Ruleset Monsters & Treasure

[Trenloe]

AHhhh!!! I can't believe I didn't know that this new rulebook was under development! I can't tell from the Kickstarter link whether or not the book will be available for the public, or only to people who ordered via kickstarter. I'd kill almost anything detailed in that book for a copy of the book!

The body text of the main page suggests it will be $24.99 for a hardcover.

[Trenloe]

That's probably true - I assumed I'd be writing my own parser. I did it for the OGL d20 spells for that C&C module I did (it really helps in converting the old AD&D modules to C&C). It was a big PITA as there was a lot of inconsistencies in the source text. Still... my desire to use many old school monsters is great (but not all - I thought Fiend Folio was a train wreck when it first came out, and I don't believe it has aged well...). If the chore of writing a parser wasn't *too* onerous, I might just volunteer to put it in a polished module for the masses. I helped Sorcerer a little bit with what would have been an update to the Arms & Armor Guide to facilitate inventory changes he was working on, and I think it's something I could pull off... if nobody else is going to do it.

I've got the framework of a pretty good parser that I have used to create creature, spells and magic items modules for Pathfinder. As you say, the main effort is getting data in a format that is reproducable - basically, what can be put in the fields supported by FG: (for a monster) # encountered, size, HD, move, AC, BtH, Attack, Special, Saves, Intelligence, Alignment, Type, Treasure, XP, Equipment.

Then, with this list (perhaps in a spreadsheet), it would be easy to modify the parser I have to go through, extract the data and create the whole module XML.

For Classic Monsters we're presuming it will be released under the OGL of course...

[dr_venture]

Then, with this list (perhaps in a spreadsheet), it would be easy to modify the parser I have to go through, extract the data and create the whole module XML.

For Classic Monsters we're presuming it will be released under the OGL of course...

Sweet on the parser front! As for OGL, I just figured that whoever was going to the trouble to actually create the whole dang thing could coordinate with Troll Lord & Smiteworks and make a product out of it. TL seems to be keen on that, and I know I'd personally prefer to pay for it than create it... but if nobody else creates it I might just create it for myself... and if I'm doing that, might as well make it a product (assuming TL & Smiteworks were keen on that, of course).

All in favor of Trenloe creating a module of the new book raise their hands!!! It's unanimous!

[damned]

i have a feeling the Classic Monsters will be *from* SRD20!

[dr_venture]

I briefly considered parsing out the monsters from d20... then I sobered up! Had I known what a hassle the spells were to do - and I didn't even do anything to convert them from d20 to C&C - I never would have done it. I'd sure love to have those monster tho... *drool*.

[Trenloe]

i have a feeling the Classic Monsters will be *from* SRD20!

The kickstart site says:

Kim revisits the old monster books, MM II and the Fiend Folio, plying their pages for all those classic monsters that mystified and horrified young gamers of every stripe. From the tarrasque to the peryton, from the mighty-small dune stalker to the nightshade, Kim brings it all back to the table.

The monsters in the d20 SRD are really only those released in MM1 (to the best of my knowledge).

I'm hoping Classic Monsters will be something like the recently "Pathfinderised" Tome of Horrors from Frog God Games, but probably not as big...

[Trenloe]

All in favor of Trenloe creating a module of the new book raise their hands!!! It's unanimous!

OK, OK... I'll see what I can do - will have to get my hands on a PDF as I missed the kickstarter too.

It won't have any token art associated with it - as I'm a terrible artist. Now, if someone fancied doing some line art for some of the creatures...

[dr_venture]

Wow, potentially with tokens... I wasn't going to commit to go that far... I'm glad I single-handedly nominated and unanimously voted you in! If you're looking at making it an official deal (as always, assuming that Troll Lord and Smiteworks were interested in making that happen), then hopefully the new product will have some usable artwork in it. Beyond that, I haven't done much original art since high school - I'm more of a tweaker of existing material/digital artist.

[damned]

trenloe - if i collected all the d20srd monsters into a common format in excel would you then be able to write a parser? would that make it easier? maybe a few of us could share a rewrite of some of the stats to match c&c stats?
is there another/better/easier format for you to parse?
whos up for some donkey work collating and then updating the stats prior to parsing?

[dr_venture]

That's what I had to do for the d20 spells - no fun, but it's sure nice to have that module floating around. I'd be up for pitching in on this... but isn't the new C&C book supposed to do all of the conversion work for us... or am I misunderstanding?

Also, since they're offering the product for sale - and seem to be a very cool company that supports FG - I would much rather support their official conversion of their product, if possible. So I guess I'd prefer to wait and see if we can expect to see anything from them first.