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Pthgar

Feb 23 2005, 05:21 PM

After downloading various dice rollers and not liking any of them (we use d10), I decided to see if I could make my own. Since my programming skills are near zero, I had to make it in Excel. It has an Intiative Roller and a Dice Roller that takes into account the Rule of One (including a Critical Failure notice for all ones) and the Rule of Six (adding a re-roll on a 6 and if the first re-roll is a 6 it will add a second re-roll).
The only catch is that you have to add-in a tollpak in excel. Click on Tools and slide down to Add-Ins. When the dialogue box pops up, click the check boxes for Analysis ToolPak and Analysis ToolPak-VBA. Click Ok.
Also, don't forget to Enable Macros. The macro just types in the word "Roll" in the upper right cell. This is neccessary to make the randbetween function refresh. In truth, just about any change in the sheet will refresh the randbetween function.
When you roll, be aware that all the numbers are rolled at once.

E-mail me if you want the file.

GrinderTheTroll

Feb 23 2005, 05:25 PM

I created a smilar Excel sheet but found it became more and more restrictive of what I wanted. In the interest of time, I moved it to Ms-Access and now I can track all sorts of data and dice rolls with little to no effort.

E-mail me what you have, and I'll send you what I have.

denverlmartin@yahoo.com

GrinderTheTroll

Feb 24 2005, 12:24 AM

A few folks asked for it, so here's my little dice roller. It's nothing fancy, I mainly use the code for other projects.

*** NOTE: It does use VBA, so you'll need to enable macros while using this XLS.

Dice_Roller.zip (.XLS ~25k)

Here's the last itteration of my XLS initiative tracker before I changed the format and programming. (XLS_Init.zip (XLS ~51k)

Johnson

Feb 24 2005, 06:48 AM

Talking of that, I was at a stage where I used the random funcion on my calculator to determine dice roles, But when you have to role more that one dice it throws the concept out the window. But some calculators you can write a program to run and through out the answers.

GrinderTheTroll

Feb 24 2005, 06:51 AM

QUOTE (Johnson)

Yeah I used to have a cool progammable Casio and that was one of the things I used to make it do.

Damn I am a geek, LOL.

Johnson

Feb 24 2005, 07:03 AM

I know the feeling, but the younger generation are coming up with better idea, while I play dad.

Crusher Bob

Feb 24 2005, 07:06 AM

Heh, you know you are getting old when something like this happens:

Random Kid: Look! I got a telephone implanted in my head!

You: Hmm, I bet it needs a lot of wire...

Jrayjoker

Feb 24 2005, 03:14 PM

Thanks Grinder. How does the init tracker work for more characters? Just add in their names and init dice and reaction? I haven't had a chance to play around with it yet.

Pthgar

Feb 24 2005, 05:07 PM

Well, I came up with my dice roller fust for the GM. My group likes to watch all the pretty shapes roll on the table. I just wanted something that I could use For NPC's. After rolling thier Initiative I just write it all down with the PC rolls on a sheet I made to facilitate GM a fight quickly.

Pthgar

Feb 24 2005, 05:10 PM

QUOTE (Johnson)

I know the feeling, but the younger generation are coming up with better idea, while I play dad.

Younger generation? I'm going to be 30 in 2 and a half weeks. I'm the oldest guy in my group by a year. (cranky old man smiley)

Bigity

Feb 24 2005, 05:13 PM

Getting close to the old 3-0 myself.

Tarantula

Feb 24 2005, 05:35 PM

I was making my TI-83 calc store my character sheet for me, in high school... 3 years ago or so... I got bored in math, and so I would program instead and got a nice result that I liked. But I suppose I'm a "younger" generation, being only 18 myself.

GrinderTheTroll

Feb 24 2005, 05:38 PM

QUOTE (Jrayjoker)

Thanks Grinder. How does the init tracker work for more characters? Just add in their names and init dice and reaction? I haven't had a chance to play around with it yet.

It's limited but it breaks down into 2 sections: one for PCs and one for NPC. They just need to have some name (doesn't need to be unique, but visually it helps) and to fill in Reaction and Dice, the program will roll the dice and sort the results. The "P" and "S" columns color code and track damage and the penalties are factored into the initiative roll.

Another feature was that my players liked to roll their own initiative, so after you press "Roll" (this generates init for everyone), you can then type in what each player got from their own roll (the Init column near their name) and press "Refresh" to update the scores.

Also, if you double-click the values in the "type" column, it will bring up the stats on the right portion of the sheet (just under the dice roller). This was so I could have quick reference to basic vital info on PCs and NPCs but it too is limited.

As I mentioned, this is an older version so there are some things it doesn't do wll like track initiatives beyond 4 passes or allow for many PCs or NPCs (I think 5 PC and 30 NPC is it's limit).

Structurally, the "data.dat" file is where the stat information is loaded from as well as where the intiative scores are sorted. It's simply a re-named MS-Access .MDB file. It's not my prettiest coding effort or by far the most efficient.

Anyways, I'll re-post my newest version, but it's using MS-Access instead of Excel which natively supports more of the features I want in future versions.

Jrayjoker

Feb 24 2005, 06:04 PM

Thanks.

Pthgar

Feb 24 2005, 09:40 PM

I found a flaw with the Critical Failure notification. I will re-send if anyone e-mails me.

mfb

Feb 24 2005, 09:41 PM

you got a which-what...?

edit: oh. you meant a critical error of the non-upcoming-shadowrun-product variety.

GrinderTheTroll

Feb 26 2005, 12:38 AM

Ok so here's my non-Excel, Combat Tracker program. It's a beefed up version of the Excel sheet, the biggest improvement is that there is practically no limit to how many players you want to track with it among some other goodies.

Includes the following:
- Dice Roller
- Initiative Roller/Tracker
- Suprise Roller/Tracker
- Basic Stat Tracker for PC/NPC and Critters

I will update my sig (soon) to point to where you can download these in the future.

Enjoy.

** NOTE : This program uses VBA and may trigger some macro warnings depending on your security level. It currently requires MS-Access 97/2000, however I am working on a stand-alone VB.NET version as my time permits.

InitTracker_2.80LT.zip (~60k .MDB)

RunnerPaul

Feb 26 2005, 12:57 AM

QUOTE (Johnson)

But some calculators you can write a program to run and through out the answers.

I had an HP-48G that I tried to program SR's combat system into. Gave the poor thing a nervous breakdown. It hasn't even been able to turn on since.

Aes

Feb 26 2005, 01:07 AM

I'm presently going nuts with a diceroller for an IRC campaign myself. The GM decided that he might as well toss PC and NPC character sheets into a mySQL db for the campaigns homepage, so I'm writing an eggdrop that'll interface with the same database. That way, we'll be able to tell the eggdrop to roll a given skill or atribute and it'll fix all the modifiers up for us. Obviously, there'll ben an initiative tracker too and pobably some frivulous bells and whistles to track who has made the all-time highest rolls, who's had th emost failures etc.

But honestly, outside of IRC, nothing beats the feel of a fistful of dice. With all the obligatory superstitions that follow.

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