Wow! That is constructive feedback!
First of all, you are right in summing it up as "it has the stuff, but it is not clear how to use it".
The character creation module was specifically designed with ease of use in mind, and the "How to use" box was added to clear up doubts about the rules in place. I am really glad it worked as intended.
I realize that ERA is actually seen more as just a character creation program, and the complexity and lack of tutorials for the other modules might be the reason.
All of your comments are useful and I will have them in mind as I design the coming features, especially when considering future redesigns to the user interface. My next big challenge is creating a useful tool for RMU players, as that means making it easy for all of us since a lot of new rules will be in play. Help texts and a clearer interface are crucial to achieving it.
Some of your comments target the fact that the interface is compact and light on words. The reason for this is that it was created with a small screen in mind (less than 10'') to allow any computer to provide GM support. Also, a lot of texts would be irrelevant to advanced users, but I never got around to adding them for new users! This would obviously require an on/off switch somewhere to avoid being annoying to those who already learned about a feature.
So, I promise to consider all your points in future features, and to little by little add the option to have more comprehensive text about what is going on (character names and summary of damage next to the portraits, experience calculation information, etc.).
Since this might take some time, as ERA is a project I can only tackle on my free time, I wanted to detail some hints on "where to find / how to do" some of the things you mention. Maybe you've seen them and it's just that they were not useful in their current state, but just in case:
- The circle of options around a character have tooltips if you stay a second or two over them. That will indicate the action to execute (attack, maneuver, etc.).
- The attack dialog is supposed to present the attack on the left side, and the defense on the right side. So the attacker's percentage is on the top left, and the defender's parry is on the lower right.
- If you hover for a second or two over a character portrait, you get the character name, a percentage for remaining hits, bleeding status and stun rounds remaining. All of this information is also available to the players using the Character Status module, which is intended to be accessed using their smartphones/tables. There they can always get a more detailed view on penalties, stun, bleeding, movement, HP, PP, magical and physical encumbrance. Exhaustion is not heavily considered in ERA, as I only added it after some requests, and only to the character information window for the GM.
- All of your comments on character status and the things missing from the GM interface in the Adventuring module and the character sheet, are about information currently shown in the Character Status module. I understand some groups do not allow phones during play, or prefer a printed sheet. After seeing the ACG character sheet, I see I could add some of this information to the printed character sheet offered currently by ERA.
- ERA keeps track of damage caused by criticals, and automatically considers it on every skill check. It does not offer the chance to say "this is a physical penalty and I'm rolling Math, ignore it", this must be adjusted manually on each scenario. It does consider hit point penalties, but only when making an attack, where you have the option to adjust it if necessary (and a check box to ignore it for situations like undead or golems attacking). PP and EXH penalties are not considered so far.
- The adjusted value for a skill (after considering critical penalties) is displayed every time the skill is used, in the form "Skill name [ranks] bonus (modified bonus after penalties)"
- I could add the level of danger and times done to the maneuver dialog, but it is tricky to design a window with parts that come and go depending on options that could be turned on/off. I promise to keep it in mind and try to add it.
- There IS an experience report available. I do not talk about it in general because it might not be useful to every play style, but you could check it out in the meantime. Every time you save and adventure, two files are updated. One is "adventure name.adventure.XML" and the other is "adventure name.summary.XML". The summary file can be opened with any Web Browser and has sections for spells, skills, damage received and combat involvement. The current version does not list repeated attempts of the same skill at the same difficulty, and does not repeat repeated spells cast. So it will tell you "Borat used Shock Bolt and Sudden Light, succeeded at a Very Hard Swimming and a Light Swimming maneuver" but not how many times. If I were to add your request for danger and first time/routine, I might offer a different experience report with the detailed number of times, danger, etc.
So, again, thanks for all the input. Thanks for all the ideas. I am sorry for all the lack of information in the user interface. Please remember that I promise to consider all the suggestions, and understand that I am working on ERA for RMU, more RMC and RMFRP packages, the character inventory and training package module, and making improvements to the creature template feature.