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Zane_Marlowe
May 12th, 2005, 15:32
I've finished the major strokes of the conversion for the Adventure! system by White Wolf. If you're interested in seeing it, I've got a couple screenshots (png, 871k & 838k) posted here (https://www.onthequest.com/upload/advref.png) and here (https://www.onthequest.com/upload/advscreen.png).

It's was created using a lot of pulp imagery and sources (rayguns, aliens, and other such things). Since the cover of the book is formatted to look like a dime novel, I put that in for the rules reference. I'll post some charactersheet and other images later, but PM me if you're interested.

gurney9999
May 12th, 2005, 15:38
Very cool... not familiar with the game system, but I love the work you've done.

richvalle
May 12th, 2005, 16:07
Nice job!

rv

Ilwan
May 12th, 2005, 22:04
wow

Zane_Marlowe
May 14th, 2005, 15:18
I've finally finished everything I'm going to do for this one (at least I'm long done with everything I need to play) and the graphics are finally all tweaked and done.

What follows are some screens of the character sheet and what I put in the portraits folder. I've also brought up some of the images from the first adventure, at the World's Fair (I'm relocating the 1939 Fair to 1929).

Main Sheet (https://www.onthequest.com/upload/Screenshots/advSheet.png)

Knacks (https://www.onthequest.com/upload/Screenshots/advsheet2.png)

Supplies (https://www.onthequest.com/upload/Screenshots/advsheet3.png)

Biography (https://www.onthequest.com/upload/Screenshots/advsheet4.png)

Portraits (https://www.onthequest.com/upload/Screenshots/portraits.png)

richvalle
May 14th, 2005, 15:56
Wow. That is hugely impressive. I LOVE the pictures for the portaits and being used during the game.

Looks like the character sheet took a lot of work. Well done!

rv

kalmarjan
May 15th, 2005, 01:48
I just have to say.... WOW!

How did you change your texture for the desktop? I wanted to change mine, but alas, I cannot figure out how it works......


Again, good work.

Zane_Marlowe
May 15th, 2005, 05:53
The base.xml has a reference to it. It'll tile whatever texture you set, so make sure it's a true texture as opposed to a nice picture.

Thore_Ironrock
May 15th, 2005, 15:50
Zane,

While I'd like to commend you on your work, there is something I'd like to bring up to the community here regarding this ...

The bottom line here is: do you have permission to convert Adventure! to a Fantasy Grounds ruleset *AND* distribute it? I have to believe the answer to that is no, else you probably would have said so. Thing is, you need written permission to do something like this from the publishing company. It wouldn't be as big of a deal if you were doing this only for yourself, but if you *pass* this around to even one other person or put it up for download by the community (whether you charge money or not) that is a major copyright violation. Unless I'm mistaken Adventure! does not fall under any sort of Open License Agreement like d20, which means reproduction of any kind is against the law.

As a publisher and industry person I have to protest this for several reasons, the largest being I don't want FANTASY GROUNDS to become a *vessel* for copyright infringement. The last thing SmiteWorks needs is an international lawsuit against them because their property has become the center of a controversy in the RPG community. I'm not saying this is going to happen, but it is a possibility if people violate copyright using thier software.

What if a publisher (like Code Monkey) wants to approach White Wolf to *legally* work with SmiteWorks and get their products into FG -- such as World of Darkness? If there are violations out there (case in point) against their copyrights -- regardless of whether or not their are currently in production -- the answer is going to be a resounding *NO*. Same goes for any other company out there that does not have an Open License Agreement.

While I'm not a lawyer, I've been in the gaming industry over 10 years and I've seen this time and time again. Since I plan to publish adventures (and possibly rulesets) in Fantasy Grounds I have to protest this *IF* you plan to distribute this w/o written permission from White Wolf. Who knows ... they may say yes and everything would be happy in Mudville. Or, if you plan to horde this ruleset for yourself and run games for the community then that is another story. But, if you post these ruleset files online w/o proper permission it will be considered against the law. For those of us trying to legally contribute to the FANTASY GROUNDS community as publsihers and enthusists stuff like this extremely hurts our efforts.

I really hate to be the bad guy here, especially since it looks like Zane did a tremendous job, but in the end you can't do stuff like this w/o permission -- plain and simple.

Zane_Marlowe
May 15th, 2005, 17:42
Hey Thore,

Thanks for the comments, and let me be the first to note that they are charitably hypothetical ("*IF* you plan to do this, then there could be legal trouble..."). I figured this would come up, which is why I only posted screen captures. I'm content not to distribute it without the permissions you describe, not least because I've waited years for something like FG to come along, and I wish them every success in making this the best piece of software it can be.

At present I have been considering a "light" version that contained none of the game rules information in the reference. I.e., the monsters and reference sections of the ruleset would be blank or include only example templates (entirely made up by me). I could just include steps on how and what to edit to put that info in for those who had the rulebook.

The main advantage of making this available to others would be the character sheet, NPC sheets, and revised reference information contained in the database folder. The character sheet has been publically available on WW's site for some time, the NPC sheets are derivative of that, and the reference information would be blank, which means there would be nothing in the proposed "light" version that infringes on WW's IP as far as I can see. From this ruleset, others could adapt and develop other WW-based rulesets since the lion's share of development time was the mentioned elements, and I'm sure that would be a benefit to fans of the games as well as being an incentive to buy WW's gamebooks.

Apart from that, I'm not sure I see any troubling legalities in regards to the non-game materials. If you do, please feel free to point them out, I'm glad you have already done so.

Regards,
ZM

Thore_Ironrock
May 16th, 2005, 02:48
Apart from that, I'm not sure I see any troubling legalities in regards to the non-game materials. If you do, please feel free to point them out, I'm glad you have already done so,ZM

Hey Zane,

Actually, light or not WW could still make a case for legal action *if* you distribute it in any way, shape, or form. The character sheet aside, the fact you have rules, names, terms, and other "points" specific to the Adventure! game makes it a violation. I'm assuming you have an actual copy of the game, so take a look at the legal statement attached.

Now, all that said there are other "options" you could pursue, some of which include going to WW and asking them for permission. If you would like help with this send me an email off forum ([email protected]) and I'll be happy to help you out. Like I said, I think you did an outstanding job on this, and anything I can do to help would be the least I could do since your intentions seem to be good.

Regards,

Zane_Marlowe
May 16th, 2005, 21:27
Hi Thore,

Again, thanks for your generous offer. Last night I penned a brief email to WW's licensing department asking about this. I haven't heard back from them, but I did find some useful and interesting information based on their fansite kit here (https://www.white-wolf.com/darkspiral/signup.html).

That isn't an answer to the question we've been asking per se, but I found it informative nonetheless. When I hear from them, I'll let you guys know.

Also, I found TONS more portraits when I started looking around for pictures of silent movie actors and stills of the old Republic Serials--Look up a pair of villains named "Lightning" and "Dr. Satan" for some fantastic stuff in this genre if you're interested.

Thore_Ironrock
May 16th, 2005, 23:25
Good luck then Zane, and thanks for following the proper channels!

johnhaines
July 5th, 2005, 19:03
Zane,

Did you ever get a reply from WW?

Zane_Marlowe
July 6th, 2005, 06:15
Sadly, nothing yet. I'm actually letting Thore use his industry contacts to try that route out. What I wanted to do, I've done though, since I've got something I can use on my own. Not sure that helps you guys out, but if I hear something I'll let you know.

Was anyone interested in playing Adventure?

Novalith
August 14th, 2005, 22:02
Sadly, nothing yet. I'm actually letting Thore use his industry contacts to try that route out. What I wanted to do, I've done though, since I've got something I can use on my own. Not sure that helps you guys out, but if I hear something I'll let you know.

Was anyone interested in playing Adventure?

What I really wanted to use this for would be World of Darkness, Vampire, and Werewolf. I have not heard of Adventure and have no idea what it is about.

Thore_Ironrock
August 14th, 2005, 22:11
Sadly, nothing yet. I'm actually letting Thore use his industry contacts to try that route out. What I wanted to do, I've done though, since I've got something I can use on my own. Not sure that helps you guys out, but if I hear something I'll let you know.

Was anyone interested in playing Adventure?

What I really wanted to use this for would be World of Darkness, Vampire, and Werewolf. I have not heard of Adventure and have no idea what it is about.

There are some pretty heavy copyrights on WoD, VtR, and WtF. You can pretty much guarentee yourself a lawsuit if you're caught building and distributing such a ruleset w/o permission or a licensing agreement.

I had hopes of talking to someone about Adventure!, but for the past month everyone has been in Gen Con frenzy. My current plan is to try and speak with someone at the show next week. ;)

valhallan
August 15th, 2005, 03:48
I just got FG and I am extremely interested in using it for Adventure!, though the D20 version actually. But those pics look fantastic of your setup. I'd actually want to use those more than anything, and just apply the d20 template to Adventure!

Well done!

Novalith
August 15th, 2005, 14:52
There are some pretty heavy copyrights on WoD, VtR, and WtF. You can pretty much guarentee yourself a lawsuit if you're caught building and distributing such a ruleset w/o permission or a licensing agreement.

I had hopes of talking to someone about Adventure!, but for the past month everyone has been in Gen Con frenzy. My current plan is to try and speak with someone at the show next week. ;)

Well, do you think you may find time to speak with WW about those as well? I guess if they let you have Adventure, they would be willing to let you have it all. I personally do not plan on building anything because I simply do not have the patience and talent.

Thore_Ironrock
August 15th, 2005, 22:00
There are some pretty heavy copyrights on WoD, VtR, and WtF. You can pretty much guarentee yourself a lawsuit if you're caught building and distributing such a ruleset w/o permission or a licensing agreement.

I had hopes of talking to someone about Adventure!, but for the past month everyone has been in Gen Con frenzy. My current plan is to try and speak with someone at the show next week. ;)

Well, do you think you may find time to speak with WW about those as well? I guess if they let you have Adventure, they would be willing to let you have it all. I personally do not plan on building anything because I simply do not have the patience and talent.

Easier said than done ... but that's the plan. :wink:

Fenton
January 18th, 2006, 20:01
Heyas everyone

Just got FG today and I'm still at the stage where it confuses the life outa me.

I play D20 and WW and would also like to be able to find/make rulesets for VtR, WtF or other nWOD games... but right now that seems like a distant dream. A Ravenloft ruleset would also be great!

I've not even played any games on FG yet, but would definately be interested in taking part in an Adventure! game. I have the WW version and it's one of these games that I've always wanted to play, but my RPG group isn't willing to drop their existing game for.

Was well impressed by the screenshots btw.

Zane_Marlowe
January 23rd, 2006, 14:12
Hey friends, just a quick note since I'm not as regular here as I used to be. First, changing the graphics is relatively easy, even if finding the graphics and editing them is not. There are already good pointers out there on how to begin creating your own ruleset, and if you just wanted a desktop change, then you can just begin from a default ruleset (with the graphics.xml in your data folder updated appropriately) and substitute the graphics as needed.

With regards to other WW games, it probably wouldn't take much adjustment to the Adventure! ruleset to make that happen, although it's not something I've got time for at present. I may be revisiting the idea of running a game of Adventure! again soon, so stay tuned, and perhaps I'll be able to fill in some further details anon.

Morfedel
January 25th, 2006, 21:31
Does someone have links to the tutorials? I found one very short one, and the ones on 4 Ugly Monsters, but what else is out there?

Zane_Marlowe
January 29th, 2006, 07:26
I've actually been working on a tutorial of my own which shows how I do rulesets. There will be two parts to it, and I'm almost finished with the first (I think). I'll let you know more, and I'm currently kind of busy, but if I can squeeze it out, I will.

HeavilyMental
February 13th, 2006, 00:35
I'd love to see the tutorial. I've been working on a ruleset myself and designing a more interactive character sheet like you have really interests me. Great job. Looks fantastic! How big are the graphic file sizes for those if you don't mind me asking. Mine keep hovering anywhere from 100-350k each in PNG! Not good.

-Heavily Mental

Zane_Marlowe
February 17th, 2006, 13:30
My biggest file of the character sheet frames is 101k, the smallest is about 52k. The best way to do non-numeric/non-text controls that I found is to use the multistate control and just draw what possible states you think you want to use.

I've got a notion to finish that tutorial soon, but I have to get the MSRD done first, so look for it in March some time I'd guess.

Citrean
April 6th, 2006, 20:43
Any word on that tutorial? I am deffinately interested in it.

Zane_Marlowe
April 27th, 2006, 13:23
I haven't gotten back to it lately, but I think I shall shortly. Sorry for baiting and not following up. Good to hear you're interested, I'll see if I can work it out shortly.

Ilwan
May 30th, 2006, 17:02
Any news on this Zane?

ByteBandit
May 30th, 2006, 18:36
I'm also very interested in seeing that tutorial as I have a little project in mind :) If I ever get enough time to work on it.