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Hello all,
I've just pushed up a major update to Tabletop Giant, and I'd like to walk everyone through it. I am choosing to make a new thread, as the old one was focused on the 'Character Creator' component of the site, and I am concerned that many may not realize that the scope of the site has expanded. While Tabletop Giant does contain a character creator (still level 1 only - but that will change), its intent is to be a tool to facilitate Pathfinder gaming in all of its many facets.
User Profiles:
Every user now has their own profile, which can be used to show off the characters they have made as well as to network with other players. As is commonly understood in social networking, a user may also make 'friends' of other users as well as send private messages.
Each user profile also comes with a Source Ownership feature which allows the user to note which Paizo items they legally own. In a future update, the character creator will provide a feature to build characters using only those source materials flagged as 'owned' by the user, which should make it easier to make characters that are legal for Pathfinder Society play. A configuration to create characters using all sources will still be available.
Also part of each user profile is a scenario completion tracker, which will allow the user to flag those scenarios they have GM'd or played, in either mode (standard or core).
Further, players may join up in groups, which leads me to...
Groups:
The Grand Lodge may serve as at least a partial demo for what I am going to describe.
A 'group' within the context of the site is a collection of players with a common playing goal; typically geographical. Players may create a group for their local hobby store, or even for a region. Other players may then join that group and, all together, they may schedule, plan, signup, and muster for a game using site features.
There are three types of groups that may be created: Open, Approval Required, and Private. Open groups may be seen within the group search feature, and may be joined by anyone who wishes. Approval Required groups are also viewable within the search feature, but joining such a group requires the user 'Petition' to join, and an Administrator of the group approving the petition. Private groups are not viewable within the search feature, and may be joined through invitation only. Invitations to join a group are also available to all members of an open group, as well as administrators of approval required groups.
Each group comes with an assortment of features, including their own forum, their own scenario completion tracker, and their own events calendar.
Group Creation and Roles: Any registered Tabletop Giant member may create a new group. By doing so, they are designated as the group's 'Creator', which has administrative privileges within that group. As the group's creator, the user may set roles for other users within the group, such as Admin, Moderator, and Planner. An Admin has all of the powers of a Creator - except that it cannot make or unmake other Admins. A Moderator has editing privileges within the group's forum. A Planner has scheduling privileges for the group's event calendar. A Creator or Admin may perform any of the tasks the other roles can perform.
Group Scenario Completion Tracker:
As each user's profile allows the user to fill in those scenarios they have completed, a group is able to bundle up those accomplishments into a group report. All scenarios are shown in both modes, with a percentage score showing those players who have GM'd or played a given scenario. This allows group event planners a way to see those scenarios that might be best to plan.
Events
Each group comes with its own events calendar, and events may be created by any Admin or Planner. This demo event may serve as an example.
Events come with some neat features. Players and GMs may sign up for the event, and those who sign up past the max are automatically treated as 'Backup' players and GMs.
Players who sign up to the event may share the character they intend to play. A player may attach a character generated at Tabletop Giant, or they may upload a file that represents their character sheet (e.g., PDF). If a player wishes to only share the character with the GM, they may configure this as such on the event page. Further, a player may also set the level of the character they intend to play, as this helps to predict the APL which can help the GM in their planning.
Allowing a GM to review the character sheets before the game can assist in planning and preparation. Further, if a GM has a tablet (or other device) with an Internet connection during the game, then it is entirely feasible for the GM to look up skills (or anything else) of the player's characters using these attached sheets. Personally, I am planning on using this for immersion; no longer do you have to ask "Who has Knowledge (Geography)?", which gives the players meta knowledge on something within the game. You can just check the character sheets, see who has it trained, see what their bonus is, and then ask them to roll.
The Scenario Completion tracker also comes into play with these events. If a player has previously played or GM'd a scenario within the event, then a warning message is displayed so that they are aware of it. Further, if a player signs up for a scenario, and they have flagged the scenario as 'played' in their Scenario Completion, then the GM of the game is also shown a warning on the event page so that they know they may have a 'repeat' player signed up to their game (which is typically not PFS legal).
The event planner is also self-aware; if a player signs up for the same scenario in multiple time slots, they will also see a warning on each event's page. This is to help in the case a player signs up for a scenario, forgets, and then signs up for the same scenario elsewhere.
Each event also comes with its own comment thread, which allows the GM and players to muster online well before the game.
Further, a feature to create a PDF of the event signup is available, so that a player can download and print a copy of the event to take with them to the game. This can be helpful if they have signed up for many games and need to keep track of things.
Group Hierarchies
Groups may also relate themselves to one another. Each group may have a single parent, and an unlimited amount of children. A group's creator or admin may petition other groups to be either their child or their parent; if the petition is approved from the target group, then the relationship is set. An admin of either group may sever the relation at any time.
This can be used in any way which is convenient, but primarily it was conceived of as a means to establish geographical relations. For example, a "Pathfinder Society of California" group may be created. Then, a slew of other groups - "Pathfinder Society of Sacremento", "Pathfinder Society of San Diego", "Pathfinder Society of Los Angeles", etc - these could all be 'children' groups of the Pathfinder Society of California. Each of these city groups could then have their own children, down to individual playing locations, if desired.
Group Announcements
Announcements were created as a means to 'flow down' information from parent groups to children. A group creator or admin may create an announcement; these announcements have special prominence at the top of a forum page. Announcements are not threads - they cannot be commented upon directly - and are designed as a one-way means of communication.
When an announcement is created, the author has the option for it to 'cascade'. A cascaded announcement automatically propagates to all children groups. This means if the administrator of the 'Pathfinder Society of California' group wants to flow down information on a newly planned convention, they may create an announcement, set to to cascade, and then it will flow down to all children groups automatically in order to spread the news.
All of these features are extremely new and are only modestly tested; bugs and issues could easily be hiding. For those that are registered - please do feel free to experiment and do let me know if you find any problems. I can only fix a bug if I know it exists.
Tabletop Giant has been a 'closed' site now for quite some time. This is going to change. While a date is not yet firm, I am hoping to open registration within the next few weeks. There is some setup required to open it up, and until the 'fog of war' clears I will not be able to provide a firm date. With the opening release there will also be a Patreon donation page, which I do hope everyone will consider.
This site has been quite a job. There is a lot of love and hope in it; I hope everyone enjoys it.
Thank you!
--TG
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To keep this out of the other topic. I'm very much looking forward to being able to track my owned sources. I'm also looking forward to being able to track my scenarios played.
And now a slew of questions.. Will we be able to track our scenarios played per character (i.e. any way to mark which character played a given scenario when we mark it played)? Can we track which ones we've GM'd? Can we track which ones we've played as standard/core? (and likewise standard/core gm'd?)
I think I asked this one in the other thread, but it's more on topic here. Will there be any way to see what items/feats/rules whatever are in a given book? (i.e. can I somehow look at Animal Archives and Giant Hunter's Handbook and see that the Goliath Druid archetype is from that book?) I don't know if you've ever outright said this, but I believe pfsdb and this site use the same database--and I know you've said that pfsdb was just a proof-of-concept--but do you have any plans to implement a search for specific features (much like pfsdb) to list things without having to make a new character (this question is because if I can see what feats/etc a book provides, how do I view a given feat from a book without being in the context of making a new character)?
I actually tried to input my owned sources over the weekend. I took a video of me flipping through all my books so I wouldn't have to carry all my books down. Then spent a few minutes trying to find where to do that before I remembered that it was in a screen shot of soon™ that you posted.
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Yay! This thread wasn't a complete loss. I was feeling bad for my error of creating a second thread :)
And now a slew of questions.. Will we be able to track our scenarios played per character (i.e. any way to mark which character played a given scenario when we mark it played)? Can we track which ones we've GM'd? Can we track which ones we've played as standard/core? (and likewise standard/core gm'd?)
Yes to all - and much of that, you can do now. I'm not sure if you've seen the scenario tracker yet - perhaps it is too hidden. It's been live a week or two.
Head to your personal profile, then hit the 'My Account' (or, something like that) tab, and a set of new tabs should be under that, including source and scenario tracking.
In the scenario tracking pane - yes, you can track which ones you've played, which ones you've GM'd, and you can also differentiate between core and standard. For 'evergreen' type scenarios, you can also toggle how many times you've played/GM'd the scenario.
The remaining point - tying a specific character to the completion of a scenario - I would definitely like to do that. It's not in yet, and there is so much to do that it might be a bit, but that is a feature that I would like to include.
I think I asked this one in the other thread, but it's more on topic here. Will there be any way to see what items/feats/rules whatever are in a given book? (i.e. can I somehow look at Animal Archives and Giant Hunter's Handbook and see that the Goliath Druid archetype is from that book?) I don't know if you've ever outright said this, but I believe pfsdb and this site use the same database--and I know you've said that pfsdb was just a proof-of-concept--but do you have any plans to implement a search for specific features (much like pfsdb) to list things without having to make a new character (this question is because if I can see what feats/etc a book provides, how do I view a given feat from a book without being in the context of making a new character)?
I'll confirm - PFSDB and this site do use the identical same database ;) PFSDB does cache searches though, so if data is added later on and I don't clear the cache, it may appear to be missing things from time to time. The first task for Tabletop Giant was the obvious 'make a database!', and so PFSDB was created.
PFSDB does have a feature to see most of the ingested features by source, but it is a bit clunky and I'm not sure if it includes everything (likely does not include archetypes, for example). It can be viewed here. Apologies for its klunkiness - it was done quickly, a long time ago, and wasn't really revisited.
BUT - so, obviously we can do better than that. To answer your question in a clearer way, I would definitely consider adding a database like area within TG that is, essentially, like PFSDB, so that a player could just do research without making a new character. I think that is a good idea. It wouldn't be a huge task but it is definitely one that would take a bit of time. Due to a rather large 'to do' list, it likely won't be the next thing that happens, but I do like the idea and will think about where to fit it in.
Thanks!
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Head to your personal profile, then hit the 'My Account' (or, something like that) tab, and a set of new tabs should be under that, including source and scenario tracking.
I thought I saw it before, but when I sat down to actually consume it I couldn't find it again so I just assumed it wasn't live yet (and that I was just remembering the screen shot you posted). I'll take another look at it and add my sources and let you know my thoughts (no news is goods--or just me being lazy ;) ).
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I thought I saw it before, but when I sat down to actually consume it I couldn't find it again so I just assumed it wasn't live yet (and that I was just remembering the screen shot you posted).
That really seems to suggest that I should consider some place else to put those tools. The label 'My Account' seems like it is more mundane configurations than scenario and source trackers.
Perhaps, in addition to 'My Account', there can be a 'My Tools' or similar tab. Hmmmm...
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I just added all my sources. I know there are some rules that aren't yet implemented, but if the books themselves could be added (even with no rules) so that we can add them to our collection, that would be useful. So when in the future they are added we don't have to remember to go back and add them.
Here are the specific few that I have that were not available: Kobolds of Golarion, Heroes of the Streets, and Dirty Tactics Toolbox.
I haven't been keeping up with the newer books but I'm guessing those fall into this same situation.
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Here are the specific few that I have that were not available: Kobolds of Golarion, Heroes of the Streets, and Dirty Tactics Toolbox.
Just added all three - if you (or anyone else!) has any other sources that they'd like to be able to flag as 'owned' that are missing, list 'em out and I'll get them in there.
!
--TG