Nicholas's Ideas #1

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Submitted by CloneDark on Sun, 08/20/2006 - 13:41

Support

Here is how it goes down:

The DM of a campaign can elect to use "Boards"

The party is heading down a trail, all of a sudden, he makes 2 quick die rolls, and a lizard man jumps out from behind a tree. No sweat, the DM says that the lizard man is 20 feet away, the warior runs it, swings his sword, it's over.

OPNPW is very suitable for that kind of battle.

Now, however...

The party is going through a sewer system, they reach a 4 way intersection when suddenly, bandits and trained rats attack, the party chooses to use some of the surounding crates as cover while arching now and then. This kind of battle is a little more complex, and saying things like "Bandit one takes 20 steps east" or "The easternmost bandit goes west, now becomeing the northernmost bandit" or something like that. At this time, the DM could click a "Create Board" button. It would open a small board, for the DM and players alike to see, the DM could then load a background for the board which he drew prior to the session. There would then be a couple things to enter at the top, being:

1: Grid width
2: Grid hieght
3: Number of rows
4: Number of columns

That way you can specify how big each square of a grid is, and how many rows and columns there are. allowing the board to be used for any kind of battle size. Then, on the right would be a check box for each player in the room. You can check the box, and the player's marker (or little 32x32 circle with his name in it or something) will apear in the top right hand corner of the "Board". the DM can now drag that marker to wherever the player is. That player, can also, move his own marker, no body elses. The DM will also have 3 other buttons on the right. "Create Monster", 'rename monster", and "Destroy Monster" When you click "Create Monster", it will then ask you to click a location to set the monster, when you click somewhere on the board, a monster marker will apear there with the default name "E1" for Enemy One. Then when you click another one, it will create "E2" and so on. You can then click "Rename Monster" and click on a monster marker to change his name. You could also click "Destroy Monster" then click on the monster, and that will remove his marker. Only the DM will have all these options, the players will only see the board, the background the DM loaded, and where all the markers are.

Maybe, (If loading images across the new is hard, I image it being so) you could just load a scribble file, makeing the image in black and white only, and since scribble files already can be transfered, you could use a simular system.

Please tell me if you think this idea is a good one, and I would REALLY apreciate it if Brad would comment about it. I know it sounds REALLY complicated, but maybe I could make a network/IP demo of it into a .exe then he could use my system to make a java version to run in the game.

This is just one of my many ideas. I will post more soon.

Toodles.

--Next Idea: Character sheets--