itch.io

Do you get an error message? any indication what is preventing it from launching?
Note that the first thing you will see when starting backpack is a file selection window.

The short answer is no :) the long answer is not yet and it will likely first be part of the model customization feature I'm planning to add.

I use https://pendicepaper.com/posts/eof-conversion/ to convert from old-school stats to EoF. I should prepare a quick reference card with a table of all the monsters.

That's awesome! Thank you :)

Thank you, so much :)

I'm currently working on a completely new mapping module for HEXROLL2 - so I'll make sure to pay attention to how the different biomes hexes are distributed. Don't you think Mountains can also benefit from an unpacked setup though?

When a random generator is using the same seed value, it will generate exactly the same content. But yes, that is an extremely unlikely scenario. Consider yourself extremely lucky :)

Thanks! I could not reproduce the similarity - but I'll keep investigating this with different parameters.

Yes, that could work. I take a deeper look into this.

Oh no, the parallel universes collided! Balance must be restored.

LOL - I actually saw something similar when I stress tested the generator with more than one server. It happened to me when I generated two or more sandboxes concurrently, and so the random seed number was similar in multiple servers, causing the generated content to be identical.

What I did not see is a different map though, so this is more interesting.

I suppose I can add some fuzziness to the seed number to alleviate this. Do you happen to have the URL from the generator page? (the URL should have all the generation parameters).

The way I run this with my group is as follows: I choose the biggest city in the realm to be the 'capitol' (usually one that has a castle or a temple district) and make it the regular place-of-residence for the ruler and their entourage. This is flexible though - and if the story demands, I will move characters to another city or even to a royal or an army camp in another hex.

But I get your point :) this can certainly be improved by making it clearer in the generated text and maybe throw in a few more royal guards around the chosen royal/holy/etc residence.

Thanks! a mil for detailing these.

I think were aligned on the vision :) Certainly things like being system-agnostic, expandable and having a more modular generation approach are in my scope. Adding more platform features such as Note-taking are already WIP. You can already experiment with the current Note-taking capability tested at https://pendicepaper.com/hexroll/ (the pencil icons) BTW.

For Hexroll v1, I was focusing more on adding the basic content generation entities - and I always feel I can and should do a better job at adding more variations or complications to the generation logic to make things more interesting. 

Working on Hexroll v2, I'm now extending it as a platform - with things like VTT support, continent editing, modularity and mutability align perfectly with your ideas.

I get it :) I'm mentally merging this with the rest of the ideas on the standalone platform.

What other features would you say a standalone product could be better at than web-based?

I was testing Hexroll with a model that generates a set of predefined regions with a predefined number of hexes per region. I know this is not exactly what you have in mind, but it's a good start :)

Okay, I think I get it :) So yes, Hexroll's current model is not built to be a system-agnostic framework. I does have the basic concepts set as base entities, for example, an NPC, or a Hex, or a Settlement - all could be adapted to almost any system or genre, but it is currently focused on one system. Moving forward, I will certainly refactor things to make it easier for me (or others, wink wink) to support other games.

For Hexroll as it is right now, I tried to follow B/X rules mostly to the letter, so things like random encounters, treasure types, etc are using the system specific tables. I don't know Savage Worlds at all but intuitively I would prefer staying true to the source material as much as possible. B/X for example has a set of random encounter tables per wilderness type. Is there anything similar in SW?

Thanks! \o/

Sketching out how a 5E support will look like is still on my todo list so I can better understand how to support more systems in Hexroll.

The 'random generator' way I would do this I guess would be to add some control over the probability of certain shops in settlements.

Yes, the markdown file can be a bit.. intimidating, but it's there if you need it :)

Gladly - I also forgot mentioning that when you download the ZIP file, you get a markdown file you can edit - so you can change names of things, add content to rooms etc..

You can then use https://pendicepaper.com/hexroll/convertor/ to regenerate the HTML file.

Sorry - I messed up explaining this :)

Here's how it works; If you have a set of options:

X x 3

Y x 3

Z x 2

then Hexroll will roll a d8 (3+3+2) on a table containing 3 Xs, 3 Ys and 2 Zs. So X has a 3 in 8 chance of being selected and Z has a 2 in 8 chance of being selected.

Thanks! Nightghaunt :)

On hexes size: I recommend choosing between 6miles to no larger than 12miles, according to the crawling rules you're using and the scale of the map you generate. I tend to go for 6 miles hexes when generating a large map (>80 hexes) or 12 miles when generating a smaller map.

Good point on providing more explanations for the generator parameters:

The Biomes placement experimental selector allows controlling how close similar biomes regions are packed together on the map. Packing regions together works better when you have relatively smaller hex count per region and smaller scaled maps.

The probability multiplier baseline chance is 1 in N options in each category.

About re-rolling - this is a tricky one and requires a brief overview on how Hexroll works internally - but the short version is that implementing this will require re-working the core of the generator.

One way of explaining how Hexroll works is by using a painting analogy. Just like a painter layers a group of brush strokes to create an effect or texture, Hexroll layers elements of the sandbox one on the other to link and tie things together. Let's take re-rolling a dungeon room as an example. Let's say the room in question has a missing NPC in it. If this room is to be re-rolled, we might lose this piece of information about it, and either have a missing piece in the sandbox, or we'll be forced to regenerate other parts of the dungeon - causing an even bigger chain reaction.

Now, I specifically chose the more difficult case, and there are certainly things that could be re-rolled without affecting much. I should spend more time thinking about this...

I added a new 'toner-friendly' PDF at the end of the list above. Hope this works better.

There's a new 'toner-friendly' PDF now available for download.

Hmm.. let me try and see if I can remove it.

Got it. Thanks. What I'm looking for is populating an entire map. I have a sandbox content generation engine I'm working on - so something programmatic would work best (say a JSON or YAML file).

This is beautiful. Can I integrate this with some hex content generation?

Hi FredH :) I posted an update about two new features: Download as Zip file and Store in URL that should make saving a sandbox super easy.

This should be fixed now.

Hmm.. that's a bug. If you could let me know what browser and device you're using, I might be able to reproduce this and fix it as soon as possible.

There's an X button on the top-left corner of the 'Table of Contents' that should slide it away.

Once we get a better hosting plan for the generator (and Thanks! to those who joined/will join our Patreon), I'll add permalinking (so sandboxes will be always available through a unique URL). I know that at-least Chrome on Android has a 'download' feature on tablets that allow seeing the page offline (although I think the ToC is missing at the moment). Another option is to download the page from a computer and either send it to your tablet or use a free web hosting service.

Thank you! Exporting as PDF is in the backlog - but in the meantime, I'm currently making it behave nicer, albeit imperfect, with 'Print as PDF', if your browser supports it (through Ctrl+P). This should be live during the next few days.

Another feature I'm thinking of is exporting the raw markdown file as well as supporting online editing if we get a stronger hosting server.

Do you have a popup-blocker message perhaps? If so, allow pop-ups to open and you will get the page in a separate tab. Just in case, I added a direct link to the page from the description text.

Thanks! :) To save, press Ctrl+S in your browser window to save the full page with the included images. You should be then able to open it locally or offline.