Video on Story Templates

[Zacchaeus]

New video on Story Templates here.

[ddavison]

Well done Zacchaeus -- as always.

I really, really like story templates.

[Nickademus]

It's a shame you lose the newer table functionality when you use the templates.

[Thegroo]

Thank you very much

[HalC]

I've seen that video in the past, and there was another done by someone else that give me the information I needed using the <> brackets instead of the []. But as the one video demonstrator pointed out (I think he works for Smiteworks?) said that even he isn't entirely sure what can or can't be done.

This isn't to be insulting - and I apologize ahead of time to show that I regret having to say this...

I know that some people just don't have the resources to put out really clear sounding videos. I know I can't! Point is, I was born hard of hearing, so I have a little bit of difficulty understanding the person in the video. None the less, since we get to see what is being typed, that doesn't necessarily make it a bad video.

One young lady was talking about how difficult it is to nest tables and get the results she wanted in the order she desired. I ended up looking up her FB account, and telling her that she could use the Story Template function to get precisely what she was looking for - problem is, it doesn't have the same versatility that the tables do as far as where the information gets posted.

Now, I'm not all too hip with LUA programming, and even less sanquine about working with scripts. Which largely means, I can't readily make changes to FG - changes that I'd really like to be able to engage in.

How many people who read this thread, are familiar with the life paths in CYBERPUNK 2020? In there, you have a roll against the primary table, with four basic results. Of those four possibilities, three of them branch off into "good things" and "Bad things" within their category. Then, each of the good or bad things have roughly 10 possible results. Some of those - require maybe one or two last "finalizing descriptors" on how the major event of that year concludes (such as a romance gone bad, who did it hurt, and what you're going to do about it). The problem is - nested tables as they are now, just don't easily allow for this kind of Tree decision making. Even a Story Template doesn't allow for this kind of decision making.

Somewhere, there has been a request "What would you like to see in FG" and I suspect that this would come under that heading, but if there was a way to turn table rolls into functions such as:

[10,[Table Name],Column Number] - that would help to some degree.

Now these next two lines are from Visual Basic - and if you guys know where to place this where the general public can get their hands on it - I'd be happy if you did so. Why? Because these two lines are needed to integrate VB.NET for use with FB...

RichTextBox1.SelectAll()
RichTextBox1.Copy()

What the first line above, says to select all of the output you dumped into the text box (in case you used multiple lines). The second command says to Copy it - where it dumps it into a clipboard for pasting.

So, run the VB.NET program, get the output you desire, copy it to the clipboard, and paste it where ever you desire. With VB.NET, I can do decision making Tree structures, output it into a text box, copy that information into the clipboard, and then paste it.

Maybe someday, FG will support decision making trees so as to allow for more complex random events. Even now, I've been working on taking information from Augmented Reality The Holistic City Kit For Cyberpunk Games, inputting it FG, so that I can run an enriched environment for NIGHT CITY based cyberpunk campaigns (sans the really OVER THE TOP stuff). Once I saw what could be done with Story Templates, I thought "yup, just what I need". So, like someone (Dave?) said - it is a lot of work to put in the data for your tables, but once done, is really NICE. I want to be able to create NPCs at the drop of a hat, or populate what they have on them at any given time randomly, or even what their motives are. I've already been using Interface Zero to generate missions, and now that I know Story Templates can handle that as well, I can tell the player who is in the bar "AFTERLIFE" that there are 15 jobs being offered on the Marquee with attached bid numbers on the missions, which ones appeal to you" and actively have those 15 missions generate at the click of a button.

I want my Cyberpunk experience to be a sandbox affair, not one of those where the player is led by the nose step by struggling step.

*addenda*
Dang - almost forgot the template above where I wrote [10,[Table Name],Column Number]? the 10 represents the range from 1 to 10 as what gets rolled against the table instead of what might be on the table's inherent design structure. The one problem I can see however, is what happens if you get a result that the table is not designed for? Does it automatically hit the upper limit and stop there, or does it attempt to go past the upper limit, and generate an "out of bounds" error? *sigh* I am getting too tired I think...

[Zacchaeus]

It’s more likely the Scottish accent that you don’t understand ��

The bits in angled barackets are the same as the bits in the square brackets. The bits in square brackets are the results of the roll on the table. I thought that was fairly clear in the video but if you aren’t hearing it possibly not.

As for the rest of your post, i’d Suggest the wish list might be the place to add your requests. You’ll most likely find that there are already requests for more flexibility with tables. The wish list link is in my signature.

[HalC]

The <> are essentially "variables" containing a value that the table pulls out. So if you make a call on MyTable just prior to needing to "print" it, you'd use <MyTable> in its place. Hmmm. Makes me wonder if one can use a table value that is numeric on the table, but use it as a numeric when dealing with another table.

For instance, you might roll against a table named Possession Items, that has data that reads as 1,1,2,2,4, and 5. So, you do this: [Possession Items] and it now is a value of say, 2. Then, can one go the route of...

[<possession item>x][Possession Things] and have it roll twice against the table Possession Things?

By the by, his videos DO show the typing and results in the chat box, or in the story or Parcels or what have you. So it isn't a total loss. That he knows his stuff is good.

[Trenloe]

By the by, his videos DO show the typing and results in the chat box, or in the story or Parcels or what have you. So it isn't a total loss.

I’m very glad to hear that it isn’t a "total loss".

People learn things differently. Just because this particular video (or other for that matter) don’t work for you, doesn’t make them less valuable as a learning tool for those who are OK with videos. And, judging from the feedback regularly received, Zacchaeus's videos are found extremely useful by a lot of community members.

@Zacchaeus - please don’t be put off. Keep doing the videos Zacc! Many people (including me) find them very useful. Even with the accent! ;-)

[Zacchaeus]

The <> are essentially "variables" containing a value that the table pulls out. So if you make a call on MyTable just prior to needing to "print" it, you'd use <MyTable> in its place. Hmmm. Makes me wonder if one can use a table value that is numeric on the table, but use it as a numeric when dealing with another table.

For instance, you might roll against a table named Possession Items, that has data that reads as 1,1,2,2,4, and 5. So, you do this: [Possession Items] and it now is a value of say, 2. Then, can one go the route of...

[<possession item>x][Possession Things] and have it roll twice against the table Possession Things?

Unfortunately not, at least for now. I think it has always been on the cards that Story Templates would get more love, and this is the kind of thing which would be very useful indeed. Until Unity is up and running though I don’t see there being any movement in this direction. But, as I say, do add it to the wish list or vote it up if it is already there.

[Zacchaeus]

@Zacchaeus - please don’t be put off. Keep doing the videos Zacc! Many people (including me) find them very useful. Even with the accent! ;-)