Ok, I'm taking the plunge... but don't y'all hold yer breath...

[dr_venture]

Ok, my C&C friends, I'm going to try to work through the bugs in the code base that Sorcerer left with me and get it released. Whether you know it or not, it'll be big news eventually, as there are many very nice updates in the ruleset - I'm personally dying to use it.

Dakadin has kindly offered to be my FG code sensei and help point me in the right direction to figure some of this out. I will try to bug him as little as possible.

But first off, there are a couple of things to address before I jump in - specifically regarding any legal hoops that must be jumped through, so this is probably for the Smiteworks guys. Feel free to PM me on this. I would email, but sometimes I have not heard back from you guys (I know you're swamped - not digging at ya). I know it'll get seen here. Also, I only know Mr. Davidson's email.

First off, I think that Sorcerer had some kind of arrangement with you guys and possibly Troll Lord... do I need to worry about this? This update is *significant* in that, among many great changes, it changes the ruleset over to draggable inventory items... which changes the character sheets, and the Player's Handbook, and the non-ruleset 'Castellan's Arms & Armor Guide' module. I can get them working (eventually) but I'm guessing someone somewhere cares about officially blessing/disallowing this product's change. Sorcerer seemed to be on top of it, but obviously that's fallen to me now.

Also, meager though any income may be, I assume there's potentially some income for this. Considering that I'm only doing a fraction of the work, I would think I'd only receive a fraction of the income... a meager fraction - joy! Actually, what I'm more concerned with is who should Sorcerer's portion go to? I'd like to think that regardless of his own disposition, there's probably someone in his life who should receive the bounty of his work, if not he himself. I would imagine that *someone* has to look into this before I go making his work available for sale, no?

Next, artwork - Sorcerer seemed to have the magical okie-dokey from the powers that be to use content from the artwork from the C&C products. Sorcerer's UI is one place I feel I can improve, but it would seem inappropriate to not include the original artwork in some way if it's an official product. What do I do - who do I talk to?

What are the restriction for using new artwork? Sorcerer seemed extremely cautious on this front. Both my wife and I have been in electronic and traditional audio and print publishing for years, so I have a good idea of what is copyrighted and what isn't. I know what I'm comfortable with... is that good enough?

This is a crushing amount of dev work to tackle and I almost can't believe I'm even writing this message, so if the Smiteworks guys can grease the wheels on the paperwork side of this - or stop the whole thing before I waste any time on it - it would be much appreciated.

[dr_venture]

Oh and another item, maybe more to the regular C&C gamers than the Smiteworks guys: do I need to be worrying about any changes to the core rules in the more recent versions of the Player's Handbook? I have the CK's Guide, and a few of the optional rules from that are already included in the ruleset. I don't have the most recent updates to the Player's Handbook. Have there been a lot of changes there that should be incorporated into the FG rule books?

If so, there may be some legalities as to what is allowed in there, but at least we ought to go for the best version we can.

[Moon Wizard]

You can send an e-mail to [email protected], and it will get to both of us.

Doug handles all the paperwork, publisher relationships and developer commissions; so he will need to weigh in on the details of all that. We have slowly been migrating all our developer agreements to allow for someone to pick up the ball down the line for upgrading and bug fixing existing rulesets. I'm not sure what is in place for C&C, but Doug will know.

I'm also available to help with any development questions as well. Just PM or mail [email protected]

Regards,
JPG

[dr_venture]

Alrighty, email sent.

[damned]

Id happily re-purchase the updated ruleset to help you along but that wil lbe a tiny drop in the ocean to your time. how about i do that and send you $50 paypal contribution? again tony drop for your time but it might help :)

[dr_venture]

Such a nice guy and a nice offer. Let's see what you think when it's done! :D I think that in the end, the bugs that need fixing aren't going to be hugs, but learning the dev process is. Once that's done, perhaps I can figure out some other fun projects to do for FG? It's about time the classic monsters were available as a module, don't you think? Have no idea if Troll Lord is up for such a thing.

[ddavison]

Email received and reply sent. Thanks.

[damned]

i think classic monsters are all srd sourced... im not sure you would have to ask anyone?

[dr_venture]

i think classic monsters are all srd sourced... im not sure you would have to ask anyone?

I know some of those critters came from the Fiend Folio, which licensed/acquired them from White Dwarf (much to Mr. Gygax's dismay)... so who knows where the rights lie? I would only want to do it as an official module, just to make sure I wasn't going to be liable for anything. Who knows if Troll Lords has the right to republish all the creatures via this medium... I'd hope and expect so, but I'd defer to them for safety's sake.

[phantomwhale]

Any code nasty-ness or confusion, get yourself on the Workshop forum - there are some pretty big brains on there. And my big mouth :D

[Crowley72]

Having been offered the 5th color printing for $10 through drivethrurpg.com, for being a loyal TLG customer I went ahead and purchased the latest Players Handbook.

The way TLG advertised the PHB in the discount email I received is that the encumbrance rules were 'rewritten', all else remains the same. They did change encumbrance from the last printing, they did not just rewrite it to make it clearer. It was simplified slightly, and is explained much better.

C

[dr_venture]

Oh wow, that's important to know - thanks very much for the info! There are changes to the encumbrance calculation in the new ruleset, both since the items are draggable, but also because container items can affect encumbrance depending on whether they're worn (like a backpack) or magical (like a portable hole), etc. I suppose I should try to snag a copy somehow.

[Crowley72]

If you can wait a few weeks, I can buy you a .pdf copy. I am on limited income. The only other thing I can donate would be my time as a player.

The game I have run the past two years has stalled, otherwise I'd try to beta for you.

C

[damned]

DrV - I will get you a copy in appreciation of your efforts.

[damned]

Crowley - i thought i also rcvd that link - can you send to me via pm and I will see if it still works. If we can spend $10 instead of $21 we may as well. i already spent $105 on PHB5 via kickstarter... not sure it was the best buy when i already had PHB2, 3 and 4...

[dr_venture]

Super nice of you guys - I am on limited income, too, so I know where you're coming from, Crowley. If I were farther along with releasing the new ruleset, I'd feel more comfortable asking the Smiteworks guys to ask the Troll Lord guys for a comp - I'd think they would want the latest rules in the latest FG ruleset.

Crowley, if you want to beta for me, there's still things you can do. I really need someone to convert a copy of an existing campaign to the new ruleset and make sure that everything updates correctly... especially the characters & their inventories. Also, just being a C&C GM, knowing the rules, and looking around the ruleset, poking it and prodding it is helpful. Staging an occasional battle between some players & monsters would be helpful, too... just using it and seeing if everything works as you expect it to. As long as you are willing to write up descriptions of what you find so that I can hopefully reproduce it fix it. Let me know if that's something you could take on.

[dittotb]

I am not a programmer but I do know a little bit about xml. If you need someone to type in information after you have set up a framework I would be will to donate some time if that would help.

[dr_venture]

dittotb, super nice of you to offer - thanks! Thankfully, all of the data input is done at this point - just bugs needing fixing.

[Crowley72]

Crowley - i thought i also rcvd that link - can you send to me via pm and I will see if it still works. If we can spend $10 instead of $21 we may as well. i already spent $105 on PHB5 via kickstarter... not sure it was the best buy when i already had PHB2, 3 and 4...

I keep a pretty clean email inbox, and it looks like I have sent that discount code to email heaven after I had used it. Regardless, I would still be happy to donate a full priced PDF.


Crowley, if you want to beta for me, there's still things you can do. I really need someone to convert a copy of an existing campaign to the new ruleset and make sure that everything updates correctly... especially the characters & their inventories. Also, just being a C&C GM, knowing the rules, and looking around the ruleset, poking it and prodding it is helpful. Staging an occasional battle between some players & monsters would be helpful, too... just using it and seeing if everything works as you expect it to. As long as you are willing to write up descriptions of what you find so that I can hopefully reproduce it fix it. Let me know if that's something you could take on.

All I can do, is my best. I will send you my info in a PM.


C

[Aergraith]

This is great to hear, best of luck on this.

BTW, I _think_ Classic Monsters are mostly legal by way of Necromancer Games "Tome of Horrors" books, which made them open content?

[Trenloe]

BTW, I _think_ Classic Monsters are mostly legal by way of Necromancer Games "Tome of Horrors" books, which made them open content?
The Tome of Horrors books have clear instructions on how to reuse the creatures from an open content point of view - check the books in question for the reuse requirements.

[dr_venture]

For me, I'd rather support Troll Lords and put out the module they've already created. It's full of custom artwork and has already been converted from 3.5/OGL to C&C - it'd mostly just be a matter of parsing text into XML & linking up a bunch of little images. That sounds much easier to me.

[Trenloe]

For me, I'd rather support Troll Lords and put out the module they've already created. It's full of custom artwork and has already been converted from 3.5/OGL to C&C - it'd mostly just be a matter of parsing text into XML & linking up a bunch of little images. That sounds much easier to me.
Much better idea. :)