Stacking the Cards
With the increasing number of character options available on Shard, we have found that it has become harder to find and make selections, and as we ready new settings this will only become more challenging. To improve the selection process, today’s release introduces a new card-based selection model for races, classes, backgrounds and feats along with extension enhancements to prioritize options.
Card Selection
Selecting a race now brings up a card view of races showing summary information about the race. Notice that subraces are grouped together with the base race. The subrace can be selected directly by clicking the subrace or by clicking the base race to see the cards for all of the subraces. Clicking to see the details of a race or subrace allows you to make your choice by selecting the race. Additionally, you can now browse the details with previous and next buttons.
Classes, subclasses, backgrounds and feats have a similar card selection model. These views also allow for searching and filtering of the results to make it easier to find just the right option.
Creator Options
When creating a unique setting, in addition to providing new character options, creators also typically have preferences on which races or classes are common or non-existent in their setting. Instead of just writing down those preferences and asking players to remember the rules, creators can now include those preferences in extensions.
Preferred and disallowed content are two lists of different types (classes/races/backgrounds/feats). Preferred content will show up first in card selection views and will display with a slight green background. Additionally, if some content is marked as preferred then other options will appear with a separator level marking the other options as “Uncommon”. Disallowed content will be complete removed from selection options. While a single extension cannot mark something as both preferred and disallowed it is possible the different enabled extensions might. If that happens then the entries will show up in the uncommon section.
In this example, an extension was created to make dwarf a preferred race.
Gamemaster Options
Extensions will make it easier to select options for campaigns to match the creator settings. In many cases, gamemaster have their own preferences for campaigns as well. While they can always create their own extensions, we also now allow gamemasters to set preferences and disallow options directly on a campaign on the settings dialog.
Another option that has been available for gamemasters is to configure the set of packages that are enabled for a specific campaign. While this greatly helps, we have also discovered that this is not as effective as it should be since players will continue to view their own packages. We feel that it important for players to be able to use content that they have purchased, but still want to give gamemasters some control. To address these concerns we have made a couple of changes.
When a player and the gamemaster both have a package and the gamemaster has disabled the package, Shard will now disable that package for the player as well. Options that players know about but that are not known to the gamemaster will now show up at the bottom of the card selections. They will have a section header of “Ask Gamemaster” and show up with a slight red background.
These changes should allow everyone to enjoy the huge variety of character options that are available in Shard Tabletop without becoming overwhelmed with options while maintaining the unique nature of different settings and campaigns. We hope that you will enjoy these changes!
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