Hi! Let me start by saying that I only recently purchased The Riddle of Steel. My initial impression is that this is a Great Game! Great job Mr. Norwood! I've read it almost from cover to cover (rare for me, but it's a good read), and aside from a few aspects of advanced magic and combat I've managed to get my head around it.

Now on to the meat of my post. I've seen the initial offerings in the way of software at the Riddle of Steel website (dice roller and DOS combat program) but are there any plans in the works for a character generator? Beyond that, perhaps a suite of play aids (like the planned Master Tools for D&D)?

I know that character creation with TROS is fairly simple. Also, the more abstract parts, such as philosophy and concept, would be hard to pin down in a concrete manner like a selection from a list. But I think there's certainly value in such a program. Especially in the areas of calculating derived values and so forth. Given enough flexibility, a program could even allow for the issues of philosophy, etc.

Has anyone committed to making a character generator? Or does anyone feel that it would be a wasted effort?

Regards,

Brandon

I'd love to see someone do a chargen. We've got a guy working on a newer combat program, but chargen...bring 'er on!

I may look into throwing something together. I don't want to commit to it just yet, as I'm not sure how involved it would be. I've just finished my first TROS character (a reincarnation of an old favorite D&D character in fact). All through the creation process, I tried to think about the difficulties involved in making a chargen program. So far, I think it wouldn't take much, but more study is needed.

I'll let you know if I decide for sure to make a go of it! :-)

Later,
Brandon

Hey, a question here.. I'm not particularly adept with .pdf's, so perhaps I can get an answer here, seeing as how it ties strongly into the topic.

I have created very simple character sheet generators by using MSWorks databases. I use a .bmp image of the character sheet as the background, then place fields over the relevant areas. It's crude, but workable. The result is a character sheet with the entries printed into it, which looks considerably better than my own handwriting.

However, the only really clear image I have of the character sheet is from the .pdf I DL'd from TheRiddleofSteel.com. I was trying to figure out a way to take the image from the .pdf and make it a .bmp. Unfortunately, I was unable to do so. The only idea I had which might theoretically work is to screen-shot the image, but that ends up with resolution going to hell. Is there a way to pull the image off of a .pdf otherwise? Or will I be forced to try this with a sub-standard resolution image?

Lance-

If you want I you can get a *.bmp from me. Just tell me what size you want.

Jake

Hey! Could I get a couple of image format character sheets? Maybe in 800x600 size? Possibly 640x480 as well? I'd need .bmp format, too. They could be useful if I do decide to make a chargen program.

Brandon

Thanks immensely, Jake. Um.. Whatever size has the best resolution on the images/words. I believe Works can auto-resize it, so resolution's the only thing I'm worried about.

If this is kosher with you, send it as a file attachment to JohanusMorgan@aol.com, or let me know where I can DL the images.

Hope this doesn't come across as a nag.. But what's the deal on the .bmps? If you've not got 'round to it yet, that's cool, I just wanted to know if I could be expecting something on this sometime.

Anyone with the full-version of Adobe Acrobat will be able to add form fields to the downloadable character sheet off the website. If you are real clever you can even make the fields add up - very useful for determining derived Stats i.e. Agility + Wits/2 to determine Reflexes etc. I may even consider doing it myself - when I get the game. ; )

Anthony

Wolfen wrote: Hope this doesn't come across as a nag.. But what's the deal on the .bmps? If you've not got 'round to it yet, that's cool, I just wanted to know if I could be expecting something on this sometime.

Jake:

Just FYI, I have started work on the Chargen of Steel. I started last night, and I hope to do more on it tonight. As to whether I'll ever get it finished... hard to say. At this point I'm still telling myself that it will be fairly easy to do (most programming projects seem to start that way). I'll try to keep you posted on how it's coming...

Brandon

Rattlehead wrote: Jake:

Just FYI, I have started work on the Chargen of Steel. I started last night, and I hope to do more on it tonight. As to whether I'll ever get it finished... hard to say. At this point I'm still telling myself that it will be fairly easy to do (most programming projects seem to start that way). I'll try to keep you posted on how it's coming...

Brandon

Hiya! Yeah, actually, I looked at the *.rid files for the current combat sim and was considering that as a feature. I'd certainly like to make that a possiblity. Have you settled on a new file format for the characters, or are you going to stick with the current layout of the *.rid files? Let me know how the data needs to be output and I'll do my best to have that as an output option.

In truth, the initial release will probably output plain text character sheets anyway. I've not looked too far into the output options. Printing graphical character sheets is something I hope to do eventually, though. I'm just not sure if it will be in the first release. On the one hand, I want to get the thing finished so people can benefit from it, on the other, I'd like it to be as full featured and "pretty" as possible. It's a question of how much effort will be required as far as graphical character sheets is concerned. But outputting for use with the combat simulator should be an easy thing to do, and I'd love to put that in the initial release.

All of this is assuming that I'm able to finish it, of course... :-)

Brandon

PS: I'll let you know if I'm not able to finish it. I have a project that I'm going to be starting on in a few weeks (professionally), so that may knock the chargen to the back burner.... only time will tell...

Rattlehead wrote: Hiya! Yeah, actually, I looked at the *.rid files for the current combat sim and was considering that as a feature. I'd certainly like to make that a possiblity. Have you settled on a new file format for the characters, or are you going to stick with the current layout of the *.rid files? Let me know how the data needs to be output and I'll do my best to have that as an output option.

Ok, so basically you want the chargen to allow users to save characters in a *.rid format (or similar) so that they can later open the combat simulator and import it into the combat simulator's character database. Right?

Brandon

PS: I think it's a good idea to discuss these matters in the forum (unless someone objects), since that lets the people who will be using this software (hopefully) see - and comment on - the development process.

Rattlehead wrote: Ok, so basically you want the chargen to allow users to save characters in a *.rid format (or similar) so that they can later open the combat simulator and import it into the combat simulator's character database. Right?

I'm using C++ Builder 3. If you're not familiar with C++ Builder, think of it like this: It's the bastard child of an unholy union between C++ and Object Pascal. I'm not 100% sure how it works myself, but I likes it!

Brandon

Rattlehead wrote: I'm using C++ Builder 3. If you're not familiar with C++ Builder, think of it like this: It's the bastard child of an unholy union between C++ and Object Pascal. I'm not 100% sure how it works myself, but I likes it!

Brandon

Ok. I have a question for everyone. When creating a new character using Insight points from a previous character, do the new Priorities available to you automatically replace the old priorities? I think we've already discussed this, but I want to get everyone's opinion on this.

The way I see it, suppose you have 48 Insight points when you create a new character. This means that you have Priorities ABBCDE, instead of ABCDEF.

Now, is it acceptable to just use the plain old ABCDEF or do you have to drop the F and add a B in this case? I think you have to use the Second B and drop the F.

Like I said, I know that we've discussed this before, but I can't remember what ever came of it.... or what thread it's in. I'm currently working on the Priorities part of my Chargen of Steel character generator, but I want to get this straight from the start. Although, I haven't decided if I'm going to include Insight points in the initial release. That's gonna depend on how much of a pain it is to implement... hopefully not much.

Another thing I'm wondering about. Do Fey and Siehe use the standard nationalities? It doesn't seem that they would, but on the Height and Weight tables it mentions modifiers for Nationality for them as well as for humans. If not the standard human nationalities, what do they use? Maybe I'm missing something here?

Also, Brian, do you have the Combat Sim character file format nailed down yet? If so, gimme the skinny on it and I'll try to get it worked into the 1.0 release. Shouldn't be a problem, if you're still using plain ASCII text files.

Later all, and thanks for your input!

Brandon

Ok. I have a question for everyone. When creating a new character using Insight points from a previous character, do the new Priorities available to you automatically replace the old priorities? I think we've already discussed this, but I want to get everyone's opinion on this.

The way I see it, suppose you have 48 Insight points when you create a new character. This means that you have Priorities ABBCDE, instead of ABCDEF.

Now, is it acceptable to just use the plain old ABCDEF or do you have to drop the F and add a B in this case? I think you have to use the Second B and drop the F.

Like I said, I know that we've discussed this before, but I can't remember what ever came of it.... or what thread it's in. I'm currently working on the Priorities part of my Chargen of Steel character generator, but I want to get this straight from the start. Although, I haven't decided if I'm going to include Insight points in the initial release. That's gonna depend on how much of a pain it is to implement... hopefully not much.

Another thing I'm wondering about. Do Fey and Siehe use the standard nationalities? It doesn't seem that they would, but on the Height and Weight tables it mentions modifiers for Nationality for them as well as for humans. If not the standard human nationalities, what do they use? Maybe I'm missing something here?

Also, Brian, do you have the Combat Sim character file format nailed down yet? If so, gimme the skinny on it and I'll try to get it worked into the 1.0 release. Shouldn't be a problem, if you're still using plain ASCII text files.

Later all, and thanks for your input!

Brandon

Ok. I have a question for everyone. When creating a new character using Insight points from a previous character, do the new Priorities available to you automatically replace the old priorities? I think we've already discussed this, but I want to get everyone's opinion on this.

The way I see it, suppose you have 48 Insight points when you create a new character. This means that you have Priorities ABBCDE, instead of ABCDEF.

Now, is it acceptable to just use the plain old ABCDEF or do you have to drop the F and add a B in this case? I think you have to use the Second B and drop the F.

Like I said, I know that we've discussed this before, but I can't remember what ever came of it.... or what thread it's in. I'm currently working on the Priorities part of my Chargen of Steel character generator, but I want to get this straight from the start. Although, I haven't decided if I'm going to include Insight points in the initial release. That's gonna depend on how much of a pain it is to implement... hopefully not much.

Another thing I'm wondering about. Do Fey and Siehe use the standard nationalities? It doesn't seem that they would, but on the Height and Weight tables it mentions modifiers for Nationality for them as well as for humans. If not the standard human nationalities, what do they use? Maybe I'm missing something here?

Also, Brian, do you have the Combat Sim character file format nailed down yet? If so, gimme the skinny on it and I'll try to get it worked into the 1.0 release. Shouldn't be a problem, if you're still using plain ASCII text files.

Later all, and thanks for your input!

Brandon

Ok. I have a question for everyone. When creating a new character using Insight points from a previous character, do the new Priorities available to you automatically replace the old priorities? I think we've already discussed this, but I want to get everyone's opinion on this.

The way I see it, suppose you have 48 Insight points when you create a new character. This means that you have Priorities ABBCDE, instead of ABCDEF.

Now, is it acceptable to just use the plain old ABCDEF or do you have to drop the F and add a B in this case? I think you have to use the Second B and drop the F.

Like I said, I know that we've discussed this before, but I can't remember what ever came of it.... or what thread it's in. I'm currently working on the Priorities part of my Chargen of Steel character generator, but I want to get this straight from the start. Although, I haven't decided if I'm going to include Insight points in the initial release. That's gonna depend on how much of a pain it is to implement... hopefully not much.

Another thing I'm wondering about. Do Fey and Siehe use the standard nationalities? It doesn't seem that they would, but on the Height and Weight tables it mentions modifiers for Nationality for them as well as for humans. If not the standard human nationalities, what do they use? Maybe I'm missing something here?

Also, Brian, do you have the Combat Sim character file format nailed down yet? If so, gimme the skinny on it and I'll try to get it worked into the 1.0 release. Shouldn't be a problem, if you're still using plain ASCII text files.

Later all, and thanks for your input!

Brandon

Ok. I have a question for everyone. When creating a new character using Insight points from a previous character, do the new Priorities available to you automatically replace the old priorities? I think we've already discussed this, but I want to get everyone's opinion on this.

The way I see it, suppose you have 48 Insight points when you create a new character. This means that you have Priorities ABBCDE, instead of ABCDEF.

Now, is it acceptable to just use the plain old ABCDEF or do you have to drop the F and add a B in this case? I think you have to use the Second B and drop the F.

Like I said, I know that we've discussed this before, but I can't remember what ever came of it.... or what thread it's in. I'm currently working on the Priorities part of my Chargen of Steel character generator, but I want to get this straight from the start. Although, I haven't decided if I'm going to include Insight points in the initial release. That's gonna depend on how much of a pain it is to implement... hopefully not much.

Another thing I'm wondering about. Do Fey and Siehe use the standard nationalities? It doesn't seem that they would, but on the Height and Weight tables it mentions modifiers for Nationality for them as well as for humans. If not the standard human nationalities, what do they use? Maybe I'm missing something here?

Also, Brian, do you have the Combat Sim character file format nailed down yet? If so, gimme the skinny on it and I'll try to get it worked into the 1.0 release. Shouldn't be a problem, if you're still using plain ASCII text files.

Later all, and thanks for your input!

Brandon

Eh.... sorry about the multiple posts there.... I had some problems with my connection... oops...

Brandon

My own opinion is that 48 insight points give you ABBCDEF instead of ABCDEF. It gives you one extra priority to toy with and no priority is taken away.
BTW, I always allows my players to take ABCEEF or something like that, should they wato(i.e. want to make their character weaker due to story or
background), so insight points only raise the ceiling so to speak, but your still allowed to move around freely beneath it.

I really appreciate that you are doing this, 'cause the one thing that I
REALLY like about D&D is all the software and stuff available.

Agreed.. it should give you ABBCDEF and let you choose your 6 from there. There is no situation I can see where you get a benefit by not taking the 6 best ones, but it should be there if a player wants to.

As for the format, that's easy enough, although it uses a single .ini file for characters instead of many individual files.

Simply edit the fighters.ini file in c:\program files\ros and append a section formatted thus:

[Character Name]
st=x
to=x
en=x
he=x
wil=x
per=x
ref=x
prof=x
weapon=x
shield=x
head=x
chest=x
arms=x
legs=x

Where character name can be anything but try and keep below 18 characters (and of course it's unique within the file); st, to, en, he, wil and per are the relevant attributes, ref is reflexes, prof is the characters primary proficiency (the one for the weapon they will use in the combat sim).

Weapon must be numerical, from 0 to 21. The numbers mean:

0 - arming sword
1 - bastard sword 1 handed
2 - bastard sword 2 handed
3 - club 1 handed
4 - club 2 handed
5 - doppelhander
6 - dual rapiers
7 - flail
8 - footmans pick
9 - longspear
10 - longsword 1 handed
11 - longsword 2 handed
12 - mace 1 handed
13 - mace 2 handed
14 - maul
15 - pike
16 - poleaxe
17 - poniard dagger
18 - quarterstaff
19 - rapier
20 - short sword
21 - warflail

shield must be numerical from 0 to 5. The numbers mean:

0 - None
1 - bucker
2 - small shield
3 - large shield
4 - poniard dagger
5 - arming glove

Note that shield must equal 0 if weapon is 2,4,5,6,9,11,13,14,15,16,18 or 21 because those are all 2 handed weapons. However, if you put in a value above 0 it doesn't really matter, since the combat sim will detect that and change it to 0 anyway. Any other weapon (the 1 handed ones) can have a shield or offhand dagger/arming glove.

Yes, it only tracks one proficiency, so if you want to put in a character who is really good with 2 different weapons, you'll have to load him with the most common one and make the necessary changes at run time, or load him in there twice (with unique names, say [name: pike] and [name: rapiers] or something like that.

head is numerical from 0-2, meaning:

0 - nothing
1 - pot helm
2 - full helm

chest, arms and legs all are numerical from 0-3, meaning:

0 - nothing
1 - leather
2 - chain
3 - plate

So, a typical entry will look like this (this is from the game). As you can see, the Gol Captain has damn high stats, a ref of 6 and a proficiency of 10 with his weapon, which is 15 (a Pike) and no shield (because a pike is 2 handed), and he has chain on his chest and leather on his arms.

[Gol Captain]
st=7
to=7
he=6
wil=6
per=6
ref=6
prof=10
weapon=15
shield=0
head=0
chest=2
arms=1
legs=0

Brian.

Thanks for the info on the file format Brian! I think I'll be able to work with that fairly easily. Do you plan on allowing a user to import characters from a separate file in the future? Suppose a user had a character in a separate file, maybe even an old DOS combat simulator *.rid file. Will you allow them to open that file from within the new combat sim and import it into the fighters.ini file?

The reason I ask is that it might be possible to import fighters directly into the combat sim from my own file format - if I develop one. I haven't really thought a lot about how many and what kinds of output I'm going to have. I still want to have the ability to save a character created with the Chargen of Steel directly to the fighters.ini file, but this would be a nice feature as well.

Just a suggestion for the next release.... :-)

Brandon

PS: Thanks guys for your responses. It's looking more like Insight points will be implemented in a later release - but I don't know for sure yet... more thought is needed...

That reminds me... Brian, one nit-pick on the Sim. You're missing chain coif among the head-pieces.

And I've still not received the file, yet. Problem on your end?


That's all for now.. Hard to concentrate when you have a kitten licking your ribs. ::Glares at the beastie:: Knock it off, will ya?

Wolfen wrote: That reminds me... Brian, one nit-pick on the Sim. You're missing chain coif among the head-pieces.

And I've still not received the file, yet. Problem on your end?


That's all for now.. Hard to concentrate when you have a kitten licking your ribs. ::Glares at the beastie:: Knock it off, will ya?

Nope, not yet. Try resending it?

Wolfen wrote: Nope, not yet. Try resending it?

or an iname account. Those are great.

Wolfen - I have just resent the file, you should have it soon, touch wood.

By the way - I was sending it to your aol account, hope that's still current!

Everyone else - ask Wolfen if you want V2 of the combat sim, and he'll email it to you. Or, you can wait another week or so until Jake gets back and he'll put it up on the web page.

Brian.

JeriolKeayn@aol.com. Send it there, and you should be gold.

Wolfen wrote: JeriolKeayn@aol.com. Send it there, and you should be gold.

OK, I just went and make a yahoo account and sent it from there. Hopefully that will work. Sigh.

Received and Forwarded to those who have requested a copy.

Wolfen wrote: Received and Forwarded to those who have requested a copy.

Wolfen wrote: Received and Forwarded to those who have requested a copy.

Brand_Robins wrote: I'm really liking it so far, and have been using it to fight with various opponents (both with myself playing both rolls, and with somone else controlling the other fighter). It's very smooth, and I've not found a problem so far.

Brand_Robins wrote: One question though, where is the cut and thrust sword? We've got the arming sword, but not the c&t. Even the C&T kid uses an arming sword rather than a cut and thrust.

BrianL wrote: Sheesh.. some people are never satisfied! :-) Seriously, I got bored of adding weapons in there, that's the only reason. There's about 20, surely that's enough for you. Besides, C&T and Arming sword are pretty similar.

Hey guys, could one of you send me a copy of the Combat Sim? I've held off for now, but since the rush is over, maybe I could get one. Primarily, I want to start thinking about outputting characters to it. I'm not ready to work on output for the Chargen of Steel, but I want to have some ideas when I get there...

Brandon

PS: Lance, you still have my email addy don't you? If so, please fire me off a copy, if it's no trouble.

Brand_Robins wrote:
Yea, they are. It's just I'm a C&T whore,