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Hi there again folks,
this is the follow up post for my previous post for android.
In essence, I'd like to share my current PbP-post-composing setup, that greatly speeds up my pbp post time (and thus allows me to do more pbp gaming with less free time).
Opposed to the Android-Guide, this one will focus on the usage of snippet/macros even more, because they are the reason for the great speed up.
Just using an external editor (as opposed to typing your entire post in the browser window) is easy enough to do on PC - and I highly recommend doing so, as that will save you from any random paizo.com crashes that will omnomnom your 10000 character post and induce high level of RAGE in you :-)
So, without any more preamble, let me show you a magic trick.
1) Download and extract the portable version, including my pre-made Paizo snippets.
1b) What is a portable version? It's a program you can have anywhere on your pc (or even a usb-drive) which runs without a installation. Handy if your cooperation does allow you to install stuff or your often switching PCs. Just put the folder on a usb-drive and always have your program with you.
2) Run sublime_text.exe (it is inside the extracted folder).
3) Start typing your post and enjoy a couple of basic paizo-snippets* out of the box!
At this point, some of you may be like:
"Uh, I don't feel comfortable executing an *.exe from some stranger in the Internet."
Upon which I'd answer:
"Good job, you learned your lesson well, young padawan.
Now that you resisted the fast path that leads to the dark side, let me show you the true way."
1a) Download and Install from the original source Sublime Text (currently version 3).
1b) Download the snippets and settings from here.
1c) Extract the content to: c:\Users\YOUR_NAME\AppData\Roaming\Sublime Text 3\Packages\User\
1d) If the above folder is not visible for you, google "how to display hidden folder in windows" then try again. (AppData folder is hidden by default - which is retarded, but whatever)
2) Start Sublime Text (from start menu / desktop)
3) Start typing your post and enjoy a couple of basic paizo-snippets* out of the box!
(Let's use the basic 'say' snippet for an example)
- You can try it out! Just start typing say and you'll see a pop-up appearing.
- You can select the snippet you want to use with the up/down keys from the pop-up list
- Press the tab key to 'expand' the snippet. You will see the keyword disappearing and the familiar paizo-bracket-tags appearing.
- Most snippets also have 'fields'. That is, they have one or several input parameters where you can add additional stuff inside the snippet. In our example, you want to add whatever your character is actually saying within the "". Some of the more advanced snippets (like dice rolling) have several fields (e.g. one for the Name-tag of the dice expression and one for the d20 modifier). In those cases, you can jump between fields by pressing tab. If you don't want to use a field (e.g. because there are no modifiers to your roll), simply press delete once you jumped to the field.
- That's it!
*Basic Paizo-snippets / Keywords I prepared and shared:
say => "Talking"
think => Inner Monologue
shout =>
ooc =>
spoiler =>
roll =>
Of course you do!
Now, those snippets above will speed you up quite a bit, as they will solve the issue of typing all those brackets and remember to close them at the end.
But, you still have to type out your attacks, saves and all that complex stuff that is always the same (bar after a level-up and a few short-term modifiers).
So, let me introduce you to character macros!
In my other post, I used my Zen Archer Amari for examples, so he will serve the same role again.
Let me tell you what macros I have for him.
amariSingleAttack =>
amariFlurry =>
amariKiFlurry =>
amariFort =>
amariRefl =>
amariWill =>
And each one of them has a field behind the constant modifier, to quickly add circumstantial modifiers on the fly.
***
Even more useful, you can have group snippets.
Being a nasty GM you just hit the entire party with a surprise illusion?
Just use a groupWillSave snippet and go on describing the horrors that suddenly appear all around them without having to double and triple check all those modifiers of all six characters!
***
Intrigued?
Have a look into the character_macros folder (came together with the download).
I added a couple of basic character macros in there.
Create a new folder for your character and copy the snippet you'd like to use over.
Open them (e.g. with sublime text) and enter your basic modifiers where asked for (usually: BaseModifier).
Replace the text inside the <tabTrigger>BlaBla</tabTrigger> block with some keyword you'd like to use for your character.
E.g. I use the name of the character as a prefix as you can see above, to make it easy to access all snippets of a character by just starting to type the name and see what the auto-completion pop-up window finds. E.g. if I start typing amari, it will show me a all my Amari snippets.
There is a browser extension called "Edit with Sublime Text" that lets you edit browser field with sublime text editor.
As soon as you save your sublime text, whatever you entered will be auto-magically transfered to the browser text window.
Install the Extension and follow the install instruction (downloading a zip and execturing a .bat file).
It may not work with portable edition, I did not try that out though.
Once installed, you can just right-click into the paizo post edit field and select "Edit with SublimeText" and it should open a new sublime text edit window.
Just start typing and save (Ctrl-S) whenever you feel like it (e.g. to preview a dice roll) and the text will be trsnfered to the paizo edit field.
Okay, I think that is it for now.
The explanation is as good as I can make it. But nothing tops hands-on experience.
Just give it a try and see whether or not it works for you.
Feel free to ask question of course.
So long
GoW
Great job This will help a lot with PbP gaming!