The Forge Archives

What happened to the Driftwood Progress sticky anyway? This should really have gone in there.

Anyway, the Character Generator software is done. I just need a day or two to package it up and I'll send it to Jake to throw on the webpage. Is it any good? Only you can decide...

Jeez man, I thought the Combat Sim was a lot of work. Until you start coding something like this, you don't realise just how much intricacy there is in the TROS character creation process. I'm not saying complicated or hard, just that there are a lot of nuances, and capturing them all is exhausting :-)

Brian.

sorry I never got back to you on the beta copy I got, my PC refused to run it because of a registry problem that resulted from some old crap i never fixed. Sorry about that.

No worries, I had a couple of other testers, and some damn good feedback from them.

Brian.

Let me chime in with an anticipatory thanks.  Based on your other work, it's a good bet that this generator is a good one.  ;)

Rats! Having received my copy of TRoS full rules after work today, it was my secret ambition to write a cross - platform chargen tool.

Do you share your source? If so, what language are you working in?

Oh, and thanks for the combat sim. It's provided hours of entertainment while waiting for builds.

Is it possible to port characters from this chargen to the combat sim? If not, is it hard to fix?
Not that it's a real issue. I mean, it doesn't take long to just write down the stats in the sim. But still...

Anyway, it's probably great, and yet another reason for me to get a laptop onto the gaming table.

This thing will blow you away.  It is too cool.

When Valamir gushes about it being too cool, that says something.  Looking forward to it. I like the Combat Sim, and I think I can put the Char Gen to good use too!

Yeah.  I had given him a bunch of ideas a couple of which were of the "this is important" variety, but the majority of which were of the "this would be really cool if it wasn't too much trouble" variety...thinking perhaps they'd be something he'd add to a future version.

Nope.  Pretty much everything I threw at him he put in.  The second version I saw...damn, and I thought the first version was good.

The only thing it doesn't do is give me a full 3d rendered animated avatar of my character based on my traits, descriptive qualities and purchased gear.  I'm still pretty disappointed about that ;-)

Quote from: ValamirThe only thing it doesn't do is give me a full 3d rendered animated avatar of my character based on my traits, descriptive qualities and purchased gear.  I'm still pretty disappointed about that ;-)

What?  What kind of character creator are they trying to dump on us?!?

Seriously though, I'm having to be careful not to drool on my keyboard in anticipation here.  

Does it generate printable character sheets?  And in what sort of format?

Printable yes, with options that allow you to select what you want to show...which maneuvers do you want listed, which CPs do you want put in the icon space, etc.  But the version I tested was formatted for landscape it hadn't occured to me at the time I looked at it that someone would have a strong preference for portrait, so that wasn't among the feedback I gave at least.

To give a few teasers:

EVERY item listed in the purchase lists is available to buy simply by clicking on the list and having it automatically deduct the cost from your starting money.  And if that isn't enough, you can add pretty much anything you want to the lists to be saved for future use.

You select your country of origin using hotspots on a full color map of Wyerth (which populates all of the bonuses and such to traits and skills automatically).  And if you're not playing in Wyerth you can enter your own origin countries and enter the pertinent bonuses.

The Skill section is smart enough to not let you continue until you actually assign a specialty to those skills that require one, AND automatically populates those specialties which are profession specific... e.g. filling in the "Clan" specialty for Ettiquette when you select the Warrior profession.

Basically.  Design your character from start to printable sheet without opening the book.  At all.

Drool in anticipation all ye mortals, and envy those of us who already have a copy Bwahaha.

Quote from: ValamirDrool in anticipation all ye mortals, and envy those of us who already have a copy Bwahaha.

Great!  I just drooled all over the keyboard!  

My gawd, this sounds too good to be true.  Am I dreaming?  Someone pinch me?  How much must I pay for Brian's masterpiece?

I think it could EASILY be something worth paying for.  Its that good.

I'd also recommend having a couple dozen CDs printed up with a nice TROS label on them and either selling or giving them away as premiums at GenCon with book purchase.

I think I'm gonna load this on my desk-top and start building opponents on the fly. Hehehehe...

This sounds like an incredible program and I can't wait to get my hands on it.  I just have to questions:
First, is it in anyway customizable?  By this I mean if I as Seneschal have added a few skills to the list that aren't in the rule book, can I add them to the program?
Second, when can we start downloading?!!!!

Another question. Is it possible to use it as some kind of database for NPC's and the like?
If not, then is it possible that one might be created?
The only thing I really, really like about D&D is the plethora of campaign managers, databases and other goodies available. The rest I could do without.

Quote from: MokkurkalfeIs it possible to port characters from this chargen to the combat sim? If not, is it hard to fix?
Not that it's a real issue. I mean, it doesn't take long to just write down the stats in the sim. But still...

Yup. Actually, you have Ralph to thank for that, he convinced me it was necessary :-)

Brian.

Go Brian, Go!

Wow - having just read how good the character generator is going to be has definitely made me drool on my keyboard.  I think it's way cool that your allowing a way for the characters to be ported into the combat simulator.  I can see it now with a new player:

Newbie player: How would this character do in a fight - I've heard TROS is all about combat?

Seneschal: Why don't you try it on the simulator?

10 minutes later...

Ex-newbie player: Man I love this game!

Seneschal: And that is just part of the game...

Brian, can you imagine how easy it is going to be to attract new players to the game with this sort of facility available?  I don't think I need to say any more do I?

Regards, with many respects!

Kanseg

Jeez Ralph, you're making me blush. It's not THAT good... :-)

Erm, OK, to answer the couple of questions I just spotted...

Yes, it's customizable. You can't add new skills (and I can't really add that possibility in without a major version revision, you'll see why when you see the program), but you can design new skill packets, new gifts and flaws, new equipment and you can use custom country stats (with attribute bonuses/penalties, a bonus gift and/or flaw, and up to three bonus skills).

Yes, you can print characters (what would be the point otherwise?) in landscape; the sheet looks almost exactly like the one in the book. Portrait isn't a bad idea, maybe I'll think about that for a future version.

NPC library? Sure, you can make up characters using the standard (enforced) rules, or you can just add this and that until you have what you want with no restrictions, which was put in there for easy NPC creation. Naturally you can then save, print and later edit and update and print again, etc. The idea is that you can keep your character or NPC's on line and update the sheet between sessions, then print it out again etc.

I have to say, I really like Ralph's idea of a CD, Jake - blank CD's are pretty cheap, you could put things like the Character Sheets, Quickstart rules, combat sim, damage tables (both my software and the PDF), this Character Generator, etc all on a CD with a nice TROS label and sell them for $5 at GenCon or free if you buy a copy of the main book or OBAM, that kind of thing. Not a stupid idea.

I'm just working through a couple of minor bugs and spelling mistakes I spotted last night and then I'll send it off.

Brian.

Quote from: Brian LeybourneYes, you can print characters (what would be the point otherwise?) in landscape; the sheet looks almost exactly like the one in the book. Portrait isn't a bad idea, maybe I'll think about that for a future version.

Being the Official Leader of the TROS Portrait Character Sheet Brigade, I humbly ask you to puh-leeeeese make a protrait sheet.

The rest of this sounds so awesome.  If I ever meet you, remind me to buy you a drink or something.

If you decide to do the CD thing (and I definitely think you should) you could do the CD-in the back of the core-book thing, on future print runs. For those of us who already have a copy or two of the main book it would hardly be feasible as the only means of distribution though.

On the other hand, I don't have a copy of the revised rules yet, just two copies of the original print-run.

Hey, I'm stoked. I don't think any other game which has officially been out for less than a year can claim a professional quality character generator, and a combat simulator. Go TRoS!

I finally found out what was wrong with my beta test, The Char Gen does not like running with Multimedia jukebox. I uninstalled one and reinstalled the other and this resolved most of my problems. Just thought i would pass along the heads up. I am also running Ein 98 which might be part of the problem.

Quote from: Ashren Va'HaleThe Char Gen does not like running with Multimedia jukebox.

eh?

VERY odd, I don't see how the two could possibly affect each other, since the CharGen doesn't do anything remotely multimediaish.

Hmm.. I'll have to look into that. Thanks.

Brian.

I could send you the error messages I got if you would like. let me know

We have a portrait sheet that will shortly be available.

Jake

Quote from: Jake NorwoodWe have a portrait sheet that will shortly be available.

Thanks Jake!

Enough of this teasing!  The people demand to know a release date!  Revolution, my broth-...my bro-...guys?

Seriously, I'm stoked about this program, Brian.  :)

How long?

I sent Jake the finished product last night, so it's out of my hands now :-)

Brian.

http://home.hiwaay.net/~vampires/Doc1.doc

i havent been able to convert it to PDF, as my printer software doesnt work with win 2000, but here it is at a word file... anyone with working printer drivers and adobe acrobat (not reader) can convert it to pdf easily..

i didnt make any changes to the sheet, just put it in a portrait format

Quote from: prophet118http://home.hiwaay.net/~vampires/Doc1.doc

i havent been able to convert it to PDF, as my printer software doesnt work with win 2000, but here it is at a word file... anyone with working printer drivers and adobe acrobat (not reader) can convert it to pdf easily..

i didnt make any changes to the sheet, just put it in a portrait format

Don't take this the wrong way but...

I love you man!

Ha ha.  I am very much a system backend person, spinning databases (Oracle et all) and working in the innards of applications (Weblogic, Jboss, et all).  The frontend stuff is completely beyond me, and when forced to do it, I do it badly.  I tried to do this with the TROS sheet and failed.

I had thought of making a web application as a TROS character sheet generator, as I have done  for BESM and a few other games, but work is keeping me mucho busy these days.  Barely enough time to go to the gym and keep my belly at a reasonable size!

well, it was fairly easy... unfortunately, i am not much use anymore... had to do a system reinstall, and forgot to have my wife bring home acrobat for me... not that it helps, all i could do then is export the pics... which was what i did for the TROS sheet... word to the wise... canon BJC 5100 doesnt like to work with windows 2000..... never mind that all it did before hand was print black pages....i need a new printer.....lol

Great job!

I've noticed a couple of errors though.  First, for some reason none of the piecemeal plating is in the equipment lists, including gauntlets.

Also, the extra proficiency points granted by nationality, or at least for Gelure, aren't added during the proficiency buying page.

Thanks for your post, Michael.

Quote from: Michael TreeFirst, for some reason none of the piecemeal plating is in the equipment lists, including gauntlets.

Actually, if you check the equipment list in the book, you'll see that everything in there is in the program. Piecemeal plate isn't there because it's not in the lists in chapter 7 :-) You can, of course, add it into the software yourself very easily by clicking on the "add equipment" tab.

Quote from: Michael TreeAlso, the extra proficiency points granted by nationality, or at least for Gelure, aren't added during the proficiency buying page.

On the Create or on the New option?

The New option doesn't apply any creation standards, it lets you put whatever you want into there, so you would be right there. The Create option, however, does. And I happen to know thast all the proficiency adds are in there, including Gelure. If you take a non sorcerer, it'll only add the 1 extra wepaon proficiency, otherwise it'll add the three extra vagary points as well. If you look at the bottom right of the create/proficiency screen you'll see a little panel where it tells you what it's added.

If it isn't adding those points, then there's a very specific error somewhere because it works perfectly for me. Can you let me know what options you picked (priorities, specifically) so I can check?

Thanks,
Brian.

[rosanna rosannadanna] nevermind... [/rosanna rosannadanna]

The character was a halfling. I forgot halflings don't get country bonuses.

Thank you very much for the character generator software. It's excellent :)

The char gen is great.  


However, I was surprised to see that you included a non-sentient species (Australians) in it.


I lived in Leigh, just north of Auckland for 4 years, so I can appreciate the good-natured anti-Aussi humor.

cheers.

i wonder if it'd be possible to add some export features?.... not pdf or anything so fun, i was thinking HTML...

I don't really know anything about programatically compiling HTML documents, so don't hold your breath. Maybe I'll have a play with it someday when I have some spare time though.

Brian.

honestly id really want to go for PDF... but i figured html might be simplier... except of course the trouble with coding the html to match the sheet..lol......

right now, if i had my printer drivers working, and had acrobat reinstalled, i could just print to distiller and make a file that way, but as my printer divers dont seem to like win 2k, thats not an option for me anymore :(

Well, I don't really know anything about creating PDF's on the fly either :-). But as I say, someday when I have time...

Brian.

ok doke... i know PCgen handles both aspects, but its a java program, so who knows..

i do know that the PDf writing parts are just .JAR files