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DM Helper

Your Ultimate Virtual Tabletop for Tabletop RPGs · By DM Helper

First Session Report

A topic by Balmong7 created Jul 27, 2019 Views: 275 Replies: 1
Viewing posts 1 to 2

So I had my first session using DM helper the other day. The initiative tracker worked like a charm, and my players and I also liked that it rolls for the health of the monsters rather than using the average amount. I found myself referring to the actual stat blocks in the monster manual/dnd beyond however rather than using the ones within the program. I'm not really sure why. I guess it was just easier for me to read in that format than the way the app presents it. 

I ended up displaying maps that way I talked about in my other thread. I uploaded them under the "maps" section of the adventure, and then would manually reveal fog of war sections and hit the "publish" button to update it as my players moved through the dungeon.  When required I would just use the manual zoom feature to size the grid to match my TV screen so that the players could put their minis on it. However 90% of the time that wasn't required and the grid was sized properly to begin with.  (Which was a surprising coincidence)

I haven't started using the calendar feature yet to track the passage of time, however that is coming up in probably the next two sessions (when the party has to start paying rent every month lol)

The MVP feature for me right now is being able to publish photos of NPCs and monsters to the screen. It's one of those small things I never considered that makes a world of difference. 

Developer

Great report and thanks very for the feedback! This is actually very similar to my own experience.

It is worth considering why it is that the monster stat block in the app isn't actually helpful versus even looking it up in the book (I do exactly the same thing). Is the data not easy to find? Is it inconvenient to get to? What is the actual question in your mind when you go looking? Probably "what will this guy do next round?", so how can that be made easier to answer? Perhaps even an easy access place to make quick notes and prepare several monsters' next actions while players are taking their turns?

I also find that the Bestiary is somehow one window too many and I start getting lost switching between the main window, the battle view and the Bestiary - and accidentally the Players Window. It gets even worse if I'm also trying to edit the Fog of War during a battle.

You're welcome to join our new Discord as well (link on the main page) where there are also some feature discussions ongoing.