Design question-

[Brenn]

As I've said in another thread, I'm trying to build in the ability to customize the Reign ruleset into my interface to avoid XML tedium later on. From my examination of the export scripts, I don't see any reason as to why I won't be able to export this data independent of the story.

My question is this- is there a drawback or problem to having a large amount of ruleset customization stored in the DB?

Also, if one were to export a module of "house rules" would they then be able to import it alongside another adventure module?

These aren't the types of rule changes that would call for extensions, more like default skill lists, spell schools and lists, hit location charts and other things.

[Foen]

If you don't need automation, or much drag-and-drop, then there is no reason why you couldn't add house rules to your DB. For example you could create another repository alongside the story/encounter, personalities, items etc to hold simple formatted text for your house rules.

If you want to have custom 'objects' to drag and drop (say inventory items, feats) which need to interact with the character sheet etc, then each type of object needs direct code support in the ruleset. You'd have to build that into your underlying ruleset to enable you to use it in your DB.

Foen

[Brenn]

The bulk of this is going to be data that would potentially appear on the character sheet. If I need object like behavior, that would come from the character sheet with the stored db data only serving to set the properties of that object, so I should be good there. To that end, unless I'm missing something, if I wanted the drag and drop behavior that underlying code could come from the user interface I'm building to modify the data.

This system is inherently 'simpler' than d20 (it bears some similarities to the Storyteller system), so you have more latitude on how you can handle things without getting too complicated.

Thanks for the response, Foen. I'm moving forward full speed with the customization interface.