Map Runner Save/Open features now enabled!

I have good news map makers! The Save, Save As, and Open features for Map Runner are enabled! Now you can keep your mapping goodness safetly tucked away in our database for you to work on anytime, anyplace and come back to it again and again.

Next on the agenda is to get the text tools implement as well as finish the library of tilesets so you don't get those ugly green broken image links when your work requres a tileset that isn't created yet.

Enjoy making (and saving) your [RandomBossMOnster]'s Lair

Sneak peak at dxContent's Map Runner

Map Runner is in the works! It's my new tile-based map editor allowing you to quickly flesh out maps for your on-going campaign. Here is a screen shot showing a dungeon I whipped up just for this blog entry:

As you can see, there are a lot of cool things you can do with Map Runner: layout hallways, rooms, doorways (with or without doors), low areas (in this example a sewer area) and place stairs.

Lets take a quick look at some of the tool menus you'll find. The first one I want to show you is the "Basic" menu. Here you can layout your halls, corners, intersections etc. Its as easy as selecting a tool and clicking on the map grid.

Another important menu is the "Doors" menu. With this tool you can add doorways and optionally fill them with various types of doors (Normal, Bars, Secret and Concealed). You can also remove doors with the Remove option.

This next menu is called "Inters'ct/Edge" (intersections & edges). With this menu you can add large open areas and large open areas with "low" areas. There is also a "crosser" tool. For the Dungeon tileset this allows you to make bridges across the low areas.

Here is one of my favorite menus, its called "Details". Many tiles have alternate versions of themselves, like round vs. square corners or in this example a room tile that can be turned into a 10x10 or 5x5 hallway.

This mapping system Is "tileset" driven. I provide you with thousands of pre-draw tiles and then using the tools they are automatically placed. But building maps by selecting from thousands of tiles is not fun... so as you can see the menus allow you specify what you want and where and the software does all the work of finding the right tile to fit your needs.

I'm making this a free tool for everyone and it will be cross-browser compatible. So if you like IE, Chrome, Safari or Firefox I've got you covered. I've left in slots for new tilesets also, so down the road I could add an outdoor tileset, a castle tileset or whatever comes in demand.

Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas or general questions. Have a [PositiveAdjective] day!

Miscellaneous Improvements

I recently made a few improvements to dxContent.

First, I've added an option so that text fields, picklists and radio buttons on the MakeForm~ function can remember the users previous settings. This means that when turned on (field-by-field capability) users don't have to keep re-selecting previous settings. I experienced this annoyance while testing the city block generator and most recently the latest dungeon map generator. The end result is that its now much quicker to generate variations from an "options" type screen. I haven't enabled this feature for the City block generator yet because of some issues it will cause, but it is working for the Beta Dungeon Map Generator.

Second, I fixed an issue on the generator pages. I've noticed that sometimes the generator isn't ready to go until after the google ads have finished their animations and such. If you clicked the generate button before the page was ready, you'd get an error message. There is now a simple "Loading... (please standby)" message that turns into the generator name once everything is ready to go.

Third, I continue to improve the random map generation functions. I've added a second "base shape" to the dungeon map (not to be confused with a tileset shape). A base shape is like a template floor plan, a starting configuration for the dungeon. The first shape was a random rectangular hallway, the second creates two long intersecting corridors.

Fourth, another improvement to the random map generation functions. Some of the early maps were filled with tiles pretty much for the entire map dimension. While this created some neat dungeons, I knew this had to be more flexible. So there are some new features showcased in the latest beta generator that allows you to set a simplicity level on a scale from 1 to 10. One extreme gives you a map filled with tiles and the other remains fairly true to the base floor plan. Here are some examples with increasing simplicity levels (1, 5, and 10)...

Have a [RandomPositiveAdjective] Day!

Random Dungeons!

I had my first taste of Basic D&D as a player with the The Keep on the Borderlands, and I was ready to DM. First thing I needed was a dungeon. My first endeavor was the worst 10 levels of random denizens ever produced.

I soon discovered that endless dungeon crawls do not make for good campaigns, but as a DM you'll ALWAYS have the need for dungeon-like settings, sewers and other hidden lairs. Creating maps can be time consuming and dxContent is all about saving DMs time.

So, I'm excited to announce some new features to dxContent. I've added a host of functions for creating dungeons! (specifically man-made subteranean areas at this point). Check out the beta-random generator for trying out some of the future tools. These tools are still under development, but they are at a point now where useful output can be generated.

The core of these map generating tools are Tilesets. Tilesets are like puzzle pieces that when used in combination make a larger map. The first tileset has over 300 tiles and features doors, halls, ledges pits and open areas.

Here is a quick and dirty dungeon generated from choosing just a few options like height, width, number of stairways, etc.

The generator has a few flaws right now like creating some doorless rooms on the periphery of the map, and roomless areas with doorways, but every good concept has to start somewhere. I'll continue to refine, add tilesets, functions and features as the year wraps up. Let me know what you think.

Cloudy with a {Dice~1d100} chance of rain...

Waaaaay back in the way back days when I never missed an Issue of Dragon magazine and free time fell out of my pockets like lint, I remember getting excited about a random weather generation article. Up until that time my player's characters enjoyed an eternal paradise of sunny days and comfortable camping.

Demonic invasion of the dwarven mountain outpost? Warm and sunny.
Expedition deep into Dwagmar swamp? Warm and sunny.
Trek through the great Gemtaj desert? Warm and sunny.

Once I started using the article to change things up, everybody waited with baited breath at what new weather the tables would bring - after all, isn't the weather the default conversation topic? It affected the mood of the campaign in a good way, and kept me as a DM from following the the same old "warm and sunny" rut.

This generator really gets at the core of what I want dxContent to be - a tool box of generators that help the overworked DM keep things fresh without adding a burden of overhead. My friend John, creator of www.d20pfsrd.com, requested this generator and I was happy to take it on.

It makes use of the new MakeForm~ function for a fairly simple option screen and the rest is pure content glory. I can't take any credit for the original generator tables, the Paizo wizards did that, but I've taken the sting of rolling all the details out of using it.

So check it out in the dxContent library here or on www.d20pfsrd.com.

Stay [RandomColdWeatherAdjective]!

dxContent outtage & conversation with Tech support

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Brian Dunn: ok.

Brian Dunn: any page on my website that is asp is not working.

Brian Dunn: its been that way for at least 45 min

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Brian Dunn: http/1.1 500 Server error

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Brian Dunn: http://www.dxcontent.com/TR_GeneratorLibrary.asp

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[Name Redacted]: I have run a tool from my end to resolve the issue. However, it will take 1 hour to propagate.

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[Name Redacted]: It is the backend tool which reset the file permissions

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[Name Redacted]: The permissions for your website got corrupted due to some technical glitch.

[Name Redacted]: I corrected it and it will work after 1 hour.

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Brian Dunn: do yo uknow how long the glitch has been an issue?

[Name Redacted]: I

[Name Redacted]: I'm sorry, Brian.

Brian Dunn: Other pages in my site (like html ) work... was it permissions only on asp?

[Name Redacted]: Yes BRian

Brian Dunn: The problem is I'm going camping in an hour and won't be able to check my site after 5pm. So I'm just tryng to make sure we've done all we can to make sure we've identified the correct issue... otherwise my site will be down till I get back Sunday.

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Chat session has been terminated by the site operator.

New function for Links to pfd20srd Bestiary

If you liked the D20PFSRDSpellLink~ function, you're really going to like the D20PFSRDCreatureLink~ function. It's great for your custom random encounter tables. If you wrap it around your creature names (and follow some basic naming conventions), it will create a hyperlink in your generator results to the corresponding bestiary page on www.d20pfsrd.com!

I'd love to take credit for the idea, but I can't. In fact I'd abandoned the hope of linking random encounter results to creature pages. But, thanks to all the hard work being done at pfd20srd they've created a vehicle that uses a simple alias to get to the actual link (3pp.d20pfsrd.com). For example the Ogre URL might actually be nested in several subtype directories. A fictional example might be: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/humanoid/ogre/common-ogre. But, through aliasing, the much simpler URL http://3pp.d20pfsrd.org/ogre will get you there as well. The power of this becomes obvious once you realize the only alternative is hand coding/copying the urls.

Earlier this week I'd converted the 13 Pathfinder random environment encounter tables into dxContent random generators. It was basic work, nothing fancy. After my friend John (creator of d20pfsrd) showed me the aliasing tools, I created the first version of the creature link function and rolled it out to the 13 generators.

I thought Id provide sample code for all the DMs out there who need custom encounter tables. You can make it happen with just on simple one script and one table.

SCRIPT:

#USES TABLES:FoulDungeon#
Foul Dungeon Encounter: [ENCDungCR2]

TABLE: FoulDungeon

8,{Dice~2d6} {D20PFSRDCreatureLink~goblins}
4,{Dice~1d4} {D20PFSRDCreatureLink~ghouls}
6,{Dice~1d4} {D20PFSRDCreatureLink~giant spiders}
.
.
.
(add rows as needed)

Have fun building your custom [RandomTerrain] encounter tables at dxContent.com!