Feature requests & Ideas.

[turelus]

I'm not sure if this is the best place to be posting this but it's a small list of things my group would like to see in FGII or Custom ruleset. If any of these already exist please let me know as I would love to have them!

1) Player chat logs - It's great that the DM can have these but players have no records other than their own notes.

2) 2nd tab on the chat window - We often have times when the group is in two parts and both want to RP at the same time, all we can do at the moment is take turns or have a mess of text.

3) Music player - It's a nice touch and I know many would like this option.

[PneumaPilot]

These are great ideas! I especially love the last two. In regards to the music player, it would be great to go ahead and include a way to share any sound or music file. That's just a necessary tool for good storytelling and ought to be given the same level of importance as the image-sharer.

[Spyke]

We've got a lengthy wish list in this thread (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8625). Sound has been mentioned regularly, I'm not sure the other two have.

I've not personally had an issue with the RPing when the group splits; I think we tend to shape our text responses in a way that makes it clear in the text that some of the protagonists are grouped separately. The mood commands really help here. For example if Sally and Jim were in a huddle away from the main action, Sally might type:

/m (to Jim) I say we split while they're keeping the goons at bay for us!

Remember that you can make a mood persistent. Typing:

/m (to Jim)

will save you having to put it before every sentence.

Your separate chat tab could make things more confusing if relative time between the two groups became important, and could give the GM a headache if narration text needed to be passed to both tabs.

Player chat logs... yes, please. :)

Spyke

[PneumaPilot]

I never knew about the /m command! Sweet! Of course, our group uses Ventrilo mostly, but some do use the chatpad while others are talking up the VOIP. I'll definitely have to teach them about the moods. Thanks!

[Foen]

I'm playing with a group chat feature in a custom ruleset, which allows the GM to group player characters and they then communicate using /g <message> (which sends the chat only to members of their group).

It seems to work well, but is not very easy to implement as an extension because it is tightly linked to the chatmanager and to the characterlist, and the former in particular is often customised by rulesets to allow non-standard die rolls etc.

I made the choice to link the group chat to PCs, not to players, so a player can be running two characters and only one of them is in a chat group. This seemed better aligned to the potential use (split parties, for example), but makes the implementation more complex and can cause player confusion at first.

The screenshot shows a GM's view with two chat groups and a character outside any chat group.

Foen

[richvalle]

Wow, thats nice. Not sure its worth the work for the time it takes to slaughter each group for breaking the cardinal rule of 'Never split the party!'

Or as I heard it called this past weekend 'Never Scooby-do it'.

rv

[PneumaPilot]

We used to sing a little rhyme that embodied the two cardinal rules of dungeoncraft:

"Split up the party, head toward the light. Somebody here is gonna die tonight."

[Foen]

Actually this has been used in a RP-heavy campaign, where characters wished to discuss things between themselves ("Khazim motions for Valha to join him at the bar") and sure beats the hell out of whisper-via-the-GM and even beats the PC-to-PC whispering mod (because it is more than just one to one).

That said, I certainly agree with the Scooby-Do reference for split parties!

Stuart

[Oberoten]

This ... or a tabbed chat of some sort would be incredibely useful.

If it can't be done as a mod perhaps you could post the scripts to be implemented into the foundation or private rulesets?

- Obe

[PneumaPilot]

Of course, integrated multi-channel VOIP would be the golden-age ideal, but I know it's not going to happen.

[Foen]

Of course, integrated multi-channel VOIP would be the golden-age ideal, but I know it's not going to happen.

We don't use voice in our FG games. BTW, this is just a group preference, not because it is wrong to do so ;)

Foen

[PneumaPilot]

Aww man, I wouldn't know what to do without my Ventrilo. Crap, I would go all webcam if my 'high-speed' internet connection wasn't built for the sticks. Hehe, imagine the little character bubbles at the top of the screen being live webcam feeds that would expand if you moused over them...now THAT would be cool!

[richvalle]

That is a cool idea but I like having character pictures there. In fact, one of the characters in our group has a hat of disguise and changes his picture around several times a session to show what he looks like at that time. Its pretty funny.

Plus the druid changes his portrait based on what creature he has shape changed into.

Re voice we use Skype. As has been brought up in the past, there is some advantage to having the voice comms outside of FG as if one or the other flakes out you can still communicate though the one that is still working.

rv

[PneumaPilot]

Well, if you reconfigured the thing to show webcam feeds up top, then there would have to be a different way to show character portraits.

But of course, the whole discussion is moot at this point in history anyway. We're almost talking sci-fi here. Sure on TV we see people having virtual meetings, but few of us have that kind of capability, and FG is dang sure not going to get it anytime soon.

It sure would be cool though.....

[richvalle]

Pfft. Just skip these middle steps and lets jump straight to the holodeck. They would NEVER get me out of that thing. :)

rv

[PneumaPilot]

Hehe, happily entering the world of Fahrenheit 451! Who needs real life anyway!

[turelus]

New idea...

- Option to hide DM dice shadows, sometimes you don't want players to know when you roll (normally I would do it off the chat box, but with a d10 game to many dice to count)