Online Dungeon Master

October 31, 2011

MapTool macros: Condition tracking for D&D4e

Filed under: 4e D&D, Advice/Tools, Macros — Tags: , , — OnlineDM @ 7:30 AM

At last, the culmination of my advanced MapTool topics from last week: My macros for tracking conditions in D&D 4th Edition!

Let me disclaim once again that there are lots of super-fancy campaign frameworks out there that probably handle this sort of thing far better than I do. But since I actually get pleasure from learning about MapTool macros, I write my own.

Shortcut to the end: Download the campaign file that contains all of these macros.

The goal

I already had macros that would toggle conditions like Dazed or Blinded on and off of tokens. What I wanted was a way of giving players the option of specifying an end time for the condition: Either the beginning of someone’s turn, the end of someone’s turn, or save ends (or no ending time at all, such as for Prone, which ends when you decide to get up). Then I wanted that condition to either automatically end or to see a message reminding you to save against a condition at the appropriate time.

It sounds so simple. For me, at least, it wasn’t. But I got there!

Step 1: Storing information about conditions

I already had a way of knowing whether a condition was on a token or not. MapTool has “states” that can be turned on or off, and if they’re on they display a little icon over the token. What I lacked was a way to track when the condition was supposed to end.

I ultimately went with a JSON array made up of JSON objects, stored as a property on a new library token (see the hyperlinks to understand what the heck that’s all about). I created a library token called Lib:LibToken1 and a new set of properties for it, with a single property called StatesArray. When populated, it looks something like this:

[{"TokenName":"None"},{"TokenName":"Shadow Ape","State":"Blind","EndCount":0,"EndRound":2,"AutoEnd":"1"},{"TokenName":"Torrent","State":"Quarried","EndCount":0,"EndRound":2,"AutoEnd":"1"}]

The first JSON object is just a dummy that I leave there all the time. The next object has five keys with values:

  • The name of the token affected is Shadow Ape
  • The state on it is Blind
  • The count in the initiative order in which this state should end is 0
  • The round in which the state should end is round 2
  • Yes, the state should end automatically

How do I set this up? With macros, of course!

Macro #1: Condition toggles

I already had a bunch of buttons in my campaign window that would toggle a condition on or off of a token. I just repurposed these to work with my new arrangement. Since each button’s name (with a few exceptions) matches the state that I’m turning on or off, they all have the same code, and for this example I’ll assume we’re working with the “Dazed” button.Image

[h: MacroArguments=json.set('{ }', "TokenName", "None", "State", getMacroName(), "EndCount", -2, "EndRound", -2, "AutoEnd", -2)]
[MACRO("ToggleState@lib:LibToken1"): MacroArguments]

The first line sets up a JSON object with two important variables: The first important variable is the name of the state I’m toggling, which is the same as the name of the macro button I’m clicking (Dazed). The second important variable is at the end of the JSON object – AutoEnd=-2. This will show up later on; it will tell my ToggleState macro that I want a pop-up to ask the player when the condition will end. The other three variables in the JSON object (TokenName, EndCound, EndRound) don’t matter for this particular macro right now.

I then use the MACRO roll option to call a macro called ToggleState that lives on a token called Lib:LibToken1, passing it the JSON object I created above.

Macro #2: ToggleState

Brace yourselves: It gets a little deeper now.

[h: SelectedTokens=getSelected()]
[h: StateName=json.get(macro.args, "State")]
[h: EndCount=json.get(macro.args, "EndCount")]
[h: EndRound=json.get(macro.args, "EndRound")]
[h: AutoEnd=json.get(macro.args, "AutoEnd")]

The first line gets a JSON array that contains all of the tokens that are currently selected (this lets me make a whole bunch of tokens Dazed at once by selecting all of them and then running the Dazed macro). The next four lines unpack the elements of the JSON object that I passed over – that JSON object is in the macro.args variable since it was the argument passed to this macro. Note that it’s possible for me to pass meaningful numbers to the macro for EndCount, EndRound and AutoEnd, but in this case the relevant part is the name of the state and AutoEnd=-2.

[h: CurrentStatesArray=getLibProperty("StatesArray","lib:LibToken1")]

I now get the StatesArray property from the library token – that’s the JSON array that contains all of the states that are currently on tokens, along with the times that they end.

[FOREACH(TokenID, SelectedTokens, " "), CODE:
 {
   [h: CurrentTokenName=getName(TokenID)]
   [h: NameAndState=json.set('{ }', "Name", CurrentTokenName, "State", StateName)]

I start looping through each of the selected tokens, running a piece of code on all of them. The first thing I do is to get the name of the first token I’ve selected, and then create a small JSON object that contains the name of the token and the state I’m toggling, for use later.

   [h, if(getState(StateName,TokenID)==0), CODE:
    {

I check to see if the token I’m working on is currently subject to the state in question (Dazed). If it’s not currently dazed, I run some more code (because I want to turn on the Dazed condition). I’ll run some different code (later) if I’m turning OFF the Dazed condition.

      [h: TokenStateObject=add('{"TokenName":"', getName(TokenID), '", "State":"', StateName, '", "EndCount":', EndCount, ', "EndRound":', EndRound, ', "AutoEnd":"', AutoEnd, '"}')]
      [ MACRO("GetExpirationInfo@Lib:LibToken1"): TokenStateObject]

I set up a JSON object that’s the same as the arguments that I passed over to this macro, except that I pop the name of the first token I’m working on into the TokenName slot. I then pass this object over to the GetExpirationInfo macro on the Lib:LibToken1 library token. That macro (which  you’ll see later) will ask the player for information about when the condition is supposed to end (assuming AutoEnd=-2 to start with, as it does here) and then pass that information back to this ToggleState macro.

      [ MACRO("GetExpirationInfo@Lib:LibToken1"): TokenStateObject]
      [h: EndCount=json.get(macro.return, "EndCount")]
      [h: EndRound=json.get(macro.return, "EndRound")]
      [h: AutoEnd=json.get(macro.return, "AutoEnd")]
      [h: TokenStateObject=add('{"TokenName":"', getName(TokenID), '", "State":"', StateName, '", "EndCount":', EndCount, ', "EndRound":', EndRound, ', "AutoEnd":"', AutoEnd, '"}')]

Similar to what we saw above, I now unpack the new JSON object that comes back from the GetExpirationInfo (it’s stored as macro.return). I then rebuild the TokenStateObject JSON with the update information about the end time for the condition.

     [CurrentStatesArray=json.append(CurrentStatesArray,TokenStateObject)]
     [h: setState(StateName,1,TokenID)]
     };

I now stick this JSON object onto the end of the CurrentStatesArray JSON array variable, adding one more token/state/ending time element to the list of all of them that are currently active. I then turn the Dazed state on for the token in question, so that the Dazed icon will appear on it.

This then ends the list of tasks I’m performing specifically for the case where I’m turning the Dazed state ON; I now move on to the case when I’m turning the Dazed state OFF.

    {
     [h, MACRO("FindToken@Lib:LibToken1"):  NameAndState]
     [h: CurrentTokenStateIndex=macro.return]
     [h: CurrentStatesArray=json.remove(CurrentStatesArray, CurrentTokenStateIndex)]
     [h: setState(StateName,0,TokenID)]
    }
   ]
 }
]

I start off by calling another macro called FindToken, passing it the JSON object I created earlier that has the name of the token in question and the state we’re toggling off. That macro (which we’ll look at later on in the post) looks through the current list of tokens and states that are active to figure out where this token/state pair lives in the list, and returns the index of this token/state pair in that array. We then remove that element from the array, and finally turn the state off of the token (so the Dazed icon will no longer appear on the image).

We then close the section of code for the “toggle off” case (first curly brace), close the “if” statement (first square bracket), close the FOREACH code block (second curly brace) and close the FOREACH statement itself (second square bracket).

At this point, the whole toggling process has been run for each selected token, toggling the state itself on or off and modifying the CurrentStatesArray variable to include the token/state/end time JSON objects for the states we’ve toggled ON and to exclude the token/state/end time JSON objects for the states we’ve toggled OFF.

[h: setLibProperty("StatesArray", CurrentStatesArray, "lib:LibToken1")]

We end the whole macro by updating the StatesArray property on the Lib:LibToken1 token to equal the updated array that we’ve been creating. Now the library token will have the correct list of tokens, states and ending conditions. Voila!

Macro #3: GetExpirationInfo

This macro is called from within the ToggleStates macro and asks the user to specify when the condition that we’re applying should end. I’ll give a shout-out here to Paul Baalham; I repurposed some of his code here to create a list of token images for a drop-down.

[h: CurrentTokenName=json.get(macro.args, "TokenName")]
[h: CurrentState=json.get(macro.args, "State")]
[h: AutoEnd=json.get(macro.args, "AutoEnd")]

First, I look at the JSON object that’s been passed to this macro and extract from it the name of the token we’re working on, the state we’re toggling (Dazed) and the value of the AutoEnd variable.

[h, if(AutoEnd==-2), CODE:
{

Here’s where the AutoEnd=-2 comes into play. The following code is only run if I’ve specifically set the AutoEnd variable equal to -2. It’s arbitrary, but it’s what I’ve picked.

 [h: CurrentLabel=add(CurrentState, " condition on ", CurrentTokenName)]
 [h: InitTokens=json.get(getInitiativeList(), "tokens")]

 [h: TokenImageList=""]

I set up a string called CurrentLabel that will say something like “Dazed condition on Goblin 5”.

I create a variable called InitTokens that has the list of tokens that are currently in the initiative order. Note that the output of getInitiativeList is a JSON object, one element of which is called “tokens”, which is ITSELF a JSON object, one of whose elements is the token IDs. Messy stuff.

I also set up an empty variable called TokenImage list that I’ll stick stuff into shortly.

 [h, FOREACH(Thingy, InitTokens, ""), CODE:

I then start a loop that goes through each of the tokens in the initiative window (each one referred to by me as Thingy just for the fun of it).

 {[ThisTokenID=json.get(Thingy, "tokenId")]
   [token(ThisTokenID): CurrentImage=getTokenImage()]
   [TokenImageList=listAppend(TokenImageList, getName(ThisTokenID) + " " + CurrentImage)]
 }
]

I get the token ID for each token, then get its image. Note that I have to use the “token” roll option in order to do this; I can only use the getTokenImage() function on the “active” token, and the token roll option lets me treat whatever token I like as active.

I then append the name of the token and its image to the TokenImageList variable. We’ll be using this in a little while.

 [h:x=input(
  "junkVar | " + CurrentLabel + " | Make selections for | LABEL | SPAN=FALSE",
  "TurnTime | None, Beginning, End, Save | On what part of the turn does the condition end? | RADIO | ORIENT=H SELECT=0 VALUE=STRING",
  "WhichTurn |"+TokenImageList +" | On whose turn does the condition end? | LIST | SELECT=0 ICON=TRUE ICONSIZE=30",
  "EndCurrentTurn | 0 | If end of own turn, does the condition end NEXT round? | CHECK"
 )]
 [h: abort(x)]
Now I bring up a dialog box where include a label that specifies what token and state I'm inquiring about, and I ask the user for three things. First, I have a set of radio buttons that ask whether this is a condition that doesn't end at a particular time, or one that ends at the beginning or end of someone's turn, or one that's "save ends". I save this as the TurnTime variable.

Next, I ask whose turn it ends on. Note that if you pick “save ends” you still need to choose the token’s own picture from the list. This is because I might have 10 goblin warriors on the map, but only Goblin Warrior 1 actually shows up in the initiative window. So, if Goblin Warrior 3 is dazed (save ends), I’d choose Goblin Warrior 1’s image from the drop-down list, since I want the “Make a saving throw” message to pop up at the end of the goblins’ collective turn. Note that the variable saved here, WhichTurn, is going to be the INDEX of the item I picked from the list, with the first token on the list having an index of zero.

Finally, I have a wonky workaround for the situation in which a character is subject to a condition on their own turn that ends at the end of their NEXT turn (such as “you get a +2 bonus to attack rolls until the end of your next turn”). If they check this box, it won’t end the condition at the end of the current turn, instead postponing it for a round.

The abort(x) means that if I clicked the Cancel button in the dialog box, the macro ends.

The pop-up looks something like this:Image

Next piece of code:

[h: CurrentInit=getCurrentInitiative()]
[h: CurrentRound=getInitiativeRound()]
[h: MaxInit=json.length(json.get(getInitiativeList(), "tokens"))-1]

I figure out what the current initiative count and round are. I then figure out the maximum initiative count. Note that I do this my counting how many things are in the current initiative list and subtracting 1. I do this because, as you may recall from the JSON arrays article, JSON array indexes START AT ZERO. So, if there are three things in the initiative order, the maximum count of the array is 2 (0, 1, 2).

 [SWITCH(TurnTime), CODE:

I now use a SWITCH statement, which will let me do different things depending on what has been selected for the ending time.

  case "None": {
    [h: EndCount=-1]
    [h: EndRound=-1]
    [h: AutoEnd=-1]
                        };

If the player said that the condition doesn’t end at any particular time, then I set EndCount, EndRound and AutoEnd all equal to -1.

  case "Beginning": {
    [h: EndCount=WhichTurn]
    [h: EndRound=if(WhichTurn>CurrentInit,CurrentRound,CurrentRound+1)]
    [h: AutoEnd=1]
                        };

If the player said that the condition ends at the beginning of someone’s turn, then I set the ending initiative count equal to the index of whatever token was picked from the drop-down (WhichTurn). If that token’s turn hasn’t come up yet this round, then the ending round is this round; otherwise, it’s next round. And I set AutoEnd=1 to tell another macro that this condition should end automatically.

  case "End": {
    [h: EndCount=if(WhichTurn<MaxInit,WhichTurn+1,0)]
    [h: EndRound=if(WhichTurn+1>CurrentInit && WhichTurn+1<=MaxInit,CurrentRound+EndNextRound,CurrentRound+EndNextRound+1)]
    [h: AutoEnd=1]
                        };

If this is a condition that ends at the END of someone’s turn, then I make it work the same as ending at the BEGINNING of the NEXT token’s turn. If it ends at the end of someone’s turn who’s not at the very end of the initiative order, then I simply add 1 to the index of the chosen token. On the other hand, if it ends at the end of the turn of the last token in the round, then I have to make it end at the beginning of the FIRST token in the next round (count 0).

As for choosing a round, if it ends at the end of someone whose turn is either ongoing or is coming later in the round, it ends in the current round PLUS the EndNextRound variable (in case it’s this token’s turn and the condition should end at the end of their NEXT turn). If the turn has already passed or if it’s ending at the end of the turn of the LAST token in the initiative order, then it ends another round on.

  case "Save": {
    [h: EndCount=if(WhichTurn<MaxInit,WhichTurn+1,0)]
    [h: EndRound=-1]
    [h: AutoEnd=0]
                        };

If we’re talking about a “save ends” condition, then the EndCount is identical to the “end of turn” logic, but there’s no particular round in which the condition ends (hence the -1 for EndRound). AutoEnd is set to 0 because the condition won’t end automatically at the end of the character’s turn – it will depend on a saving throw.

  default: {[r: "You somehow didn't pick anything!"]}
 ]

I end the SWITCH with the default option, which shouldn’t ever show up, but hey, I could have screwed something up in my code.

 [h: ReturnedVars=json.set("{ }", "EndCount", EndCount, "EndRound", EndRound, "AutoEnd", AutoEnd)]
};

I now create a JSON object that contains the EndCount, the EndRound and the AutoEnd for this particular token for the case in which AutoEnd was equal to -2, and I then close the section of “AutoEnd==-2” code.

{[h: ReturnedVars=MacroArgs]}
]

THIS is the piece of code that’s run if I didn’t set AutoEnd=-2. What’s up with that? Well, this lets me do something like have my Second Wind code automatically specify when the +2 to all defenses condition ends (at the beginning of the character’s next turn) rather than making the player pick this timing from the dialog box. It’s a minor thing, but I like having the ability to bypass the dialog box if I already know when the condition is supposed to end.

[h: macro.return=ReturnedVars]

Finally, no matter whether I popped up the dialog box to get the end timing or I already knew it before coming to this macro, I set the macro.return variable equal to this JSON object, for use back in the ToggleStates macro that called this macro. That’s it!

Macro #4: FindToken

This macro is called in ToggleStates when we’re turning a condition OFF from a token. It sorts through the current JSON array in the StatesArray property of the library token, looking for the JSON object in that array that corresponds to the token and state that we’re trying to turn off, so that the object can be removed from the array.

[h: CurrentTokenName=json.get(macro.args, "Name")]
[h: CurrentTokenState=json.get(macro.args, "State")]

I start off by getting the token name and state that we’re looking for from the JSON object that was passed to this macro as arguments. macro.args represents that JSON object that was passed, and it has two keys: Name and State. Easy enough, now that we understand JSON objects!

[h: CurrentStatesArray=getLibProperty("StatesArray","lib:LibToken1")]
[h: CurrentTokenStateIndex=-1]
[h: StatesArrayLength=json.length(CurrentStatesArray)]

I retrieve the current value of the StatesArray property of the library token. I initialize a variable called CurrentTokenStateIndex to be equal to -1 (so that if I don’t find this token/state pair in the array, the index I return for its location will be -1 – that is, nonexistent). I then figure out how many JSON objects are in the array right now, so that I know how many I need to loop through.

[COUNT(StatesArrayLength, ""), CODE:
 {[h: CurrentObject=json.get(CurrentStatesArray, roll.count)]
  [h: CurrentTokenStateIndex=if(json.get(CurrentObject, "TokenName")==CurrentTokenName && json.get(CurrentObject, "State")==CurrentTokenState, roll.count, CurrentTokenStateIndex)]
 }
]

I use the COUNT roll option to loop through each object in the current states array. Note that COUNT also starts at zero. If I COUNT(3), I will do stuff for roll.count=0, roll.count=1 and roll.count=2 (three times, starting at zero).

I retrieve each object in the JSON array, storing it as CurrentObject, then check to see if the TokenName and the State of that object match the token/state pair that we’re looking for. If there’s a match, then I set CurrentTokenStateIndex equal to the matching index of the array that we’re looking at. Otherwise, I leave CurrentTokenStateIndex where it was. Since it started at -1, if I go through every object in the array and never find a match, it will stay at -1 the whole time.

[h: macro.return=CurrentTokenStateIndex]

The value that I return to the ToggleStates macro is the index in the StatesArray JSON array that contains the token/state pair we’re looking to turn off. Bam!

Step 2: Checking for conditions that need to end at a particular initiative count

That does it for toggling states on and off manually and storing information about them in the StatesArray. What about having them automatically end at the appropriate time in the initiative count, or at least prompting the player for a saving throw?

I love the initiative window in MapTool; I use it even for in-person games when I’m using MapTool with my projector setup. But now I need to create some of my own macros for advancing the initiative count, because I need to check some things at each count. Specifically, are there any token conditions that need to end?

Macro #5: NextInitiative

I created a button in my campaign window called NextInitiative. All this macro does is advance the initiative count and then call another macro to check to see what happens at the new count:

[h: nextInitiative()]
[MACRO("CheckForChanges@lib:LibToken1"):""]

Yes, I have another macro on the library token, this one called CheckForChanges. You’ll note that I’m passing it a set of null arguments; I can’t just leave that part out. Go figure.

Macro #6: CheckForChanges

[h: CurrentInit=getCurrentInitiative()]
[h: CurrentRound=getInitiativeRound()]
[h: CurrentStatesArray=getLibProperty("StatesArray","lib:LibToken1")]
[h: CurrentTokenStateIndex=-1]
[h: StatesArrayLength=json.length(CurrentStatesArray)]

This macro begins with some simple housekeeping. I figure out what initiative count and what round we’re on at the moment. I figure out what’s in the current StatesArray JSON array that’s keeping track of all the conditions on all the tokens and when they need to end. I set a variable called CurrentTokenStateIndex to a -1 value, and I figure out how many objects are in the StatesArray. Yes, another loop is coming.

[COUNT(StatesArrayLength, ""), CODE:
 {[h: CurrentObject=json.get(CurrentStatesArray, roll.count)]
  [h: ObjectTokenName=json.get(CurrentObject, "TokenName")]
  [h: ObjectState=json.get(CurrentObject, "State")]
  [h: ObjectEndInit=json.get(CurrentObject, "EndCount")]
  [h: ObjectEndRound=json.get(CurrentObject, "EndRound")]
  [h: ObjectAutoEnd=json.get(CurrentObject, "AutoEnd")]

I start with the first object in the array and retrieve all five keys from that JSON object: The token name, the state, the initiative count when the state ends, the round when the state ends, and whether the state should end automatically or not.

  [if(CurrentInit==ObjectEndInit && CurrentRound==ObjectEndRound && ObjectAutoEnd==1), CODE:
   {The [ObjectState] condition on [ObjectTokenName] has ended.
    [MACRO("ToggleState2@lib:LibToken1"):CurrentObject]
   };{}
  ]

If we’re at the right initiative count and the right round for a state to end on a token and we’ve said that this state should end automatically, then I display a message in the chat window that explains what state is ending on what token. I then call another macro, called ToggleState2, to turn that state off. It’s a lot like the original ToggleState macro, but it doesn’t require looping through a bunch of tokens (since we’ve already done that).

  [if(CurrentInit==ObjectEndInit && ObjectAutoEnd==0), CODE:
   {[ObjectTokenName] needs to make a saving throw against the [ObjectState] condition.
   };{}
  ]
 }
]

If we’re at the right initiative count for a state to end and the AutoEnd variable is zero, that means it’s time for a “save ends” message to pop up. You’ll note that we don’t actually end the condition – we just display the reminder message. We then end the COUNT loop and the macro itself.

Finally, for the sake of completeness, here is the ToggleState2 macro without comment (because it’s pretty much the same stuff as ToggleState).

Macro #7: ToggleState2

[h: ArgsArray=macro.args]
[h: SelectedTokens=getSelected()]
[h: StateName=json.get(ArgsArray, "State")]
[h: TokenName=json.get(ArgsArray, "TokenName")]
[h, TOKEN(TokenName): TokenID=currentToken()]

[h: CurrentStatesArray=getLibProperty("StatesArray","lib:LibToken1")]
[h, if(getState(StateName,TokenID)==0), CODE:
  {[h, MACRO("GetExpirationInfo@Lib:LibToken1"):""]
    [h: EndCount=json.get(macro.return, "EndCount")]
    [h: EndRound=json.get(macro.return, "EndRound")]
    [h: AutoEnd=json.get(macro.return, "AutoEnd")]
    [h: TokenStateObject=add('{"TokenName":"', getName(TokenID), '", "State":"', StateName, '", "EndCount":', EndCount, ', "EndRound":', EndRound, ', "AutoEnd":"', AutoEnd, '"}')]
   };{}
]

[h: CurrentTokenName=getName(TokenID)]
[h: FindTokenArgs=json.set('{ }', "Name", CurrentTokenName, "State", StateName)]
[h, MACRO("FindToken@Lib:LibToken1"):  FindTokenArgs]

[h: CurrentTokenStateIndex=macro.return]
[h, if(getState(StateName,TokenID)==0), CODE:
 {[NewStatesArray=json.append(CurrentStatesArray,TokenStateObject)]
   [setLibProperty("StatesArray", NewStatesArray, "lib:LibToken1")]
   [h: setState(StateName,1,TokenID)]
   };
  {[h: NewStatesArray=json.remove(CurrentStatesArray, CurrentTokenStateIndex)]
    [h: setLibProperty("StatesArray", NewStatesArray, "lib:LibToken1")]
    [h: setState(StateName,0,TokenID)]
  }
]

Whew!

Okay, so it took me seven different macros to make this work – but it does work! I’m really excited about this, and I hope that this will end the “Oh wait, when does that condition end again?” discussions at the table. We shall see.

The uninterrupted code for the longer macros is below (note that ToggleState2 is above), and if you want to download my campaign file that includes all of these macros, you can do that at this link.

As always, feedback is appreciated!

-Michael, the OnlineDM

ToggleState macro:

[h: SelectedTokens=getSelected()]
[h: StateName=json.get(macro.args, "State")]
[h: EndCount=json.get(macro.args, "EndCount")]
[h: EndRound=json.get(macro.args, "EndRound")]
[h: AutoEnd=json.get(macro.args, "AutoEnd")]

[h: CurrentStatesArray=getLibProperty("StatesArray","lib:LibToken1")]

[FOREACH(TokenID, SelectedTokens, " "), CODE:
 {
   [h: CurrentTokenName=getName(TokenID)]
   [h: NameAndState=json.set('{ }', "Name", CurrentTokenName, "State", StateName)]
   [h, if(getState(StateName,TokenID)==0), CODE:
    {
      [h: TokenStateObject=add('{"TokenName":"', getName(TokenID), '", "State":"', StateName, '", "EndCount":', EndCount, ', "EndRound":', EndRound, ', "AutoEnd":"', AutoEnd, '"}')]
      [ MACRO("GetExpirationInfo@Lib:LibToken1"): TokenStateObject]
      [h: EndCount=json.get(macro.return, "EndCount")]
      [h: EndRound=json.get(macro.return, "EndRound")]
      [h: AutoEnd=json.get(macro.return, "AutoEnd")]
      [h: TokenStateObject=add('{"TokenName":"', getName(TokenID), '", "State":"', StateName, '", "EndCount":', EndCount, ', "EndRound":', EndRound, ', "AutoEnd":"', AutoEnd, '"}')]
     [CurrentStatesArray=json.append(CurrentStatesArray,TokenStateObject)]
     [h: setState(StateName,1,TokenID)]
     };
    {
     [h, MACRO("FindToken@Lib:LibToken1"):  NameAndState]
     [h: CurrentTokenStateIndex=macro.return]
     [h: CurrentStatesArray=json.remove(CurrentStatesArray, CurrentTokenStateIndex)]
     [h: setState(StateName,0,TokenID)]
    }
   ]
 }
]

[h: setLibProperty("StatesArray", CurrentStatesArray, "lib:LibToken1")]

GetExpirationInfo macro:

[h: CurrentTokenName=json.get(macro.args, "TokenName")]
[h: CurrentState=json.get(macro.args, "State")]
[h: AutoEnd=json.get(macro.args, "AutoEnd")]

[h, if(AutoEnd==-2), CODE:
{
 [h: CurrentLabel=add(CurrentState, " condition on ", CurrentTokenName)]
 [h: InitTokens=json.get(getInitiativeList(), "tokens")]

 [h: TokenImageList=""]

 [h, FOREACH(Thingy, InitTokens, ""), CODE:
  {[ThisTokenID=json.get(Thingy, "tokenId")]
    [token(ThisTokenID): CurrentImage=getTokenImage()]
    [TokenImageList=listAppend(TokenImageList, getName(ThisTokenID) + " " + CurrentImage)]
  }
 ]

 [h:x=input(
  "junkVar | " + CurrentLabel + " | Make selections for | LABEL | SPAN=FALSE",
  "TurnTime | None, Beginning, End, Save | On what part of the turn does the condition end? | RADIO | ORIENT=H SELECT=0 VALUE=STRING",
  "WhichTurn |"+TokenImageList +" | On whose turn does the condition end? | LIST | SELECT=0 ICON=TRUE ICONSIZE=30",
  "EndNextRound | 0 | If end of own turn, does the condition end NEXT round? | CHECK"
 )]
 [h: abort(x)]

 [h: CurrentInit=getCurrentInitiative()]
 [h: CurrentRound=getInitiativeRound()]
 [h: MaxInit=json.length(json.get(getInitiativeList(), "tokens"))-1]

 [SWITCH(TurnTime), CODE:
  case "None": {
    [h: EndCount=-1]
    [h: EndRound=-1]
    [h: AutoEnd=-1]
                        };
  case "Beginning": {
    [h: EndCount=WhichTurn]
    [h: EndRound=if(WhichTurn>CurrentInit,CurrentRound,CurrentRound+1)]
    [h: AutoEnd=1]
                        };
  case "End": {
    [h: EndCount=if(WhichTurn<MaxInit,WhichTurn+1,0)]
    [h: EndRound=if(WhichTurn+1>CurrentInit && WhichTurn+1<=MaxInit,CurrentRound+EndNextRound,CurrentRound+EndNextRound+1)]
    [h: AutoEnd=1]
                        };
  case "Save": {
    [h: EndCount=if(WhichTurn<MaxInit,WhichTurn+1,0)]
    [h: EndRound=if(WhichTurn+1>CurrentInit && WhichTurn+1<=MaxInit,CurrentRound,CurrentRound+1)]
    [h: EndRound=-1]
    [h: AutoEnd=0]
                        };
  default: {[r: "You somehow didn't pick anything!"]}
 ]
 [h: ReturnedVars=json.set("{ }", "EndCount", EndCount, "EndRound", EndRound, "AutoEnd", AutoEnd)]
};
{[h: ReturnedVars=MacroArgs]}
]
[h: macro.return=ReturnedVars]

FindToken macro:

[h: CurrentTokenName=json.get(macro.args, "Name")]
[h: CurrentTokenState=json.get(macro.args, "State")]
[h: CurrentStatesArray=getLibProperty("StatesArray","lib:LibToken1")]
[h: CurrentTokenStateIndex=-1]
[h: StatesArrayLength=json.length(CurrentStatesArray)]
[COUNT(StatesArrayLength, ""), CODE:
 {[h: CurrentObject=json.get(CurrentStatesArray, roll.count)]
  [h: CurrentTokenStateIndex=if(json.get(CurrentObject, "TokenName")==CurrentTokenName && json.get(CurrentObject, "State")==CurrentTokenState, roll.count, CurrentTokenStateIndex)]
 }
]
[h: macro.return=CurrentTokenStateIndex]

CheckForChanges macro:

[h: CurrentInit=getCurrentInitiative()]
[h: CurrentRound=getInitiativeRound()]
[h: CurrentStatesArray=getLibProperty("StatesArray","lib:LibToken1")]
[h: CurrentTokenStateIndex=-1]
[h: StatesArrayLength=json.length(CurrentStatesArray)]
[COUNT(StatesArrayLength, ""), CODE:
 {[h: CurrentObject=json.get(CurrentStatesArray, roll.count)]
  [h: ObjectTokenName=json.get(CurrentObject, "TokenName")]
  [h: ObjectState=json.get(CurrentObject, "State")]
  [h: ObjectEndInit=json.get(CurrentObject, "EndCount")]
  [h: ObjectEndRound=json.get(CurrentObject, "EndRound")]
  [h: ObjectAutoEnd=json.get(CurrentObject, "AutoEnd")]
  [if(CurrentInit==ObjectEndInit && CurrentRound==ObjectEndRound && ObjectAutoEnd==1), CODE:
   {The [ObjectState] condition on [ObjectTokenName] has ended.
    [MACRO("ToggleState2@lib:LibToken1"):CurrentObject]
   };{}
  ]
  [if(CurrentInit==ObjectEndInit && ObjectAutoEnd==0), CODE:
   {[ObjectTokenName] needs to make a saving throw against the [ObjectState] condition.
   };{}
  ]
 }
]

October 28, 2011

Advanced MapTool macros part 3: Library tokens and the MACRO roll option

Filed under: Advice/Tools, Macros — Tags: , — OnlineDM @ 7:30 AM

As you may have read in my earlier posts about JSON objects and JSON arrays, I’ve been working on macros to let me better track conditions on tokens for my D&D 4e game in MapTool. I thought it would be simple, but I ultimately needed to learn about some rather advanced topics. This includes today’s topics: library tokens and the MACRO roll option.

What’s a library token?

A library token is pretty much like any other token, except that its name must begin with “Lib:” (including the colon, but not the quotes). For instance, I created a token called Lib:LibToken1. I’m creative like that.Image

What’s the point?

While there might be tons of cool things you can do with library tokens, I’ve discovered two so far.

First, they’re handy for storing properties that you’ll want to reference across multiple macros. You theoretically could do this with any token, but library tokens are available no matter what map you’re on, and you’re less likely to accidentally delete them if they get killed (since, you know, they’re not intended to actually be in combat).

Second, if you put a macro called onCampaignLoad on a library token, then it will automatically run whenever you open up the campaign (or whenever your players connect to it). I’m not using this right now, but it’s good to know about for the future.

Third, you can call macros on library tokens from other macros. This is where it gets cool.

What is the MACRO roll option?

If you have any experience with programming other than in MapTool, you might be familiar with subroutines. Good programming often means that you’ll separate little pieces of code from one another and then “call” those other pieces of code when you need them. So, if you have a piece of code that sorts a column of data, let’s say, you’ll keep it separated and then “call” that code whenever you need to sort something.

In MapTool, you do this with the MACRO roll option. Note first of all that it is a roll option, not a function. This means that it comes BEFORE the colon within your square brackets of code, just like the “h” roll option for hiding your results. It also means that if you want to hide the results of the entire macro, you’ll format it as “[h, MACRO…” rather than “[h: MACRO…”.Image

I’ll note that there’s another way you can handle this, via User Defined Functions (UDF) in MapTool. Basically, you can use the defineFunction() function (wow, that sounds weird) to more or less make one of these called macro roll options into a function rather than a roll option, but that’s a topic for another time.

How does it work?

Let’s say I’ve created a macro on my Lib:LibToken1 library token, and I’ve called it ToggleState. This macro will let me toggle a condition (like Dazed) on or off of another token. I need to tell the ToggleState macro what state I’m toggling (Dazed), which is called an argument.

If I want to call the ToggleState macro, passing it the Dazed argument, it will look something like this:

[MACRO("ToggleState@Lib:LibToken1"): "Dazed"]

The roll option itself (MACRO) comes first. Within parentheses, I tell MapTool the name of the macro I’m calling (ToggleState) and where it can find that macro (on the token called lib:LibToken1) with an @ symbol in between. I then close the parentheses and insert a colon, followed by the argument (“Dazed”).

If you want to call a macro without any argument, you still need to include “” as a dummy argument. Without that, MapTool won’t execute the call.

If I want a bunch of different arguments, I can pass them as a string list or – you knew this was coming – a JSON object or array.

How do you use passed arguments?

Now let’s look at a piece of the macro I’ve called – the ToggleState macro.

[h: StateName=macro.args]

This line of code is accessing the argument I passed to the macro; StateName is set equal to the value of the special variable macro.args, which in this case is equal to “Dazed” (because that’s the value of the argument I passed to the macro). From there, the macro can continue to work, knowing the name of the state to toggle.

How do you pass information back from the called macro?

This is lovely and all, but it will often be useful for the macro I’ve called (ToggleStates) to pass some information BACK to the original macro. In order to do that, I use the special variable macro.return.

[h: macro.return="Toggle successful"]

I can include this line near the end of the called macro (ToggleStates). This sets the value of the special variable macro.return to “Toggle successful”. I can then access this information back in the original Dazed macro:

[h: DeliveredMessage=macro.return]
[r: DeliveredMessage]

Naturally, you can also pass back lists of things, often in a JSON object. So, from the called macro:

[h: ValuesToReturn=json.set('{ }', "Message", "Toggle successful", "NumTokensToggled", 3)]
[h: macro.return=ValuesToReturn]

And then in the calling macro:

[h: ReturnedValues=macro.return]
[h: MessageToDisplay=json.get(ReturnedValues, "Message")]
[h: NumTokensAffected=json.get(ReturnedValues, "NumTokensToggled")]
[MessageToDisplay] on [NumTokensAffected] tokens.

Bringing it all together

Now you know about the advanced tools I had to learn in order to write my state-tracking macro:

The final step: Showing you how it all comes together! Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion.

-Michael the OnlineDM

October 27, 2011

Advanced MapTool macros part 2: Intro to JSON arrays

Filed under: Advice/Tools, Macros, Online games — Tags: , — OnlineDM @ 7:31 AM

As I mentioned in the first post in this series, I’ve been working on a set of macros to help me better track conditions on characters for D&D 4th Edition in MapTool. Building those macros has led me deeper into some of the capabilities of the MapTool macro language that I had previously avoided. Part 1 of the series focused on JSON objects; today we talk about JSON arrays.

What is a JSON array?

In any context, an array is basically a list. “1, 2, 3” is an array. A shopping list is an array.

A JSON array is a list enclosed in brackets and separated by commas for use in MapTool. As for what it’s a list OF, well, JSON arrays are flexible on that point.

You can have a JSON array that’s a list of numbers:

[r: MyJSONArray='[12, 3, -44]' ]

You can have a JSON array that’s a list of words:

[r: MyJSONArray='["Red", "Purple", "Yellow"]' ]

You can have a JSON array that’s a mixture of numbers and words:

[r: MyJSONArray='["Red", 3, -44]' ]

More interestingly, you can have a JSON array that’s a list of JSON objects – or even a list of other JSON arrays!

JSONObject1=[r: JsonObject1= '{"Color":"Red", "Number":12}' ]<br>
JSONObject2=[r: JsonObject2= '{"Color":"Purple", "Number":3}' ]<br>
JSONObject3=[r: JsonObject3= '{"Color":"Yellow", "Number":-44}' ]<br>
[h: MyJSONArray=' [ ]' ]
Array step 1=[r: MyJSONArray=json.append(MyJSONArray, JSONObject1) ]<br>
Array step 2=[r: MyJSONArray=json.append(MyJSONArray, JSONObject2) ]<br>
Array complete=[r: MyJSONArray=json.append(MyJSONArray, JSONObject3) ]<br>
<br>Second item = [r: SecondItem=json.get(MyJSONArray, 1)]
<br>Color of second item = [r: SecondItemColor=json.get(SecondItem, "Color")]

How do you build a JSON array?

As you can see from the examples above, you can build a simple JSON array in a manner very similar to building a JSON object. The contents of the array are separated by commas and enclosed in square brackets [ ], and the whole thing is enclosed in single quotes so that MapTool will allow you to use double quotes inside the array (so that it can contain words).

Another option I showed was to use the json.append function in MapTool. You need to start with an existing or blank JSON array (hence the MyJSONArray = ‘[ ]’ bit, creating a blank JSON array). You then append the new item to the end of the array.

What do you do with a JSON array?

As with a JSON object, a JSON array is useful if you store it as a property on a library token and then have it available for other macros to use later. It’s also useful because it’s an array – a list of things. With a list, you can do things like loop through each thing on the list using a FOREACH loop and do something to each thing on the list.

If you want to get some information out of an array, the simplest way to do it is to use the json.get command along with the appropriate index in the array. Each thing in the array has an index number, but you’ll want to keep in mind that the indexes start from zero.

Let me repeat that: The first item in an array is item 0, followed by item 1, and so on.

So, going back to my second array example, if I want to know what the middle of the three elements is, I’d do the following:

[r: MyJSONArray='["Red", "Purple", "Yellow"]' ]<br>
The middle color is [r: json.get(MyJSONArray, 1)]

Which returns:

[“Red”, “Purple”, “Yellow”]
The middle color is Purple

You’ll note that picked index 1 in my json.get statement. If I’d wanted it to say “Red” (the first element of the list), I would have asked for json.get(MyJSONArray, 0). Very important to remember.

If I want to know how many items are in the JSON array, I can use json.length. Keep in mind that my three-item array with have json.length=3, but the highest index number will be 2 (because it starts counting from zero). Confusing, yes.

How do I change what’s in a JSON array?

Technically speaking, you can’t edit a JSON array. However, you can re-save a new array with the same name that’s based off an existing array.

If you have a particular element of the array that you want to set to a new value, you can use the json.set command.

Original array: [r: MyJSONArray='["Red", "Purple", "Yellow"]' ]<br>
I'm changing the array now... [h: MyJSONArray=json.set(MyJSONArray, 1, "Green")]<br>
New array: [r: MyJSONArray]

This returns:

Original array: [“Red”, “Purple”, “Yellow”]
I’m changing the array now…
New array: [“Red”,”Green”,”Yellow”]

What I’ve done is created a new array that is just like the original array except that I’ve set the second element (index 1 is the second element, remember) to the value “Green” instead of whatever it was before. I’ve saved this new array with the SAME NAME as the original array. So, I’ve effectively changed the original array, but I’ve technically created a new array with the same name (which accomplishes the same thing).

Another useful command is json.remove, which gives you the array minus whatever you’ve removed.

Original array: [r: MyJSONArray='["Red", "Purple", "Yellow"]' ]<br>
If I remove the middle element, I get this new array: [r: NewJSONArray=json.remove(MyJSONArray, 1)]

This returns:

Original array: [“Red”, “Purple”, “Yellow”]
If I remove the middle element, I get this new array: [“Red”,”Yellow”]

If I’d used MyJSONArray= instead of NewJSONArray= in the second line, I would have effectively edited the array to remove the second element (index 1).

JSON objects within JSON arrays

Now, keep in mind that you can get fancy with JSON arrays. The things in the array can themselves be JSON objects or, messier still, JSON arrays. My last example in the opening section shows you one of these. It can get a little confusing depending on how deep you want to go, but there are definitely times when it’s useful to have lists of pairs of things (like colors with numbers, or token names with conditions).

Comparing JSON objects and JSON arrays

Bringing it all together, what are these things all about?

JSON objects are enclosed in curly braces { }. JSON arrays are enclosed in square brackets [ ].

JSON objects consist of labels and values (Name: Bob. Age: 23). JSON arrays are just lists of things (Bob, 23). However, you can put objects within arrays. You can also put objects within objects or arrays within objects or arrays within arrays… it can get messy!

To get a value out of an object, you can use json.get and then specify which key you want (PersonName=json.get(MyJSONObject, “Name”)). To get a value out of an array, you can use json.get and then specify the index of the item in the array that you want, with the first item having an index of 0 (PersonName=json.get(MyJSONArray, 0)).

Next step

So what’s next? Well, I keep talking about storing these objects and arrays on library tokens, so I think it’s time I talked about what a library token is.

October 26, 2011

Advanced MapTool macros part 1: Intro to JSON objects

Filed under: 4e D&D, Advice/Tools, Macros, Online games — Tags: , , — OnlineDM @ 9:13 AM

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on what I expected would be a not-too-hard MapTool macro project. I wanted to create a macro (or set of macros, as it turned out) for putting conditions on tokens that would also keep track of when those conditions needed to end. Seemed simple enough; after all, I already had nice little macros that would toggle a condition on or off of a selected token or group of tokens. Those looked like this:

[h: SelectedTokens=getSelected()]
[FOREACH(TokenID, SelectedTokens, " "), CODE:
 {[h: NewState=if(getState("Dazed",TokenID)==1,0,1)]
 [h: setState("Dazed",NewState,TokenID)]
 }
]

However, in figuring out how to handle the automatic tracking of the condition end time, I had to delve deeper, trying to avoid Balrogs as I went.

Yes, dear readers: I had to learn about JSON! (Cue horrified screaming)

JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation, and it’s something I had seen used by the REAL heavy lifters among MapTool macro writers. They had JSONs all over the place in their campaigns, and I tried my best to avoid them. They looked… intimidating.

I’ll warn you all right now, if you’re just looking for casual stuff about MapTool, skip this series of posts. This is heavy-duty macro programming compared to what I’ve written before. It still pales in comparison to the stuff written by the folks who create full-on MapTool frameworks, but it’s more than I’ve done in the past. However, if you need to learn about using JSONs, I hope to present it in an easy-to-follow manner.

What is a JSON object?

There are types of JSON in MapTool: JSON objects and JSON arrays. I’m going to talk about JSON objects today.

A JSON object is a single variable or property enclosed in braces {} that can hold several pieces of information.

For instance, here is a JSON object I ended up creating for my state-tracking macros:

{"TokenName":"Brute 1","State":"Cursed","EndCount":2,"EndRound":1,"AutoEnd":"1"}

This single object contains 5 pieces of information: The TokenName (Brute 1), the State on that token (Cursed), the count in the initiative order when that state will end (2), the round in which it will end (2) and a variable that indicates whether I want the condition to simply end automatically (1 means “yes” in this case) or not.

How do you build a JSON object?

If I wanted to build the object above, I could do it by assigning as a regular variable in MapTool, enclosing the whole thing in single quotes:

[h: MyJSONObject='{"TokenName":"Brute 1","State":"Cursed","EndCount":2,"EndRound":1,"AutoEnd":"1"}']

I could also use the ADD function if I had already created separate variables for, say, TokenName and State:

[h: CurrentTokenName="Brute 1"]
[h: CurrentState="Cursed"]
[h: MyJSONObject=add('{"TokenName":"', Brute 1, '","State":"', Cursed, '","EndCount":2,"EndRound":1,"AutoEnd":"1"}']

There’s also the option of using some of MapTool’s JSON functions, such as json.set:

[h: MyJSONObject=json.set("{ }", "TokenName", CurrentTokenName, "State", CurrentState, "EndCount", 2, "EndRound", 1, "AutoEnd", 1)]

Note that there are no single quotes needed with json.set. I start with the empty braces in quotes to let MapTool know that this will be a JSON object rather than a JSON array. I then list the key/value pairs, separated by commas.

Getting information from JSON objects

Once I’ve created this object, what the heck do I do with it? Well, assuming I save it as the value of a property of some token, I can have other macros refer to this property later to get information out of it. I do this with MapTool’s json.get function.

First, let’s say I have a library token called lib:LibToken1. Great name, right? And let’s say it has a property called StateObject, which starts off being set to 0. Now let’s assume that I assign my new JSON object to this property as follows:

[h: setProperty("StateObject", MyJSONObject, "lib:LibToken1")]

So, I set the StateObject property of the token called lib:LibToken1 equal to MyJSONObject.

In a later macro I can retrieve this property from the token and extract the information:

[h: CurrentStateObject=getProperty("StateObject","lib:LibToken1")]
[h: CurrentTokenName=json.get(CurrentStateObject, "TokenName")]
[h: CurrentState=json.get(CurrentStateObject, "State")]

The first line gets the StateObject property from the lib:LibToken1 token (which, remember, is equal to whatever I put in MyJSONObject) and stores it as CurrentStateObject (so CurrentStateObject=MyJSONObject). Then I can extract the TokenName value from that object and store it as CurrentTokenName using json.get. I do the same for the State value. I could do the same for the EndCount, EndRound and AutoEnd values. And then I can do whatever I like with these values inside my macro.

Why would you use a JSON object?

This is the question that kept me away from learning about JSON stuff for so long. Why do I even need it?

In lots of cases, you don’t actually NEED to use JSON, but it can make life easier. Where I decided I finally needed to use it was when I wanted to have a single property on a token that could hold lots of different stuff (in this case, information about states on tokens and when they end). The JSON object above is an example (actually as a piece of a JSON array) that appears in the StatesArray property of a token I created specifically to hold this kind of thing. Without using JSON, I would need to create a whole bunch of different properties on the token – one each for TokenName, State, EndCount, EndRound and AutoEnd. I could do that, but it would be messier.

And if I wanted to have a varying number of these objects – one for each token and state in the game – I’d need to create a huge multitude of properties, and I’d have to set up enough of them in advance so that I’d never run out. If I have 20 minions each getting slowed by a controller’s blast, well, I’d better have 100 properties set up in advance. If they’re being slowed and blinded, now I need 200 properties.

There’s got to be an easier way, and there is: JSON arrays. That’s the next post!

October 21, 2011

Descent Into Darkness: Free heroic tier D&D4e adventure

Filed under: 4e D&D, Adventures, Macros, Maps — Tags: , , — OnlineDM @ 7:30 AM

At last, my adventure trilogy is complete. The first two adventures, The Stolen Staff and Tallinn’s Tower, were released here on the blog over the past few months. The third adventure, as I mentioned here, is now available.

Descent Into Darkness is an adventure for 4-6 heroic tier characters. The adventure is presented at level 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. I personally recommend it at level 6, 8, or 10, but it can work at lower-level (though the PCs might be surprised and scared by the final boss).

Synopsis

The powerful wizardess Tallinn seeks adventurers to be teleported into the Underdark bearing a powerful magical artifact, the Staff of Suha. The mission: Find three other artifacts that have been stolen by unknown creatures, likely in an effort to recreate a teleportation device once used by a long-dead drow sorcerer to bring his foul armies to the overworld in conquest. The other three artifacts (Orb of Oradia, Chalice of Chale and Shield of Shalimar) must be recovered or destroyed, and the forces behind their theft must be stopped.

The adventurers discover that the powerful beholder Ergoptis has enslaved drow, diggers (new insectoid monsters), halfling thieves and mindless duergar as soldiers and hunters of artifacts. The party must fight their way through treacherous traps and puzzles to ultimately face Ergoptis and its underlings in a room dominated by a ziggurat, with a magma river crossed by bridges and floating platforms. Can they recover the final artifact and escape or destroy Ergoptis before the one-hour time limit on their teleportation ritual runs out? Or will the beholder simply add the adventurers to its army of enslaved warriors and continue its plans for domination?

Descent Into Darkness includes four new artifacts, an all-new monster (the digger), a find-the-path puzzle with custom runes and an exciting final encounter with an evil beholder.

Files

Download the full heroic tier adventure PDF (level 2/4/6/8/10)

Download the MapTool campaign file (compatible with version 1.3.b86 of MapTool)

Maps (scaled to 50 pixels per square)

Image

Mine map - Gridded

Image

Mine map - no grid

Image

Thieves cavern map - gridded

Image

Thieves cavern map - no grid

Image

Mushroom cavern map - gridded

Image

Mushroom cavern map - no grid

Image

Magma cavern map - gridded

Image

Magma cavern map - no grid

Afterword

If you decide to run this adventure or have the opportunity to play in it, I’d love to hear about it! And if you have any feedback based on your own read-throughs, I’m always trying to improve the adventures themselves. Feel free to chime in via the comments, email, or Twitter.

-Michael, the OnlineDM

onlinedungeonmaster@gmail.com

OnlineDM1 on Twitter

October 17, 2011

WATE 2-4: Factotum the Bard is back on stage!

Filed under: 4e D&D, Adventures, Characters — Tags: , — OnlineDM @ 7:30 AM

This past Thursday evening, I had the rare opportunity to play D&D as a player rather than a DM. My wife has been feeling unwell for a while, so I try to mostly stay home with her in the evenings, but on this particular night she was getting together with another friend. A new-to-me Living Forgotten Realms module was being run at the friendly local game store, Enchanted Grounds, so I headed on down for a game.

Spoilers ahead for WATE 2-4 Stage Misdirection

The particular adventure we were playing was set in Waterdeep, the hometown of my beloved bard Factotum. This was the first time I had gotten to play an adventure with Factotum in Waterdeep, and I was excited.Image

I learned that the adventure begins with the PCs having various jobs in an opera house. “Star of the show” wasn’t an option, so Factotum settled for a spot in the orchestra pit with his horn, while the rest of the party either served as bouncers or sat in the audience. I asked the DM if Factotum could be an understudy, and he was fine with it. Excellent!

Imagine my delight, then, when the opening scene of the adventure involved an opera where a man was about to duel his sweetheart’s father, and the man fell to the stage – apparently dead after drinking poisoned wine. The poisoned wine was not part of the show, and it was soon accompanied by an angry crowd being riled up by some thugs. While the rest of the party sprang into action fighting the thugs, Factotum did the natural thing for him:

He jumped on stage, picked up the fallen actor’s sword, and continued the faux sword fight with the actor playing the love interest’s father.

He feinted and twirled, finding the time to shout words of majesty to his ailing compatriots and to sing powerfully to push interlopers off the stage (Majestic Word and Staggering Note), but largely focused on entertaining the crowd.

Yes, this adventure was tailor-made for Factotum.

The rest of the evening was a fun investigative romp, ultimately culminating in a fight with other actors. Factotum attacked one man who hadn’t directly menaced anyone yet, simply because the man was a terrible actor – an unforgivable offense.

WATE 2-4 is an adventure that definitely benefits from having a bard in the party. I’m sure it could have been fun without one, but I was really glad I’d brought Factotum to the table. It’s an opportunity for his fame to grow!

October 11, 2011

MapTool: Star Wars d6 campaign framework with NewbieDM

Filed under: Advice/Tools, Macros, OpenD6 — Tags: , , — OnlineDM @ 7:30 AM

I mentioned last week that I had gotten together with Enrique of NewbieDM.com and Mark Meredith of Dice Monkey on Wednesday night to help them out with some MapTool questions regarding the Star Wars d6 system (a game I know absolutely nothing about). I built a macro that rolled dice in the way I understood the Star Wars d6 system to work based on Mark’s description.

I later learned that the odd rule of the wild die not only exploding on a 6 but also penalizing the player on a 1 is an optional rule; the default rule is that the wild die just explodes. There’s also another optional rule that states that a 1 on the wild die will give you a 5/6 chance of the penalty I originally built (the die counts as zero, and you drop the highest non-wild die, too) and a 1/6 chance of having a plot-related complication instead. In the comments of that original post, I built the alternative macro with the possible complication.

I also learned that players often have “pips” which count as static bonuses to their rolls. NewbieDM stepped in on the comments to modify the macro to ask for the pip bonus. Nice work, Enrique!

NewbieDM then took the next step and created a full-on campaign framework file for Star Wars d6. He found some excellent artwork for the backgrounds (I especially love the star field). He and I collaborated on setting up campaign properties. I extended his work a little further to create a sample token with some macros on it for skills (Dexterity, Knowledge, etc.); one set for the default rules and one set for the rules that include a penalty for a 1 on the wild die. I didn’t include a set for the optional 1/6 chance of getting a “complication” if you get a 1 on the wild die, but the code is on the blog if you need it.

My version of the campaign framework file (built on NewbieDM’s) is available here.Image

It’s been fun learning a little bit about a new game and being able to help create something useful for people who play the game. I hope I get the chance to try it out myself sometime!

October 10, 2011

New OnlineDM avatar, courtesy of James Stowe

Filed under: Background, Characters — Tags: — OnlineDM @ 10:33 AM

If you see me posting in the comments here on the blog or over on Twitter, or on EN World or the like, you may notice a new avatar.

Since shortly after I started the blog, I had been using this image as my avatar:

Image

You may recognize it as the Rune of Terror from the room full of zombies on the first floor of the Keep on the Shadowfell. I used it because it was the first thing I had drawn myself that looked at all respectable (even though it was my attempt at recreating something that another artist had drawn). Ironically, I never got to use that image in-game, as the group that I was running through the Keep ended up not being able to play any more.

I’ve felt for a long time that I’d like something better. I’ve asked a couple of friends of mine who are artists if they would be interested in a commission from me, and none of them really were. Then I saw James Stowe’s offer to do commission work. I really enjoyed the character sheets he had created for his kids, and I like the cartoon aesthetic, so I commissioned him to do a couple of pieces for me.

The first is a portrait of my beloved bard, Factotum. I think James nailed this one.Image

The second is an avatar of me, Michael the OnlineDM. I sent James the link to this picture of me and asked if he had any inspiration about how to get the “online” part of my name across. I think he came at it in a brilliant way:Image

So, don’t be confused if you see a little cartoon guy in a computer screen box instead of a rune of terror – it’s still me!

And if you’re an artist who might be interested in commission work for a banner for my blog, I’m offering to pay! Send me an email at onlinedungeonmaster@gmail.com if you’re looking for work and think you might be able to come up with something good.

October 7, 2011

MapTool macro: Star Wars d6 / OpenD6 dice

Filed under: Advice/Tools, Macros, OpenD6 — Tags: , , — OnlineDM @ 7:35 AM

I’m beginning to like Twitter.

Wednesday evening, I happened to check Twitter just before heading to bed. I was just in time to see an exchange between @NewbieDM (aka Enrique of NewbieDM.com) and @MarkMeredith (aka Dice Monkey). They had just finished trying to play some Star Wars d6 via Google+ hangouts, and it hadn’t worked all that well. Enrique was about to show Mark some MapTool stuff. I chimed in, and they invited me to join them on Skype.

Even though he hasn’t been using MapTool very long, Enrique has already built some extensive stuff for his Neverwinter campaign (using my MapTool framework as a base, I’m humbly proud to say). He started showing Mark the ropes, and it soon became clear that Star Wars d6 was a little bit different in terms of the way die rolling works. I knew nothing about the game, so Mark explained it.

The basic dice mechanic is this (as I understand it, this is the mechanic for all OpenD6 games):

  • You roll a certain number of six-sided dice, depending on your skill at the task at hand. For this example, we’ll say you have a skill of 3, so you’re rolling 3d6.
  • One of the dice is the wild die; the other dice are rolled normally.
  • If you roll a 6 on the wild die, it “explodes”. That is, you roll it again and add both rolls together. If you roll another 6, you keep on going.
  • However, if you roll a 1 on the wild die, it counts as a zero, and it also cancels out the highest non-wild die that you rolled. So, if you roll a 2 and a 3 on your normal dice and a 1 on the wild die, your total is just 2 (because the 1 on the wild die cancels out the 3 from your best normal die).

I knew that MapTool had a built-in roll option to handling exploding dice, but I don’t know of any roll options to have a certain die cancel another die roll. So, I wrote a macro:

[h: x=input("NumDice|0|How many dice are you rolling?")]
[h: abort(x)]

This brings up a prompt for the user to tell the program how many dice to roll. If they hit Cancel, the macro stops.

[h: RegTotal=0]
[h: RegMax=0]

I establish starting values of zero for the total of the regular (non-wild) dice and the maximum of any regular die.

Regular dice:
[for(i, 0, NumDice-1), CODE:
 {

I display the words “Regular dice: ” in the chat window, then start a loop. Note that loops begin with 0 rather than 1 in MapTool by default, so I go with that. I want to loop through all of the dice except the wild die, so I stop at NumDice-1. I then open a CODE block with a curly bracket; everything in this block will be executed a number of times equal to the number of dice minus one.

  [NewRoll=d6]

First, I roll a d6 and store the value as NewRoll. Note that I didn’t use the h: roll option here as I do in most lines of code. This is because I don’t want the value of NewRoll to be hidden (the h:). Since this is a FOR loop, MapTool will put a comma between the iterations. So, if this was the only thing in the CODE block, MapTool would display “Regular dice: 2, 4” if it rolled a 2 and then a 4 on the two iterations.

  [h: RegTotal=RegTotal+NewRoll]
  [h: RegMax=if(NewRoll>RegMax,NewRoll,RegMax)]
 }
]

I add this new die roll to the running total of the regular dice (which started at zero). I then check to see if this new roll is higher than any of the previous regular die rolls. If it is, I set the value of RegMax to equal the new die roll; otherwise, I leave RegMax where it was. I then close the FOR loop.

[h: WildResult=d6e]
<br>Wild die=[WildResult]

Now I roll the wild die and store the result as WildResult. I use an “e” on the end of the die roll expression to represent “exploding” which MapTool already has built in. Nice! I then put in a line break (the <br>) in the chat window and then display the words “Wild die=” followed by the result of the exploding die roll.

[h: FinalTally=if(WildResult==1, RegTotal-RegMax, RegTotal+WildResult)]
<br>Total=<b>[FinalTally]</b><br>

I now figure out and display the final result of the whole roll. If the wild die was a 1, the total for the roll is whatever I rolled on the regular dice, minus the highest regular die (the 1 from the wild die is not added). Otherwise, the total for the roll is the total of the regular dice plus the result of the wild die (including any explosions). I pop in another line break and display the final result in bold (the <b> and </b> surrounding the value of FinalTally).

The result will look something like this:

Regular dice: 2 , 3
Wild die=2
Total=7

There you have it – the basic Star Wars d6 dice macro! Now I just need to learn to play the game.

-Michael, the OnlineDM (@OnlineDM1 on Twitter)

 

Complete macro:

[h: x=input("NumDice|0|How many dice are you rolling?")]
[h: abort(x)]

[h: RegTotal=0]
[h: RegMax=0]

Regular dice: 
[for(i, 0, NumDice-1), CODE:
 {
  [NewRoll=d6]
  [h: RegTotal=RegTotal+NewRoll]
  [h: RegMax=if(NewRoll>RegMax,NewRoll,RegMax)]
 }
]

[h: WildResult=d6e]

<br>Wild die=[WildResult]
[h: FinalTally=if(WildResult==1, RegTotal-RegMax, RegTotal+WildResult)]
<br>Total=<b>[FinalTally]</b><br>

October 6, 2011

MapTool: Using the latest version

Filed under: 4e D&D, Advice/Tools, DM Lessons, Macros — Tags: , — OnlineDM @ 7:33 AM

I first discovered MapTool in May 2010. At the time, the most up-to-date version of the program was good ol’ 1.3.b66. That’s what I downloaded, and that’s what I kept using for about a year and a half.

Why? Well, first of all, it worked. Second, I had heard that certain things that worked in older versions (macros, etc.) would not necessarily work if you tried them out in a newer version. Third, new builds kept coming out regularly, and I didn’t want my players to have to constantly download new programs just to connect to my game.

Recently, I was browsing the MapTool wiki and forums and found some discussion about the program’s performance. Specifically, I saw a note that moving a whole bunch of tokens at once was faster in newer builds.

Now, I don’t have many complaints about MapTool, but it’s definitely been a major annoyance to want to move the entire party from one section of the map to another and having to wait 30 seconds for MapTool to make this happen. So, I downloaded the current version of MapTool, 1.3.b86 (as of this writing), which has been the most recent version for months (and thus pretty stable).

Woo hoo – I can now move mobs of tokens across the map instantly! I can also run a macro on a whole bunch of tokens at once – such as when I have a bunch of enemies that are invisible to the players and I want to run my “Toggle Visibility” macro on all of them. Previously, the tokens would blink into existence one by one (which was a kind of neat effect, I suppose, but not really what I wanted). Now – poof, they all appear! Awesome!

Best of all, I haven’t found any macros that have broken yet. I try to keep my macros pretty straightforward, of course, and I’m guessing that helps. But every adventure I’ve opened so far in 1.3.b86, even though it was created in 1.3.b66, has had no problems.

The real test will come on Friday, when my regular players will have downloaded the new software and will try playing with it together. Honestly, I’m expecting it to be a non-issue, but we shall see.

So, the moral of the story for me is: Use the latest version of MapTool, as long as it’s been out for, say, a month with no updates. I don’t want to update constantly, but in this case the update is definitely worth the trouble.

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