Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

Sorry I haven't weighed in in this thread yet. Seems that it'd be nice if the forum sent you a flag when your name has been mentioned on a thread. I'm still learning to navigate here.

I was playing a cleric in a Pathfinder campaign and realized that all the changes taking place in the status of his prepared spells was getting on my nerves. I tried several mobile apps (settling on something called 'Milk List' because there was no RPG app sufficient for tracking spells), I created a custom printed form with check boxes and finally I set out to design an app that would do the job as I was sure that I was not the only one looking.

Then it struck me. Cards were the answer. They can be 'memorized', 'expended' and 'rememorized' without any pain in the #$$ erasing AND they spare the player (in this case, me) from having to write an ever-changing list of spells and their various limitations and effects. Sheesh! So I came up with these:
I have many dozens of them and found them so useful that I went ahead and made reference cards, with matching backs, for my characters other 'need-to-know' traits. I for one can't hardly stand electronic devices at a tabletop game. I think it defies the very spirit of the hobby (and its not for lack of technical know-how). I would greatly prefer to release a printable pdf to be made on card stock and cut into a deck, but the general consensus seems to be to release an online tool that leaves the option for printing.

Dustinians cards are plain, but sufficient and only need a bit of a margin to be useful for printing. They'd be easy to spice up a bit. Dpelletier and I are working on monster cards presently (which is a much bigger task, I think) and could be persuaded to switch tracks, using the same methods, and build up a spell card dB and/or printable spell card sheets.

Good afternoon, all!

Guyon, in response to two questions from you (quoted below):

Guyon wrote:Wording on the cards are close to the edge. Would a very slight border help?

Guyon wrote:Will these cards include extra classes?

I had the impression from your first post that the Spell Cards project was yours. My intent was only to take the work I had already done on the SRD some months ago and spend 10 minutes tweaking it to get you all the spell text and help get you going.

Having said that, I did create a new version with margins and a few other changes (same hyperlink!). With a few additional CSS changes (background-image, for example), you should be able to jazz up the cards even more.

But I won't be able to take on adding spells from other classes. Sorry! I wanted to help jump-start you, but I believe my work on this project is done! I wish you well as you carry it forward!

Babarock wrote:Dpelletier and I are working on monster cards presently (which is a much bigger task, I think) and could be persuaded to switch tracks, using the same methods, and build up a spell card dB and/or printable spell card sheets.

Please consider using the .XML to get you started on your dB! Everything you need is right there in the file, already demarcated!

If there are any questions I can answer on the .HTML or .XML please do let me know! I do want to help get you going! But I didn't want to take over your project, Guyon! Sorry if I stepped on your toes!

These look great, D! I gotta expose my ignorance, though. I would love to carry forward what you've done here, but I don't know what to do with the XML coding. If it ain't an image, I cant begin to work on it. I have half a dozen snazzy parchment backdrops designed for our monster card project that I could use to create a polished look for these cards. Many of the ones on your link are cut off mid-description and the only way I know how to isolate them for graphic processing is to 'print screen' each section to the clip board and then import them as bitmaps into Gimp or Photoshop. Any thoughts?

Your work, put to a polished background and presentation: Or, with a little added finesse using the standardized fonts from the game: I don't see any reason why these reference cards need to be verbatim from the core rules. The wording can be truncated to convey the same information in a more compact manner, without modifying or denying any of the specifics, of course.

I agree. Simplified wording is best. We can always look it up if we need more detail.

They look great!

I second the "keep it short" idea. A bulletted list is much better for play.

I may even make some next time for my con games (or use these when they are done). I like the idea a lot.

I think spell and monster cards are brilliant. Thanks for looking into this, folks.

Just a small suggestion to think about. Put the page number of the spell or monster in the notes to make it easy to look it up. This would work great with the bulleted list.

Metroknight wrote:Just a small suggestion to think about. Put the page number of the spell or monster in the notes to make it easy to look it up. This would work great with the bulleted list.

Agreed.

Spell Data
Babarock, related to this statement from you...

Babarock wrote:I would love to carry forward what you've done here, but I don't know what to do with the XML coding.

Let me ask you this: what databse format were you thinking of when you made this statement:

Babarock wrote:...build up a spell card dB...

If you'll let me know that, I'll work on getting the spell data into that format so that you can use it for print or app.

Short Description

Babarock wrote:I don't see any reason why these reference cards need to be verbatim from the core rules. The wording can be truncated to convey the same information in a more compact manner, without modifying or denying any of the specifics, of course.

quozl wrote:I agree. Simplified wording is best. We can always look it up if we need more detail.

teaman wrote:I second the "keep it short" idea.

When I create the dB for Babarock, I'll create a new, blank field called "Short Description" that can be used for cards. When I post it (after Babarock shares his preferred format), a volunteer can populate this field.

Page Numbers

Metroknight wrote:Just a small suggestion to think about. Put the page number of the spell or monster in the notes to make it easy to look it up. This would work great with the bulleted list.

The Angry Monk wrote:Agreed.

When I create the dB for Babarock, I'll create a new, blank field called "Page Number" that can be used for cards. When I post it (after Babarock shares his preferred format), a volunteer can populate this field.

Guyon, still not trying to take this over from you, just offering help as I can to enable it along. Feel free to step in or wave us off as this is still your (excellent) idea.

Babarock, to clarify, he was providing the data in a generic XML format for import into the DB of your choice.

Don't take this personally, but XML sucks. I'd use JSON myself, just for the ease of parsing. For internal (personal) use I have a format I call QChunk that works great, but I don't generally share it... it's a bit weird.

As to DB choices... I'd strongly recommend SQLite3. It's super portable and compatible with my web host (so I could repurpose the data).