What skills do you need to edit the rules?

[Jamescuk]

So I am very interested in this product. How ever I just need to know some things before I do anything.

So with fantasy grounds is it possible to create any game system? So for example if I knew what I was doing I could program Deadlands the classic system including the different decks of cards (2 decks at least in classic).

Could I program in Victoriana or Airship Pirates with the way the dice work?

How do you make it look nice do you need to know and own Photoshop to make it graphical?

How much work is there involved? How do I learn how to do it? Is there any templates or anything?

(I would be very interested in a Classic deadlands rule system as I personally prefer it.

James

[Valarian]

XML and Lua are the skills needed. The layout is all done in XML.

I was thinking of the Heresy system recently (Victoriana). Considering it as my next project, when I get the time.

The system is d6 based, a dice pool based on skill+stat or stat alone and negative dice removing successes. Success is 1 or 6, with 6 exploding. This is definitely doable with a dice handler.

[Jamescuk]

XML and Lua are the skills needed. The layout is all done in XML.

I was thinking of the Heresy system recently (Victoriana). Considering it as my next project, when I get the time.

The system is d6 based, a dice pool based on skill+stat or stat alone and negative dice removing successes. Success is 1 or 6, with 6 exploding. This is definitely doable with a dice handler.

Okay i have no Knowledge of XML or LUA, how do i even start doing something like that, is it overly complicated? Is it user friendly? How much work needs to be put into it to get a system up and running on FG2?

How long would it take on average?

It does seem to be lacking in systems which seems to be a bit of a problem. if its not easy to pick up i will have to look else where.

[Moon Wizard]

Here's a brain dump related to your questions:

I would say that LUA is probably the easiest scripting languages that I have worked with. Also, XML is fairly straightforward as well. Most people are able to make minor tweaks just by looking at the correct files and changing them slightly. Also, the community is very helpful in pointing you in the right direction to make changes.

You can take a look at any ruleset by opening the FG program folder, finding the .pak file for the ruleset you want, changing the extension to .zip, and then extracting the files inside.

I have worked with several VTTs that allow creation of custom rules, and I found FG to be the most flexible and support the most game systems. That's why I'm working on it now.
There is a list of supported systems on our Downloads (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/downloads/) page. There are several rulesets available for non-D&D systems via the FG store, as well as access to the rulesets created by the community via the FG wiki (https://oberoten.dyndns.org/fgwiki/index.php/Main_Page).

The amount of time depends a lot on two things:
* Whether there is an existing ruleset which is close to the rules you want which you can modify?
* How different you want to make your ruleset?

Building a ruleset from scratch is a rather lengthy undertaking, so most people use an existing ruleset which is close to start with. Also, there are a couple generic rulesets on the FG wiki that can be used as a good base for new rulesets.

In the big picture, any ruleset can be used for any game, since the main parts of most face-to-face games are rolling dice, chatting and keeping character notes. Most rulesets expand heavily on the core pieces to add in-depth character sheets, campaign data management and rules automation.

The graphics are just image files included with the ruleset, and the XML tells the ruleset how to display the graphics. Most people building custom rulesets use a paint program such as GIMP or Photoshop to create custom imagery, but you could just reuse images from other community rulesets.

Regards,
JPG

[Jamescuk]

Here's a brain dump related to your questions:

I would say that LUA is probably the easiest scripting languages that I have worked with. Also, XML is fairly straightforward as well. Most people are able to make minor tweaks just by looking at the correct files and changing them slightly. Also, the community is very helpful in pointing you in the right direction to make changes.

You can take a look at any ruleset by opening the FG program folder, finding the .pak file for the ruleset you want, changing the extension to .zip, and then extracting the files inside.

I have worked with several VTTs that allow creation of custom rules, and I found FG to be the most flexible and support the most game systems. That's why I'm working on it now.

The amount of time depends a lot on two things:
* Whether there is an existing ruleset which is close to the rules you want which you can modify?
* How different you want to make your ruleset?

Building a ruleset from scratch is a rather lengthy undertaking, so most people use an existing ruleset which is close to start with. Also, there are a couple generic rulesets on the FG wiki that can be used as a good base for new rulesets.

In the big picture, any ruleset can be used for any game, since the main parts of most face-to-face games are rolling dice, chatting and keeping character notes. Most rulesets expand heavily on the core pieces to add in-depth character sheets, campaign data management and rules automation.

The graphics are just image files included with the ruleset, and the XML tells the ruleset how to display the graphics. Most people building custom rulesets use a paint program such as GIMP or Photoshop to create custom imagery, but you could just reuse images from other community rulesets.

Regards,
JPG
So how hard would it be to make a Classic deadlands system, I would assume you would start by using Savage Worlds and edit that. But can you have Multiple decks of cards as minimal you need two poker and a 3rd one for a huckster?

What about the Heresy system used by Cubical 7


The system is d6 based, a dice pool based on skill+stat or stat alone and negative dice removing successes. Success is 1 or 6, with 6 exploding. This is definitely doable with a dice handler.

Thanks

James

[Moon Wizard]

I'm not personally familiar with either game system.

Is Deadlands Classic also based on Savage Worlds system? If so, I would use the base Savage Worlds ruleset to play a couple games to get an idea of what you had to have changed, and then use the new Deadlands as a reference.

You can ask the user phantomwhale who has worked on the new Deadlands extension, but I believe that the Deadlands Reloaded extension uses multiple decks. (initiative, poker table, GM deck) I don't play Deadlands, so I'm not positive though.

There is a Dark Heresy community ruleset on the FG wiki. Is this the same as Heresy? Even if it's not, I bet that Heresy is probably similar in mechanics to one or more other game systems supported by FG.

Regards,
JPG