YAHP (Yet Another Hello Post)

[MGCJerry]

Thanks for suggestions. :}

I'm not all concerned with saving the large as an image on the PC. When I originally drew the map, I drew guidelines on it which luckily I've kept so it'll help me bring it into CC2 by using its precise drawing tools. It just has soooooo much stuff on it that it is definately not a weekend gig.

Plus, I'm wanting to link it with others so when someone clicks on a system, it loads up the next FCW file of that system with links to info about stuff present in that system. In a couple areas I'm looking at 8 levels of "zoom" to help me consolidate all my other large maps as well as get the others out of my head and onto paper and/or mapped.

I'd like to keep the big map intact if at all possible. ;}

That other cheezy map is all 100% 2 minute map drawn in Paint. I needed it in a hurry as the players wanted to see a basic layout of this particular area. My game being freeform, there really isnt too much material I can complete prior to a session since the players choose where they go. Usually, after I create a basic map the players will usually return to the area or even stay there and I can flesh out the location as needed. With that map, the players were not interested in hanging around, so I never fleshed it out. Most of my gameworld locations are pretty consistent if they're on the same planet so on-the-fly mapping isnt an issue.

Anyway, I still have the old Slowview. Its a handy app. :}

Edited: To address Rob's post
At the time, I had to create a races info script, character registry (for a non-die based game) as well as some other assorted stuff. I'm also in the process of coding a database system for my game to use as an info tracker (characters, locations, technology, magic, etc) as well as a random item/character/children, etc creator.

Thanks for the suggestion about getting the image together. Unfortunately I dont have a digital camera anymore. :{ I'll be sure to check out Hugin. Might save me A LOT of time especially for its price.

Actually, I have 2 servers in-house..

Cobalt RaQ4 with the 550 OS loaded
Compaq Proliant DL580 (G1)

However since a couple of the drives in the other one is a little iffy it kills the RAID 5 array so I keep it offline most of the time. Otherwise its a general file server, and linux play box for when my main machine is busy or using it as a LAN gaming machine for starcraft and such. Other than that, it was my leading SETI cruncher and my dual core AMD 4400 can barely keep pace with it. The proliant has 4 700MHz P3 Xeon's so it kicks pretty well. ;}

The Cobalt is just a webserver, and when I'm running my OpenRPG server, its on that server also. All 450MHz of it. :p

[RPMiller]

OpenRPG eh? Have you taken a look at RPTools' MapTool? We used to use OpenRPG for our weekly Hero System game, but the level of frustration got worse and worse, and we recently converted it to MapTool. I personally have been using MapTool for several months now and I have to say for a free VTT is far superior to OpenRPG and the development group is very responsive and are constantly working in new features weekly.

[MGCJerry]

I've actually had VERY good luck with OpenRPG. Heck, I used to be a user of WebRPG back in the day (before UGO made it pay for a bit) and I've really grown to like how OpenRPG operates. I also find it quite simple to modifiy. I've also had my hand in setting up one of the old OpenRPG website maintaining the minis library as well as general development. I've personally worked with Chris (Posterboy) and Tom (tdb30_) with some of the metaserver.

Unfortunately the last time I've run my game online was February 27, 2004 so I actually doubt I'll be runnining a game... I've looked at Maptools info after hearing a bit about it over the past several months. I havent played with it or anything yet though. However, if I think I might run another campaign I'll be taking a look at it. Its not too likely since I have found VERY few people who play freeform homebrew sci-fi games. Otherwise, I just lurk.

The only issue is (and its minor), is that its written in JAVA. Me and a friend who play this game frequently in-person (which we've used OpenRPG frequently) and he REALLY, REALLY despises anything written in Java... Especially since the WebRPG days. It really only applies when we use OpenRPG when we decide to play the game-then again, our in-person sessions moves too slowly on a VTT to be fun.

Anyway, when I poke around with Maptools, I know who to bug with questions. :p Hehehehe

[RPMiller]

I would be happy to answer questions you might have about MT. Not sure why anyone would have a disdain for Java, but to each his own I say.

[MGCJerry]

Ironically after playing with maptools last night, OpenRPG refuses to load the server browser or do anything online today... I can connect to games if I type in the address manually... Heck, it worked last night just fine.

So it looks like Maptool is looking like a better option... So, now you know what that means. >:}

I have two major burning questions...

Portability is key especially since I keep NOTHING on my C drive as I have multiple OS's I boot with via C drive swapping. As a result, I carry my game data with my on a removable drive. OpenRPG is installed on this drive and anywhere I go I have all my game data as its all saved as XML files. I assume the similar way to do this with MapTool is to "Save Campaign As", then "Open Campaign" the next time maptool is run. Is this correct?

One more... My game doesnt really rely on stats and dice too much and it seems most of everything with MapTool is stat/die related. A lot of my games info is text and various other data that doesnt really fit well within "properties". Is there a way to add custom fields to "Core" data located in the "Properties" tab?

Overall, I like maptool's interface and I shown my friend (who hates java) and he likes the app and is willing to try it out.

[RobA]

If you are not running on-line, a really nice tool I have used for managing campaigns is DM's Familiar. It has a heavy free-form component (Codex Tree) that lets you manage most anything. No VTT support (AFAIK) but a handy DM tool.

-Rob A>