This information is only applicable to VCC version 0.x (e.g. 0.30,0.90, and so on). From Version 1.0 onwards things change significantly

Virtual Combat Cards(VCC) can help you run your combats, but in other to do this you have to create party and encounter files. For the time being VCC does not include a party/encounter editor. This page explores the syntax of these files and describes how you can edit these files manually. This process is not difficult. It involves copy and pasting and changing some attributes (or field) in a XML file.

Anatomy of the Party file

First let’s start with a black party file. It’s a simple XML file, which has the following rules (or read this tutorial: XML Syntax):

• Must start with a line like this:<?xml version="1.0" ?>
• Must start with a top level tag; a tag is a name surrounded by the < > symbols

For a party or encounter this top level tag must be party. So an empty party file will look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<party>

</party>

The file above has little use. So will include some monsters in it:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<party>
  <monster name="Goblin Blackblade" hp="25" init="7">
    <defense ac="16" fortitude="12" reflex="14" will="11" />
  </monster>
  <minion name="Goblin Cutter" init="5"></minion>
  <monster name="Goblin Cutter (Super Minion)" hp="2" init="5" />
</party>

This file now defines three monsters. Each monster is defined by one of the following tags: monster or minion.

These tags may or not contain other tags. If they contain additional information they must end with a </monster> or </minion> closing tag (depending on the tag in question). If it an empty tag, all you have to do is put a slash (/) before the greater than symbol at the end of the tag, like in this line:

<minion name="Goblin Cutter" init="5" />

Or simply use the opening and closing the tag without anything in the middle, like this:

<minion name="Goblin Cutter" init="5"></minion>

Monsters and Minions

A monster or minion entry will lock like this:

  <monster name="Goblin Blackblade" hp="25" init="7">
    <defense ac="16" fortitude="12" reflex="14" will="11" />
  </monster>

Between the < > symbols besides the tag name, we have attributes. Attributes must be surrounded by quotes. For monsters and minions these are the available attributes:

name

Mandatory: Is the name that will show up in the tables and panels

init

Optional: Initiative bonus, if this attribute is omitted the value will be assumed to be zero

hp

Mandatory for monsters: total number of hit points.

Editing attributes is simple; simply change the value between quotes.

The first monster in the file above includes defense information (in the defense tag). This is an optional tag; it is not currently being used. Future versions will use this information, so you may or not place it in the file. The defense can also be used for characters.

As per rules in the core books, minions have one hit point. And VCC will not allow them to have temporary hit points. This is a design decision based on the fact that minions die on a single hit, no matter how many hit point they have. In this case it makes no sense to gain temporary hit points. Some people may not agree with this interpretation. There is a work around for this, which is shown in the last monster in the file above, the last one named Goblin Cutter (Super Minion). Being a monster with two hit points allows it to receive temporary hit points. To kill it in a single blow, simply apply one additional point of damage:

Characters

Characters are written much in the same way as monsters. The difference happens mostly in how VCC handles damage done to them. While monsters die when they reach zero hit points, characters go through the save versus death rules. If you want monster to behave this way, simple make them characters. A character is defined by the character tag, and looks like this:

<character id="k" name="Kantrex" hp="46" init="3">
  <defense ac="22" fortitude="16" reflex="16" will="16" />
</character>

The key difference is the id attribute. All combatants (monsters and characters) will have an ID in VCC, which is used internally. Any entry in a file without an ID will have one generated by VCC. Generated IDs will be numbers, starting from one.

You don’t want monster to overwrite characters, to avoid this put an unique ID the character entries. Lower case letters will be converted to uppercase. The best bet is to use letters or the character’s initials; it just has to be unique. This way you can load monsters over and over, without loosing loaded characters.

Tips & Tricks

You should create a file for each encounter in you adventure ahead of time. When that encounter comes along, simply load the file. However in some published adventures there is a tendency to merge encounter. The guard flees and calls his friends. If you load the new file, with no IDs the monster will be overwritten. There are some alternatives to this:

• If you know encounter are likely to merge, simple create on file. You can roll initiative for every one, or you can let the backup in reserve. Leaving them in reserve means they will not clutter the combat sequence. However there is no way to roll initiative for them, you will have to use the “Move up & Start Round” button to place them in combat. This is similar to the 3.5 way of handling new combatants.
• Give unique id to each monster. That way you can load files after the combat has started. In this case they will enter combat in reserve.