Total newbie...is this right for me?

[Orange Toque]

I'm looking to start some online virtual tabletop gaming with 4 of my friends. Someone directed me to this site, and I really like what I see. The video tutorials really helped cement the fact that I want to use this program to play online gaming. Well done to the person who did them.

However, I had some questions regarding what I could do with this program. How easy is it to learn how to code a non-existent rule set? I would like to run my game under Pathfinder, and I have not yet seen a full Pathfinder ruleset. If one already exists, I would love to use it. If one doesn't, how hard will it be to build a ruleset?

Also, because the adventure that I would like to run contains Mind Flayers, Slaad, and Beholders, is there any problem with creating entries for Intellectual Property of Wizards of the Coast, even though I have no intention of distributing them outside of the game that I would be running? I'm just not sure of what I am able to do at this point.

And lastly, one of my players feels uncomfortable with other people looking into our game. She has a tendency to make (ahem) less than good decisions as a player. Is this even an issue? If we play a game, will it be private? I've seen that you can set a password for sessions, does this block anyone from peeking in on random games?

Thank you for your responses ahead of time. I hope to quickly join this community and learn as much as I can as quickly as I can. The tutorials and various message board posts have show me that this could be a place that I could fit in, and I hope that is the case.

[Leonal]

As for Pathfinder, I personally use the d20_JPG ruleset with an extension to change the skills, and some cosmetic modifications. (Though as the ruleset gets updated by moon_wizard, I'll have to make these changes again, but it doesn't take too long.)
There is also a Pathfinder ruleset available on the FG-wiki based on the Foundation ruleset, but I haven't tested it.

Wiki with rulesets: https://oberoten.dyndns.org/fgwiki/index.php/Main_Page
PF skills extension: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10766

You can create what you want in your own campaign as long as you don't distribute it. (I believe)

Your game will only be available to those you give your server alias or IP address to. I've never experienced anyone other than my players who knew the alias enter while we were playing.

Happy gaming! :)

[Bidmaron]

It is my understanding that the foundation ruleset has many bugs that make it impractical to use, so any ruleset based on this will inherit that. I'd stay with Leonal's extension until a real PF ruleset exists.

[Tenian]

Ruleset building comes down to five real factors:

1) Automation

If you want to develop a ruleset where the character sheet is full of calculations, items/attacks/dice/etc can be dragged onto character sheets/tokens/combat tracker/etc then it could take a significant amount of time to build a ruleset.

If you want to develop a ruleset where the character sheet is little more than a series of blanks into which you type numbers/text, where combat is done by rolling dice/adding numbers to the modifiers and the GM/DM/storyteller processing the results, it can be fairly quick to build a ruleset.

2) Graphics

If you are trying for a specific look/attempting to emulate specific printed materials/playing in a genre other than fantasy, then you may need to invest a significant amount of time in the graphics portion of rulesets.

If you are happy with the generic fantasy look and only need to make a few changes such as replacing the desktop background with a different logo/changing the look of some icons then you won't need to do much graphic work.

3) Your level of perfectionism

At some point, every ruleset builder has to say "that's good enough" and move on. This usually means that some special case isn't handled. Handling 50% of the cases is a lot easier than handling 99%. Typically the last few percent take progressively longer

4) Your skill

If you have strong XML/LUA/Programming skills then automation type changes shouldn't be too difficult for you to make.

If you have strong graphic design skills then graphic changes shouldn't be too difficult for you to make.

Conversely if your clocks always flash 12:00 because programming them is too hard then automation might not be a good idea. If you struggle to draw stick figures (like me!) then graphics might not be for you.

5) The actual system you are trying to emulate.

If you are working on a d20 based system (which Pathfinder is) then it's easier than writing a system that uses some other mechanic (drawing cards for example).

[Orange Toque]

Thanks for the help, everyone.

I will probably pick up the skills extension from the start, and use my free time to get back into programming. I've poked around the site some more and everything I see makes me more and more sure that this is the program to use.

Thanks again for the quick responses.