Charts & Tables [OLD]

[Halebop]

I think it's a great idea being able to import charts and tables. While many standard actions are easily memorized I find with D20 that some rarely performed actions can suddenly become a little hazy to recall or controversial in their interpretation. To be able to set these up for reviewing is very useful.

I have some questions too...

What formats will be supported? PDF, Image Files, others?

Can I set up an electronic "GM's Screen" using multiple tables? Be nice to have one "main page" containing often used tables that I could recall with a hot key or menu button.

Usability and complex databases: A sometimes time consuming aspect of D20/D&D GMing is looking up spells or some other list. It would be nice to be able to load a database of Spell Descriptions and make it word or parameter searchable. Better still if a database file was exportable/shareable with other users. Would make all that effort of detailing hundreds of spells worthwhile. As an aside the System Reference Document lists all D20 Open Game License spells and their particulars in Rich Text Format.

[heruca]

For now it supports JPGs and maybe PNGs, and I plan to support RTFs and PDFs, because those would be searchable by default. Nothing in the Charts & Tables folder is shared with other players, because that would violate copyright laws. People might send these to each other by e-mail before the game, of course, but I don't want my program to be used for anything illegal.

I think breaking up the reference materials into individual charts and tables as opposed to a single GM's Screen is actually more efficient for finding exactly what you want, since you can categorize them in subfolders at the system level. But you're free to do whatever you want. Just paste all the tables together in Photoshop or something. You'll still be limited to what fits on your screen (depends on how high you set your resolution), since there's no scroll function for graphics presented this way. PDFs and RTF might be an exception to this limitation.

As for spells, wouldn't it be more useful to have this info embedded in the character sheet, or better yet, a stand-alone grimoire file, for the spells you know?

The most fequently used tables might best be left "unfiled" (not in a subdirectory). It takes less clicking around to pull them up.