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Old 02-27-2019, 04:46 AM   #11
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Excel Character Sheet

Quote:
Originally Posted by kenjames113 View Post
I play a lot of games using the google sheets. I was able to copy the excel into google sheets, but you are correct about the formulas breaking because of the name ranges, however, I have not seen any further issues, albeit that I have not looked very closely since I just found it today, but I will see what I can do to help. I am not as familiar with the google sheets formulas, but I will be interested in attempting.
A couple of ideas:
  • I've defined quite a few names that don't refer to a range, but instead contain a constant value or a formula. I don't know if Google Sheets supports that, so you may have to find a work-around, for instance by creating a new sheet/tab and entering what you need there. If you open the Character Sheet in Excel, you should be able to access the custom names by pressing Ctrl+F3.
  • To create dropdown lists without holes or empty rows at the bottom, I had to do a crude work-around, as I couldn't find a simple way in Excel to do what I wanted to achieve. Unhide columns A to N on the Front Page sheet to start unraveling that mess; you'll find references to the Validations sheet there, which you'll also need to unhide.
  • The user manual can be very handy when it comes to checking whether all the functionality has been transferred. For example, certain cells are marked with red text if an invalid value is entered. (I use this technique when the data validation needs to be dynamic.) Also, take a look at the Attributes sheet to see how I highlight the current encumbrance row.
  • Take care if you need to alter cells with array formulas; I know many people are unfamiliar with that topic.
Good luck, and let me know how things are going! Send me a PM if you have any questions or comments that don't need to be broadcast to everyone. You can also send me an email, you should find my address in the user manual. (It seems that the hyperlinks I created in the Word document were lost when I converted it to PDF; I'll replace the PDF on Google Drive when I get home tonight.)
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
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Old 02-27-2019, 06:32 AM   #12
Celjabba
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Luxembourg
Default Re: Excel Character Sheet

Quote:
Originally Posted by coronatiger View Post
Feel free to do so! If you have any ideas to stuff I can put into the Character Sheet, post them here.
Nice work !!

One possible addition would be to add a column in the skill tabs with the skills categories (from the free PDF "Skills categories"), so you can filter down by categories ? I find it help a lot at creation.

In my copy, I may also rename the "GM ban" column with "GM order" and add the "Mandatory" choice, for skills the character must have.

Another possible modification to the skill tab: adding a "bonus to default only" column, to enable the use of dabbler perks ?


And another suggestion : modifying the Current status weapon damage calculations to take max ST (=3*min st) into account ? (it is rarely applicable, and would complicate the formulas a lot, so just making the suggestion for completeness. I just mention it because I am trying your sheet with a character from the "DF max ST thread" which do hit a lot of edge cases...)

Last edited by Celjabba; 02-27-2019 at 08:06 AM.
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Old 02-27-2019, 04:04 PM   #13
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Excel Character Sheet

Quote:
Originally Posted by Celjabba View Post
Nice work !!

One possible addition would be to add a column in the skill tabs with the skills categories (from the free PDF "Skills categories"), so you can filter down by categories ? I find it help a lot at creation.

In my copy, I may also rename the "GM ban" column with "GM order" and add the "Mandatory" choice, for skills the character must have.

Another possible modification to the skill tab: adding a "bonus to default only" column, to enable the use of dabbler perks ?


And another suggestion : modifying the Current status weapon damage calculations to take max ST (=3*min st) into account ? (it is rarely applicable, and would complicate the formulas a lot, so just making the suggestion for completeness. I just mention it because I am trying your sheet with a character from the "DF max ST thread" which do hit a lot of edge cases...)
These are all great ideas, and they are now implemented in version 12.0, which I just released.
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
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Old 02-27-2019, 04:53 PM   #14
Celjabba
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Luxembourg
Default Re: Excel Character Sheet

Quote:
Originally Posted by coronatiger View Post
These are all great ideas, and they are now implemented in version 12.0, which I just released.
Thats a rather amazing speed of implementation !

Thanks and against, great work.
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Old 02-28-2019, 05:03 AM   #15
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Excel Character Sheet

My scheduled activity yesterday afternoon was cancelled, so I had a few hours to kill. It took about six hours to do everything, including documentation and a little testing. You can't expect every update to be released as quickly. I've subscribed to this thread, so I get an email once a week if something's been posted, so even if I don't actively check the forum for a while, I get notified when things happen. My intention is that whenever someone requests a new feature or reports a bug, I'll make a note of it in my todo list, and implement the changes as soon as possible. I'll try to implement minor* upgrades/fixes within a week after I receive the request, but major changes (or batches of minor ones) may be postponed until I have the time to dig into the matter. If someone suggests a feature (whether on this thread, in a PM or email, or face-to-face), and I choose not to implement it, I'll post an explanation here. I don't intend to write posts saying "I've received your request and will look into it", but if there is something you really want, and you start getting impatient**, send me an email (see the Character Sheet or its user manual for the address).

* Be aware that what may seem like a small thing, actually can be quite complicated in Excel, or it may take me some time to figure out a good way to do it. Vice versa, what may look like a big deal can sometimes be really simple, although this will not be the case as often.
** Remember that even a minor fix can take two weeks from you send the request until it is implemented, without me intentionally delaying the process.


I considered creating a check list for all the different combat modifiers, and adjusting attack and defense values in the Current Status sheet according to which items the user marked. I decided against doing it for three reasons:
  1. It takes a lot of time to look over the list every time you want to attack or defend. It's better to have the GM declare bonuses/penalties for special situations when they come up.
  2. Some items have indeterminate values; some depend on the GM's decision (like Major Distraction), some depend on player choice (like Deceptive Attack), some depend on the weapon used (like Move and Attack with a ranged weapon). There may be more cases, but after discovering these, and considering the third reason, I decided it wasn't worth the effort to implement this feature.
  3. The more options are available, the more difficult it becomes to remember everything that you've toggled on or off. Currently, the options are posture, speed/range and aim/evaluate, and in the case of defense, injury/fatigue when you're reeling.
I'm willing to implement a few additional individual cases on request, but because of reason #3, I don't want too many.

Reason #3 is also why there is an "Include" option for speed/range; in the gaming group where I'm a player, we often look up speed/range penalties for each other and for NPCs, so choosing "No" there makes sure that we don't subtract two penalties (the one that we looked up for someone else, earlier, which would be deducted from the attack score automatically if "Yes" was chosen, and the one that someone else looks up for us, which we subtract manually because we didn't remember that something else already was deducted). We like looking things up for each other. It makes combat run more smoothly, as the one whose turn it is can focus on making decisions and rolling dice, and not spend time reading this and that book.
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
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Old 03-01-2019, 05:07 AM   #16
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Excel Character Sheet

Quote:
Originally Posted by Celjabba View Post
I just mention it because I am trying your sheet with a character from the "DF max ST thread" which do hit a lot of edge cases...)
Let me know of any other edge cases you can think of. As long as they don't contradict RAW, I might as well include them, even if most users won't be affected.
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
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Old 03-01-2019, 05:36 AM   #17
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Excel Character Sheet

I've tried to keep everything in the Character Sheet as close to RAW as possible. I've had to interpret some rules, either using my own logic or that of people on this forum.

I'm considering adding a new tab to the Character Sheet, called House Rules. It would contain a table of houserules, with a column for whether or not that rule should be in effect. If the user selects "Yes", all relevant formulas are changed according to the rule.

Examples:
- "Being reeling from both HP loss and FP loss shouldn't divide Move and Dodge by 4."
- "Don't round off Basic Move when calculating daily travel distance."

Would people be interested in this feature? I can't think of many house rules my gaming groups use that would alter anything in the Character Sheet, so most of the house rules would be based on requests from forum users. Also, if a house rule would be too pervasive, I may choose not to implement it (but I will post an explanation).
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
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Old 03-09-2019, 02:26 AM   #18
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Excel Character Sheet

I updated the feature list for the Character Sheet. If I remember, I will be updating it whenever I release a new version.

On to another matter:
Would anyone do me the favor of proof reading the user manual? I.e. does it fulfill its purpose of showing how to use the Character Sheet, or are there things that should be explained better?
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
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Old 03-09-2019, 03:50 AM   #19
Celjabba
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Luxembourg
Default Re: Excel Character Sheet

2 possible enhancements, useless to you but perhaps nice for others:

-lock every cell that shouldn't be modified by the user
and/or
-give a specific background color to cells that accept user input

It is not necessary (if a cell contain a formula, don't input anything in it is a simple enough rule to follow :) ) but it would make the sheet more intuitive to use ?

Regarding the manual, it certainly fullfill its purpose and is extremely helpful to operate the sheet.

Last edited by Celjabba; 03-09-2019 at 03:54 AM.
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Old 03-12-2019, 04:58 PM   #20
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Excel Character Sheet

Quote:
Originally Posted by Celjabba View Post
2 possible enhancements, useless to you but perhaps nice for others:

-lock every cell that shouldn't be modified by the user
and/or
-give a specific background color to cells that accept user input

It is not necessary (if a cell contain a formula, don't input anything in it is a simple enough rule to follow :) ) but it would make the sheet more intuitive to use ?

Regarding the manual, it certainly fullfill its purpose and is extremely helpful to operate the sheet.
Version 14.0 is released, and includes the above suggested changes. In addition, users may now choose techniques as weapon skills (for calculation of attack and defense scores).
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
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