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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
 Posted - 03 Jul 2009 : 19:33:56
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* WotC's Trevor Kidd says:
We’ve had a bit of time for the idea of Adventure Tools to settle in and I’ve heard and been involved in a lot of great conversations about what these tools could/should be. I wanted to take a few moments to give us all a better idea of where we are with this.
Of these Adventure Tools, the first that we’ll be releasing is what I’m going to refer to as the Monster Builder. We should expect the name to change by release. I don’t have dates, screenshots or beta keys to give away, but I’ve had the chance to play around with the tool recently and I really wanted to share some of what I saw.
To hit some highlights, here’s what this Monster Builder will be able to do:
* Search through and display monsters that appear in any of our books or magazines.
* Edit monsters so they fit into your planned encounter/campaign.
* Create, display, and print your own unique monsters in the official formatting style you see in our printed D&D material.
“But Trevor,” you ask, “You already have an Encounter Builder that helps me with my monsters. Why is this any better?”
Simply put, the Monster Builder has a lot of features that the Encounter Builder doesn’t have. Besides the ability to easily create your own monster, one example of these new features is the ability to grab an existing attack/power from one monster and drop it into another. For a more colorful analogy, this Monster Builder tool would be eating its cornflakes, and not even notice that the Encounter Builder had landed in its milk.
I've only had a little time to play around with this tool and I already find myself wishing I had it to manage my current campaigns. I believe the Monster Builder will change the way we put together encounters in much the same way that the Character Builder dramatically improved how easy and fun it is to make characters.
That’s all I’ve got for now, but I hope to have more information for you next time. If we’re lucky, that next time will include screen shots and some more features about the Monster Tool. Thanks again for all the great feedback concerning D&D Insider and the Adventure Tools, and I’ll talk with you soon!
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For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36910 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jul 2009 : 20:25:02
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| I'd be a little more impressed if it wasn't a WotC staffer telling me how good this WotC product is. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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Arivia
Great Reader
Canada
2965 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jul 2009 : 20:28:18
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| I think it's very interesting, although I'd be worried that with drag and drop abilities I'd just compulsively give everything goblin tactics. |
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Brian R. James
Forgotten Realms Game Designer
USA
1098 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jul 2009 : 22:22:41
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Wooly 
If the tool can take an existing monster and scale its level up or down, then I would use it in a heartbeat. |
Brian R. James - Freelance Game Designer
Follow me on Twitter @brianrjames |
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Arivia
Great Reader
Canada
2965 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jul 2009 : 22:24:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Brian R. James
Wooly
If the tool can take an existing monster and scale its level up or down, then I would use it in a heartbeat.
Agreed. I can't give the 4e design team enough credit for making more involved monster modification as simple and quick as applying a template was in 3.5. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36910 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jul 2009 : 22:35:40
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quote:
Originally posted by Brian R. James
Wooly
If the tool can take an existing monster and scale its level up or down, then I would use it in a heartbeat.
*shrugs* I'm not saying it's not useful, though I personally don't see much need for it. What I'm saying is an outside opinion would carry a lot more weight than one from one of their own staffers.
If I go to a Chevy dealership, I expect the salesman to tell me how every one of their cars is better than anything else on the road -- I'm not going to get an unbiased opinion. It's the same thing.
Besides, these are the same guys that told us how unplayable 3.x was. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3249 Posts |
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Brian R. James
Forgotten Realms Game Designer
USA
1098 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jul 2009 : 17:55:50
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quote:
Originally posted by Ashe Ravenheart
Heck, I have an excel sheet where I can mod a 3.5 creature up and down with only entering a number in a cell.
Sweet. That must be some killer spreadsheet. Care to post it? |
Brian R. James - Freelance Game Designer
Follow me on Twitter @brianrjames |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3249 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jul 2009 : 18:00:12
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quote:
Originally posted by Brian R. James
quote:
Originally posted by Ashe Ravenheart
Heck, I have an excel sheet where I can mod a 3.5 creature up and down with only entering a number in a cell.
Sweet. That must be some killer spreadsheet. Care to post it?
Wish I could. Basically, there's a sheet that has 'look-up' info for the basics and classes, and then the other sheet has a block where I can enter in the variables and it spits out the updated info (for instance, Orc as race, with levels in Fighter). Allows me to do multiclassing too.
I can't post it though, because it's a 'floating code' type of deal that I put in to my various campaign workbooks (have one for the Cormyr/Shadowdale/Anauroch trilogy, one for Rise of the Rune lords, etc.)
I almost never create something that's not fluid. And that makes it hard to share...  |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Monster Tool on DDI
