Petition to FFG: please release pdfs of monster sheets free of charge. It's not very practical to try to have a page open while running an combat encounter or it's not my favorite thing to copy monster stats and attacks to word/powerpoint/sheet of paper.

Locations are delivered as cards but monsters are not - this is not logical. Monsters would have worked as similar sheets as career sheets are. It's a shame as production design this was not done.

I should not buy pdf version of the books separately having already bought the printed version.

I happily second the motion

Interesting idea - monster sheets. This could be very usefull. I think that everyone of us can make there own monster sheets. But in the future maybe FFG will release a supplement about monsters with monsters on cards and with there own monster special action cards. Who knows, only Jay maybe?

This would be really great.

I'm working up a quick reference sheet for the players instead of using the status cards. I find that digging through the stack for 'stunned' or 'ill' takes more time than it would to simply tell them they're X. If it comes to needing time markers I'll have them stack counters on the sheet. Not that I don't love them, but I think that's one of the more superfluous items in the game. The other cards make more sense as cards. I like the idea of handing these out, but flipping through the stack eats up time I don't want to take in-game.

I'd just be happy with workspace on the side of the page for the 3.5E version of the game..that and a decent format (why is that other stat grouped with toughness again???)

jh

I have been thinking the same thing. Multi-page print two pages on a singe 8.5 x 11 and presto you go everything you need one single page. This is a great itdea. Please consider this FFG.

Wraith428

I'm also a fan of a new, more modular format for NPCs. Preferably convenient cards or something. Even if we could download the NPC pages right now that would be a great step-up since we could compile them all into a, dare I say it, monster manual, of sorts. Three ring binder and hole-punch here I come! Of course, I'm sure given some time, if FFG doesn't give us a better turnkey alternative, the community will come together and fill this need with custom NPC stat sheets, etc.

The Strange Eons Warhammer 3e plugin has the ability to make Monster sheets that are a similar format to those in ToA.

The example comes with the Beastmen page. I've put together a couple more pages (cultists, Basic NPCs) using this. They export as A5 size graphics, which I put on one side of an A4 sheet in landscape with the other side having the basic action cards, so I can use tokens to track everything for one NPC group on one A4 page.

I'd upload them somewhere, but it would probably be a breach of copyright... Would it?

Trenloe, I would love to have a copy of them! Would make things a lot easier for my gaming group.

Nezabyte said:

I'm new to the FFG forums - whats the best way to get large files to people? Is there a personal message function or something similar?

You need to upload them to some server first and post the link here but copyright issues in terms of Games Workshop IP is notorious so..

I've been seeing people post SE user-created stuff over at the Warhammer se plugin forum. Can't believe there's no private message option

There's a way to PM here, but it's pretty much useless anyways. The designer of these forums needs to have their head looked at..typical design of someone who doesn't ACTUALLY USE THE FORUMS THAT THEY DESIGNED. /gripe off/

jh

Trenloe said:

Uploading to Hammerzeit and then announcing here is also a good option if your contribution's useful to most of us.

And Emirikol-agreed 100%.

PM isn't really a PM. It sends an email to the individual with no way to reply via email, you have to re-PM (I believe). If you're going to PM and want to communicate back and forth and attach files you'll need to include a live email address in the body of your PM to whomever.

I have to admit that I originally bought the pdfs of the core set largely so I wouldn't have to expend the effort to scan and print the monster pages in the ToA. Now that we have additional monsters in both TGS and WoM, and the prospect that this is how monsters will continue to be introduced going forward rather than via a separate Bestiary type release, I'm less inclined to spring for the pdfs just to avoid scanning the monster pages. I've always thought they had a reason for doing the monsters as two-page spreads rather than cards and originally figured that the pages were simpler and easier to use than a large stack of cards. However, with further thought I find myself reversing my opinion. Each monster write up features 3 creatures. One page has artwork, special rules, and tips for using them. The other has the stat lines and the special actions. This layout forces them to group creatures in threes and limits the group to 4 special actions (although generally speaking, not all creatures in the group have access to all four actions). Yes you can give individual monsters any of the action cards the PCs have access to if you want them to have more than 1 or 2 special abilities, but there's no chance of seeing more than 4 unique special abilities per group with the current layout. I hate to think we might not get some creatures simply because the group they belong to isn't divisible by 3.

If they went with cards, they could use the large career sheet size for the individual monsters. One side could contain the stat line and any special rules along with the appropriate artwork (I'd suggest the same art as the corresponding stand up so they match), while the other could contain the background and tips for using the creature. The special actions as action cards would mean that the GM could only take out those they actually need and not have table space taken up by actions that don't apply to the encounter. For example, in an encounter with Zombies, the GM only needs No Escape, No Hope and ...Braaaaaaaaains!. The other two actions presented in the two page spread on Undead are not needed. Furthermore, by producing individual special action cards, the designers would not be limited by space reasons to just 4 actions per group. They've already introduced the concept of nemesis NPCs that have variable stances and WoM has creatures that don't have a fixed stance as well. This would open up the possibility of having NPC special actions with different effects per stance as with PC actions. They've already had to do this with the spells of NPC casters anyway, so it's not that much of a stretch to think the special actions could be produced as action cards as well. Since most monsters have a fixed stance, all of these cards would not need to be double sided as with PC basic action cards and could be produced with text on one side and a unifying card back design on the other.

It seems unlikely that they will do this though since they have already used the current design through several products. Making a switch now would inevitably bring calls for releasing the creatures from the prior products in the new format, which would be met with outrage by those that choose to see this as a scam to force us to rebuy product we already own in another format.

That being the case, I'd gladly accept the next best thing which is pdfs of the creature pages as a separate download.

Even without a fixed stance for the monsters (like the optional rule in the GM Toolkit) the current monster action cards don't have more than one side to them so a generic 'monster back' wouldn't be a stretch.

Llanwyre said:

OK, uploaded the Strange Eons files for Beastmen and Cultists - along with large JPGs (1MB - 300dpi) of each to Hammerzeit - under utilities. We'll have to wait for the upload to be authorised.

I'll be putting others together - I started doing these for the NPCs/Monsters required for "An Eye for an Eye".

keltheos said:

If we can't wait for the files to be available on Hammerzeit, PM me with an email address and I'll try and send them out...

The monster vault in WFRP release schedule seems to take the idea of monster sheets: great!

stanmons said:

The Monster Vault taht will be avaliable this year has all the cards and monster sheets with stand ups. So why do we need a pdf? I don't get that? The pdf would be useless when You can buy it all official and printed. I don't know how You guys but I'm going to buy The Monsters Guide and Monsters Vaults!