Planned future features

[orffen]

These features are ideas that may be implemented in some future release.

• Add Vehicle sheets #50
• Add Siege Engine sheets #48
• Add Stronghold sheets #49
• Combat/token automation (health, AC, etc) - maybe
• Automatic scaling of vehicle tokens based on length/width - maybe
• Tokens for stronghold walls?
• Default tokens for different actor and item types
• Translations? This could be handled better by the community
• Save rolls show pass/fail #13
• Improved release workflow to add release system.json and release .zip to the release on a pull request to main #15
• Automatic AC calculation

Weapons

• Add ammo/charges #54

Rollables on Character sheet:

• Ability scores - p. 188 of the rulebook

Rollables on Monster sheet:

• Treasure Types - configurable system-wide option on which compendium of RollTables to use; this would allow compatibility with compendium modules like Stew-rt's

Configuration options

• Selectable melee/ranged/damage icons
• Reset combat tracker initiative at end of every round - maybe, this is really easy to do manually in FoundryVTT
• Select rolltable for treasures

Compendiums:

See https://github.com/Stew-rt/basicfantasyrpg-corerules-en
Considering whether to do these as a separate module - this allows others to contribute in other languages. Maybe not a big deal either way, these can be split off pretty easily. Having them in core means tables for treasure can be rolled.

• Weapons
• Armor and Shields
• Equipment
• Spells
• Monsters
• Roll tables for wandering monsters
• Roll tables for treasure

[ScottMaclure]

Q) Looks like you ruled out doing "AC automatically calculated for characters - maybe"?

[ScottMaclure]

Compendiums would be sweet! When testing out your module in Foundry, the first thing I did was start creating items to drag onto my test PC sheet:

[orffen]

Q) Looks like you ruled out doing "AC automatically calculated for characters - maybe"?

I think so, yes. I've been thinking about various scenarios and how the sheet would handle them - what about a Basic Fantasy RPG class that got a bonus to AC, or items like shields or treasure that increase AC when used. I can't think of a good way to do it.

If you look at Attack Bonus or XP fields on the Monster sheet, they are automatically calculated and can't be overridden - the sheet automatically re-calculates even if you put in a manual value. For attack bonus I don't think this is a problem since weapons have a "bonus AB" field which can be adjusted as needed for the monster's attacks.

Also, which items should be accounted for when calculating AC? Just "Armor" type items? What if a character picks up a second piece of armor and is carrying 2? The player could put that under "Armor" - do I just default to using the higher AC value? What if the player would prefer to wear the other piece of armor? Now I need a way to mark which items are worn, and in my experience, this is often clunky/annoying to manage on a sheet. Plus, I still can't account for shields because "+1" and "1" is the same - I'd need another field like "Bonus AC" which in most cases would be 0 just to account for shields etc.

I could have a "manually edited" flag in the sheet - if the AC is manually updated it would turn on and the auto-calculation would be disabled. But then the sheet would never auto-calculate from that point on, so we are back to a non-calculating AC sheet.

But above all, Basic Fantasy RPG has a great community and a wealth of supplements, and I want the sheet to be able to support all of that. I think I'm leaning towards the philosophy that the sheets should make some things easy (like automatically calculated values like Load), but in general they should function a lot like a paper sheet.

Always open to feedback of course :)

[revwez]

FIRST, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS!

I set up BFRPG using the Sandbox system and figured out AC this way.

I set the base AC to 10 for everyone using my PC template.

The armor was given the value of how much it modified off the base AC.

The reported AC was calculated by adding the base AC + Armor modifer + Dex bonus.

And when I create magic armor I change the modifier.

I suppose in your setup you could still have the AC from the table in the rulebook visible, but calculate it via a hidden value that is the modifer.

Does this help at all?

[revwez]

Would it be possible to get saving throws to auto-calculate based on class and race?

[revwez]

Compendiums would be sweet! When testing out your module in Foundry, the first thing I did was start creating items to drag onto my test PC sheet:

If the module route is how the project will move forward I'd be happy to help populate it. Spells are gonna take a bit.

[orffen]

Would it be possible to get saving throws to auto-calculate based on class and race?

I want to avoid this. Basic Fantasy RPG has a highly active community which develops all kinds of content, and the sheet needs to stay as flexible as possible to accommodate that content. I think it's possible to create custom sheets as separate modules, so you could go down that route for your game.

The problem with auto-calculations is that they will override manual entry. So, if I get a magic item that improves my save against spells for example, and I update the save value - it will be automatically re-calculated and changed back whenever the sheet updates. This is why the auto-calc values on the Monster sheet are "disabled" - they can't be manually changed. For this reason I also decided that for the time being the character sheet is mostly manual - it's the most flexible implementation to accommodate custom content.

Now of course it's possible to account for that by allowing items to modify attributes, but then we get a pretty complex sheet for what is a pretty simple RPG system at its core.

[orffen]

FIRST, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS!

I set up BFRPG using the Sandbox system and figured out AC this way.

I set the base AC to 10 for everyone using my PC template.

The armor was given the value of how much it modified off the base AC.

The reported AC was calculated by adding the base AC + Armor modifer + Dex bonus.

And when I create magic armor I change the modifier.

I suppose in your setup you could still have the AC from the table in the rulebook visible, but calculate it via a hidden value that is the modifer.

Does this help at all?

This is an interesting way to tackle the problem (and internally I could just calculate Actor.armorClass += Item.armorClass - 10 or something similar). But again this leaves the problem of needing to mark armor as being worn/used and exclude it from the AC calculation if not worn/used. I'm not a fan of that level of bookkeeping in general, especially for a value which doesn't change that often.

Plus, now every item now needs to be able to affect AC as well - what if a character uses a Potion of Invulnerability, or a Ring of Protection? These aren't going to be Armor items, but they will need to affect AC (but only if used/worn). And the Ring of Protection (and possibly any item) also needs to affect Saving Throws.

It quickly becomes pretty complex trying to account for all of this. It's not unsolveable, but the FoundryVTT system should be as simple as the Basic Fantasy RPG (or simpler in some cases).

[revwez]

Thanks for the reply! In sandbox this is handled by setting a modifier that alters the value. So a ring of protection +1 adds one to AC, and so on. But I get your point.

…

Sent from my iPad

On Feb 20, 2022, at 11:14 PM, Steve Simenic ***@***.***> wrote:  FIRST, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS! I set up BFRPG using the Sandbox system and figured out AC this way. I set the base AC to 10 for everyone using my PC template. The armor was given the value of how much it modified off the base AC. The reported AC was calculated by adding the base AC + Armor modifer + Dex bonus. And when I create magic armor I change the modifier. I suppose in your setup you could still have the AC from the table in the rulebook visible, but calculate it via a hidden value that is the modifer. Does this help at all? This is an interesting way to tackle the problem (and internally I could just calculate Actor.armorClass += Item.armorClass - 10 or something similar). But again this leaves the problem of needing to mark armor as being worn/used and exclude it from the AC calculation if not worn/used. I'm not a fan of that level of bookkeeping in general, especially for a value which doesn't change that often. Plus, now every item now needs to be able to affect AC as well - what if a character uses a Potion of Invulnerability, or a Ring of Protection? These aren't going to be Armor items, but they will need to affect AC (but only if used/worn). And the Ring of Protection (and possibly any item) also needs to affect Saving Throws. It quickly becomes pretty complex trying to account for all of this. It's not unsolveable, but the FoundryVTT system should be as simple as the Basic Fantasy RPG (or simpler in some cases). — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS or Android. You are receiving this because you commented.

[revwez]

I understand. And, yes, It can get complex to do the calculations. I’ve just found it speeds up leveling and creating new monsters. On the other hand, I have not added any non-core races/classes to my game precisely BECAUSE I don’t want to go through the work to set up all the auto-calculations. Thanks!

…

Sent from my iPad

On Feb 20, 2022, at 11:02 PM, Steve Simenic ***@***.***> wrote:  Would it be possible to get saving throws to auto-calculate based on class and race? I want to avoid this. Basic Fantasy RPG has a highly active community which develops all kinds of content, and the sheet needs to stay as flexible as possible to accommodate that content. I think it's possible to create custom sheets as separate modules, so you could go down that route for your game. The problem with auto-calculations is that they will override manual entry. So, if I get a magic item that improves my save against spells for example, and I update the save value - it will be automatically re-calculated and changed back whenever the sheet updates. This is why the auto-calc values on the Monster sheet are "disabled" - they can't be manually changed. For this reason I also decided that for the time being the character sheet is mostly manual - it's the most flexible implementation to accommodate custom content. Now of course it's possible to account for that by allowing items to modify attributes, but then we get a pretty complex sheet for what is a pretty simple RPG system at its core. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS or Android. You are receiving this because you commented.

[orffen]

I’ve just found it speeds up leveling and creating new monsters.

This is actually a goal of the monster sheet - it's why it will automatically calculate XP and some other values. For monsters though, isn't it easier just to manually put in an AC value?

I don't know if I've fully thought it through, but if I was creating an NPC character, I'd use the "character" sheet rather than "monster" sheet. Not sure when I'd want to add armor to a monster - the core book only has an AC value, don't know if adding armor to a monster sheet is particularly useful. Would be interested in more perspectives on this.

[revwez]

Yah, I do monster AC manually by what’s in the book. And adjust it if I want one that has a bigger challenge. For NPCs I set them up like a PC, and then auto calculating AC comes in handy.

…

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 23, 2022, at 5:51 AM, Steve Simenic ***@***.***> wrote:  I’ve just found it speeds up leveling and creating new monsters. This is actually a goal of the monster sheet - it's why it will automatically calculate XP and some other values. For monsters though, isn't it easier just to manually put in an AC value? I don't know if I've fully thought it through, but if I was creating an NPC character, I'd use the "character" sheet rather than "monster" sheet. Not sure when I'd want to add armor to a monster - the core book only has an AC value, don't know if adding armor to a monster sheet is particularly useful. Would be interested in more perspectives on this. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS or Android. You are receiving this because you commented.

[miqued]

Weapons

• Add ammo/charges - this might be a general item feature rather than weapon specific (i.e. optionally link weapon to consumables)

I've looked into the PF2E system and found (I think) the script they use for general quantity + buttons in the inventory. I'm going to try to pick it apart and fit it into Basic Fantasy, but I figured I'd leave it here if someone can actually understand it...

item-quantity.zip

[orffen]

Thanks, I'll try and take a look. One of my guiding principles for this project is simplicity - I've seen Foundry systems where you link one type of object to an ammo type and so on and I think that's too complex.

It would be nice to just drop an ammo tracker onto the 'weapons' tab with some +/- buttons ans keep it as simple as that.