Resource Trackers
The Full (GCS) character sheet and the Combat sheet both contain four "resource trackers" -- widgets whose job it is to view and manage quantities that increase or decrease with use. This is meant as a generic way to track resources important to the character.
These resources could be physical objects, such as crossbow bolts, bullets, or magic beans, or abstract quantities like control points (from Fantastic Dungeon Grappling), Quintessence ("The Fifth Attribute", Pyramid 3/120), or Destiny Points (Monster Hunters).
This is what the Resource Trackers look like on the character sheet:
This example shows one 'used' Resource Tracker (Crossbow Bolts) and three trackers currently unassigned to any value. The darker background on the title bar shows that a specific tracker is currently in use.
In the bottom-right corner of each tracker are the configured minimum and maximum values for that tracker. In this case, the minimum is zero (0) and the maximum is 20.
Increment/Decrement Buttons: You can increment or decrement the count of a tracker by clicking on the [+] or [–] buttons. Each click increases or decreases the current count by 1. Holding the Shift key down and clicking will increase or decrease the current count by 5.
Reset Button: Clicking the curved arrow button to the right of the [+] button resets the tracker to its maximum value.
Resource Value Textfield: If you click into the text area, you can directly edit the value as well.
Quick Access Ribbon: And finally, if you click into the text area, a popup 'ribbon' will appear with buttons to increase or reduce the current value by 1, 5, or 10, set it to zero (0), or reset it to the current value (useful if you've clicked a number of those buttons but want to cancel the action).
Status Text: You'll also see text like 'Normal' below the input buttons and field. This is intended to reflect the 'status' of the resource, based on the current value and its maximum value. The status may also be colored as another hint of the status of that resource.
The simplest use of the Resource Tracker requires very little setup. It involves naming the resource and optionally setting its maximum value, and some 'thresholds' that serve as rules the tracker uses to display the Status Text and its color.
To edit a tracker, click on its titlebar. The pencil icon is a hint that the editor is accessible through that mechanism.
Once you click the titlebar, it opens a dialog that asks you what you want to do:
Edit Tracker: This will open the Tracker Editor, allowing you to change the configuration of this tracker.
Delete Tracker: This clears all configuration in the Resource Tracker, making it unassigned.
Copy Template: This allows you to copy the Resource Tracker configuration from a template defined for this game world. This makes it easy for the GM to define a standard resource that many or all characters should have. Clicking this button will copy the template named in the "Resource Tracker Templates" dropdown list into this specific Resource Tracker. This overwrites any current configuration of the selected Resource Tracker.
Clicking the Edit Tracker button opens the Resource Tracker Editor in its own window.
Resource Name: The only required configuration in a tracker is its name. This changes the name of the Resource Tracker on the character sheet and sets the titlebar color to black, showing that this Resource Tracker "slot" is in use.
Current: A number to use as the initial tracker value.
Minimum: The minimum value of the resource. At the moment this is informational only; it doesn't affect the tracker in any way. E.g., it does not prevent the resource from going below this value.
Maximum: The maximum value of the resource. It is potentially used in determining the Status Text and color. However, the resource value is not restricted from exceeding this value.
Alias: A short name used to refer to this resource. It is required if you want the resource to show up in the Apply Damage Dialog as a target of damage.
Reference: A GURPS PDF page reference, used by PDFoundry to open the appropriate PDF inside Foundry. If entered, the bottom-left corner of the tracker will contain a link to open the PDF to the indicated page.
Use as Damage Type: If checked, this allows the resource to be used in the Apply Damage Dialog as a target of damage.
Damage Tracker: The assumption is that most resources start at a maximum value, and "damage" is represented by subtracting the value by some amount. That reflects how HP and FP work. To get that behavior, leave Damage Tracker unchecked. If this checkbox is checked, then "damage" is added to the current value (instead of subtracted).
Thresholds are used to set up ranges of values that correlate to a specific status of the resource. This is how you can customize the Status Text and its color in the tracker, and have it update automatically as the resource value increases and decreases.
You need to create one threshold for each status you want to display. The current resource status is determined by comparing the current value to its maximum value.
Clicking the '+' button will create a new threshold.
For each threshold, you need to define the following information:
Comparison: This is the type of comparison to do between the current value and threshold value (which is defined by the next two fields, Operator and Value). Possible values are:
- [>] - Greater Than
- [≥] - Greater Than or Equal To
- [<] - Less Than
- [≤] - Less Than or Equal To
Operator: A mathematical operator to apply to the resource's maximum value to get the threshold value. Possible values:
- [MAX ×] - The resource maximum value times (or multiplied by) the next value
- [MAX ÷] - The resource maximum value divided by the next value
- [MAX +] - The resource maximum value plus the next value
- [MAX –] - The resource maximum value minus the next value
Value: The value to use in the calculation of the threshold value.
Condition: The name of the status.
Color: The color you want to assign to the status.
The trashcan icon is used to delete this threshold.
Threshold Value: The threshold value is calculated by applying the Operator to the resource maximum and the Value.
For example, suppose we have a Resource whose maximum value is 15. If the Operator is [MAX +] and the Value is 5, then the Threshold Value is (15 + 5), or 20.
Resource Status: To determine the current status of a resource, the current value is compared, one-by-one, to each Threshold Value starting from the top of the list and moving towards the bottom. The first calculation that is 'true' is used as the Resource Status.
For example, assume we have the following list of thresholds:
Also assume that the resource maximum is 18.
What is the Resource Status for a current value of:
- 20?
- Is 20 greater than 18 (MAX × 1)? Yes. The status is Over.
- 18?
- Is 18 greater than 18 (MAX × 1)? No.
- Is 18 greater than 9 (MAX ÷ 2)? Yes. The status is Normal.
- 3?
- Is 3 greater than 18 (MAX × 1)? No.
- Is 3 greater than 9 (MAX ÷ 2)? No.
- Is 3 greater than 0 (MAX × 0)? Yes. The status is Low.
- 0?
- Is 0 greater than 18 (MAX × 1)? No.
- Is 0 greater than 9 (MAX ÷ 2)? No.
- Is 0 greater than 0 (MAX × 0)? No.
- Is 0 less than or equal to 0 (MAX × 0)? Yes. The status is Under.
Here's another example that copies the logic behind Fatigue. I hope this makes it easier to understand how to set thresholds to drive the correct Status Text and color.
For FP, the possible statuses are (see page B426):
- Normal: The current FP value is greater than or equal to 1/3 your basic FP.
- Very Tired: The current FP value is less than 1/3 of your basic FP but greater than zero (0).
- Verge of Collapse: The current FP is less than or equal to zero (0) and greater than -1 × basic FP.
- Unconscious: The current FP is less than or equal to -1 × basic FP.
You could make a Resource Tracker duplicate these thresholds like this:
Here are some examples that you can copy to get some basic Resource Tracker functionality:
Use a resource tracker to track the bullets in a clip or magazine. In this example, the magazine contains 22 bullets. You want to show the Status Text as "OK" with a green highlight while there are more than 6 bullets in the magazine; as "Running Low" with a yellow highlight if there are 1-6 bullets, and "Empty" with red highlight if the magazine is empty.
Use a resource tracker to track the HP of a shield and have the ability to apply normal damage to the shield instead of the character. Let's assume we are talking about a Large Shield (B287) with DR 9, HP 60.
Normal: Shields provide their normal protection as long as their current HPs are greater than zero (0).
Disabled: If equal to or less than zero, but greater than -5×HP, the shield must make a HT roll or is disabled or destroyed, and no longer provides any protection. It is still attached to the wearer and encumbers them.
Collapse: At equal to or less than -5×HP but greater than -10×HP, the shield automatically fails but is still attached/worn.
Destroyed: At less than or equal to -10×HP the shield is totally physically destroyed and falls off the wearer.
This requires the alias to be set as it is used in the Apply Damage Dialog. In addition, the "Use as Damage Type" box must be checked.
With this setup, you can drag a damage chat onto this character, and when the ADD pops up, select Apply To: "Large Shield". You'd have to override the DR to be the DR of the shield, and select the Injury Tolerance: Homogenous, then Apply Injury to damage the shield.
(Coming Soon)