Dead Markers feature idea

[Ikael]

This is a new feature idea I have been working on today (since I got extra free time): Dead Markers (see the screenshot). The idea is when you remove incapacitated character/token from map, instead of just removing it, the action will add blood icon to indicate that someone died on this spot. Currently there are three different blood splatter icons supported and each kill will randomly pick one of them to add it to position where token was until it died. What do you think about this idea? Any general ideas how this could be improved? One of my improvement ideas includes

- creation of different set of dead markers: blood, pile bones, pile of scrap metal, dust etc. which can be assigned to NPCs so instead of giant mecha turning into blood pool it would become pile of scrap metal
- Host should be able to add new dead markers "easily"

Would you use this feature? -- Would you be willing to consume extra preparation time to make sure each NPC would look different when they are slain? At the moment this feature is only for SW ruleset, but it would be easy export to CoreRPG as well.

[Trenloe]

Very nice idea. The main issue I'd see is the usual problem of token stacking - assuming you'd be using tokens and not any image layering for this?

[Ikael]

Very nice idea. The main issue I'd see is the usual problem of token stacking - assuming you'd be using tokens and not any image layering for this?

Actually blood icons are not token, they are widgets and does not cause token stacking issue. What is actually done behind the scene is to add 1px x 1px transparent token on map and add bitmap widget to it to show the blood Becuase the token is transparent you have no chance to have stacking issues with it.

[Trenloe]

Actually blood icons are not token, they are widgets and does not cause token stacking issue. What is actually done behind the scene is to add 1px x 1px transparent token on map and add bitmap widget to it to show the blood Becuase the token is transparent you have no chance to have stacking issues with it.

Oooohhhh, very clever!

That gives me sooooo many ideas... NO! Must complete other FG projects first...

[jshauber]

AWESOME IDEA!!!!

I would use this. The extra couple of seconds to configure NPCs upon death would be so worth it.

[damned]

I would love to see this.
I would use it.

[Doswelk]

OOOH!

Must have right now!

[Andraax]

I already occasionally use "body" tokens for dead in C&C. Just dropping a new token onto the combat tracker for an NPC changes the token on the map.

[Ikael]

Here is quickly build feature idea implementation for CoreRPG. This is very dirty-and-early-development version, but it demonstrates how it would work in any CoreRPG ruleset. Installation is one step harder than usually. Attached file is an archive file, you can find two file within it: DefeatedMarkers.ext and invisible_placeholder.png. You must move .ext file into extensions folder and .png file into Application Data Folder's tokens/shared (%APP_FOLDER%\tokens\shared ~ create this structure if it does not exist). Without including the .png file this extension won't work.

How to use it? -- Setup your CT normally and drag-and-drop token from tracker into Map. You must use grid in your map, otherwise it won't work. Then whenever you delete compatant from CT tracker it's token on map is replaced with blood icon. There are two different blood icons included into extension and used icon is randomly picked everytime you remove compatant. Now like mentioned, this is not so well designed for CoreRPG yet, because no matter what reason you remove token from tracker, blood is added to map. You can remove blood markers by selecting "Remove all tokens" options. The purpose of this early version is to shoot the concept in use for more feedback.

Also, I am not graphically-savvy person so any help graphics is extremely welcome. This extension would be better if we could have more variation of defeated markers/icons, different blood icons (atm only 2 different are provided). In addition the tool is able to be configured to use different set of defeated markers. You might want to create different marker set for robots (scrap/pile of metal instead of blood) etc. If you feel to be up for this I would approciate it much.

Now Savage Worlds people are getting more treat in the future since this extension is much more well-defined and created for that ruleset. See the attached image. Savage Worlds supports several things:

• New option to manage Defeated markers. This can be used to disable/enable it or setup markers to only appear to NPCs or PCs etc
• Different set of defeated markers can be registered easily, but with extension approach. Set of defeated markers is different collection of markers/icons such as Blood, Scrap, Bones etc you name it, which can contain different variation of icons and when an icons should be put on map a random one will be selected within the collection/set. This creates nice variety.
• Each registered defeated marker can be set to have own frequency-value which will determine how often it is going to be used instead of other defeated markers.
• NPCs and Vehicles have Defeated Marker selector. You can select what set of defeated marker will be used for each NPC and vehicle. You can also select that some NPC/Vehicle does not leave any markers if you like
• Instead of applying defeated markers to all combatants which are removed from tracker, defeated marker is only applied to combatant which is marked to be "Incapaciated" and then removed from the tracker. If somebody just escapes the battle s/he doesn't become pool of bood
• As GM when holding ALT down, a new button appears to image's toolbar. When this button is clicked all blood marker tokens are removed from the map without affecting other "active" tokens atm.

How to register new defeated markers? You must do this in extension because all icon resources must be defined/introduced that way. the good part is that you only need two lines per new icon.

introduce new icon as FG resource in XML:
<icon name="NAME_OF_THE_RESOURCE" file="FILENAME_OF_THE_RESOURCE" />

Register icon to collection in LUA:
TokenMarker.registerDefeatedMarker(NAME_OF_COLLECTION, NAME_OF_THE_RESOURCE, FREQUENCY_VALUE)

Now, who would like to help me define collection of defeated markers, let's make it awesome extension!

[JohnD]

Great idea. I would use it.