Dice Protocol Extension

This unofficial TaleSpire plugin provides the ability to roll dice off to the side (to avoid rolls on the map) but provides a dice cam which shows up as a overlay, during rolls, to show the dice rolls.

This plugin, like all others, is free but if you want to donate, use: http://LordAshes.ca/TalespireDonate/Donate.php

Install

Use R2ModMan or similar installer to install this plugin.

Warning: Do NOT use this plugin with Auto Roll Plugin. This Plugin does its own Auto Rolling and the two plugins will conflict.

Configuration

There are multiple settings that can be set for this plugin:

Dice Cam X Position, Dice Cam Y Position, and Dice Cam Drop Height determine the position of where the dice will be dropped. Dice Cam X Rotation, Dice Cam X Rotation, and Dice Cam X Rotation determines the base rotation of the Dice Cam camera. Zoom Levels is a JSON string with position and rotation offsets for various dice counts. This allows the Dice Cam to zoom in when there are a only a few dice and zoom out when there is more dice. The format is a dictionary indexed by the number of dice and has a string of 6 values - the first three are the position offset and the other three are the Euler angle offsets. Dice Cam Screen X and Dice Cam Screen Y determines the position of the dice cam on the screen. Dice Cam Screen Width and Dice Cam Screen Height determines the size of the dice cam on the screen.

Note 1: In Talspire the Y-Axis is the height Axis. However, in the settings use the X/Y axis for the floor and Z for height. This aligns better with a 2D plane (X/Y) and then the addition of the height (Z).

Note 2: The Dice Cam Plugin uses the first zoom level setting that matches or exceeds the the number of dice. For example, the default zoom levels are 1, 10, 20, and 999. That means if one rolled a total of 17 dice the 20 dice zoom level would be used.

Usage

When a named roll is made, a dice cam will appear in which the roll is made. The immediate map in unaffected. The roll result is reported as normal and then the dice and the dice cam disappears.

Dice Towers And Dice Pens

The Dice Cam only shows dice and minis, it does not show tiles. That means if the user create tile structures, such as a dice tower, the structure will not be seen in the Dice Cam but the dice will still react to the tiles. So, for example, rolling in a dice tower would be like rolling the dice in an invisible dice tower. The dice will bounce of the dice tower parts but the dice tower will not be visible in the Dice Cam.

While this is not ideal for Dice Towers, it does have one advantage. The Dice Cam Plugin does not contain rolled dice to the Dice Cam. It has the Zoom Levels feature to try to keep the dice in view but since the dice rolls are random, they can bounce out of the Dice Cam view. In such case, the die still reports its have and is used in the total but is just can't be seen. To avoid this, one can build a dice box. Place walls on the outskirts (borders) of the Dice Cam view. These walls will not be seen on the Dice Cam view but dice will not be able to pass though them - they will look like invisible force field walls.

Building A Dice Pens

Okay, so you like the idea of a Dice Pen but how are you supposed to know the location of where the dice will drop? Sure, you know the position because it is configuration item but how do you know where that is in Talespire? You do that by using a special setup option. Follow these steps:

1. Drop two creatures to the board.
2. Give yourself permission to these creatures. This is important even if you are GM.
3. Select one of the minis.
4. Create name roll with the name Setup. For example: talespire://dice/Setup:1d20+5
5. This will trigger the Dice Cam but also move the selected mini to the Dice Cam location.
6. By switching to player mode, you will see the icons for both the minis. By clicking them you can easily move the camera between the Dice Cam area and your regular play area.
7. At the Dice Cam area add a few more minis a few tiles out from the Dice Cam mini. Trigger a name dice to to see the Dice Cam.
8. Adjust the minis to identify the bounds of the Dice Cam area.
9. Build the Dice Pen out of tile walls around the identified Dice Cam area perimiter deleting the minis along the way.

You now have a Dice Pen at the dice drop location.

Limitations

1. The Dice Cam does not show tiles or props - just dice and minis.
2. The space above the drop location must be clear - the dice are stacks in a drop stream to avoid huge collisions.
3. Dice Cam trigger for named rolls only. If you roll manually from the tray Dice Cam will not trigger.