Tool for tabletop sci-fi games (Mothership / Alien RPG / Starfinder etc)

[Tusky]

This is a web based tool / app that can be used in games of Mothership (or any other retro future style tabletop sci-fi RPG).

The broad idea is that the players can see this on a screen of some sort (I have a tablet there), and it represents a pipboy style data slate or scanner that their characters each have on their arms. This has a backend that the gm / warden can then use to update the player screen. It then provides a handy place to show a map, plus keep any missions or other info that the players might not necessarily have written down.





Here are the features implemented so far

• Any number of configurable minimaps
• Annotations / symbols that live update on the player map (e.g. to indicate where the players are, or where notable things are such as noises)
• A list configurable of "regions" per map which can toggle visibility of map sections as players explore
• Editable list of info pages that can be shown on the front screen for persitant data (e.g. ship manifest, star chart)
• Editable list of log messages or images, which can be shared over time (i.e. handouts)
• A modal popup which appears when the gm wants to display a new log / image to the players
• Shared logs are then available to the players on the log screen to refer back to (if the gm chooses to share them)
• Works on most devices, mobiles etc

Thought I'd start a thread to track ideas / progress. Or if anyone had any suggestions / thoughts - or even maybe were interested in trying it out.

[Spritelady]

That sounds really cool. I keep meaning to investigate sci-fi TTRPGs - what's the basic mechanic/premise for mothership?

[Jubal]

That does sound interesting. I'll share this with some people I know who run SF games... might it run on phones as well as tablets? I'm thinking this partly because whilst a phone is much smaller, it's also something everyone will have compared to a tablet, and more viably similar to a pip-boy in size too perhaps.

[Tusky]

That sounds really cool. I keep meaning to investigate sci-fi TTRPGs - what's the basic mechanic/premise for mothership?

Thanks! It's a scifi horror setting, there are various spooky space mysteries to solve which usually result in some sort of mayhem.
The tagline is "Survive. Solve. Save. Pick One." so that gives you some idea. Quite simple character set ups.
During adventures the characters accrue stress over time when they make fear / sanity checks (d100) or when they fail to do things with ability rolls. Then eventually their chance to panic goes up and when they do - they accrue various problems. After an adventure, those that survive can convert their stress into improved ability scores.

Feels a little like mansions of madness / call of cthulu, except the setting is the film: aliens

That does sound interesting. I'll share this with some people I know who run SF games... might it run on phones as well as tablets? I'm thinking this partly because whilst a phone is much smaller, it's also something everyone will have compared to a tablet, and more viably similar to a pip-boy in size too perhaps.

It would run on a phone, although I'd need to do some work to make it more responsive. Also mechanically at the moment it has to run from a single player end point, because the player screen "calls in" to know when to refresh the map, change map annotations or display a message.

I definitely had in mind a central screen that players could share & hopefully have some sort of collaboration & immersion. i'm not sure how I'd like everyone staring at their phones!

[Jubal]

Ah, OK, I think I'm getting a better picture of the planned setup now. I guess I'd conversely say that if it has a central point, having some capacity to run it off a laptop might be good for the same "tablet access not always guaranteed" reason.

I'm certainly happy to help with any cross-platform testing I can do

[Tusky]

Ah, OK, I think I'm getting a better picture of the planned setup now. I guess I'd conversely say that if it has a central point, having some capacity to run it off a laptop might be good for the same "tablet access not always guaranteed" reason.

I'm certainly happy to help with any cross-platform testing I can do

Thanks! Yeah may take you up on that

Yeah it's all browser based so a laptop works, or a second screen on a pc even. I just liked the idea of having centralised paperless handouts with a dynamic map thrown in

[Tusky]

Added some more stuff:

• Editable list of info pages that can be shown on the front screen for persitant data (e.g. ship manifest, star chart)
• Editable list of log messages, which can be shared over time (i.e. handouts)
• A modal popup which appears when the gm wants to display a new log to the players
• Shared logs are then available on a log screen for the players to refer back to
• Support for images on info pages and logs

I also have an intro session booked in for a week Friday, so will be able to give the tool a road (or space?!) test   

[Tusky]

The session went very well and the "wrist data pad" prop seemed to work nicely to telegraph info. The only issue I had was that I was running it at a local gaming store and I couldn't get the wifi to work, which was an issue because an internet connection is kind of crucial!
I ended up having to run the admin part on my phone and hotspot the tablet which created an interesting challenge. Luckily the admin page worked just about ok on a phone and my connection held up fine.

might it run on phones as well as tablets?

Yes! It now will run on most devices. I implemented this based on your suggestion, which meant after the game I could share the page link so people can go in and read info pages or the logs etc outside of the actual session if they want.
A requirement of the work was that the interface supports multiple clients - since you may have people checking a log or something on their phone during a session. So people can now be on their phones, as well as a central screen & the admin broadcasts to everything. Would probably work for remote players too! Although I feel like you might be better off with roll20 or similar at that point!

[Jubal]

Oou, exciting progress I'll be back in Vienna after tomorrow and may look for chances to test this out.

[Tusky]

Thanks! Yea let me know I can share the current client page for you to have a look at.

Decided to change the map to use an image because the previous method of using table borders was a little limiting because you could not do any diagonals or circular rooms. I might try and support both flavours for those that are not able to create battle map images maybe.... not sure.

Need to do a little more work to accommodate multiple users in terms of using the admin and having your own maps, pages & logs and things. Basically I need to add a login page!
When I do that I'll probably create a couple of campaign templates - so you can get some assets from the outset. In particular the one I'm doing now: A common starter mini-campaign for mothership called another bug hunt... Since I've basically already created most of the things someone would want for it!

[Jubal]

Neat I could maybe make a couple templates for things sometime too, that sounds a fun activity.