Vroomfogle
March 26th, 2006, 04:28
I checked out the demo with a couple players of mine and it really is far superior to anything else that is out there. Kudos to the developers! So I'll have to suck up the $40 I already dropped on klooge (so i could eval it with custom ruleset), and drop another $80 on Fantasy grounds and 4 clients and begin the process of making a Rolemaster ruleset.
The thing that I like about Fantasy Grounds is the approach that has been taken in it's design. Klooge took an OpenRPG approach where you have an organized directory structure representing a campaign. But in reality it's just not a very intuitive way to look at things - it's a geeky computer-user way of looking at things. Fantasy Grounds ditched that and said "What do we want a tabletop RPG program to look like?" And the Neverwinter Nights style interface was a great choice.
The other very important thing - especially when trying to make custom rulesets - is that Fantasy Grounds doesn't try and do TOO much. VERY important. Sure you can customize klooge, but the general idea is that it's going to try and resolve all your rolls and all bonuses and everything. Klooge didn't try to serve as a medium for playing tabletop RPG's, Klooge instead tries to automate many of the aspects of RPGs. Fantasy Grounds puts the GM and players still in control of rolling (the interactive dice are one of the best features in game), but the GM is still in control of combat resolution. Sure FG can automate certain aspects of the game but the design is more on replicating the tabletop. In this matter it TRACKS combat, and doesn't try to CONTROL combat. This is especially important in Rolemaster where there are often so many variables that trying to automate it becomes a arduous data-entry task every round. So arduous in fact that it ends up not being a time saver at all and increases the complexity. I should know because I wrote a Rolemaster combat program that tried to do it all. I have since ripped it apart and now it keeps track of the most minimal amount of information possible.
So without looking at the ruleset xml files yet I would say not only can a Rolemaster ruleset be implemented but the underlying design of Fantasy Grounds makes it very condusive to ANY ruleset.
Now, I've got some questions:
1) Is there a way to default to d100% instead of d10? Better yet, customize the dice that are visible, and add in d100% as a set?
2) The Numeric Keypad does not work. Is this intentional?
3) When tokens are locked and characters move them, can the movement vector include a distance metric? (like the drawn arrow). Also, can that functionality (showing a distance-movement-vector) be shown for all icons when the GM is moving them too ?
Exploring the demo has gotten both my players and myself fired up for getting our campaign started.
- Vroomfogle
https://www.vroomfogle.com
The thing that I like about Fantasy Grounds is the approach that has been taken in it's design. Klooge took an OpenRPG approach where you have an organized directory structure representing a campaign. But in reality it's just not a very intuitive way to look at things - it's a geeky computer-user way of looking at things. Fantasy Grounds ditched that and said "What do we want a tabletop RPG program to look like?" And the Neverwinter Nights style interface was a great choice.
The other very important thing - especially when trying to make custom rulesets - is that Fantasy Grounds doesn't try and do TOO much. VERY important. Sure you can customize klooge, but the general idea is that it's going to try and resolve all your rolls and all bonuses and everything. Klooge didn't try to serve as a medium for playing tabletop RPG's, Klooge instead tries to automate many of the aspects of RPGs. Fantasy Grounds puts the GM and players still in control of rolling (the interactive dice are one of the best features in game), but the GM is still in control of combat resolution. Sure FG can automate certain aspects of the game but the design is more on replicating the tabletop. In this matter it TRACKS combat, and doesn't try to CONTROL combat. This is especially important in Rolemaster where there are often so many variables that trying to automate it becomes a arduous data-entry task every round. So arduous in fact that it ends up not being a time saver at all and increases the complexity. I should know because I wrote a Rolemaster combat program that tried to do it all. I have since ripped it apart and now it keeps track of the most minimal amount of information possible.
So without looking at the ruleset xml files yet I would say not only can a Rolemaster ruleset be implemented but the underlying design of Fantasy Grounds makes it very condusive to ANY ruleset.
Now, I've got some questions:
1) Is there a way to default to d100% instead of d10? Better yet, customize the dice that are visible, and add in d100% as a set?
2) The Numeric Keypad does not work. Is this intentional?
3) When tokens are locked and characters move them, can the movement vector include a distance metric? (like the drawn arrow). Also, can that functionality (showing a distance-movement-vector) be shown for all icons when the GM is moving them too ?
Exploring the demo has gotten both my players and myself fired up for getting our campaign started.
- Vroomfogle
https://www.vroomfogle.com