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What is the point of statblocks?

M

monsterfurby

Well-known member
I still have to figure out what purpose statblocks serve over just formatting a statblock and copy-pasting it into a text snippet. The main thing I am wondering about here is that so-called statblocks are actually fairly clunky to use - opening an entire new document to view it seems to go exactly against the purpose of a statblock as a quick reference of stats.

Maybe I am using this feature wrong, so feel free to correct me, but how is something that I have to import (three clicks) and then view separately (one click) better than just copying and pasting (two-three clicks) it and being able to view it instantly because it shows up as a text snipped (no clicks)?
 
I long ago ditched the statblock snippet and gone with pasting into a text snippet and I have never looked back.

The only reason I can see in favor is that it can perhaps reduce "clutter" on a page, but for me that is not worth the hassle.
 
At least for Savage Worlds, I find it easier to just use text snippets. The snippet looks fine and I get to keep it inline with the rest of the topic.
 
For some game systems, statblocks can become extremely long. If you have a statblock for an encounter that includes multiple combatants, the statblocks can easily be multiple screen fulls in length. By having a separate statblock snippet, users can readily move all that material off to another place, out of sight until needed. If your statblocks are short enough, or you prefer having the statblock inline with the topic, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with putting the statblock into a text snippet. Whatever works best for you! :)
 
Also, for some games, there is a "standard format" for a stat block, and begin able to keep table formatting can be handy.
 
I like that if I re-use a statblock a lot, I can save it as a file on my computer and then link RW to that file instead of having to copypasta or type it all in every time. And if I want to make small tweaks that only apply to that encounter, it doesn't overwrite the original file on my computer.
 
MaxSupernova said:
Also, for some games, there is a "standard format" for a stat block, and begin able to keep table formatting can be handy.
Click to expand...

Table formatting does kind of work in text snippets as well, though.

Thanks for the feedback, folks. So the statblock is really more of a character sheet from text file (as opposed to Hero Lab file)? That sounds reasonable.
 
Another user has already mentioned the possibility of using tables in text snippets, but I'll expound on that topic. I've used RW for awhile now, and I'm both a bit of a traditionalist, and a graphics snob, when it comes to Statblocks - I like them to look clean and nice like they were pulled straight from a published book. To this end, I don't use the "Statblocks" feature of Realmworks as it is currently implemented. So what I've done is create a "Bestiary" section in my Mechanics Reference area of Realmworks, with a category dedicated to "Statblock Templates". Each of these "Statblock Templates" is simply a Topic with a multiline text snippet containing a Table which I've nicely formatted and coloured in the cels and borders to look like a Statblock from a published book of whatever system I'm running. Whenever I want to create a new monster/NPC/trap/etc. I simply make a copy of an empty "Statblock Template" of the appropriate type, and paste it into a Snippet within the Topic I've created for said Monster/NPC/Trap/etc. Then I fill in the table, and *voila* - shiny new statblock which I can link to (specifically, at present, I can only link the containing Topic), or copy elsewhere within my realm. Since each entry in the Bestiary is its own Topic, anything that doesn't fit into the appropriate Statblock Table can just go into its own snippet, including text, artwork, etc. Hope this was clear enough.
 
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JTenebrous said:
Another user has already mentioned the possibility of using tables in text snippets, but I'll expound on that topic. I've used RW for awhile now, and I'm both a bit of a traditionalist, and a graphics snob, when it comes to Statblocks - I like them to look clean and nice like they were pulled straight from a published book.
Click to expand...

You can do something similar, but not have the 'combat' stats visible all the time by saving out the formatted tables as RTF files. Then, link them to the Statblock snippet. When you view it, you can go into edit mode, you can edit the RW copy of the snippeted RTF table. Then, when necessary, you can call up the combat stats in a tab for use. For people who want less clutter in their main article page for a creature, this is a good option. You can then export out the table if you'd like to a file after editing it. (Although I seem to be having a small glitch with RTF formatting in Wordpad and Libre/OpenOffice right now. MS Word is fine)
 
I wasn't sure what Statblocks were until I found this thread. Now I know what it is and that it's something I don't need for my game.

A suggestion I have for small stats if you don't want an external document is to create them in Mechanic Reference then link to them.
 
I use them for fully fleshed out encounters in systems that aren't supported by Hero Lab.

For example, I sometimes run a Custom Hunter game (think Supernatrual TV show) using the White Wolf nWoD rules. Hero Lab has nWoD for Mortals, Vampires, and Changelings, but nothing beyond that. I make custom creatures for each "episode", based on the TV show, Urban Legend, Lore, nWoD creatures, oWoD creatures, etc...

Hero Lab might work great for my RotRL campaign, but I need statblocks for everything else.

To keep things clean, I use statblocks, it's not in my face, unless I need it. a quick word file template does WONDERS for this, and while a simple text block would work (and which I use for easy npcs) the BBEG generally won't format nicely in a text block (not without weird line breaks happening from one resolution to another).

Just my 2 cents.
 
I have just started a Dark Heresy campaign using RW and the stablock page is essential to avoid bogging down the main data with stats.
 
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