Deadlands Noir Feedback & Updates

[Talyn]

This will be the "official" thread to discuss Deadlands Noir. Patch notes will be posted to this thread as well.

Deadlands Noir Setting (GM & Player package) (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/product.php?id=S2P10018FG2)

GM Guide
Plot Point Campaign (Red Harvest!) and Savage Tales
Official theme extension
Player Guide DLC

Deadlands Noir (Player Guide only) (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/product.php?id=S2P10018PGFG2)

Player Guide
Extension (adds arcane backgrounds, script to automate Second Wind, and DLN desktop decal)


All Deadlands Noir DLC (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/?sys=3&pub=-1&typ=-1&search=deadlands+noir&sort=1)

[Talyn]

Extension

[Added] Black Magic arcane background for NPCs
[Fixed] Character sheet now uses the ruleset window so it can be correctly resized without graphic tiling glitch
[Removed] Deprecated graphic files (tabs) and window definitions
All buttons use the default CoreRPG buttons
[Updated] Windows use the default CoreRPG frames now that the buttons are defaulted
[Added] Official font to 'reference-h' and 'reference-page-header' elements


[u]Player's Guide

Full remaster into reference manual with improved typography and modernized data layout
[Added] Setting Rules are in their own list for easy lookup and can be drag/drop if the GM wants to put them on a page (such as the MOTD extension!) with other campaign details
[Updated] Edges are now categorized by their type ('new' feature as of ruleset version 4.6)
[Updated] to the newer edition of Noir which includes Legend Chips


[u]TODO:

Add Legend Chip functionality to the extension
Updated theme with modern selectable decals
Finish the GM Guide, which will see the Plot Point Campaign (PPC) and Savage Tales removed into their own separate module, per SmiteWorks' policy

[Talyn]

Player's Guide

[Updated] Reference manual now uses the new page indent feature rather than bullet characters.

[Talyn]

The Case of the Jumbo Shrimp

[Added] Library section!
[Fixed] Minor typography
[Fixed] Unlocked data (story pages, etc.) is now correctly locked
[Fixed] Broken links to previous Player's Guide


The Old Absinthe House Blues

[Added] Library section!
[Added] Thumbnail! (what a concept!)
[Fixed] Minor typography
[Fixed] Broken links to previous Player's Guide


Both of these adventures were made in Ye Olden Days when GMs would load up an adventure and have to "just know" to click the master Story button to have any damn clue the .mod even loaded at all. Not a knock on anyone, that's just how things were done back then. That is unacceptable today, however, so this initial hotfix addresses that by adding a library section with appropriate links.

Having said that, the Story section of both of these is a hot mess compared to current products. This hotfix does NOT address that. Both of these need a full remaster, which I will get to eventually. This is purely a Quality of Life hotfix.

[Talyn]

Plans Going Forward:

I'm in the middle of remastering the GM Guide right now. As mentioned in the second post, when it's finished the Red Harvest! plot point campaign and the Savage Tales will be split off into their own separate module. I haven't come up with a name for it as of yet; Red Harvest! and Savage Tales seems unwieldy.

The NPCs in the new GM Guide will have tokens! This is something we see threads about when DLC releases without tokens assigned (even though CoreRPG will auto-assign a letter token if the NPC does not have a token) so I will be addressing that. There's a slight catch: there is currently a Figure Flats DLC product in the store with tokens. SmiteWorks came to an official decision last night: when I push the new GM Guide with new tokens, that DLC will be sunset from the store. Those of you who already bought it will still own it, nothing changes, but it will no longer be available for new purchases.

Additionally, DLN will have two extensions rather than one. The primary one will be the normal Deadlands Noir extension and will provide the Arcane Backgrounds for DLN as well as the Lua script for the Second Wind setting rule. The second extension will be for the theme, and will follow current naming schemes: Theme - Deadlands Noir. This will allow GMs to choose the appearance of their sessions without feeling forced into something by a default extension as well as not having to worry about theme elements intermingling.

[Talyn]

First patch based on feedback, thank you @Razortide!

Player's Guide

[Fixed] Indentation on a few refpages
[Updated] Vehicles set to the 'Oil' defeated marker and use the appropriate Maneuver skill (Driving or Boating)
[Added] Harrowed Edges list linked to Harrowed refpage

[Talyn]

If you read patch notes prior to clicking that tempting button when it flashes at you, read below!

[u]Deadlands Noir Extension

Theme (still required) now only handles the new Arcane Backgrounds and the Second Wind functionality. All theme-related stuff has been stripped out, except for...
[Added] New desktop decal based on the cover art for Deadlands Noir


[u]Deadlands Noir Theme

NEW extension with NEW theme, featuring noir-ish desaturated graphics with color here and there
UNFINISHED! Most of it is done, though I may remove the 'blood splat' from the window title bar. All the CoreRPG graphics still need to be done, which I will get to after the holidays. This should be more than usable for now, as well as providing time for feedback.


WARNING!!! If you are currently running a campaign using the Red Harvest! Plot Point Campaign or any of the Savage Tales from the GM Guide, backup your campaign! Or create a new campaign to test this with!

Deadlands Noir GM Guide

Total REMASTER of the GM Guide, featuring a reference manual and data organized in modern fashion
Every NPC has been rebuilt to utilize the new ruleset features!
Most NPCs have tokens, either from the core book or the figure flats; the remaining NPCs use the default letter tokens.
Case Generator (Story Template) to create random cases for your players
Plot Point Campaign and Savage Tales have been split off into their own separate module, per SmiteWorks' policy. This new module has not been remastered yet! Other than making sure links to reference NPCs now link to the new GM Guide, this is untouched until after the holidays.

[Talyn]

Theme

[Removed] Deprecated graphic files
[Added] Additional desaturated buttons and icons from both CoreRPG and Savage Worlds
Tweaked the CoreRPG 'blue' reference block frame so it's more blue and stands out better against the grey background of the pages


Theme is pretty much finished, I think. I'm still debating whether to either desaturate the token bag and the imagewindow frame or not?


[u]Player's Guide

[Added] Link to setting rules on the first page of the Setting Rules chapter in the reference manual


GM Guide

[Fixed] Typography in a couple NPCs
[Fixed] Recordtype in the 'Useful Maps' list

[Talyn]

Extension

Now supports both SWD and SWADE rulesets


[u]Player's Guide

First set of data tweaks so DLN runs correctly in both SWD and SWADE rulesets


[u]Plot Point Campaign

[Fixed] Links to Arcane Background in the Plot Point Campaign now links to the Black Magic AB in the DLN Player's Guide


Theme

[Updated] Now supports both SWD and SWADE rulesets
[Added] The 'blank' and 'back' card icons now use the official art from the Deadlands Noir Action Deck


NOTE: These are part of the SWADE ruleset beta test and will not be pushed until the beta begins.

[Talyn]

GM Guide

[Fixed] Several NPCs had mismatched arcane backgrounds and powers
[Updated] Ikael's script removed extraneous markup from the tables before I could get around to doing it. :)

[Talyn]

Theme - Deadlands Noir

After feedback from @Razortide, I've adjusted the border on the "badge" graphic used for the link icons. The new icons have a darker grey border and a 1px faux drop shadow to provide better contrast for the users.
Didn't realize I had skipped the character sheet, so now it uses the newer 'noir' background texture instead of the fugly default jagged one from the SWEX theme.

[Talyn]

Player's Guide

Changed direct links to the SWD Players Guide to wildcard ( @* ) links so the links (should) work in both SWD and SWADE
Removed the 'Setting Rules' list altogether as the locations of those are completely different in SWD vs SWADE so it's either remove it or make a separate Player Guide .mod for each ruleset just to accommodate that list. Logic prevailed, so it's gone.
Added width field to Edges list so text is no longer chopped off.


GM Guide

Two NPCs had the 'noble' edge which in SWADE is 'aristocrat.' Recordname fixed. Will correctly work in both rulesets.

[Drum2000]

This will be the "official" thread to discuss Deadlands Noir. Patch notes will be posted to this thread as well.

Is Deadlands Noir still available as a Fantasy Grounds addin?

[Trenloe]

Is Deadlands Noir still available as a Fantasy Grounds addin?
Welcome to the FG forums.

There are a few Deadlands Noir products (including the setting) in the store: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/?search=deadlands+noir

[Talyn]

Welcome to the FG forums.

There are a few Deadlands Noir products (including the setting) in the store: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/?search=deadlands+noir

Thanks Trenloe! I edited the first post to include links and descriptions.

[Talyn]

Players Guide

[Fixed] Range for the Browning Automatic Rifle


GM Guide

[Fixed] Added width column to the Rogue's Gallery so the NPC names won't be cut short anymore
[Added] Links to all the Savage Tales now placed in reference manual


Plot Point Campaign

Remaster Finished! :)
All PPC and Savage Tales are now located in the main Story window
Each are individually indexed so the Savage Tales won't show the arrow buttons
All NPCs remastered and updated to use the latest ruleset features and compatibility with both SWD and SWADE


Other than eventually adding functionality for the Legendary Chip (which is something @Ikael said he would handle himself possibly as a ruleset or API function), this completes the Deadlands Noir remaster process, barring any future patches from feedback, etc.

[Talyn]

GM Guide

The Case Generator (story template) now uses a d1000 to generate a random case number in the output title so you can tell them apart (assuming it doesn't throw two of the same random number)


Plot Point Campaign

In all the excitement pushing multiple products the other day, I apparently did not copy over the /images/ folder for this module. Thanks to @Razortide for noticing.

[Razortide]

Just for the record:

1. You did an A-MA-ZING job here! Well done!
2. I wouldn't mind to use the arrow buttons to shift through the Savage Tales. Actually, there are so many of them, it defeats the purpose of having categories at all (since you have so many of them). So I would appreciate if the content creators could rethink their decision and go with the arrows in favor for a cleaner categories overview.

[Talyn]

On the Savage Tales, I think it comes down to every GM doing things differently. That's why I built them with the capability to create the two separate lists in the main product library entry. If I was GMing, I'd probably use the main Story window and select which one I was doing that way it was permanently set. I'm the one who initially didn't like the arrows showing up on the Savage Tales which are all unrelated to each other so there was a collective discussion of the higher-ups and this was the solution.

[Talyn]

GM Guide

[Added] DLN Archetypes (available as both archetypes and NPCs)
[Added] Portrait pack and tokens for the archetypes
[Updated] Reference manual now has a note that the archetypes are included, along with a download link for the free archetype PDF

[Wordandstars]

I would be nice to have access to the blessed and the syker in deadldands noir.... and eventually to the full Deadlands noir companion, so as to get the other stories (shan fan, los angeles, chicago and city of gloom...).

[Talyn]

I've begun work on the Companion but it's intermixed with other projects that take higher priority. I'm "hoping" to have the DLNC ready to roll by end of summer/beginning of autumn but I can't offer anything more than "hope" at this point.

[Talyn]

Player Guide


[Added] Per customer request, the NOLA maps have been added to the DLN Player Guide. Since PEG sent me the original layered art asset, I included two versions of the map: Clean and Blood & Grunge, which is how they named their layers. The Blood & Grunge has, just as it sounds, all the blood splats, creases, and other distress markings on the map, whereas the Clean version removes all that.


Note: The original asset was HUGE (11,100px height, 3.1 GB RAM to render!) and since we're under orders to continue compliance with Fantasy Grounds Classic recommendations, these maps are rescaled to a 2,000px height. Obviously there's a loss of quality reducing that much, but honestly, I think they turned out really well and the text is still very legible. Once the Unity client is out in the wild, if we're allowed to include larger maps, I will look at doing so since I have the source assets to work with.

[subdeacon]

The archetype characters haven't been updated to deal with SWADE. Not a deal breaker, but thought I should report it here.

[Talyn]

In what way? There is no official SWADE edition of DLN so I am not permitted to just make stuff up in an officially licensed adaptation. If it's something from SWD that was removed in SWADE, that situation has always been the one and only caveat to using SWD content in the SWADE ruleset.

[GuruPhil]

Seeing errors with the DLN Theme upon startup, using FG Unity. I've unpacked the theme and the named .png files simply aren't there. Is there a workaround?

Thanks.

Phil.

41307

[Talyn]

Thank you for the report, I will look into the matter. :)

[GuruPhil]

Awesome :) Thank you! - I've been meaning to use my FG License ever since I backed the unity KS, but have been procrastinating until now. Currently running The Old Absinthe House Blues and you've made it super easy so far. What a great way to learn the product (finally) and hopefully most of the mechanics will work ok through the SWADE ruleset (so far, so good).

Thanks again :)

[DedoBozhe]

Aside from GuruPhil's issue (which I noticed myself), there's an issue with the radial menu. The options are too close together, and it's difficult to select the proper one. I'm including a screenshot of the Deadlands Noir theme radial menu side by side with a normal theme.
41555

[Talyn]

Theme


[Fixed] Frame errors that crop up in Unity
[Added] Asset sidebar buttons for Unity

[Baron Von Mandrick]

deleted.

[Baron Von Mandrick]

[Bug] I hope this is the right place to post this. I'll make a separate post if that is better.
43045

This was from the Player's Guide of Deadlands Noir. I think I also get the error when I click on Edges as well. I saw there was a similar issue in another thread for Deadlands Lost Colony. Let me know if there is anything else that I can do to help. Thanks

[Talyn]

This is the correct place to report things like that. However you can ignore that error. It's occurring because you did not load the Deadlands Noir theme, which adds some custom background textures for the reference pages. Without the theme, you'll still see the text just fine.

[Baron Von Mandrick]

Great! Thanks for the tip. It worked fine when I included the theme.