Author Topic: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software  (Read 118631 times)

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Offline Merkir

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #20 on: February 17, 2014, 09:42:27 PM »
Minion Update - RMSS/FRP full table licenses

On the weekend, during smoke testing, I discovered a few anomalies in the digitised RMSS/FRP crit data. I've been liaising with the data people and ICE to get this issue resolved asap. Sorry for the further delay - we're all working on this until the release.

Offline RandalThor

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #21 on: February 18, 2014, 08:25:33 PM »
OK, maybe you can help me. I bought it off of DriveThruRPG.com but I have not gotten an email with either the License number or license key. Over a week ago I sent them a message about it, but haven't heard back from them as of yet, which is why I am asking you here now. How do I get the key & number?
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Offline Merkir

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #22 on: February 19, 2014, 05:31:17 AM »
OK, maybe you can help me. I bought it off of DriveThruRPG.com but I have not gotten an email with either the License number or license key. Over a week ago I sent them a message about it, but haven't heard back from them as of yet, which is why I am asking you here now. How do I get the key & number?

You should get a single email from DriveThruRPG which is the normal "Thank you for your order" email DriveThruRPG always sends. At the very bottom of that same email is your Minion License Key, in red bold font. If you received no email at all from the store, then that of course is an issue. Make sure it's not in your spam folder, and you will need to keep emailing them until they respond. The fact that they haven't responded is of course a concern in itself. I'm not in any way affiliated with the online stores so I can't speak for them. I will also PM you to discuss further action. Rest assured you will get your License Key, as I have all the details of each License Key issued.

Offline mijimoe

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #23 on: February 20, 2014, 09:03:58 AM »
Good afternoon:

I have downloaded and purchased the full version of the RM Combat Minion program and there are a few things that I would like to point out/ask for clarification on:

a. Is there a way to integrate "critical-only" attacks into the program, which present a pop-up window or augmented screen which includes the critical damages included when specific creatures in Rolemaster CM do damage to a PC. As an example, most elementals will do an additional "B" critical in their own sphere when they successfully land a critical-based hit on a PC. Right now, I do not see this as an option in the program.

b. Some creatures do multiple attacks of the same kind per hit OR if they are an animal, they continue with their primary, then secondary, then tertiary attacks in order. I am not sure if there is a way to automate this process, as I have not found this capability in the software today, other than just initiating the extra attacks. For example, an elemental does 3x bash attacks, meaning they attack 3 times in a given round with that same attack.

c. I would recommend that, for an additional fee, owners of the software be given the capacity to download a fully populated Rolemaster "Creatures and Monsters" database, so as to avoid adding in each creature, which takes hours. While it is nice to be able to craft creatures uniquely, I am finding it is taking a fair amount of time to build a complete listing of all "stock" out-of-the-book creatures.

d. Can an additional field be added for weapons that have a poison applied, with corresponding fields in the character template that allow the GM to enter in an individual's resistance levels to poison, willpower attacks, etc? It would be nice to see this damage applied, along with a field for the individuals roll to resist. If they fail, as an example, and it is a "killing" poison, then the character should reflect this fact immediately afterwards.

e. For creatures that innately initiate attacks based on their element (i.e. water elemental), it would be nice to have a zero-PowerPoint checkbox, etc. so that the GM/user of the software is aware that this creature cannot expend PP's to exhaustion. What I mean by this is that some creatures are composed of magic, and therefore do not "cast" per se, but do the damage as appropriate to that element, etc.

f. When adding in a new creature and then cloning it, I have noticed that the window does not shift in size in relation to the new creatures all the time, forcing the user to select a different "Key" and then jumping back in once again. Basically, the pop-up window will remain the same size, even though you might have 10+ creatures, etc.

g. When cloning a creature from an existing one, there is no clear way to remove additional quantities of attacks (i.e. initial creature has 3 attacks and new one only needs two), and so you are stuck with having to make it a zero bonus attack, or the like.

h. Shield bash, as a viable attack, should be added into the program, and will essentially use something akin to the "Mace" table, etc. This is especially important in dual-wielding attacks, etc.

i. For multiple PC attacks (such as dual-wielding characters), there is no way to integrate this in without having to roll twice, which many GM's prefer to use "one" roll for the two attacks, as they use the dual-wielding skill, etc. It would be nice to see "2" windows appear, which show the two attacks at the same time, with their prospective criticals outlined, and then added up for total damage accrued.

j. In some groups (especially those who use a MERP/RM hybrid setup) creatures that are a size larger do double concussion damage on the initial hits. As an example, a medium-sized human, who is hit by a large-sized troll, takes a 15C, let’s say. This would be augmented to be a 30C in actuality, due to the size difference. This expands to 2x, 4x, 8x damage (i.e. Hobbit vs Dragon, etc.). It would be nice to see this as an option, perhaps with a checkbox, etc.

k. Integration of magic weapons, holy weapons, slaying weapons, etc. and their prospective damages, which come out of Arms Law. A checkbox (or on initial creation) of a character, which indicates that they have a weapon of a given type and goes off of that table directly. There is nothing in the system for this that I can find today.

l. Expanded magical critical tables - we are missing such things as void bolt, mana bolt, plasma bolt, etc. which are tables that exist in the RM system. It would be nice to have them added in.

m. In the "misc" drop down box for penalties applied to a given attack, it would be nice to see the "stock" penalties from the RMFRP book (i.e. complete darkness, etc.), without having to look this up or manually enter it in every time,

These are my observations/questions for now. I may be missing a few things and since I have had the program for a short time only, any filling in of the gaps in my knowledge base would be appreciated.

Feel free to reach out to me at your leisure.

Sincerely,

mijimoe

Offline Merkir

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #24 on: February 22, 2014, 11:21:51 PM »


Good afternoon:

I have downloaded and purchased the full version of the RM Combat Minion program and there are a few things that I would like to point out/ask for clarification on:

Thanks for the comprehensive post. I've endeavoured to answer everything below. Cheers.

Quote
a. Is there a way to integrate "critical-only" attacks into the program, which present a pop-up window or augmented screen which includes the critical damages included when specific creatures in Rolemaster CM do damage to a PC. As an example, most elementals will do an additional "B" critical in their own sphere when they successfully land a critical-based hit on a PC. Right now, I do not see this as an option in the program.

There's no separate way to do this. Currently, just initiate a new attack, make sure you apply a critical (eg. type in 300 to make sure you get top of table), then type in the exact Critical you want to apply, eg. '0Bhe' will apply a B Heat crit. Note that the 0 (zero) is necessary. Also note the crit codes are all provided in a popup from a link on the attack panel.

Quote
b. Some creatures do multiple attacks of the same kind per hit OR if they are an animal, they continue with their primary, then secondary, then tertiary attacks in order. I am not sure if there is a way to automate this process, as I have not found this capability in the software today, other than just initiating the extra attacks. For example, an elemental does 3x bash attacks, meaning they attack 3 times in a given round with that same attack.

They're separate attacks in the rulebooks so just do separate attacks in Minion. If they automatically apply additional crits, also do these as separate attacks as in a. above.

Quote
c. I would recommend that, for an additional fee, owners of the software be given the capacity to download a fully populated Rolemaster "Creatures and Monsters" database, so as to avoid adding in each creature, which takes hours. While it is nice to be able to craft creatures uniquely, I am finding it is taking a fair amount of time to build a complete listing of all "stock" out-of-the-book creatures.

Yes, this has already been discussed and would be great! Also expanding on this, a database of standard NPCs at various levels, races, professions would be great, too.

Quote
d. Can an additional field be added for weapons that have a poison applied, with corresponding fields in the character template that allow the GM to enter in an individual's resistance levels to poison, willpower attacks, etc? It would be nice to see this damage applied, along with a field for the individuals roll to resist. If they fail, as an example, and it is a "killing" poison, then the character should reflect this fact immediately afterwards.

It's been a judgement call as to how much of a character's skills/abilities/resistances etc. to enter into Minion. I've kept it as simple as possible to make data entry and combat simulation as quick and effortless as possible, knowing that it's a trade off between simplicity/complexity/time and comprehensiveness.  While technically it would be possible to add resistance roll fields, the reality is that "attacks" that rely on defenders resisting are so many and varied, ie. their effects are so varied, that trying to cater for them in minion would probably overall detract from what Minion is trying to do.

What you are asking with regard to an additional field added for poison weapons makes it an even more obscure inclusion and adding multiple new data entry fields for more and more obscure situations I think is the wrong way to go. The last thing we want is for Minion to become a complete Character Sheet.

Having said that, I think extra fields for RR's might be ok, as long as the RR table was also included (it isn't at present) so that Minion could be used to at least roll RRs and look them up.  The attack/effect that causes the RR I think still needs to be applied manually by the GM in each case, for the reasons I give above.

It would be interesting to know how many people would like RR rolls included in Minion REMEMBERING that this will involve the addition of many more data entry fields when creating PCs/NPCs. How many RR types are there now? 4? 5? 6? They would work similarly to the current Perception/MM/Attunement data fields.

Quote

e. For creatures that innately initiate attacks based on their element (i.e. water elemental), it would be nice to have a zero-PowerPoint checkbox, etc. so that the GM/user of the software is aware that this creature cannot expend PP's to exhaustion. What I mean by this is that some creatures are composed of magic, and therefore do not "cast" per se, but do the damage as appropriate to that element, etc.

f. When adding in a new creature and then cloning it, I have noticed that the window does not shift in size in relation to the new creatures all the time, forcing the user to select a different "Key" and then jumping back in once again. Basically, the pop-up window will remain the same size, even though you might have 10+ creatures, etc.

I'm not sure what you're looking at here. Let me know what pop-up window, etc.

Quote
g. When cloning a creature from an existing one, there is no clear way to remove additional quantities of attacks (i.e. initial creature has 3 attacks and new one only needs two), and so you are stuck with having to make it a zero bonus attack, or the like.

True. There is the option of a "None" attack at the bottom of the list, but I agree it needs the  ability to clear this field. Definitely on the TODO list now.

Quote
h. Shield bash, as a viable attack, should be added into the program, and will essentially use something akin to the "Mace" table, etc. This is especially important in dual-wielding attacks, etc.

In RM Classic, a shield bash is either a small or medium Bash attack, so it's catered for in Minion. Other versions of RM I'm not sure about, but I thought were similar. Others may be able to comment on this.

Quote
i. For multiple PC attacks (such as dual-wielding characters), there is no way to integrate this in without having to roll twice, which many GM's prefer to use "one" roll for the two attacks, as they use the dual-wielding skill, etc. It would be nice to see "2" windows appear, which show the two attacks at the same time, with their prospective criticals outlined, and then added up for total damage accrued.

I'm not aware of any rules where one attack roll is used for two separate attacks, even dual wielding, but assuming you're right this is still easily done just doing two consecutive attacks. If the same attack roll must be used for the second attack, just type it in. That's the great thing about the software - flexibility.  I don't see any great advantage in trying to get two simultaneous pop-up panels operating together and trying to combine the results into one wounds form. The time it would take to write software to do this is not worth it, and on a tablet it would be difficult for the two pop-up panels to display correctly.

To be honest, IMO it would actually be wrong to try to simultaneously apply and combine multiple attacks, since ultimately they are separate attacks anyway, even if for simplicity you intend to resolve them at the same time. In short, resolve them as the two separate attacks they are.

Quote
j. In some groups (especially those who use a MERP/RM hybrid setup) creatures that are a size larger do double concussion damage on the initial hits. As an example, a medium-sized human, who is hit by a large-sized troll, takes a 15C, let’s say. This would be augmented to be a 30C in actuality, due to the size difference. This expands to 2x, 4x, 8x damage (i.e. Hobbit vs Dragon, etc.). It would be nice to see this as an option, perhaps with a checkbox, etc.

I agree. This will require an extra select box in the character creation form to choose the Size of the PC/NPC/Creature. This will probably have to be done for RMU anyway to cater for the new normalisation rules. And then I agree with your suggestion that an extra options checkbox to set how concussion hits are applied would be good.

Quote
k. Integration of magic weapons, holy weapons, slaying weapons, etc. and their prospective damages, which come out of Arms Law. A checkbox (or on initial creation) of a character, which indicates that they have a weapon of a given type and goes off of that table directly. There is nothing in the system for this that I can find today.

When the RMSS/FRP data files are released, you will be able to change the crit type to one of the holy/mithril/slaying/etc. types instead of the normal crit type. It would be good to streamline this functionality and more thought may be required. Again we have to remember that this is probably only catering for a small minority of attacks, so we have to ensure it doesn't compromise the overall simplicity/flow of the rest of the software.

Keeping the software fast and efficient for 95% of attacks is the main goal. Adding to the software for more obscure attacks should be done, but carefully so as not to effect those 95%.

Quote
l. Expanded magical critical tables - we are missing such things as void bolt, mana bolt, plasma bolt, etc. which are tables that exist in the RM system. It would be nice to have them added in.

Only the RM2/Classic table shave been released so far. The RMSS/FRP tables (soon to be released) include these tables.

Quote
m. In the "misc" drop down box for penalties applied to a given attack, it would be nice to see the "stock" penalties from the RMFRP book (i.e. complete darkness, etc.), without having to look this up or manually enter it in every time,

I looked at doing this, then found so many different penalties, variations, and differences between RM versions that in the interests of getting the software released, I thought it best to leave it up to the GM to apply penalties as they see fit.

Quote
These are my observations/questions for now. I may be missing a few things and since I have had the program for a short time only, any filling in of the gaps in my knowledge base would be appreciated.

Feel free to reach out to me at your leisure.

Sincerely,

mijimoe

Again, thanks for the comprehensive list of questions.

Offline jdale

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #25 on: February 22, 2014, 11:50:03 PM »
Having said that, I think extra fields for RR's might be ok, as long as the RR table was also included (it isn't at present) so that Minion could be used to at least roll RRs and look them up.  The attack/effect that causes the RR I think still needs to be applied manually by the GM in each case, for the reasons I give above.

It would be interesting to know how many people would like RR rolls included in Minion REMEMBERING that this will involve the addition of many more data entry fields when creating PCs/NPCs. How many RR types are there now? 4? 5? 6? They would work similarly to the current Perception/MM/Attunement data fields.

If someone doesn't want to use them, they can just enter zeroes. But it's a table lookup during combat, I think it is useful.
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Offline Moostik

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #26 on: February 24, 2014, 04:20:33 PM »
I'd say include RRs and exhaustion points, this eliminates the need for multiple references and additional book-keeping, IMO.

Offline mijimoe

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion Version 1.2 released 25Mar14
« Reply #27 on: March 25, 2014, 03:01:09 PM »

Good afternoon:

Just wondering what the update(s) were in the latest iteration of the software (Version 1.2) that was released today and if there was a website and/or location where there is a synopsis of the various changes made to the program.

Thanks!

Mijimoe

Offline tbigness

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #28 on: March 25, 2014, 03:22:08 PM »
I'd say include RRs and exhaustion points, this eliminates the need for multiple references and additional book-keeping, IMO.

I agree with the RR's but I have never used the exhaustion points due to game playability with the groups I have. It made players not like the cumbersome system with all the added math and inability to do most things because it would put them in grave danger to walk and chew gum after a 1 minute jog. I personally don't like the exhaustion rules as it is and find it GM cumbersome to keep track of with all the other things to keep track of. Just saying...
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Offline Merkir

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #29 on: March 25, 2014, 04:15:20 PM »
ANNOUNCEMENT:

Minion RMSS/FRP Table Data has just been released. Please go to:

www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?keywords=rolemaster+combat+minion

Offline mijimoe

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - Donwloaded and installed RMSS Table
« Reply #30 on: March 25, 2014, 04:33:53 PM »
Good afternoon:

I just purchased and downloaded the new tables for the RMSS/FRP system just released and when it was installed, I noticed that with all the characters I had in place that all of their weapon attacks were altered to state ALTxx, and so on. If you initiate combat with NPC's and PC's that were created before (with the Classic table in place), all of the character weapons are "scrubbed". I did a restore from the last saved text file and this does not correct the problem.

Is there a way to rectify this, or is the program unable to run both classic and RMSS/FRP tables simultaneously? Please let me know when you have a moment.

Thanks!

Mijimoe

Offline Merkir

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #31 on: March 25, 2014, 05:51:11 PM »
Thanks for pointing that out, and I should have made mention of it earlier.

You must use either the RM2/Classic tables, or the RMSS/FRP tables. You cannot use both. When you install one set, it purges the old set first.

Secondly, since the tables all have different identifiers between RM2/Classic and RMSS/FRP, once weapons are assigned using the identifiers of one set, they will not appear when switching over to the other set. Instead the (now missing) table identifier will be shown instead. Indeed, some weapons only exist in one set and not the other.

To fix, you will need to edit the PC/NPCs and choose the weapon again, this time from the new table data. Note also that the sample PCs and Goblin NPCs that come with the free web app use the RM2/Classic weapon identifiers.

Offline mijimoe

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #32 on: March 25, 2014, 08:01:17 PM »
Good evening Merkir:

So I have discovered a bug in the system, and I am not sure if it is due to the 1.2 release or if it is the new RMSS/FRP table. After reading your last post, I discovered that the new table goes through the install process, but it does not function with the information that it says is installed. The tables look like a slightly modified hybrid of the Classic tables, but are missing a lot of the information. Additionally, the stock default characters show their weapons as "ALTxx" instead of a given weapon name (ie: Broadsword, etc.).

As I watched the install of the new table, here is what it said should be installed:

Bare Fist, Battle Axe, Bola, Broadsword, Club, Composite Bow, Dagger, Falchion, Flail, Hand Axe, Heavy Crossbow, Javelin, Lance, Light Crossbow, LongBow, Mace, Main Gauche, Morning Star, Pole Arm, Quarterstaff, Rapier, Scimitar, Short Bow, Short Sword, Sling, Spear, Two Handed Sword, War Hammer, War Mattock, Whip, Shock Bolt, Water Bolt, Ice Bolt, Fire Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Cold Ball, Fire Ball, Beak Pincher (Small), Beak Pincher (Medium), Beak Pincher (Large), Beak Pincher (Huge), Bite (Small), Bite (Medium), Bite (Large), Bite (Huge), Brawling (Small), Brawling (Medium), Brawling (Large), Brawling (Huge), Claw Talon (Small), Claw Talon (Medium), Claw Talon (Large), Claw Talon (Huge), Fall Crush (10' Small), Fall Crush (50' Medium), Fall Crush (100' Large), Fall Crush (>100' Huge), Grapple Grasp Envelope Swallow (Small), Grapple Grasp Envelope Swallow (Medium), Grapple Grasp Envelope Swallow (Large), Grapple Grasp Envelope Swallow (Huge), Horn Tusk (Small), Horn Tusk (Medium), Horn Tusk (Large), Horn Tusk (Huge), MA Strikes (Small), MA Strikes (Medium), MA Strikes (Large), MA Strikes (Huge), MA Throws (Small), MA Throws (Medium), MA Throws (Large), MA Throws (Huge), Ram Butt Bash Knockdown (Small), Ram Butt Bash Knockdown (Medium), Ram Butt Bash Knockdown (Large), Ram Butt Bash Knockdown (Huge), Stinger (Small), Stinger (Medium), Stinger (Large), Stinger (Huge), Tiny (1st attack), Tiny (after 1st crit), Tiny (after 2nd crit), Tiny (after 3rd crit), Trample Stomp (Small), Trample Stomp (Medium), Trample Stomp (Large), Trample Stomp (Huge), Brawling, Cold, Krush, Disruption, Electricity, Grapple, Heat, Holy Arms (Lge Creature), Holy Arms (Super Lge Creature), Holy Spell, Holy Weapon, Impact, Locking Holds, MA Strikes, MA Throws, Magic Weapon (Lge Creature), Mithril (Super Lge Creature), Mana, Mithril (Lge Creature), Nerve Strikes, Normal Spell (Lge Creature), Normal Spell (Super Lge Creature), Normal Weapon (Lge Creature), Normal Weapon (Super Lge Creature), Puncture, Slash, Slaying Spell (Lge Creature), Slaying Spell (Super Lge Creature), Slaying Weapon (Lge Creature), Slaying Weapon (Super Lge Creature), Subdual, Tiny, Unbalance, Void, One-Handed arms, Two-Handed arms, Polearms and spears, Mounted Arms, Thrown arms, Missile weapons, Arcane Elemental, Arcane Other, Attack Elemental, Attack Force, Non-Attack Informational, Non-Attack Other

When I look at the drop-down box of all the categories, you are missing about ¼ to ½ of what is listed above. The machine that I tested this on is a WinXP SP3 laptop and I tried this in both Google Chrome and Firefox, and the issue was the same. I will try on a Windows 7 machine a bit later, but if you can get back to me and let me know why the data above is not being seen in its complete form in the ver 1.2 program, that would be great.

Thanks!

Mijimoe

Offline Merkir

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #33 on: March 25, 2014, 08:54:33 PM »
The report showing the list of tables installed doesn't just list Weapon/Attack tables.  It lists ALL of the tables installed, including Critical Tables, Fumbles and Spell Failures. Needless to say, if you're only comparing the list to what is found in the drop-down weapon/attack selects, then you'll only find the weapon/attack tables there. And please see my previous post regarding the sample PCs/Goblins using the RM2/Classic data set.

Quote
The tables look like a slightly modified hybrid of the Classic tables, but are missing a lot of the information.

Could you give an example or two? I've looked at a few random critical table results and they appear to all be RMSS/FRP data so far. I also changed the crit type to criticals that only exist in RMSS/FRP such as Void (crit code "vo") and all appears to work on my app. Any examples you could give would be great.

Offline Xusha of Dhelos

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #34 on: March 26, 2014, 04:11:52 AM »
Hi There,

Minion looks like a very useful tool.

I have one suggestion: I appreciate the trade off between simplicity and comprehensiveness but I still think there's one very useful feature missing, and that is tracking the hit loss penalty. I personally use it, i.e. -10 for each 25% of hits lost. I find it unreasonable that someone could have lost 75% of hit points and somehow remain unaffected. And surely calculating and presenting this this would be an easy piece of automation to include.

From what I can see, right now I'll still have to calculate and keep track of this on the side and then manually enter. This in turn diminishes the useful of Minion's hit point tracking.

Couple of questions:

Q1. Say I, the GM, buy the licence, I'm running a game over the internet using skype, and I'd like the players to be able to see whats going on in minion, not interact, just be able to witness, monitor it for themselves. Is this possible as it stands? If the answer is different depending on whether I'm running Minion on PC or an apple table please elaborate (assuming it runs on an apple table of course!).

Q2. At home I have a desktop and a tablet.  Primarily I use the desktop, including for minion, but sometimes I'd like to use the tablet just for minion. In either case I'll be at home. Are we talking two licences here? One for the desktop and one for the tablet?

Thank you very much in advance for your time.

 
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Offline Merkir

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #35 on: March 26, 2014, 06:50:28 AM »
I have one suggestion: I appreciate the trade off between simplicity and comprehensiveness but I still think there's one very useful feature missing, and that is tracking the hit loss penalty. I personally use it, i.e. -10 for each 25% of hits lost. I find it unreasonable that someone could have lost 75% of hit points and somehow remain unaffected. And surely calculating and presenting this this would be an easy piece of automation to include.

I totally agree. Now that the RMSS/FRP table data has been released, I can concentrate on the TODO list - something I haven't been able to do until now - and % Penalty due to lost hits is near the top of the list of priorities. It's something I want myself for my own campaign.

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Q1. Say I, the GM, buy the licence, I'm running a game over the internet using skype, and I'd like the players to be able to see what's going on in minion, not interact, just be able to witness, monitor it for themselves. Is this possible as it stands? If the answer is different depending on whether I'm running Minion on PC or an apple table please elaborate (assuming it runs on an apple table of course!).

Interesting question. Minion was certainly written as a GM-only helper with no real thought put into players viewing or interacting with it, however everything on the LHS of the screen which includes the PCs stats/health, initiative, etc. would be quite appropriate for the players to see. I know google hangouts has a very good multi-person video chat system which includes multi-person screen sharing. ICE staff and developers including myself have been using it very successfully over the last few months on various on-line/software development projects. One quick-and-nasty possible answer to your question is to use this functionality and share the PCs side of the screen by dragging the window to the right to hide the NPCs side whenever you want players to view their stats/wounds. They could also see Initiative and the Encounter log. This works in google hangouts but I don't think skype can do multi-person screen sharing - you would need to check.

You are probably thinking more along the lines of a separate Players Minion App, which somehow connects with the GM's Minion App to show only those parts relevant to the players. While this is technically possible, I think the chances of this being actioned is pretty slim, considering the other higher priority tasks that would come before that, and of course it would depend on demand as well.

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Q2. At home I have a desktop and a tablet.  Primarily I use the desktop, including for minion, but sometimes I'd like to use the tablet just for minion. In either case I'll be at home. Are we talking two licences here? One for the desktop and one for the tablet?

Only one license is required. Please also see FAQ #2 within the app.

Offline Xusha of Dhelos

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #36 on: March 26, 2014, 07:55:26 AM »
Merkir, thank you very much for your speedy reply.

Yes I was thinking of a "player viewing only" version but I will investigate google hangouts as an alternative. I suspect it will be workable.
 
For what its worth I fully intend on going ahead and make my purchase, not least of all because of your ongoing development and support of this excellent tool.

I had a few more suggestion which occurred to me after my first post.

A player/npc uses some points of OB for parry. Later it's time for him to attack. I review the log but there's no indication of how much he allocated to parry. This means I have to have manual make a note. If the log included this one extra piece of value this issue is gone.

For example: Instead of

12:23 Yatumbo vs Goblin #2: Broadsword(40) vs AT8(10): 71➜101➜12BS
           Crit Roll 74 ➜ Wounds Applied (18,0,-40,0,0,3,1,0,0)

like this

12:23 Yatumbo vs Goblin #2: Broadsword OB 40 (OB 80 - 20 activity, -20 reserved parry) vs AT8 DB10 (DB20 + 10 Parry -10 Activity, -10 Misc): 71➜101➜12BS
           Crit Roll 74 ➜ Wounds Applied (18,0,-40,0,0,3,1,0,0)

Now, to those who say, hey that's too much info, I would argue, well, its a log, that's surely what its meant to do! besides, to satisfy both points of view you could have an option under settings with a few check boxes to define how much granularity is wanted. If you enabled this extra data some colour coding on the log wouldn't go amiss either I'd suggest.

I'd take this additional feature and be happy, because now I really don't have to make manual side notes - especially when you implement the hit the auto calculation of the hit loss penalty. But even better, when it came to the attack of someone who had already used some OB for parry, if the loss of OB due to parry was already filled in as a minus figure on its own in line entry this would very handy indeed. The same goes to penalty due to an already specified reduction in activity.

on another point, if I'm understanding the default activity penalties correctly, its working on the basis that every 1% of activity less than 100% is generating a -1 reduction in OB. Correct if Im wrong but surely its calculated differently as follows. Available OB is reduced as percentage equal to percentage of activity used for other actions. I.e, if I only have 75% activity for attack parry, therefore available OB is only 75% of what it normal is. If Im correct here, again it would be extremely helpful if the functionality allowed me to simply enter the activity already used up as a percentage (which it currently does allow for ) but then it calculated the the appropriate pen, e.g. for an ob of say 75,  -25% activity, generates a pen in the case of -19, or alternatively reduced available OB to 56.

If you follow this through at the top of an attack box it should start with OB, then available activity, i.e. 100%, 75% etc, then an Available OB,  and then you can get on with other mods.


 

"One Roll To Rule Them All, And in the Darkness Bind Them."

Offline jdale

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #37 on: March 26, 2014, 09:04:35 AM »
on another point, if I'm understanding the default activity penalties correctly, its working on the basis that every 1% of activity less than 100% is generating a -1 reduction in OB. Correct if Im wrong but surely its calculated differently as follows. Available OB is reduced as percentage equal to percentage of activity used for other actions. I.e, if I only have 75% activity for attack parry, therefore available OB is only 75% of what it normal is. If Im correct here, again it would be extremely helpful if the functionality allowed me to simply enter the activity already used up as a percentage (which it currently does allow for ) but then it calculated the the appropriate pen, e.g. for an ob of say 75,  -25% activity, generates a pen in the case of -19, or alternatively reduced available OB to 56.

It's actually just a flat penalty, not a percentage. E.g. if you use 75% activity for an attack action, it's at -25, not -25%. If you are looking at RMSS, page 94, section 23.3.7, see also the example.
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Offline Xusha of Dhelos

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #38 on: March 26, 2014, 09:41:24 AM »
on another point, if I'm understanding the default activity penalties correctly, its working on the basis that every 1% of activity less than 100% is generating a -1 reduction in OB. Correct if Im wrong but surely its calculated differently as follows. Available OB is reduced as percentage equal to percentage of activity used for other actions. I.e, if I only have 75% activity for attack parry, therefore available OB is only 75% of what it normal is. If Im correct here, again it would be extremely helpful if the functionality allowed me to simply enter the activity already used up as a percentage (which it currently does allow for ) but then it calculated the the appropriate pen, e.g. for an ob of say 75,  -25% activity, generates a pen in the case of -19, or alternatively reduced available OB to 56.

It's actually just a flat penalty, not a percentage. E.g. if you use 75% activity for an attack action, it's at -25, not -25%. If you are looking at RMSS, page 94, section 23.3.7, see also the example.

I beg your pardon. I'm returning to the game after some time. I'm also using RMC, but nonetheless I've gone back and checked and you are correct. My efforts to maneuver the rest of my wish list on to Merkir to do list stand.
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Offline mijimoe

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Re: Rolemaster Combat Minion - RM combat tracking software
« Reply #39 on: March 26, 2014, 09:48:23 AM »
Good morning Merkir:

The things that I am curious about are as follows:

a.   When I initiate an attack with a PC towards an NPC and use a selected weapon (example: broadsword), there is no way to designate that the weapon is either magic, mithril, holy or slaying, when attacking the opponent. While the tables may be in place for the results of a given attack, how does one designate a weapon today as one of the above listed augmented types (ie: mithril dagger, holy battle axe, magic  flail, and so on…)?

b.   In the dropdown boxes, I was specifically looking for the Arcane Companion directed spells to be listed for the following associated spell attacks:
1.   Mana Bolt
2.   Mana Ball
3.   Void Bolt
4.   Void Ball
The way I have always handled these attacks was to make them a directed spell and thus something that needs to be selected as an attack type, and then subsequently referenced in the resulting Attack Table and Critical Table. Without having an option to select one of the spell attack types above with an associated bonus (just like any other directed spell), how does one use this?

c.   The Martial Arts Companion book provides some additional weapons types, which are as follows:
1.   Chihiriki
2.   Kama
3.   Katana
4.   Metal Whip
5.   Nunchaku
6.   Tetsubo
7.   Three-Section Staff
8.   Wakizashi
Are these above listed MA Companion weapon types going to be added into the program in a later release?

If you could get back to me on this, that would be great.

Thanks!

Mijimoe