Character Generators?

[denaes]

Wow, like 2 years and no generator yet?

What happened to that excel app (not that I have excel at home to run it without downloading staroffice)?

[Chimera]

My personal vote is for Code Monkey Publishing to create the generator.  They did a major overhaul on the original E-tools release and made the program something worth having.  I still have my copy and plan to hold on to it.

I tried to use the PCGen Spycraft mod but wasn't impressed.  Let me rephrase... I like the Spycraft part but the rest of the program was basically unnecessary for me.  It took a huge amount of space and offered very little payoff.  No offense to the guys here who worked on PCGen.  I just wanted something more focused on Spycraft.

If somebody were to create a Spycraft 2.0 generator, some features I would definately want would be:

1. House rule customization.  I know that there is no way to incorporate all the house rules out there but if it could allow for customization at all, it would be a huge boost.  Probably my biggest house rule is the use of a more standardized D20 System Experience Points table.  Level 1 = 0 Xp, Level 2 = 1000, Level 3 = 3000 Xp, etc.

Other customization possibilities:
a. Feat acquisitions - a new feat at every level or every 10 levels if that's what the GM wants.
b. Skill Points - allow a place for bonus skill points or "allow negatives" as E-tools does.
c. Wound Point / Vitality Point adjustments - up/down arrows work great.
d. Gear Pick adjustments - If the book says your PC gets 1W, and the GM wants to give him 8, then let him have 8.
e. Action Dice count - 3d4 can become 3d20 or 20d4 or anything in between.
(Basically an override that lets you raise or lower these however you need to.)

2. Automatic Calculations - When your PC levels up, it reminds you what extras they get.  Another feat?  Extra Skill Points?  Extra Gear Picks? etc.

3. Basic descriptions of the skills and gear.  Leave out the specific bonuses and mechanics if you need to in order to maintain the book's importance.  Whenever the book needs to be referenced, be sure to include the page number where the information can be found.

4. Character Sheet Options - Have it set up so players can choose from several options that offer everything from the just the basics, all the way up to those 37 page character sheets that some people seem to enjoy flipping through.

5. Gear Pick Upgrades - Whenever an item has an upgrade, pop up a window that shows how many and a list of choices.

6. NPC Calculator - Automatically calculate what a threat level 7 NPC with an attack IV bonus is.  Offer all of the NPC qualities and add up the Xp values.

7. Data Set Expansions - Patches to include new info found in any of the other Crafty products.  Code Monkey had these.  The average price was between $2.50 and $5.00.  Well worth it considering the amount of data.  I would much rather pay $5.00 for all of the monsters in the Monster Manual than enter that info into the database myself.

Create a program with that stuff, and I would definately be willing to pay for it.

What else would you guys like to see in the generator?

[jimmyiowa]

I have been learning programming over the past month and have been considering writing up a character generator. The only think I would need would be specifics on what I can and cannot do either as a free version of the product or a paid version of the product where I work closely with Crafty. After some more time learning programming I believe I could come up with something that would work. I have been looking through a few different character generators, some of which weren't even mentioned on this form that have given me ideas about constructing something for crafty.

If there is any info that you could point me towards as far as the legalities of what I can and cannot do please point me in the right direction.

p.s. Pat, feel free to contact me if you like via private message through your website or by getting my email address from my profile and emailing me.

[meadicus]

I don't want to sound too sour on the idea but I'm a professional software developer and have been coding for many many years. A couple of times in the past I have started working on a character generator for D&D and there is a lot more work involved than it at first appears.

Also each time I've thought about it I've realised how much I enjoy building characters, and how much better life is with pencil and paper than with a screen. That and how much I don't want to enter the details of all the classes and feats into a database by hand.

But seriously, good luck with the project and ignore me.

[jimmyiowa]

I know its a lot of work, and not saying im going to finish in the next couple weeks as it would be a side project. It may be one of those things I will finish it within 6-9 months or something and then I would have to bring in new content at that point from Fantasy Craft and 10KB which I hope would be out at that point.

What do you code in. Im starting fresh with vb.net utilizing Visual Studio 2005 Standard. If you happen to code in this and know of good references to get started in please let me know.

I coded in vb 5/6 in school over 3 years ago but its been so long that im starting fresh since I dont really remember much of it.

[meadicus]

What do you code in. Im starting fresh with vb.net utilizing Visual Studio 2005 Standard. If you happen to code in this and know of good references to get started in please let me know.

Ah vb, knocking up an interface should be nice and straight forwards for you then . I did some stuff with that a about 6 years ago, before the .net stuff came in, I work mostly with web based Java these days. As for reference you can't beat an O'Reilly book. Though there are usually a few on each language, some with a lean on reference (such as the 'in a nutshell' series) and others with a lean to teaching/study so be sure of which you're getting. But for reference the 'in a nutshell' books are great. Also there's the 'by example' series (I can't remember the publisher) which are great to learn from and as the name implied are packed full to examples which is really the only way to learn, find someone else who's already done it an borrow their code

I coded in vb 5/6 in school over 3 years ago but its been so long that im starting fresh since I dont really remember much of it.

It's much like a bicycle really, I'm sure you won't have too many troubles. Also vb is fun because you can put together something that looks like an application really quickly, especially with Developer Studio. (he says assuming it's as it used to be)

[jimmyiowa]

yeah, putting together an interface is really easy along with the properties of those objects. There is a lot of powerful features they have put into vb.net that weren't included in vb 5/6 that im already starting to read about. This character generator would be a project I would work on in my spare time. I am initially learning vb.net to take advantage of some powerful things I can put into an application that would make my job easier at work as an IT Technician.

Some of the features I would be using would be more advanced than what I would need to include in the character generator so after I get a good grasp of how vb.net works and start coding in it, I dont think it will be a problem making a character generator. It will just be time consuming when putting all the information I need into a database of some sort. Still working out the details on how I will accomplish this, If im going to use the sql express database or something like xml. I want to stay away from simple text files, excel spreadsheets or access databases.

Also the other thing I need to do would be to talk with Pat, or even Alex (as I live in the same city as he does), and discuss with them the options I would have available to produce a product for them. If it would be independant of the company and free of charge or paid product, or as part of their product line where they make profit off of it. Either way im satisfied as im helping out the company.

Thanks for the references, I will be sure to take a look at them. If anyone else has any input please feel free to message me on the forms or email me. 

email:  j.taylor.a@gmail.com

Thanks

[Crafty_Pat]

Hey Jimmy (and anyone else interested in helping out),

We've pooled all the talent that's inquired and are looking at options. Feel free to send me a PM and we'll get you on the team. I'll send you an email as well.

Thanks!

[WeyrleaderZor]

We're not opposed at all. However, any such program would have to respect our copyrights and IP claims. Even with an OGL game, we can't have a character generator circumventing the need for a product. (That, BTW, is why the deal with PCGen fell through - sad, but true.)

Hopefully we'll make something happen with one of the other software developers out there. If anyone knows a group that's interested, please send them our way.

What exactly would a person/group making a character generator be allowed and, more importantly, NOT be allowed to include/do in their program to be in the clear and not in violation of any of the copyright/IP issues.

[Crafty_Pat]

What exactly would a person/group making a character generator be allowed and, more importantly, NOT be allowed to include/do in their program to be in the clear and not in violation of any of the copyright/IP issues.

Generally, we're okay with software making calculations, but not with it spitting out character option summaries. Some sections are especially problematic (e.g. gear). When table entries form the bulk of the "value" in a section, and when entire PDFs could be rendered unnecessary, even the numbers can become vorbotten. There are some other considerations as well, but that's the thing that comes up most often.

It's something that really has to involve case-by-case oversight, which is one of the reasons we've taken the whole operation in-house. If you're interested in helping out, please drop us a line and we'll get you on with the folks currently kicking projects around.