I run a homebrew play-by-post on my own forum for some friends because we don't get enough time to play in real life and we all like the format and the RP opportunities it presents.
One of the things I'm having trouble with is tracking dice rolls, statuses, HP, nonlethal, etc... all the crunchy bits that the game needs in the background.
So, preface set... Here's the question:
What do you use to track dice, HP damage, statuses, etc?
I'm especially interested in the HP damage stat because that is what I'm having the most trouble with keeping clear to all the participants.
Thanks in advance for any assistance!
Mbuchholz
Okay, I've read this post like three times, and I'm going to assume you are very unfamiliar with the PbP mechanics, because that's about the only way I can believe what you are asking.
You realize that when you see dice being rolled, it's a command (see the How to format your text section below). You don't actually roll a dice at home and write what you got. The forum generates the dice roll for you. And no, you can't preview it and keep preview it and then post it later and hope for a different roll, it is "stuck" to your character.
How do you keep track of it? I dunno, how do you keep track of HP damage when playing at a table? One, I force the characters to update their online character sheets every time they take damage or have a specific condition. Two, I keep track of it myself in case they make a mistake or worse fudge it on a piece of paper next to my computer. Having a player blind a specific enemy, I have to keep track of that because of the effects it has on that enemy. Players will get upset if you forget and say they missed when indeed they hit because the enemy lost their Dex bonus to the AC.
Also, I make people put the key stats on their class/level line. I would require everyone put this format in their class/level line: "Druid/2 (HP 20/20 | AC:16 | T:10 | FF:16 | CMB: 4 | CMD:14 | Fort:+5 | Ref:+0 | Will:+7 | Init:+0 | Perc: +7 | Speed 20)", thereby making it easy for me to know the key stats of every character. When they take damage, the HP would be updated to 13/20 or whatever. I don't know what you mean that you're having the most trouble with keeping clear to all the participants the HP damage.
Okay, I've read this post like three times
And yet you missed that the OP's game is not using the Paizo forum. ;)
I use HeroLab to keep track of the characters' hp and conditions, but the players can't see that. The best thing I know is to make them include their stats/current hp/conditions in every combat post so they can track the changes from round to round. Something like this.
I have a couple macros I made for MapTool that keep track of HP and auto-adjust the health bar.
In addition, I'll also keep track of HP, etc. in an application called ShortKeys, which is basically a text-replacement program. I use it to store snippets of text that I reuse such as BBCode for die rolls, HTML formatting for my wiki, my initiative format, etc. If something like that would interest you, then check my profile for a version that will suit whatever OS you are running.
For an example of what the end results of these various scripts look like (both in-forum and on the maps), check out the formatting used in the following battle:
http://paizo.com/campaigns/WardovesRumbleInTheJungle/gameplay&page=198# 9883
If you are interested in any of the MapTool or ShortKeys code, then I'll reply with it when I get home. Also, what forum software are you using? I'd just switched over from Paizo to a custom-coded MyBB site when RealLife™ sidelined my PbP, so I may know of some plugins that would help with dice rolls, aliases, and other technical issues.
And yet you missed that the OP's game is not using the Paizo forum.
Thank you for that.
I really appreciate the posts. I suppose our biggest issue is that most of us update from our phones, and that makes it a little harder to do anything complex. After talking to the players, I ended up creating a sticky thread in story's forum category that I will update anytime someone's HP changes.
I use a free forum host called forumotion.
I use a free forum host called forumotion.
Ah ok, it looks like those are built upon phpBB so the MyBB plugins I commissioned wouldn't be compatible with that.
I suppose our biggest issue is that most of us update from our phones, and that makes it a little harder to do anything complex.
I might be able to help you out there at least...
For your players who post using Android phones/tablets, I highly recommend the Clipper Plus and User Dictionary Manager apps.
Clipper Plus lets you save snippets of text by way of the Copy function, and you can then re-use them by activating the app from the "window shade". When you tap the snippet you want, it's copied to the paste buffer and returns you to where you were. Then just paste it into your post. (And yes, snippets can be manually-created, edited, and organized.) I used this to make lists of BBCode formatting tags, common attack sequences, special keyboard characters, etc. The paid version also lets you sync between separate devices.
User Dictionary Manager lets you manually add and edit entries to the dictionary. The nice thing about this is, you can go ahead and add RPG terms, proper names, etc. and then things like Swype and the Google Keyboard will recognize them.
Using both of these apps (along with a good stylus) I found that I was able to make PbP posts from my phone and tablet almost as quickly as from my PC.
For your players who post using Android phones/tablets, I highly recommend the Clipper Plus and User Dictionary Manager apps.
Very cool suggestions. I'm gonna have to check those out!
just to be sure your players aren't being cheeky
Hahaha... I understand that, but I'm lucky that we play on a closed forum and all the players are close friends. Cheating is not really in their wheelhouse.
Thank you all for your suggestions. I'm gonna take a look at these options and see if any make sense for our group!
-mbuchholz