Goonmill Scope and Definition

The Goonmill application has this set of tasks which it must help the user accomplish. Think of this as a 1.0 roadmap for Goonmill.

Most of what is described below now has screenshots! See GoonmillWorkspaceDesign

Glossary

stencil

the definitional template of a monster. Equivalent to the Monster Manual entry for a monster; i.e. it defines what the monster is, but leaves certain details such as hit points and equipment carried unspecified (although it usually provides ranges and parameters for these things)

concrete

a statted monster, created from a stencil. This creature has hit points, equipment, and memorized spells specified (if applicable). It may have a label, but this is not necessary.

NPC

a statted, named monster. This is an instance of a stencil, with hit points and equipment specified, and a label given (usually a name, although it may be a unique description such as "the goblin king" or "the runt of the litter"). NPCs must also be flagged as such to be given special treatment, which includes making them available to access directly in the user's workspace manager. An NPC is a special case of "concrete".

concrete group

A number of concrete monsters, grouped together as a single item (in table format) in a workspace. They are all the same type of monster (i.e. derived from the same stencil).

workspace

an organized collection of stencils, concrete groups, NPCs and encounters. The organization is completely arbitrary; it may represent whatever the user intends, although it will probably be used to keep a game session or a campaign in one place.

workspace manager

a working area within the user interface which may contain zero or more workspaces, stencils, or NPCs. It represents everything associated with a particular Goonmill user account.

encounter

an event occurring within a role-playing game session; within the context of Goonmill, usually a single battle. An encounter may contain concrete groups, NPCs, PCs and notes. It also contains the state of the combat, which may be "unstarted", "resolved", or anything in between. Concrete creatures in an encounter have their hit points remembered by the encounter; so if an encounter starts, the game session ends, and then the encounter starts again, all wounds and spells cast should be remembered.

New Monster Stencil from Scratch

Define a new monster from your imagination (or steal one from mythology, whatever). When done, the user will have defined a new kind of monster, with which to create instances later. This is called a stencil.

Workflow - New Stencil

1. Choose a name
2. Optional: upload an image (if left blank, icon will be chosen based on families)
3. Choose families for baseline stats: type, subtype, descriptor
4. (If we implement the feature, this is where you would choose monster templates)
5. Set ecology things: climate/terrain, alignment, organization, languages, treasure
6. Size/Reach
7. Abilities
8. Skills
9. Feats
10. Combat things:
    1. AC (which determines natural armor)
    2. Hit dice--could also be calculated, by looking at (1) the class profile of the monster (aka goodSaves, usually fighter cleric or wizard, and determined by looking at families for goodSaves), (2) size, (3) BAB
    3. BAB
    4. Attack groups
    5. Initiative (could be calculated from Dex and feats)
    6. Defenses, resistances (including SR), immunities
    7. Special Attacks, attack options, all that
11. Other special abilities (non-combat)
12. CR (display guidelines for choosing a monster's CR on screen)
13. (If logged-in, the definition is automatically imported into the user's private monster definitions; otherwise it can only be kept in the workspace
14. If logged-in, may choose to share the definition publically

Workflow - Edit Stencil

1. Choose a stencil from a workspace or from user's private monster stencils
2. Edit any of the above

New Concrete Monster from Monster Stencil

Look up an existing monster stencil, either from the SRD or the user's own stencils, or the community stencils. When done, the user will have a single concrete monster (including NPCs) or a group of concrete monsters in a workspace, for use in an encounter, with equipment and hit points.

Workflow - General

1. Search for a monster stencil by name
2. Select it. The concrete monster will appear
3. Assign a label/name to the concrete monster/group (if it is a group, the label is for the whole group: e.g. "Red Hand Orc Tribe, Subgroup 1")

Workflow - Standard Concrete Monster or Group

1. Enter a count of monsters in a combobox-style widget which contains some randomly-generated choices based on monster organization
2. A table appears next to the monster name:

   • [*] (a die icon)	Hit Points	Alignment	Treasure/ Gear	Spells	Individual's Name
     1	27	CE	none
     2	20	CE	12sp
     3	19	NE	12sp, dagger		Thok
     4	24	CE	none

3. Click the die to roll all, or manually enter any

Workflow - Concrete NPC Monster

1. Name
2. Add class levels for each class (basically this is a chargen.. lots of spec needed here)
3. Give NPC gear (roll, or randomly enter)
4. Alignment, spells.

Note: there's no such thing as an NPC stencil. NPCs, i.e. named creatures with hit points and equipment, are always concrete.

New Concrete Monster, Search by CR/Ecology/Family/...

Look up a monster stencil using field search on the various attributes of a monster stencil; then proceed as above. When done, the user will have a single concrete monster (including NPCs) or a group of concrete monsters in a workspace, for use in an encounter, with equipment and hit points. This task is the preferred way to create a concrete monster when the user doesn't know the particular monster he wants, but does know certain things about the encounter (such as the terrain where it takes place).

Workflow

1. Enter CR range
2. Enter one or more of optional climate/terrain, alignment, family, organization
3. Search and choose a stencil from results
4. Proceed as "New Concrete Monster from Monster Stencil"

Manage Workspaces, NPCs and Stencils

Workspaces are a fundamental object in Goonmill. Find, delete, copy, or drill into them for editing. When done, the user may have more or fewer workspaces, or may find the particular workspace he wants and proceed to working in it. NPCs and Stencils are also top-level fundamental objects in Goonmill that are part of the user's data. Find, delete, copy, or drill into them for editing. When done, the user may have fewer NPCs or Stencils, or may find the particular one he wants and load it to work on it.

Workflow - As a guest user

1. Just visit the site. You are given a workspace and a cookie. (If browser cannot save your cookie, you are given a loud warning not to do anything unless you are willing to lose it.)
2. Everything you do in there is automatically saved.
3. If you revisit the site, your workspace is looked up by the key in your cookie, and automatically redisplayed. (This always happens, even for logged-in users.)
4. You CANNOT leave the workspace to manage workspaces. Your monster definitions and NPCs are saved in the workspace (as always), but there are no private monster definitions or NPCs for you.
5. Your workspace has a unique URL. (The presence of your cookie causes the server to refresh you to that page.) The URL is a simple random string and may be sent to another user to see your workspace. (All guest workspaces are therefore implicitly public.)

6. Create an account. Your most recent workspace will automatically be copied to your account (your private workspaces). Therefore it is implicitly made private when you create an account, and anyone else viewing/using it will be kicked out. (First user to create an account on a guest workspace wins it.)

7. Anonymous workspaces expire if untouched for 15 days.

Workflow - As a User with a Login ID (but not logged in)

1. Log in using the u/p box in the corner (?). The cookie you have (even as a guest) will redirect you to your most recent workspace.

2. If you have done anything in a guest workspace, you will be asked if you want to keep the workspace. If you say yes, it is added to your private workspaces (made private).

3. In any guest workspace, you will have a "copy workspace" link. This clones the whole thing to your private workspaces. The original remains a public workspace.

Workflow - As a logged-in user

1. Click link to visit Manage Workspaces.
2. Summaries of workspaces are shown: (note checkbox on the left, for actions)

   • 	Name	Contents
     []	Workspace 1	1 NPC, 3 creatures totalling 4 creatures
     []	George's final battle	1 definition//3 encounters totalling 25 creatures//22 creatures

3. Private Monster Definitions are also shown.

   • 	Name	Creature Families	CR	Public
     [ ]	Bog dweller	humanoid,amphibious	7	No - Click here to publish
     [ ]	Sand munchkin	humanoid,fire	4	Yes

4. Private NPCs are also shown.

   • 	Name	Creature	NPC levels
     [ ]	George	lizard man	Ftr27
     [ ]	Steinbrenner	elf	Wiz10/Clr10

5. Choose checkboxes next to items (workspace, NPC or definition). Click action buttons to delete or copy. (Renaming workspaces must be done within that workspace.)
6. Click the name of a workspace, definition or NPC to edit that thing.

Rename a Workspace

1. In a workspace, click the rename widget.

Create Encounter in a Workspace

Add monster instances from a workspace into an encounter, also in the workspace. When done, the user will have added to his workspace an encounter organizing one or more monster instances.

Workflow

1. Check several creatures in a workspace (groups or NPCs)
2. Click "Make Encounter" action. CR of encounter will be calculated

Encounter will be added to the workspace, visually compressed to a summary box only, showing a brief of the creatures and the overall CR. The summary box also has a "Run Encounter" button. Creatures added to the encounter stay in the workspace, separate from the encounter. Thus, they can be used in more than one encounter.

Run an Encounter

Launch an encounter from a workspace and play through it, using initiatives to proceed through each action, then get a log of what occurred. When done, the user will have played through a complete encounter and have a record of it (a log), or may have played partway through it and then suspended it.

Workflow

1. Click "run encounter" button. Encounter expands and moves to the Encounter Desktop, in encounter setup mode.
2. Setup encounter by entering/editing PC names, or choose from your saved NPCs to fill grid. Name column is a combobox-style widget, with NPCs and editable. If the grid was ever edited/filled before in this or any other encounter, it will already contain the last PCs you entered.

   • Name	Class Levels	Initiative Modifier
     Lord Mixalot	Thf7	+4
     Iced Tea	Bar8	+2
     Twoscore Pence and Ten	Wiz5	+0

3. Enter initiatives or "roll all" for PCs (editing after rolling is possible).
4. Then do the same for NPCs.
5. Click "Start Round One". If the encounter was previous started and cancelled, this may say "Start Round xx" (the next round).
6. Click a combatant to make it his turn, or click next button to continue through an encounter in sequence. When not active, a creature shows defensive info e.g. AC, HP. When active, the creature shows attack groups, BAB, attack options etc.
7. Or, click "back to setup" which cancels the current round (effects of this round such as damage are not undone, though)
8. Click "encounter resolved" to save hit points and status (dead, unconscious) back to the creatures in the workspace. The hit points, statuses in the workspace creatures update. This cascades to any other encounters that contain these creatures; a creature instance has the same hit points, anywhere he might be found in a workspace. Also, an encounter log entry is saved describing what happened. Also, the encounter in the workspace is shown with status "resolved".

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