I want to develop a computer turn-based strategy dnd RPG...

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

using the SRD rules, without having to pay license fees. What does
that entail? Since the contents in the SRD are OGL, does that mean i
can use all the mechanics available in there for free? I noticed
certain things are not present though, such as ability score rolling,
xp, some monsters like beholder and mind flayer. So does that mean I
cannot use any of those? Would I need to devise my own XP table?

I'm imagining making a software tool that allows people to build
battles like those found in a miniatures game, or similar to the
console "Tactics" games (I'm thinking Final Fantasy Tactics). The
premise is to allow someone to generate an overworld map, lay out
nodes, plan out events that trigger battles, and design battlefields
and NPC's. Maybe create a random campaign generator. Players would be
able to create a single character, recruit other NPC mercenaries that
are computer-controlled, roam their world in mission-based settings,
take part in glorious turn-based 3d battles that involve flying,
mounted combat, diplomacy skills, and pre-combat skills (such as
tactical bluffing and outwitting the opponent for height advantage or
ambushing, etc). And then tack on multiplayer so people duke it out
against each other using a reputation system that rewards you more for
more "heroic" displays of skill (like a lvl 1 character hurting a lvl
10 character would earn much more pts toward winning the battle than a
lvl 10 char injuring the lvl 1 char). But before all that, I need to
know what I cannot step on.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

well, worse comes to worse, i can always keep it for personal use
right? no loss.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

"sephyr" <joseph.chow@gmail.com> wrote in message
>news:1114721413.784578.158320@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> using the SRD rules, without having to pay license fees. What does
> that entail? Since the contents in the SRD are OGL, does that mean i
> can use all the mechanics available in there for free? I noticed
> certain things are not present though, such as ability score rolling,
> xp, some monsters like beholder and mind flayer. So does that mean I
> cannot use any of those? Would I need to devise my own XP table?

Having started on a project similar to this, I can tell you that
it will be a lot of work. It gets expensive if you want to keep
it compatible with just the WotC subset of d20. I don't even
want to think about all the other publishers that produce d20
stuff. Could be thousands of dollars. Note that I'm only saying
compatible with not including information from the books.

In my case, I'm making the system flexible with the ability
to handle user modifications with very little technical skill.
Unlike the NWN system which requires a good understanding
of C. To do all this requires a lot of "smart" programming.
The result is a program that can "read" a lot of information
defining characters, races, charts, and a lot of other stuff.
Most charts can be reduced to a mathematical formula
allowing you to create equal or nearly equal charts on the fly
and conserving space in the program at the same time.

Tread carefully though. You'll probably end up in some sort
of legal mess no matter what you do.

 

[Jordan]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

On 28 Apr 2005 13:50:13 -0700, "sephyr" <joseph.chow@gmail.com> wrote:

[snip]

>I'm imagining making a software tool that allows people to build
>battles like those found in a miniatures game, or similar to the
>console "Tactics" games (I'm thinking Final Fantasy Tactics). The
>premise is to allow someone to generate an overworld map, lay out
>nodes, plan out events that trigger battles, and design battlefields
>and NPC's. Maybe create a random campaign generator. Players would be
>able to create a single character, recruit other NPC mercenaries that
>are computer-controlled, roam their world in mission-based settings,
>take part in glorious turn-based 3d battles that involve flying,
>mounted combat, diplomacy skills, and pre-combat skills (such as
>tactical bluffing and outwitting the opponent for height advantage or
>ambushing, etc). And then tack on multiplayer so people duke it out
>against each other using a reputation system that rewards you more for
>more "heroic" displays of skill (like a lvl 1 character hurting a lvl
>10 character would earn much more pts toward winning the battle than a
>lvl 10 char injuring the lvl 1 char). But before all that, I need to
>know what I cannot step on.

Good luck; that's a really, really big undertaking. If you've ever
tried to write programs like that, then maybe you know what you're
doing. If you don't, try doing a smaller project first, with a
different topic: that way, you can figure out what snags you're going
to hit along the way and plan the final project accordingly, and you
will avoid getting discouraged with your intended fantasy world quite
so quickly.

>Thanks!

Like I said earlier, good luck; I hope you manage to do something
impressive, but be aware that what you are speaking of is an
undertaking that will require literally months (if not years) of hard
work to complete. That said, if you're committed, don't let me
discourage you.

Jordan