[SirDamnALot]

Hello fellow GMs,

I'm from the german Shadowrun forum and I'd like to share a tool I've made for myself to keep combat manageable.
There are several apps for smartphones, but I like my laptop behind my GM screen.

Here is version 1.2e and includes a first draft of a manual to get you started.
http://www.filedropper.com/sr5init12e
http://www.fastshare.org/download/SR5Init_123..7z

http://www.filedropper.com/sr5init12d
http://www.fastshare.org/download/SR5Init_122..7z

http://www.fastshare.org/download/SR5Init_121..7z

You can see some (ok, older) screenshots here:
Manageing actors (archetypes) and assemble encounter:
http://i.imgur.com/cnyKlj5.png
Run encounter:
http://i.imgur.com/zgSJZo7.jpg

Some neat features are
- Have your players and reoccuring enemies (Gangers, Police, HTR) stored in files, load em up and throw them into an encounter
- Minimum data for an actor is a name and ini value. Maximum is attributes, damage trackers, limits, basic tests, notes, etc
- Creating sprites and ghosts on the fly with templates. Select type and force, and have a lot of values calculated for you.
- Prepare encounters in advance or load/save a running encounter. Yes, you can do a savegame of your fight and resume next session.

it is not very pretty and has rough edges, but it may be an improvement for you over pencil and paper

[adzling]

Looks interesting.

Are the characters loaded from a custom spreadsheet?

+ what smartphone apps have you used that you liked?

thanks!

[Fizzygoo]

Fantastic! I really want to use this for my game, here are some notes/concerns:

Archetype/actor creation

Would like "primary fields" (i.e. value input fields that are the original input, not a field that pulls the data from another field) to be shaded/bordered/or otherwise indicated.

Would like fields that pull from other fields to change color/give an alert if their value has been changed from that of the primary field.

Fight page

A way to add/subtract initiative dice and rating to the actors (like someone casting Increase Reflexes in the middle of a fight, etc.) and keep track of that (an input field for the added dice and rating and a toggle box?)

That's all that I found in the time I got to play around with it. Love it! I like that initiative can be overwritten as I know my player's would generally prefer to roll it themselves. All around good stuff (I even like the basic "old-school" looking GUI interface ).

[SirDamnALot]

Are the characters loaded from a custom spreadsheet?
+ what smartphone apps have you used that you liked?

Yes, you can save/load your characters in a textfile in the "Actors" subfolder. If you open it with a texteditor you see that they are stored quite simple.
I accumulated a small rogue gallery that I can pull out at any time. (Rummage through the barrens? surprise gangfight!)
Also, for adventure modules, I can prepare potential combatants and put them all in one file.

I don't like fiddling with my phone at the table, but a friend manages his fights with Next Pass and is quite happy with it.
https://eigertech.wordpress.com/next-pass/

Would like "primary fields" (i.e. value input fields that are the original input, not a field that pulls the data from another field) to be shaded/bordered/or otherwise indicated.
Would like fields that pull from other fields to change color/give an alert if their value has been changed from that of the primary field.

Well, the whole attribute tab is a primary field, e.g. limits pull from nearly all attributes. But I see what I can do.
The fields that are calculated only do so if they are empty. Otherwise they assume that you know what you do (Because of the myriad of ways (ware, magic, qualities, etc) that values may differ from basic calculation.

Fight page
A way to add/subtract initiative dice and rating to the actors (like someone casting Increase Reflexes in the middle of a fight, etc.) and keep track of that (an input field for the added dice and rating and a toggle box?)

On the fight page you can double click on the actor in the list to open it on the actor page. There you could edit his ini values in depth and make a notice with the "effect" button.
(This does not affect the archetype or other instances of the actor, e.g. if one ganger hits jazz, the other carbon copies of him are not affected)

[ScytheKnight]

Looks promising, a little information overload-y though... but that's a particular issue for me.

[SirDamnALot]

Looks promising, a little information overload-y though... but that's a particular issue for me.

A name and the initiative value+dice is all you need
"Roll ini, order combatants, subtract ini, repeat" is done for you.

[Fizzygoo]

Thanks, SirDamnALot. I figured it was my lack of familiarity with the program.

[ScytheKnight]

Possibly to get a download from someplace that doesn't demand addblocking software get disabled?

[SirDamnALot]

Possibly to get a download from someplace that doesn't demand addblocking software get disabled?

Sure, do you know a good place? For an attachment here, the file is to big.

[ScytheKnight]

Possibly to get a download from someplace that doesn't demand addblocking software get disabled?

Sure, do you know a good place? For an attachment here, the file is to big.

Could a drop box link work?

[Jack_Spade]

For short term hosting I'd recommend www.wetransfer.com
Keeps only a week, but is hassle free

For permanent hosting, you can just make a wordpress blog that comes with 2 GB of space for hosting things as zip files.

[SirDamnALot]

try this one:
http://www.filedropper.com/sr5init12d
It's also a new version and also updated the initial post.

New is: A dice roller for simple tests. While my players totally enjoy throwing their buckets of dice, they get super fast bored when I have to do it. Yeah unfair, buts that is what player are

[ScytheKnight]

Yeah the DL link worked and read through the manual... will have to see how it works, but looks like it's really going to take a lot of the hassles out of managing combat.

[ScytheKnight]

So I used this for the combat portion of Manhunt yesterday, for the most part it worked well... however there are a few issues.

Spirits simply didn't work at all. I could select a number of powers based on rating, but that was the only thing that worked... they weren't statted and their initiative always caused issues. They also had a tendency to cause errors when doing things like starting new combat rounds.

Mooks are a bit bugged. When creating them only a single health track is generated, as should be the case, however because the 2nd track is a black '0' whenever you apply damage to them they automatically KO since they're at 0 on a track.

There where the two main things that should have worked but didn't, also two other bits of feedback for ease of use.

At the moment you can only merge from a fresh fight. This means that if you're trying to add another wave into an ongoing battle you need to save the combat, open the wave to be added, then merge it with the ongoing combat. Needless to say a far from ideal solution.

This one is... well this is a BIG one. As it stands the moment you enter or remove a digit from a field it automatically recalculated... then then leads to a lot of time consuming frustration when you need to do things like make 2 digit changing to health or initiative. I'd strongly suggest finding some way of getting around this. Perhaps being able to change the field then recalculating on clicking away or hitting enter. It's something that will make changing fields MUCH easier.

[SirDamnALot]

So I used this for the combat portion of Manhunt yesterday, for the most part it worked well... however there are a few issues.

Spirits simply didn't work at all. I could select a number of powers based on rating, but that was the only thing that worked... they weren't statted and their initiative always caused issues. They also had a tendency to cause errors when doing things like starting new combat rounds.

Mooks are a bit bugged. When creating them only a single health track is generated, as should be the case, however because the 2nd track is a black '0' whenever you apply damage to them they automatically KO since they're at 0 on a track.

There where the two main things that should have worked but didn't, also two other bits of feedback for ease of use.

At the moment you can only merge from a fresh fight. This means that if you're trying to add another wave into an ongoing battle you need to save the combat, open the wave to be added, then merge it with the ongoing combat. Needless to say a far from ideal solution.

This one is... well this is a BIG one. As it stands the moment you enter or remove a digit from a field it automatically recalculated... then then leads to a lot of time consuming frustration when you need to do things like make 2 digit changing to health or initiative. I'd strongly suggest finding some way of getting around this. Perhaps being able to change the field then recalculating on clicking away or hitting enter. It's something that will make changing fields MUCH easier.

Thanks for the feedback!
I'll try to reproduce the bugs you encountered.
We don't have a ghost slinger at the table, so some functions see less use

Merge is not meant to add a wave of enemies, but I like the idea =)
You can add a new wave when you go back to the actor screen and throw new actors in the fight. When the fight is ongoing, the rule about the reduced initative for newcomers is applied.

May I ask what OS you use? And do you use a laptop or tablet ? The calculations should happen when the courser leaves the textbox, not during entering.