Version 9.4
The latest version of Masterplan, version 9,4, is now available. In this update we have two of the most commonly-requested features: the ability to import / export the encyclopedia has been added, and the encounter map on the player view now shows the encounter initiative order.
August 27th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Excellent! I have been looking forward to the export/import for the encyclopedia entries, thanks so much for your hard work.
August 27th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
[...] Masterplan 9.4 is out now (downloadable here) with two oft-requested features in place. Exporting of the encyclopedia and showing the current initiative list alongside a tactical map in the player view. [...]
August 28th, 2010 at 5:15 am
Thanks, but the initiative order addition now invalidates the “visible” function in Player View. If I run an ambush, or have hidden opponents on a battlefield, my players will know those enemies are in the combat (unless I compensate by adding “dummy” entries). I’d like to stick with 9.3 until that’s fixed.
Is there a way for me to download that old version (9.3)?
August 28th, 2010 at 5:25 am
Never mind — I’ve still got the zip from the last update. Again, thanks for all the work you’ve put into this. I’m sticking with 9.3 until the initiative/visibility issue is fixed.
August 28th, 2010 at 11:18 am
An update released today does not show invisible creatures on the initiative list and makes the initative list able to be hidden.
August 28th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Awesome!
Excellent job!
What about auto-calculating monsters? And a “smallversion” to smarthphones or touchphones?
Thanks!
August 28th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Thanks for the minor fix — great stuff.
September 1st, 2010 at 4:22 am
I’m loving every change you make. This is the best tool I have for planning my adventures and campaigns.
However, 2 things:
1) The XP range table in the encounter builder seems to be off. For my current campaign (4 2nd level PCs), Masterplan lists a moderate encounter as 550-749 XP. Per the DMG p56, the range should be L+0 to L+1, or 500-600. A hard encounter in Masterplan is listed as 750-1299 XP, whereas the DMG says it should L+2 to L+4, or 700-1000
2) Per p84 of the manual, you have the ability to create templates. I remember this, and they were part of earlier releases (and were downloaded from the Compendium pre-Release 9). The Masterplan manual describes how to add a template, but the only option in the Library under the Templates tab is “Themes”.
I have the latest version (9.4.1).
September 1st, 2010 at 9:29 am
Masterplan works out XP ranges by taking midpoints; it’s a bit more elegant than the DMG table, and more accurate.
Templates were never accessed from the Compendium; they can be added by pressing the Add Button on the Templates page.
September 1st, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Masterplan is the best DM software I’ve come across and I’ve been using for about 6 months now. Great program!
1. Is there a way to input effects in the encounter builder so that they are ready ahead of time? If you know you have a monster that slows and dazes or does ongoing damage or a PC who rattles opponents, it would be nice to be able to set these effects up while setting up the encounter. This saves time having to enter these during combat.
2. In a similar manner is there a way to show marks? At least a symbol showing an opponent is marked would be great.
Keep up the great work!
September 3rd, 2010 at 6:46 am
You can create links between tokens to show marks. Just drag a token onto another to create the link, and drag it again to remove it.
September 5th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Recently was planning a section of an adventure in an ancient Grave yard, with several crypts. Three of these crypts are not very important to the campaign and there for are made to be side delves; containing various traps, hazards and skills challenges. This led me to discover somthing.
Traps do not do the following functions:
generate tokens
generate initiative
I believe that these two features would be very useful. I understand that some traps do not need initiative and are purly reactive. Perhaps a fix that incompasses both.
an either or box in the trap details pannel that allows you to check overlay or token
a check box to include the trap in initiative.
Would this be too difficult to include in one of the next release.
oh great work on every thing I realy enjoy working with the program.
September 5th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Traps do generate initiative, if you give them an initiative modifier.
September 5th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Thanks on the XP Table insight. I agree, a much more creative way to get a range of encounters without doing the ‘cookie cutter’ approach that WoTC used. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t shortchanging my players.
And I am recreating my templates. THanks.
September 8th, 2010 at 11:34 pm
First of all I salute you master of the masterplan! Your app is just perfect!.
I was wondering though if there is an option to enable automatic-initiative-rolling for the PCs like there is for the monsters. I’d like to quickly jump from the drama parts of the roleplaying to combat without calling for initiative.
That way I hope to cut a little of the “HERE COMEs A NEW CHALLENGER!” feeling that makes the initiative calling.
Thank you verymuch!
September 9th, 2010 at 5:10 am
First, let me say that I think Masterplan is a really good tool. It works mostly how I’d expect it to, and the rest seems to be easy enough to figure out on the fly.
That said, I don’t know if it’s something I’ve messed up somewhere, or not, but I’ve got an encounter that insists it has 0 of 1 treasure parcels, even when I’ve set it up with 3. Not sure what’s going on there.
September 13th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Thank you for all the hard work you have devoted to developing MasterPlan. I am usually skeptical of free software tools–in my experience, they are buggy, difficult to install, and rarely, if ever, have any comprehensible documentation. This application is smooth, easy to install, and your documentation is great (I used to work as a technical writer at a fortune 100 company, so I know a good document when I see it). Thus far I have never encoutnered a bug–I’ve worked for top software companies that couldn’t produce an application of this quality in the same amount of time you have. The UI is clean and intuititve. Really nice work.
I truly regret the loss of the integration with the D&D Insider subscription, but the rest of the software is so good that it really is a minor inconvenience. Thanks again for all the hard work. As soon as I get paid again, I will happily make a small donation to support your efforts.
September 14th, 2010 at 10:50 am
I have noticed that traps appear in the players view on the initiative order whether they have been sprung or not. The hidden enemies has been fixed but traps/hazards can still be seen by Players before they should know they are there.
September 16th, 2010 at 8:10 am
I really like using Masterplan as a DM-tool, but one thing annoys me a bit. I need to make a table to export to Player View, but Masterplan doesn’t seem to support all of the HTML–tags (and I’m only using the , , and their respective closing-tags). Can making tables possibly be made easier in the next version?
September 16th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Send us the HTML that doesn’t seem to be working, and we’ll look into it.