Interactive Dungeon Help File



Select one of these links to navigate through the help file:






INTRODUCTION

 
   WHAT'S A COMBAT PLANNER ?
 
  Combat planner is a tool that lets you resolve combat effortlessly. Now you can place monsters and players wherever you want, you also have the option to show the dungeon furnitures around the location where the combat will take place. This visual tool lets you see the combat round by round, and show you wich player or monster has initiative.

  

SETUP

   BEFORE PROCEEDING
 
  You can create a simple text file to simplify combat planner even more. Place this file in the root directory of Interactive Dungeon. The file name must be "players.txt". This file should contains all the name of your player characters and their initiative modifier and will automatically be loaded when you launch combat planner. Please open the "players.txt" file included with the installation for an example. Please note that you cannot have more than 10 players in this file.

  
   HOW TO ACCESS COMBAT PLANNER ?
 
  Combat planner is very easy to setup. You can access this screen one of two ways, you can select "PLAIN" in the run map tool, selecting this option will launch combat planner without any dungeon furnitures, this could be used for example if you are travelling through wilderness and you want to use the combat planner to resolve the combat, or you can select "STANDARD" also in the run map tool, to show the combat planner with a zoom of the surrounding area where the encounter has taken place.
   COMBAT PLANNER STARTING OPTIONS
 
  Now you must select the combat planner options which are quite simple. First you must select how you want to handle monster's initiative. You have the choice of "SINGLE INITIATIVE" where each monster will have his own initiative or "GROUP INITIATIVE" where all monsters will have the same initiative. Single initiative is the default. You must also choose how to handle initiative for the players as well. You have the option to "LET THE COMPUTER ROLL" (default) where the computer will roll initiative for each player (1d20 + initiative modifier) or "PLAYERS ROLL INITIATIVE" where players roll their initiative and you only have to enter the total. Final option is how you want combat planner to behave. By selecting "ONLY THE MAP" you will not have the option to follow the combat round by round but you will still be able to place monsters and players on the combat grid, the other option "MAP WITH COMBAT PLANNER" will make full use of the combat planner and is the option by default.

  
   COMBATTANT SETUP
 
  To place a combattant on the combat grid simply click on the toolbar (or select in the menu) which players/monsters you want to place. Monsters are selected by the black circle with a number in the middle of it. You cannot place more than 40 monsters and more than 10 characters. Each time you place a combattant on the combat grid, you are prompted to enter the combattant name and initiative modifier (note that if you select "PLAYERS ROLL THEIR INITIATIVE" you will also be asked to enter the total initiative for that player). Monster's name and initiative modifier are only asked once after that you only have to press enter to go to the next monster, this is usefull because normally you encounter the same type of monsters, say 10 orcs for example. Notice also that there's a tooltip with the combattant name that appears automatically after you enter it, simply hover the mouse over a player or monster to see it. The total initiative for that combattant will also be displayed in the tooltip once combat as started.

You cannot place two combattant on the same square, but you can place a combattant over any dungeon furnitures. By right-clicking on a monster's or player's icon you will have the option to delete this combattant. You cannot start the combat until you have entered at least one monster and one player. Have you noticed the red square ? It shows you where the encounter has occured and it should be around that square that you should place the players.
 

EXECUTION

 
   RUNNING THE COMBAT
 
  Only after you have placed a minimum of one player and one monster can you start the combat. Simply click on the appropriate icon on the toolbar or select start combat from the menu. At this point you should see an arrow pointing down toward a player or monster, the arrow signifies that it is the turn of this combattant. Now you can move this combattant wherever you like except onto another combattant. You can right-click on him to make him cast a spell or to kill him. If you select to kill him, you will see a death icon over that combattant and he will dissapear from the combat map. To proceed to the next combattant simply press the spacebar, click the appropriate icon on the toolbar or select next combattant from the menu. This will effectively move the initiative pointer (arrow) to the next combattant. Please note that if two or more combattant have the same total initiative, the one with the higher initiative modifier will act first.

You can always see the initiative order of the selected combattant on top of your screen as well as the round number. Once all combattant have acted the round number will increase by one. Once all players or monsters have been killed the combat planer will close by itself. You can press the backspace key to go to the previous combattant to effectively go back in the combat. You can even go back to the beginning of the combat if you keep pressing the backspace key. Doing so will not bring back killed combattant, and will keep already cast spells active.

At any time during the combat, you can add new monsters or players by clicking on the appropriate icon on the toolbar. If you use this feature for summoned monsters, note that ID will consider them as enemies, meaning that you will have to kill them to end the combat.

  
   CAST A SPELL
 
  A combattant can cast a spell anytime it's initiative turn comes up. Simply click on the appropriate icon in the toolbar or select cast spell in the menu or simply right-click on the combattant and select cast spell. A popup will appear asking you to enter the spell's name and the total number of combat rounds the spell lasts. Evidently if the spell has an instateneous duration you should not select cast spell. Once the spell duration have expired you will see a message telling you so. Each combattant can cast up to 10 spells each. Note that you can use the "cast a spell" feature for any event that needs to be kept track of. For example, if a player is stunned for 5 rounds, use "cast a spell", type "stunned" for the spell description, and 5 for the duration. You can also use the same feature to keep track of rounds between a monsters breath weapon for example.

You can view all the active spells on a combattant by right-clicking it's icon and selecting "view active spells". You will then see a message showing you all the spells and the number of rounds remaining for each spell(s).
   CHANGE INITIATIVE
 
  At any time during the combat, you can change a combattant's initiative by right-clicking on it's icon and selecting "change initiative", or by selecting "change initiative" in the Combat Menu, or click the "change initiative" icon in the toolbar. You will then be asked to enter his new total initiative.