it runs nicely on a low-end laptop and is free.
I know that Rob Lang had issues with the software in ...
3
Here is an example of what you can do with the GIMP. A lot of effects are trivial to do and many brushes were taken from deviant art.
and
3
I guess I'm a little late to the rodeo here, but I struggled with this question for quite a while. Everything I tried was a complete pain to use, had a huge learning curve, wanted to run only on Windows, cost an arm and a leg, or was in some other way not going to work for me. Basically everything else mentioned so far went on my "no, thanks" list for one ...
3
Warhammer Fantasy RP First Edition is called Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or, retroactively, Warhammer Fantasy RP First Edition. As such, including First Edition is likely to be your best bet. The Hogshead edition is merely a reprint by a separate company.
It's worth knowing that second edition was a change on the level of D&D 3.0 to D&D 3.5, a lot of ...
2
The website Power2ool is designed for expressly this purpose, with the ability to import cards from compendium, edit every aspect of them, order them in a 2d space, and print them if you like.
Here's a demo video.
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