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arnon
December 30th, 2007, 22:29
I've been working on a Midnight ruleset.

Most of the important SRD stuff for the modules is done, and here is a screen-shot of the tabletop.

DarkStar
December 31st, 2007, 11:03
Working with Griogre? Need any help, guys? People are looking for a Midnight ruleset (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7678). :)

arnon
December 31st, 2007, 15:33
Working with Griogre?

No. But all help is welcome :)

I did some changes to the character sheet, but most of those are house rule related. For example, i don't use XP or Alignments, so i changed those to things that fit me better; I use Defense instead of AC, and consider all skills as class skills... and more.

The character sheet you'll find if you follow my signature, is the normal sheet, only with the not yet complete Spell Energy addition, as well as a small change to the Notes page which divides it in the middle so as to make place for writing the Heroic Path abilities of the player. (i'll post shots)

If you follow the link in my sig you'll find two files:

1. the Midnight modules which include most of the OGC information (which can be found on Darkness Falls (https://darknessfalls.leaderdesslok.com/)). This includes Classes, Heroic Paths, modified skill rules, feats, new spells, spell modifications, new domains, etc., etc.

2. The ruleset file which includes the desktop appearance and character sheet. The character sheet has had some great work done by Kilahm in adding spell points instead of the spontaneous casting mode (including that when you write Channeler in the class it automatically calculates those spells points into the total, and other stuff, and toggling the spellcasting ability).

arnon
December 31st, 2007, 15:49
Here are some shots:

1. Spell page
2. Notes page
3. My house rules modified main character sheet, showcasing one of my players.

DarkStar
December 31st, 2007, 16:13
No. But all help is welcome :)
Oh, in the first screenshot we can see "House Rules and Combat - Griogre and modified by Arnon", so I thought...

I don't know Midnight yet, I got interested in the system merely a couple of days ago. I heard about it a few times, but d20 is almost a synonym of D&D for me and I don't like heroic fantasy. I picked up a couple of board games from Fantasy Flight Games a few months ago and realized how great they were (always top notch). So I thought to myself - if FFG made an RPG and their board/card games are so remarkable, then perhaps their RPGs are too?

And I was positively surprised by Midnight, as I said I know close to nothing about it, but I come from Warhammer background and as you probably know it's "grim & gritty". Midnight looks like a warped Middle Earth and thus is very promising. I am definitely looking forward to playing or running it. It's great to know somebody has already created a working ruleset for that system. I will check it out.

Actually - your signature leads nowhere, I believe it works for you as it seems to point to some "my files" page, but no one else will be able to see it.

arnon
December 31st, 2007, 16:50
Actually - your signature leads nowhere, I believe it works for you as it seems to point to some "my files" page, but no one else will be able to see it.

My bad. Fixed. :)


Oh, in the first screenshot we can see "House Rules and Combat - Griogre and modified by Arnon", so I thought..

Oh yhea... I did not work with him, just too the Cheat Sheet he did and modified it to fit my House Rules as well.

Blue Haven
December 31st, 2007, 18:34
The modules that you have for download are only 2...in the pictures are 5...can´t you put the other ones??
And the character sheet its not the one you have in here... :( the one you have is much more cool :D

arnon
December 31st, 2007, 19:22
The other modules that appear in the shot are:

House Rules, d20 Monsters (just renamed) and Midnight Minions (which is not done yet and also, i'm not sure i was to release it as it might have some copyrighted material).

As for the character sheet: do you mean the main one? If so then it is the modified to fit my house rules. But i'm working on a main one for the general public :)

Blue Haven
December 31st, 2007, 19:43
Oh ok :) and yes i was talking about the main sheet that looks very cool with the changes you made :D

Griogre
December 31st, 2007, 20:36
I'm glad you found a use for the cheat sheet module. :) The second cheat sheet update was a more of a pain than I was expecting, so I'm glad it was useful to you. :p Midnight looks like an interesting setting, but I made a rule for myself that I won't buy a new game system - unless I *know* I'm going to use it. Still I've read several reviews with interest.

MeganHunter
January 1st, 2008, 00:58
A part of me wishes that it was literally in Tolkien's world if the same thing happened, but the campaign setting looks really well thought out and written, and I'll enjoy being surprised by places and monsters that are new. It looks like there's a new campaign out for it, more Return of the King where the heroes might actually have a shot to take back the world. I think I like that even better.

I just found the thread about the directory structure, but I'm having a bit of trouble. Which folders do I put which of your files in? Muchos gracias

arnon
January 1st, 2008, 07:14
Put the modules in the application data\fantasy grounds II\modules folder, and the ruleset in application data\fantasy grounds II\rulesets .

Just make sure that the folder in which the ruleset is, is called Midnight (with a capital letter), otherwise the modules will not load with it properly.

DarkStar
January 1st, 2008, 10:25
Think some sort of a simple installer for custom rulesets/modules would be useful?

arnon
January 1st, 2008, 11:13
possibly, but I think it is not that complicated.

DarkStar
January 1st, 2008, 11:58
2. The ruleset file which includes the desktop appearance and character sheet. The character sheet has had some great work done by Kilahm in adding spell points instead of the spontaneous casting mode (including that when you write Channeler in the class it automatically calculates those spells points into the total, and other stuff, and toggling the spellcasting ability).

It needs a check to see if the class name was provided at all. Currently FG will throw an error in some kind of console window (sorry, I don't know the 2nd version yet) stating that nil (null) was passed. :)

The ruleset is total coolness. ;) It's not clear to me - the ruleset you made publicly available is the original one (w/o your house rules), right?

arnon
January 1st, 2008, 13:54
the ruleset you made publicly available is the original one (w/o your house rules), right?

Correct.

And thanks.

MeganHunter
January 1st, 2008, 20:10
Oh good, I stumbled upon the right directories then. But unfortunately, I'm getting the same console null error. Any time I try to click on any part of the character sheet, I can't enter anything, and I eventually crash.

I see like all the feats from my books are in your set! :D I didn't realize you went to that much work, that must have been quite a typing headache.

arnon
January 1st, 2008, 21:42
that must have been quite a typing headache.

It was to a point :D

Yhea, it has all the feats, races, classes, weapons, heroic paths, spells, etc. etc. Basically, it has almost all the stuff that appears in the Darkness Falls (https://darknessfalls.leaderdesslok.com/) site, so i did quite a lot copy-pasting as well as typing..

arnon
January 1st, 2008, 21:56
Regarding the error thing:

I' familiar with it. If you close the error console and then "re-focus" windows on FG it should work with no more problems. Sadly, i know about programming about as much as i know about dinosaurs... i scratch the surface and nothing more. :confused:

MeganHunter
January 2nd, 2008, 05:50
Thanks for the advice Arnon; I'd love to help you out with typing and pasting, but the XML scares the Jebus out of me.

But if you'd like, in a few weeks I can try to tackle a custom graphic set for you. My first thought was that it would be a breeze, they're just PNGs in the folder. Another thread mentioned that actual coding might be involved, if I read it right, so ugh. But I was thinking of making new borders and buttons for my group, along with a few background PNGs that they could choose at their leisure (the theory was just overwriting the original.) I wanted to add some rusted iron and fading blood splatters to the parchment here and there, if I'm able. Don't worry...I have my own (https://www.wacom.com/cintiq/) contraband weapon that I have to hide from legates. Let me know if you're ever interested in the files or "screenshots" someday, I'm not worried about matching the current dimensions.

~Megan

arnon
January 2nd, 2008, 06:30
Megan,

I'd love to see whatever graphical additions you'd create.

If it's just changing the buttons (those along the right side of the screen) and the chat sheet, then i do not believe any coding will be necessary. Just make sure they are the same size and have the same name as the originals. The table background is a bit more complicated, and took me some digging around in the forum and some testing to finally figure out how to change to make it fit on screen.

Ged
January 2nd, 2008, 22:16
Please read this post: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3464 . I had to remove the links from the signature for now. If you have Fantasy Flight Games's approval, please let the rest of us know.

DarkStar
January 3rd, 2008, 07:57
Ged, Midnight is a setting released under the OGL. Arnon said his creation was based on OGC, although I am not sure if the website you used, arnon, contains 100% Open Game Content - especially the magic section of the reference - such as descriptions of power nexuses or references to Aryth (word/name).

My suggestion would be this - get rid of the library stuff. Keep it for your own ruleset which you (plan to) use in your games, but release only the character sheet publicly - perhaps also remove words Midnight (and other trademarks) and logos. Keep just the sheet - I am certain this is OGC, because all Midnight mechanics are OGC - it is clearly stated in the rulebook!

You might actually want to contact Fantasy Flight Games and show them what you've done. I am willing to help with this if you want.

On a sidenote - I think Fantasy Grounds people became overzealous with copyright. I would understand it for something like Warhammer - for which I created a ruleset in fact - which is not covered by OGL. I contacted Games Worskhop last year about my ruleset, but they said NO at the time, so I never published it, although I used it in a campaign I ran. But Midnight is covered by Open Game License and all stats + mechanics are OGC as far as I know (you probably know the whole rulebook, it says exactly what is what in each chapter's introduction).

I bet you know PCGen - in the latest Alpha build it contains Midnight's OGC which is used for character generation. Think PCGen would officially approve something illegal? I say, if you are not sure what's OGC, perhaps copy what PCGen has? Contacting Fantasy Flight Games won't hurt, too.

All in all, this overzealousness made me think twice if I don't want to switch camps and pick another VGT to run my games. I think in the long run this may hurt FG adoption. :(

Thore_Ironrock
January 3rd, 2008, 11:50
I want to make a few comments here please:

First, there is a lot of confusion about what OGL exactly is, and what people can do with it. The bottom line is OGL is not a free license to do whatever you want with gaming material. In fact, OGL applies more to the "writing" of a product than its reuse in the industry. Something to keep in mind.

Second, no where in the posted ruleset or modules are the *required* OGL legal statements that need to be provided per WOTC by whomever has created or reproducing the content. That alone is grounds enough for Ged to remove the links.

Third, PCGen gets permission from the publishers to use their content. It has been stated in this thread that this has not been done in regards to this ruleset. This comparison is not valid as presented.

Forth, electronic re-distribution of OGL material is technically not covered under OGL per'sec as it was designed or intended by FFG, and for most publishers for that matter. In fact, there are many publishers that may not want to deal with things like VGT/FG because they have other exclusive software licenses for their products for things like computer games and/or MMOs. Warhammer is a classic example of this, and there are others out there too.

Lastly, it is always a best practice for someone to contact the publisher *first* before posting anything regarding their product to a public forum, OGL or not. The bottom line is that it is up to that publisher whether or not they want their products converted, and per the license they can always choose not to allow said re-distribution or publication. It wasn't until the ruleset and modules were posted for public download that Ged removed the links, and rightly so. You'll notice that other post screen shots of rulesets for game systems all over the place, and you can do that as long as you don't make things "public" for distribution. That is the violation here.

I'm sure with a bit of touching up and a polite note to FFG, Aaron's ruleset could very well be a fun staple to the community. However, there are rules to follow when doing things like this and those of us that deal with publishers and all the "legal stuff" that goes along with Fantasy Grounds we humbly ask the community to follow suit.

As for other comments ... we are not "overzealous with copyright" Pawel, and you yourself have stated to me that the legal stuff is nothing but babble to you. If anyone is being overzealous here it is you and quick judgements regarding what is right and wrong. I think patience and understanding are important on this issue.

Ged (Ville) and I have said from the early days of this forum that we would be happy to help people understand and follow copyrights when it comes to Fantasy Grounds, and that we don't want FG to be used a tool for copyright violation. All that is going to do is kill this community in the long run and allow the big boys like WOTC to come in with their D&D Insider and be the only game in town.

DarkStar
January 3rd, 2008, 17:07
Forth, electronic re-distribution of OGL material is technically not covered under OGL per'sec as it was designed or intended by FFG, and for most publishers for that matter. In fact, there are many publishers that may not want to deal with things like VGT/FG because they have other exclusive software licenses for their products for things like computer games and/or MMOs.

Thanks for your long reply, Kevin. I, myself, haven't thought that OGL might be about publishing written material as opposed to electronic products, something to consider.



I'm sure with a bit of touching up and a polite note to FFG, Aaron's ruleset could very well be a fun staple to the community. However, there are rules to follow when doing things like this and those of us that deal with publishers and all the "legal stuff" that goes along with Fantasy Grounds we humbly ask the community to follow suit.

Fine by me, I already said asking won't hurt. It's when you get a NO response it hurts some. ;)



you yourself have stated to me that the legal stuff is nothing but babble to you

As much as it's babble to all the common folk out there (read: buyers of licensed products). It's a known fact that all types of end user agreements are written in a form used by lawyers to cover all aspects (or as much as possible) in case of a lawsuit or other court issues. The language used there is not the one we use every day and people usually get lost in it, then you pay the lawyers to interpret it. :D Hence one of the questions in WotC's own OGL FAQ (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/oglfaq/20040123f):




Q: The license is confusing and full of legal terms I don't understand. Is there a "plain English" version?

A: No, there is not. The License has been drafted with specific legal language to withstand any reasonable court challenge. An effort to simplify the text might introduce errors or omissions that would distort the License and could mislead potential users. You should consult your legal counsel if you have any questions about how to use the OGL.


;)



Ged (Ville) and I have said from the early days of this forum that we would be happy to help people understand and follow copyrights when it comes to Fantasy Grounds
Perhaps put an article about copyright for module creators in the library? Something targetting FG specifically, less general? I think it would be a good idea. :rolleyes:

SirPinhead
January 12th, 2008, 07:47
Arnon,

Wow that work you've done is simply amazing. A group of my friends (and myself) bought fantasy ground to play MIDNIGHT on it. I cant wait to see what you come up with!

arnon
February 17th, 2008, 13:55
For those souls who have been intrested and asking about the rulesets and modules for Midnight i'm sorry i did not get to it earlier.

I've recieved the following answer from FFG:


As long as you point out that it is a fan-made item, and you print "Copyright (c) Fantasy Flight Games. All Rights Reserved." on it, that should be all right. You also must not charge ANY money for it, and must be willing to take it down if we ask.

I take this to mean that if I place a simple text file with that information along with the ruleset & modules, then i'm fine.

I promise to get to it this week, and if the Admin. agrees, i'll post the links again.

arnon

arnon
March 8th, 2008, 09:16
Hello all,

I finally got around to upload the files again. I have attached a txt file to both archives with the following wording:


This is a fan-made product. It is not to be traded in any form what-so-ever!!

Midnight and all campaign information are Copyright (c) Fantasy Flight Games. All Rights Reserved.

This is in accordance to the mail i received from FFG (see above post).

I have a link to the ruleset and the module in my signature. I placed them in two different files because people with the player version of FG2 do not need the ruleset... just in case you were wondering... :)

The ruleset is still not perfect and has an error or two... but it is workable (t works for me and my group at any rate). Any suggestion for improvement and any help in achieving such improvements will be appreciated.

arnon

Oberoten
March 8th, 2008, 10:29
Very nice dark and moody looking. I will have to give it a spin later and see how it plays. :)

Ged
March 8th, 2008, 11:10
Thanks arnon, appreciate also the extra steps you took to get the ok from FFG.

DarkStar
March 9th, 2008, 17:35
That is some great news, arnon! I am glad you actually contacted them about the ruleset.

arnon
March 9th, 2008, 23:26
Happy to spread Midnight love (don't tell Izrador ;) )

DarkStar
March 10th, 2008, 18:39
Now if only somebody ran a Midnight game with open slots... ;)

Blue Haven
December 28th, 2008, 19:36
Is there any updates on this ruleset? it would be cool to have a new version with more stuff ;)

arnon
December 30th, 2008, 07:56
Well, we've been on a longer-than-expedited hiatus, but next week we'll be back to playing. While preparing for the return of our campaign i stumbled upon moon_wizards' d20_JPG and was blown away.

Naturally I wanted to use it. So i've fiddled with it to meet my Midnight requirements. Most of the job was cosmetic and went smoothly, the only "glitch" is that I can't seem to connect the Spell Energy fields from the character sheet to the mini-character sheet (of course, if i could the whole magic sheet work with only spell energy and not slots it'd be even better).

SirPinhead
March 22nd, 2009, 03:55
Great Job Arnon! Midnight is simply a fascinating world. I'm surprised that it doesn't have a bigger following. Keep up the great work. Beware of THE FELL!

Dirtydeedz
November 11th, 2018, 18:35
Hey Everyone!
I'm in a gaming group that has primarily used HL & Pathfinder for the last several years. More recently we have been using the Conan 2d20 rule set. We rebooted a Midnight Campaign also using the 2d20 rule set. However, our GM has to bow out for personal reasons. One of our other players is going GM the Game, with a fresh start, using the 2.0 ruleset.
With that said.
I'm looking for step by step instructions to install this mod. At this point I don't even have FG installed.

damned
November 11th, 2018, 21:14
This is a 10year old mod. Its unlikely to do what you want. Have a look at MoreCore and one of the Conan 2d20 extensions.