Questions about a creation

[Atrusino]

I am considering using Fantasy Grounds as a part of a public test for a table-top RPG that I have been developing for a few years. I'll be hitting the tables in a few weeks, but my outreach only includes about a half dozen players, and I am looking for alternatives to local play. I have an AAS in Information Technologies, I am logic-oriented and have experience with C+ as well as a rudimentary understanding of Java programming. I have no experience with XML, but I am quick to learn. That said, I've looked through a few of the stickies and all I need to know is if this is possible:

A multi-tiered class system that utilizes 3 ranks of classes which must facilitate prerequisites and be restricted as follows: A character may only have a maximum of 4 Basic Classes, 2 Advanced, 1 Heroic; A class is 5 tiers or levels and experience varies between Basic, Advanced and Heroic.

Ability for the GM to distribute experience.

Experience from encounters (if possible) should be distributed completely to each player rather than divided.

A tiered dice system that escalates based on total experience spent from 1d4 to 1d12.

Combat system that uses bleed-over for melee (A character rolls a 6 against a defending character's 4 which indicates that the defending character suffers 2 damage), but not for ranged; and uses full defensive value for melee, but only half for ranged with exceptions based on ability.

Ability to players to choose to advance a skill or attribute, or gain an ability (feat) each time they advance a class.


I believe that covers it, but I'm sure if this is all possible, I'll be able to tackle any other details I may be missing. Thanks in advanced and I REALLY hope I didn't skim over the answers I need. I will be looking through the wiki entries for "Anatomy of a Ruleset" while I wait for a response.

-Atrusino

[gmkieran]

Hey, Atrusino! Welcome to the fun! Sounds like an interesting system, all in all. What genre, out of curiosity?

I'll leave it to devs to answer the first one. Everything else either has been done (4e D&D has an XP distribution function based on something one of the community members, Dr Zeuss, developed and changing it to *not* divide the XP would be trivial) or should be able handled by existing .lua code properly implemented. I have not seen the tiered dice system done, but I'm told it can be. I would like to see it done, because I'd like to use it in a Cortex-based rule set. The combat system sounds like it will be complex, but I would think it's doable; I'm not a coder, however, so take that with whatever amount of salt you feel appropriate. ;) In general, character advancement is handled manually with the character sheet doing basic calculations and bookkeeping, but the players are responsible for adding/updating feats and other things as appropriate; the system does not restrict this or structure it in any way. The GM always has the ability to edit and override information on player sheets if necessary.

Cheers!
Graf

[Moon Wizard]

You can open up the included game system framework files (i.e. rulesets) for the 3.5E and 4E rulesets to see all the information that is included in one of the more advanced frameworks. They are located in the FG program files directory. Everything starts at base.xml, and the rest is included from there. Make sure to review "templates" in your reading, since these are used extensively in the existing rulesets.

Additionally, I am currently working on v3.0 of Fantasy Grounds that adds a base ruleset layer that provides a generic framework to play RPGs, as well as a foundation to build off of to make new rulesets. It allows for much quicker creation of rulesets, though you still need to understand the underlying code to modify it for your system. It is currently in alpha testing via the Laboratory forum.

Regards,
JPG

[Trenloe]

Have a look at the thread below, this gives an overview of where info about modifying a ruleset can be found and describes file locations within the 3.5e ruleset. It is useful for all rulesets not just 3.5e.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?19033-Modifying-the-3-5e-PFRPG-ruleset