DC Adventures (3E) Character Generator

[Ski]

Hey,

My name is Ski and a while back, I made a character generator for Mutants and Masterminds Second Edition. I thought it worked pretty well but when my play group stopped playing M&M, I didn't really put much effort into updating it. Then Hero Lab came out and it made some of my work redundant.

Well, the other day I downloaded DC Adventures and love it. I want to get my gaming group back into M&M and for that, I need an easy way to generate characters and character sheets.

I have started work on Ski's CharGen 3E. It is an Excel 2007 file. I have not tried to export it as either an older version of Excel or OpenOffice. I might do that in the future.

It is not fully functional. I currently have the character generation side done, but none of the output (character sheet) functionality. In addition, I still have to manually type of most of the power effect information into the Data worksheet.

The reason I am coming to the forums today is because I would like some help. 3E is a nice system, but the way powers are built can be confusing. I tried to simplify it by breaking powers into components and then adding them together in a power framework. It makes sense to me... but I don't know if it will make sense to others and I don't know if I'm following the rules correctly. I'd like some feedback from people who are willing to try it out.

Here is the link to version 1.0:
http://www.box.net/shared/x8229cek8k

I have a sample character already populated there so you can get an idea of how I envision the sheet being used. If something doesn't make sense, if I'm screwing up a rule, or if you see features you want, please let me know.

EDIT FOR LATEST VERSION:
The latest (macro enabled) version 1.25 (Excel 97-2003 compatible) is at:
http://www.box.net/shared/b4m59seun0

[scc]

I really like this sheet. Wish I could help you on the powers. Maybe just have everything there and people build it themselves and figure out the math. As long as it has a character output function that will be great. Other parts of character generation look good though I haven't tried it yet. Good job.

[Ski]

Since this morning, I've done the following:

Added blank pages for Equipment and Details (used for Complications and Notes)
Added a Calculations page and added Offensive Powers calculations
Added a Character Sheet (partially done)

I wanted to get another version out there because I'd like people to be able to provide feedback on how the character sheet output is going to look too.

Same link as above.

Thanks in advance, and thanks for your comments scc. I'll add the powers this weekend. It's time consuming but if I do it a little bit at a time, it will get finished.

[scc]

Actually I like how you had powers section split up. Good idea. Like the layout. Have to check out the new one.

[Foreshadow]

If you create this thing so the end printed character sheet looks like the DCA presentation for characters, or at least very close. I'd try and use it. Or you can create one that has a very Marvel style or at least something similar and uses color.

Hero lab probably won't do that. So this is one thing you can do to make your little effort more attractive.

[Ski]

I'd like to be able to have multiple variations of the character sheet print-out:

A more detailed version for people who like to see more details of their character (which is what I'm working on now), the 1-page DCA style sheet, and an overview style for cutting and pasting into these forums.

Anyone a font expert? What font are they using for their sheet?

[Ski]

Today I've put some extra effort into the character sheet. I've finished up the basic version of it so that you could actually use it to play.

I've added the output sections for Powers and Custom Equipment. I've added complications. I've added Skills and Advantages.

I have not added a section for standard equipment. I'm relying on the user to add "Notes" for the sections he wants more information on (such as using Notes for power resistances, etc.).

I guess my next step is to finish up equipment (standard equipment). I have no idea how I will do it. I may just make it a manual thing where the user types in what they want, how much it costs, and then the spreadsheet just does the math and appends it to the bottom of the custom equipment.

I will also be adding Excel macros to clear the sheets of user-entered data. No one wants to constantly move the mouse around and delete data in the cells.

[CENTINULL]

Keep up the great work Ski !!

I look forward to using it.

[scc]

I am lloking forward to it as well.

[Ski]

This morning I've done the following:

Completed the Powers descriptions for the Data worksheet.
Added macros to clear each sheet.
Finished populating the calculations for the Power Components and Equipment Components.
Minor tweaks to CharSheet output.

I still need to work on standard equipment. But other than that, the foundation for this spreadsheet is done and usable.

My next goals are:
Error checking (including power level trade-off checks)
Standard equipment
Output that can be cut-and-paste to the forums

The new spreadsheet is at:

http://www.box.net/shared/agv79sq7te

It now has macros that are only used for clearing the sheets. If you do not feel comfortable enabling macros within Excel, you can safely ignore them without losing any functionality.

[Ski]

Version 1.03:

Added Enhanced Dodge, Fortitude, Parry, and Will as power components. These (like the specific ability enhancement power components) are to make calculation for the character sheet easier. If a power component only affects the character, it should be one of these specific power components. If it's intended for other uses (boosting others, for example), you should just use Enhanced Ability and build the power that way.

I've added standard equipment. There's no pull-down list of options. Just use the book and type in words and numbers.

[Ski]

Version 1.04

Very important changes because I caught a few bugs.

First, I extended the Advantages list out to 34 items. Batman has 33 advantages, so obviously the 16 I had in there weren't enough. This forced me to change the output page. I could no longer space the advantages out one-per-line. I had to concatenate them, which doesn't look as nice to me.

Secondly, I found some errors in my logic on the Calculations page. There were incorrect line references and it wasn't properly taking the Close or Range Combat advantages into consideration.

New version is posted.

http://www.box.net/shared/agv79sq7te

[Raws]

Dont know if I'm doing something wrong, but the "clear sheet" buttom is not working.

It gives the following message: "Its not possible to run the macro 'Skis3ECharGen.xlsm!ClearBasics'. Maybe its not available on this workfolder or every macros are disabled" (translated from portuguese).

I've tryied to enable all macros but it still didnt work...

Any Idea why it would happen?

Otherwise, on a first look, GREAT WORK! Keep it up!

Edit: Scratch the complain... I did enable all macros, then RESTARTED MSWord, and than the buttom worked just fine...

Thanks!

[Darth Sarcastic]

I found one issue with 1.06. Even if you clear the Advantages info...it still has the Advantages listed (for Captain America no less...cool) on the Character Sheet page. Just a minor annoyance really, as you can't add new Advantages. And I'm personally a little confused on how to do a device on the sheet. You can't add modifiers to groups of powers...like Green Lantern's power ring or Captain America's shield. Perhaps a 'Devices' page or pages...I know...more work. Sorry.

[Ski]

I found one issue with 1.06. Even if you clear the Advantages info...it still has the Advantages listed (for Captain America no less...cool) on the Character Sheet page. Just a minor annoyance really, as you can't add new Advantages. And I'm personally a little confused on how to do a device on the sheet. You can't add modifiers to groups of powers...like Green Lantern's power ring or Captain America's shield. Perhaps a 'Devices' page or pages...I know...more work. Sorry.

No, don't be sorry. I've been wondering how to do that, too.

Basically, a device is just like custom equipment... but using power points. And the problem is that I currently have no method to give a flaw to a power group (like removable/easily lost/whatever).

As for clearing the advantages, I wonder if I'm getting the output from the wrong cell some place. I'll look into it. Version 1.08 is posted.

Version 1.08
http://www.box.net/shared/b4m59seun0