Squareware 2021

[gtw2017]

Hello there - I'd like to thank the many people that purchased Squareware (for 5e) recently in FG's latest sale advertised in the monthly newsletter. It is still a project I am extremely proud to have produced and I hope you find it a very useful tool in your DM arsenal. I will be around if anyone has any questions regarding it's operation.

In terms of user support - I made a two part video which I recommend

Video 1: Usinq SQW Demo - Part 1.mp4 - Google Drive : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mnT...xWgNi7Er4C9EnI

Video 2: Using SQW Demo -Part 2.mp4 - Google Drive : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1obY...xi1yaMmTO_cpI0

(I recommend downloading them to your PC not trying to watch them in the drive which is slow to respond).

Secondly - on the RIGHT-HAND side of the Matrix Interface you will find a row of pins featuring instructions and guides to using Squareware. Also see the graphic attached to this post for a QUICK-START GUIDE.

Finally - It has been a while since this Supertable system was made - and I will be listening out for any suggested changes, modifications, errors users suggest to improve it. Thanks again for your support

Kind Regards,
Kris (The MapHatter)

[Trenloe]

Thanks for the videos Kris and congratulations on being the top seller (when I looked in the store)!

I love Squareware, I use it all the time - mostly in games other than 5e (using the Universal Modules extension) and ignoring any FG errors for the 5e specific stuff. Still very usable.

[Nylanfs]

Thanks for the videos Kris and congratulations on being the top seller (when I looked in the store)!

I love SquareWave, I use it all the time - mostly in games other than 5e (using the Universal Modules extension) and ignoring any FG errors for the 5e specific stuff. Still very usable.

Autocorrect got you.

[Trenloe]

Autocorrect got you.

Age more than likely...

[Jiminimonka]

Hello there - I'd like to thank the many people that purchased Squareware (for 5e) recently in FG's latest sale advertised in the monthly newsletter. It is still a project I am extremely proud to have produced and I hope you find it a very useful tool in your DM arsenal. I will be around if anyone has any questions regarding it's operation.

In terms of user support - I made a two part video which I recommend

Video 1: Usinq SQW Demo - Part 1.mp4 - Google Drive : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mnT...xWgNi7Er4C9EnI

Video 2: Using SQW Demo -Part 2.mp4 - Google Drive : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1obY...xi1yaMmTO_cpI0

(I recommend downloading them to your PC not trying to watch them in the drive which is slow to respond).

Secondly - on the RIGHT-HAND side of the Matrix Interface you will find a row of pins featuring instructions and guides to using Squareware. Also see the graphic attached to this post for a QUICK-START GUIDE.

Finally - It has been a while since this Supertable system was made - and I will be listening out for any suggested changes, modifications, errors users suggest to improve it. Thanks again for your support

Kind Regards,
Kris (The MapHatter)

Does this export to parcels etc. Was thinking about grabbing it.

[Trenloe]

Does this export to parcels etc. Was thinking about grabbing it.

For some things, yes. See the section starting at 8:00 in the first video.

[Frodie]

Looks cool, but any support for Pathfinder 2e?

[gtw2017]

Looks cool, but any support for Pathfinder 2e?

Thanks Frodie. Nope. It was designed for 5e, but some people use the Universal Modules extension to make it compatible. Plus, Squareware generates a lot of descriptive or random content that is system agnostic.

[gtw2017]

Thanks for the videos Kris and congratulations on being the top seller (when I looked in the store)!

I love Squareware, I use it all the time - mostly in games other than 5e (using the Universal Modules extension) and ignoring any FG errors for the 5e specific stuff. Still very usable.

Hey that's very cool - and thanks a lot Trenloe One day this year I will release Terrorformer to go with it. (The infinite monster maker).

[gtw2017]

You can have the best and most intuitive system in the world (Or at least think so) but unless you explain it to those who use it - it cannot do what it is meant to do which is:- to offer the easiest, most logical, well-categorized set of tools possible. I'd like to offer some commentary on the layout of Squareware today.

First, you should know that I am Left-Handed. This means the way I naturally orient my creations including my maps - is going to feel somewhat unusual to a mostly Right-Handed World. Unless you ARE Left-Handed you don't notice how difficult it is to be one and everything from the way doors open, light switches are placed, cars are set up, xbox controllers layout and so on are obstacles that require adaption by us lefties. For THIS reason, the layout may feel strange.

Secondly, Squareware was built by me for me and offered out to the rest of the RPG World as a useful tool - but it's design was customized to suit my own needs and requirements as a DM. Fantasy Grounds only offers text-based tables, when looking for a map for instance, there is no graphic image to help you mentally link the description and the map so you will see All my Meanders Maps bundles have a similar interface that allows you to see the map you want, and click on a pin to activate it. The process is similar for Squareware. Hovering over a pin will bring up the function - but some explanation of the layout choices may help others to navigate it more easily.

The thinking behind squareware was to provide myself with the tools I used FIRST as a DM in the left-hand column. These were, Time of Day, Weather, Names of Locations, Events (Near, Far in space, or Soon, Later in Time), Quests, NPCs and Adversarys, then Buildings, and what goes into them and finally the Five Senses;- ALL of these are instrumental in Setting a Scene and are the most basic required tools to tell your players what is going on, when, why and flesh out enough of a solid story to allow you to ad-lib or Bring them into the Adventure.

These features have their own icons to help me remember where certain things are - but these are not entirely universal and there is a definite mental bias as to the connections made to help me remember what is what.

The secondary things which are used to more finely describe what players see, hear, and generate everything from random book titles to weapons, traps, paintings, and essentially describe every kind of DECORATION or FEATURE, are held on the Picture section. Pausing to think about what something unexpected is can take time, it can break immersion, and sometimes it can be a struggle: DM's have to entirely create a whole world, the physics and everything and everyone in it except the players who are essentially free agents. The sheer level of creativity required to track and manufacture all of this imaginary stuff which must be an infinite supply, is exhausting over time and if there was EVER a tool that did the job of supplying what happens when the PC's inevitably go off course and do the completely unexpected - Squareware is the complimentary set of tools you need to deal with that situation everytime it comes up.

If your players decide to pick up 12 library books one after the other, and read the titles, and ask for a description - you don't have to say, "They look more or less the same, the titles vary, most are in a language you don't understand" - and the player presses on you and says I'll use my language skill or a spell to decipher them... - you don't have to shy away because you lack the detail, you can use Squareware to deliver endless interesting answers no matter how deep the players delve, without getting exhausted mentally, physically or spiritually trying to provide the impossible.

The thinking that makes up Squareware goes from defining the larger, more concrete, more visible features such as a building, location, tavern - and progresses to offer fine-tuned and deeper inspection of Furnishings, Decor, Atmosphere, and finally the smaller more intricate details such as a Menu, Music that is Playing, what someone is Wearing. It goes from the very rough to the very fine - or more accurately, what you see First, to what you see Last.

The tools to help you make random decisions for situations that arise with frequency, such as hunting success, is a chest locked/unlocked, yes/no? are on the top right and there is room for you to move the pins you need to various locations including the coloured flags by which you can code your own system of usage for the tables - maybe you put all the pins you need for furnishings and decor on the red flag, maybe you place all the locations and location names pins on the green flag - or - maybe you use these flags to keep the content you generate for your adventure close to hand so you can quickly find and refer to it when it comes up. PRE-ROLLING things and storing them like this (make sure you save) is a good way to use Squareware, JUST AS GOOD as using it live. I have an extraordinary memory and am very good at ad-libbing a story and adventure live - I built Squareware as a natural extension to help me provide randomness and endless detail to the worlds I host. Sometimes I pre-roll content and store it, othertimes I use Squareware live at the table during a game, Hot-Keying it for easy acess to put it away and bring it out. How you use it will depend on your method, memory and needs - it will vary greatly from person to person - so don't be afraid to make a COPY when you open the Matrix and delete the pins you don't use (such as the green ones which only supply a key word or detail not a description as such) or UPLOAD your own Interface to use as the map - or MOVE them around to make them more amenable to what you do and how you do it.

This is, an very powerful use of FG's roll tables, and a very promising concept - funding for it on Kickstarter only allowed me develop it so far which is why it has not been ultra-tuned and some tables and descriptions will jar and may even be nonsensical. As a one man army making something that didn't previously exist, spent two months ironing out bugs and only had a limited time to devote to it to get it to the standard it is now - I feel it is a fair and strong product but could of course benefit from a re-visit at some time.

Hopefully the many people using it will provide new suggestions for improving its utility over time and through their experience with my supertable - and I can find time to make it even better:- I also hope that my explanations go some way to helping others understand why it is, the way it is and I thank you for using it.