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  1. #1

    Fantasy Grounds II for Eclipse Phase

    The Eclipse Phase – Fantasy Grounds II project
    I have seen occasional queries concerning creating an Eclipse Phase Ruleset (i.e. library) for Fantasy Grounds II, but can find no evidence that anyone has been able to create anything.

    For those of you unfamiliar with Fantasy Grounds, FGII is a virtual desktop application designed to facilitate online Role Playing Game play. You can find more details at

    www.Fantasygrounds.com

    (since you are on this site, you likely already know this

    I have used it very successfully with the game system Warhammer Fantasy Role Play 3 for the last 6 months – I and another GM run a weekly games using FGII and Skype. You can see details on in the Obsidian Portal at

    https://www.obsidianportal.com/profile/dcgreenwood

    Like Eclipse Phase, WFRP3 is a great system but it is difficult to find enough local players to find a live group, and FGII has proved a great way to bring together players from literally all around the world. Our current group of WFRP3 players has 10 players from Asia and the Americas.

    I'd personally very much like to get into Eclipse Phase games, but likewise have not found local players. Therefore I would like to see if I can get a group of interested players together to work together to develop the needed libraries to play Eclipse Phase online on Fantasy Grounds II and then, of course, start regular games.

    If you are interested in involvement, please respond to this forum posting. I'll follow-up with details of how I think we can approach this.

  2. #2
    I can lend a hand to anything that's not coding.

  3. #3

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    I'm keen to see it done, as I would love to play. I have a number of other projects on a the moment, however, so I won't be able to dedicate much time...

  4. #4
    I should start by saying I have not yet dived into the structure of the libraries, but hope to over Christmas. The WFRP3 library that we use needs a few fixes and I was hoping to use that to gain some familiarity.

    For Eclipse phase, I am thinking that a good way to start would be to find the closest match existing library and then hack it, rather than start from scratch. I don't know much about the other systems for which libraries exist. I've never played pathfinder. One thing you can help with is if you know some of the other game systems, compare them to Eclipse phase and recommend which might be the closest match. I'm thinking maybe the Core RPG, but that's only because it is a percentile system.

    Obviously anyone who can dive into coding would be great. But making the above recommendations - where to start, is a help.

    Also, if you know Eclipse phase well, and have played other FGII games, you can help come up with a prioritize list of features to first add to the library.

    Are you an Eclipse Phase GM? Want to do some trials with the Core RPG (or a similar system) with a few patient players, trying to play a session on line, and use that as a brainstorm launching pad to decide what we should work on first?

    So ways that someone can help are:
    Coding the library itself, or hacking an existing one.
    Using knowledge of other systems to advise on which library might be a good starting point.
    Advising on how to take an existing library and what to change to make useful for FG.
    Searching the net to see if there is anyone else working on something similar.
    Brainstorming about an approach, including in game trials of basic Fantasy Grounds.
    Be one of those trial players.

  5. #5

    Join Date
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    ok, so a few comments.

    The term we use for a 'library' which adds support for a new game is a 'ruleset'. We use the term 'library' for a module containing the actual rules for the game, usually including draggable elements for things like skills or equipment.
    The rulesets contain all of the programming (XML and Lua Scripts), fonts, images and icons to make FantasyGrounds look like the game we want to play. This includes the character sheets, NPC sheets, combat tracker and other elements.
    The recommended approach for creating a new ruleset is to extend the CoreRPG ruleset, this gives you a good base which you can extend by replacing just the bits you want to change, typically the character sheet and some personalisation of the combat tracker.
    One way to do this is to find another ruleset which is (as you suggested) similar to the game you want to support and to modify it. This can help but can also make maintenance herder as there will be lots of stuff 'left over' from the other ruleset which you may not need.
    I don't know enough about the ins and outs of the EP rules to say which existing game is closest but it may be Call of Cthulhu or BRP as they are percentile systems.

    I would love to be one of the trial players and will probably end up helping with the coding if you need it, but like I said, I do have a load of projects already...

  6. #6
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    BRP would not be a good test case as there are quite a few issues with the ruleset.
    Cthulhu is a fairly basic ruleset but it is % and is CoreRPG.

    If you could perhaps post a Character Sheet and some core mechanics...
    That would help people who are not neccesarily across EP brainstorm with you on dev ideas and sources...

  7. #7

    Approach to Ruleset and Library

    You're right - I was being loose with terminology. My guess is we need both a ruleset and library. Do you have any suggestions on what to tackle first? My guess is that the Ruleset is more technically difficult, while the library is more work, but I don't know. I have done some coding in my distant plus (C++) but no xml. If I end up doing it myself, my guess is I'll be able to copy/modify existing content, but may find whole new functionality difficult. For someone who is a novice to xml and the FG library and ruleset structures, can you suggest what to start with?

    I've attached a character sheet. Eclispe Phase has a good set of Quickstart Rules here (too big a file to attach)
    https://www.eclipsephase.com/qsr

  8. #8

    Approach to Ruleset and Library

    You're right - I was being loose with terminology. My guess is we need both a ruleset and library. Do you have any suggestions on what to tackle first? My guess is that the Ruleset is more technically difficult, while the library is more work, but I don't know. I have done some coding in my distant plus (C++) but no xml. If I end up doing it myself, my guess is I'll be able to copy/modify existing content, but may find whole new functionality difficult. For someone who is a novice to xml and the FG library and ruleset structures, can you suggest what to start with?

  9. #9

  10. #10
    Thanks, that is where I got the Character sheet. But yes, it is a great resource. Too bad it doesn't have a FG ruleset!

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