As the Encounters tool approaches coming out of beta, I'd like to see the following:
Adding extra monsters and absentee PCs to an existing encounter without needing to fill in custom entries or exiting the encounter and entering edit mode to add them. The problem with the custom entry option, as I see it, is that it doesn't provide all the stats and attack information like when monsters and PCs are added during creation/edit mode and entering edit mode mid combat resets the encounter.
Add status conditions to monsters and PCs with a means to track duration while tapping on the condition brings up its description.
Add a consumable tracking section for each monster, if applicable, for ammo, spell slots, and abilities.
Added initiative options: Allow initiative to be rerolled each round for all combatants automatically. Allow PCs to reroll their own initiative each round while the DMs batch reroll the initiative for all monsters.
Add Encounters to the DDB smart device app.
I think the Campaign section could do with a bit more development to round it out. Currently there are a number of Campaign Managers/Builders like World Anvil which provide features like uploading world maps which allows for metadata pins to be placed and other advanced infographic options. This is probably outside the scope of the framework, but whichever bits could be added would be nice. Realistically, I think a Campaign Planner, at the very least, could be integrated into the section. If you're not familiar, Campaign Planners are those worksheets you see being sold at places like DTRPG or offered freely via homebrew. Just DM-facing, I imagine it could be implemented the same way the character builder works by asking a series of questions and providing options to choose in order to generate a sophisticated campaign outline/checklist, flowchart, and/or roadmap which can list key events, decisions, link directly to specific Encounters, and/or indicate outcomes. This information could then be used to populate a player-facing chronicle which gets updated with information as the DM fills out the Campaign Planner with gameplay information. Think old school MS Office when creating an accounting/legal/medical document and a wizard popped up except in this case it would be something like the Character Builder but for campaigns, of course! I think the two note sections we have now are a bit of a monastic offering and could be well complemented by this addition completing the Campaign section.
Campaigns and Encounters are two of my favorite features, esp having played remotely these last few years. A few things would make them better:
CAMPAIGNS
set character creation options based on campaign. Limiting/sharing sources is great but if the player has other access everything shows up. Would be nice if the DM could preset that first character creation page for characters created in this campaign.
ENCOUNTERS:
great tool but some of the UI is frustrating. —I want to be able to add and remove creatures from the initiative order on the fly, not have to end the encounter and edit it.
— I’d like to be able to save an encounter for situations when a session ends but the fight isn’t over and might not be resumed for a week or more
—I’d like to be able to add notes or conditions to monsters and characters from the encounter page.
—I’d like to be able to rename monsters in an encounter
—and change the way their rolls appear in the campaign log: the outcome, not the dice+modified. A happy medium between hiding and showing the rolls, which are the only two choices now.
—Would be nice if the players could see initiative order in the “campaign log” along with the rolls. I’ve been using this with a minimal VTT (Owlbear) and it’s a great combo, but that initiative tracking piece for players (with hidden or renamed monster names) would be a really nice addition.
— I know I can create my own Homebrew monsters and add them, but it would be really cool to have a “modify stat block” button right here in the builder to tweak a few things when building an encounter.
“As the Encounters tool approaches coming out of beta…”
Where are you getting this information?
Snowraven_DM, I didn't mean to imply there's an actual release date or DDB officially mentioned "soon."
The tool currently has the "Beta" tag on it. I meant to say when it leaves that stage and goes live, whenever that is, I'd like to see it with most or all of those features I listed.
— I’d like to be able to save an encounter for situations when a session ends but the fight isn’t over and might not be resumed for a week or more
This one already exists. If an encounter is in progress, it remembers, and if you close the tab and later load up the encounter, there's a "resume encounter" button.
“If an encounter is in progress, it remembers, and if you close the tab and later load up the encounter, there's a "resume encounter" button.“
Good to hear that worked for you; in my experience it’s been a little unreliable. I‘ve definitely lost these and had to try to remember where all the monsters were at Hp-wise… though a few of those times I think it was because I was trying to add monsters on the fly by editing the encounter and it reset everything when I tried to get back to it.
As the Encounters tool approaches coming out of beta, I'd like to see the following:
I think the Campaign section could do with a bit more development to round it out. Currently there are a number of Campaign Managers/Builders like World Anvil which provide features like uploading world maps which allows for metadata pins to be placed and other advanced infographic options. This is probably outside the scope of the framework, but whichever bits could be added would be nice. Realistically, I think a Campaign Planner, at the very least, could be integrated into the section. If you're not familiar, Campaign Planners are those worksheets you see being sold at places like DTRPG or offered freely via homebrew. Just DM-facing, I imagine it could be implemented the same way the character builder works by asking a series of questions and providing options to choose in order to generate a sophisticated campaign outline/checklist, flowchart, and/or roadmap which can list key events, decisions, link directly to specific Encounters, and/or indicate outcomes. This information could then be used to populate a player-facing chronicle which gets updated with information as the DM fills out the Campaign Planner with gameplay information. Think old school MS Office when creating an accounting/legal/medical document and a wizard popped up except in this case it would be something like the Character Builder but for campaigns, of course! I think the two note sections we have now are a bit of a monastic offering and could be well complemented by this addition completing the Campaign section.
“As the Encounters tool approaches coming out of beta…”
Where are you getting this information?
Campaigns and Encounters are two of my favorite features, esp having played remotely these last few years. A few things would make them better:
CAMPAIGNS
set character creation options based on campaign. Limiting/sharing sources is great but if the player has other access everything shows up. Would be nice if the DM could preset that first character creation page for characters created in this campaign.
ENCOUNTERS:
great tool but some of the UI is frustrating.
—I want to be able to add and remove creatures from the initiative order on the fly, not have to end the encounter and edit it.
— I’d like to be able to save an encounter for situations when a session ends but the fight isn’t over and might not be resumed for a week or more
—I’d like to be able to add notes or conditions to monsters and characters from the encounter page.
—I’d like to be able to rename monsters in an encounter
—and change the way their rolls appear in the campaign log: the outcome, not the dice+modified. A happy medium between hiding and showing the rolls, which are the only two choices now.
—Would be nice if the players could see initiative order in the “campaign log” along with the rolls. I’ve been using this with a minimal VTT (Owlbear) and it’s a great combo, but that initiative tracking piece for players (with hidden or renamed monster names) would be a really nice addition.
— I know I can create my own Homebrew monsters and add them, but it would be really cool to have a “modify stat block” button right here in the builder to tweak a few things when building an encounter.
Snowraven_DM, I didn't mean to imply there's an actual release date or DDB officially mentioned "soon."
The tool currently has the "Beta" tag on it. I meant to say when it leaves that stage and goes live, whenever that is, I'd like to see it with most or all of those features I listed.
This one already exists. If an encounter is in progress, it remembers, and if you close the tab and later load up the encounter, there's a "resume encounter" button.
“If an encounter is in progress, it remembers, and if you close the tab and later load up the encounter, there's a "resume encounter" button.“
Good to hear that worked for you; in my experience it’s been a little unreliable. I‘ve definitely lost these and had to try to remember where all the monsters were at Hp-wise… though a few of those times I think it was because I was trying to add monsters on the fly by editing the encounter and it reset everything when I tried to get back to it.