ALIEN Character sheet - some questions

Just looking at the new ALIEN sheet. It's changed a fair bit since I last played. Looks great but some things I need some help on. Dice API - One of the new options lets you push rolls using the API script. Where do I get this script and how do I install it? Does only the GM need it (I have a pro account) 3d Dice - Whenever I make a roll with 3d dice enabled, I get a bucket load of yellow stress dice rolling (always seems to be dozens of them regardless of skill level). Actually they are not stress dice, just yellow D6s. Dice Mod. Whenever a skill roll is made a popup box appears asking for modifiers. Can this be disabled? I find it slows down the drama of a dice roll (also sometimes my players lose the box and just sit there wondering why nothing has happened). Most dice are rolled *without* modifiers so it seems overkill to ask every time for something which only rarely applies. Could a mod box be added to the sheet instead, which you can dial up or down as needed? General question.. this is purely subjective and not an issue.. do you fill up the health box and disable each box as you take damage, or leave them empty and light them up as you take damage? Many thanks to the author for putting this together.

I don't play it, but there is an Alien RPG Dice Roller script available for 1-click install. Got to your game settings (outside the vtt), select API scripts, then in the Script Library tab got to the dropdown box and start typing "Alien". Select the script and click the blue "Add script" button.

David M. said: I don't play it, but there is an Alien RPG Dice Roller script available for 1-click install. Got to your game settings (outside the vtt), select API scripts, then in the Script Library tab got to the dropdown box and start typing "Alien". Select the script and click the blue "Add script" button. Thanks so much. Got it. And it works great.

Hi Andrew, Yes, there has been some additions to the sheet, mostly added by myself. I created the Ship tab based on input in the Sheet request thread, and since I have received a lot of suggestions for improvements, like the updates to the Gear list. I have tried to make the additions that significantly change the sheet or Player interaction as optional settings under the Configuration tab, as much as possible.&nbsp; As mentioned above, in order to push rolls you will need to install and enable that script. For all rolls that are pushable, it will instead use the Script. There are smaller differences between the output, but in general they should be similar. To use the script the GM needs to be on a Pro subscription. I have honestly not tested with 3D dice before, and it is as you say - lots of dice without really relating to the roll that you made. The reason behind this is the fact that the Year Zero Engine rolls aren't really that well supported by the roll mechanics in Roll20. In order to display the rolls in a manner that works with the YZE mechanics the sheet will first roll many dice (18 base and 10 stress) and then only show the results up to the number of dice you really wanted to roll. All other YZE sheets work the same. This means that every roll will reach the maximum number of 3D dice, which seems to be 20 according to my test just now. I would recommend that you disable 3D dice, since they also do not show difference between stress and base dice, but just plain D6s.&nbsp; I agree with the modifier popup window, it can be something that is difficult to get used to. I am working on something that will allow handling permanent modifiers, that can be used in the sheet to add modifiers. What I can do is create options in the config tab to enable/disable the modifier popup query and the permanent modifiers in the sheet. Perhaps including the modifier query popup is something that could be a tickbox in the sheet itself, like the "Make roll secret" button? You can see a discussion towards the end of this thread with more info on what is in the making right now:&nbsp; <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/10565779/alien-rpg-sheet-version-3-dot-00-pre-announcement/" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/10565779/alien-rpg-sheet-version-3-dot-00-pre-announcement/</a>. &nbsp; The Health bar is just that, it should be fully filled when you are at full health. In other Year Zero sheets there is instead a damage bar, which are similar to the one you have in the Ship tab where each checkbox in the bar represents one point of damage. The tricky thing about having a Health bar is that it is very difficult to know what to initialize it to - when you generate a new sheet all attributes and values are 0, thus setting the health to 0. There really is no good way to know when to update the current health unless the Player or the GM does it at time of creating the character.&nbsp; One way to address this would be to change the Health bar to a Damage bar, but this would really change how you use the sheet and would be confusing for anyone used to the current way. Perhaps this could also be a configuration, to toggle between tracking a characters Health vs the Damage it has sustained.&nbsp; Appreciate the feedback, and any further thoughts on suggestions above is also greatly appreciated.&nbsp; Best Regards, Richard &nbsp;

Hi Richard. Thanks for taking the time to send such a detailed reply. The 3d Dice roller is no big deal. I will just disable it. Your reasoning behind it makes perfect sense but does raise another question - just how random are the results? If the API is rolling 20 dice for every skill and then choosing which ones actually count, is that still random or skewed? (also seems a bit weird that it does this, why not just roll the required number of dice?&nbsp; I have installed the script and it works great. Thanks for that. The mod window is probably what I find the most annoying. My players often pop out their character sheet onto another tab, and no matter how many times I remind people, the mod box often disappears behind it, leaving people sitting there wondering what has happened. Usually at a dramatic/stressful moment... "oh my god, roll endurance!" (players rolls, mod box pops up behind another window, and we all sit there thinking hmm what happened.. as the drama rapidly evaporates). With the new roll up/down arrows its actually very easy to mod a skill before rolling. Another suggestion would be to just add a mod box on the character sheet that you can dial up or down as needed. Yes people might forget to reset it but I still think it's better to have the pause/delay before the roll rather than after it. Perhaps it possible to wipe the mod box after every roll to avoid that problem. Re the health boxes Ive actually flip/flopped on that multiple times. Now I leave them blank and add boxes when players taker damage rather than the other way around. Mainly because, as they are coloured red, they suggest damage rather than health (green would imho be more suitable). Overall this is a fantastic piece of work and very much appreciated. My points are not meant as criticisms just my own personal thoughts. Many thanks!

Andrew W. said: &nbsp;just how random are the results? If the API is rolling 20 dice for every skill and then choosing which ones actually count, is that still random or skewed? (also seems a bit weird that it does this, why not just roll the required number of dice?&nbsp; The results are still correct, it is just a limitation of the 3D dice roller. It can only display a certain amount of dice. For instance, you could roll 1000 dice, the result would be correctly calculated in the printed chat, but the 3D dice would only display the max amount of 20 dice on screen. All of the actual dice rolling/math is happening using the Quantum Roll system behind the scenes, and the 3D dice is just a visual representation of the math that is happening - but it has limitations on what it can actually display. Basically, for large dice rolls, trust the chat, not the 3D dice.

Hi, With regards to displaying only some of the dice and how random that is, the randomness of each die is still the same no matter how many dice you roll. The difference here is that in order to display the results in a manner that works with the YZE engine, the sheet instead of rolling e.g. 4d6 as base die and displaying the result it now rolls 20 times 1d6 and displays only the first 4 dice. By doing this, we can use the rolltemplate functionality to display success, failure or no result (i.e. crosshair, facehugger, or blank). The randomness of each die is still the exact same, and displaying the first 4 without any bias to their result also doesn't change the statistics.&nbsp; One of the things that people used to D20 + modifier systems like D&amp;D find in the YZE engine is that it has bigger swings in results. You may have maxed your attribute and skill but still end up rolling 10 dice with no result to then pushing it and still get no result having rolled 20 dice without any sixes basically. Then you roll for a skill you don't&nbsp;have any level in and those 3 dice give two successes.&nbsp;&nbsp; @Andrew, do not worry that I will confuse your feedback and input with negative criticism. Criticism I think is more based on feelings and might not even be specific nor highlight an issue but rather be a general complaint, like "I don't like your sheet". Constructive criticism on the other hand is exactly the type of feedback I would be looking for, where a specific pain point is highlighted with certain impacts to the usability of the solution. As a product manager and coder this is exactly what I do at work, and bringing that with me to my hobby projects like this one.&nbsp; I am considering options for what you mentioned above, and will update once I have something more solid to show.&nbsp; /Richard&nbsp;

Hi Again, I did some testing on how a toggle for the modifier query popup might look, and using the same look-and-feel as the other options in the character tab itself I came up with the below, please let me know what you think.&nbsp; I will see if I need to add this also on other tabs so that the Ship and Hostile tab also has this option available so that you do not need to switch tabs to toggle it.&nbsp; Also thinking that the default setting for this could be managed by the default sheet options, so that you can override the default behavior. /R

Ah I see, yes I think that would be great. Simple, and easy to use.

One other thing, this message comes up when I hit initiative "You wanted to send the result of this roll to the turn tracker, but no valid token was selected!". It doesnt affect the roll at all, but I dont use tokens or the turn tracker.&nbsp;

Hi Andrew, When using the turn tracker this helps link the turn with the token, without it I suppose the message is quite annoying. I will see if I can make this an option in the sheet, so that you can avoid that message.&nbsp; Again, thanks for the feedback!