New DFRPG Ruleset Extension WIP

[Siggy442]

Posting here to document progress on the extension of the FateCore RPG that we have to be able to make it functional for the Dresden Files RPG. As I'm fairly new to this, and I tend to have to relearn coding every year or so (believe me, there is such thing as having too many hobbies), this make take a while, but I'm dedicated to it, as this is one of my favorite RPGs. I'm going to list some of the things that would need to be altered somewhat in order for the FateCore ruleset we have now to work with the DFRPG. I'll also be noting as I make progress on some of these things, which will be... well, trial and error comes to mind.

Please, if the community has any suggestions of things I should be trying to add or consider, let me know. I'm new here, and this is something of my first project. There's going to be a few bumps along the way, I'm sure.

Character Sheer

• Change Aspects to have a High Concept and Trouble section - DONE
• Add Social Stress Track. - DONE
• Add the option to add additional stress tracks. - DONE
• Add a Debt counter. - DONE

NPCs

• Change NPC format to allow for quicker building of NPCs, possibly similar to what a PC character sheet looks like? - DONE

The extension is now relatively complete. There were no theme changes or the like - my artistic skills are lacking, though if I ever find someone who can help me out on this front, I'll let you know. But, without further adieu, the extension is attached. The sheets, both PC and NPC, should function pretty well for a DFRPG game.

Dresden Files Extension

[Trenloe]

Good stuff! I'll look forward to seeing how you progress.

Just my usual feedback/warning regarding copyright. Game mechanics aren't covered by copyright so as long as you just stick to the game mechanics you will be OK. Artwork and written text are covered by copyright.

I know that SmiteWorks have an agreement with Evil Hat for the Fate Core ruleset, so I'd recommend reaching out to them (PM ddavison) to see what they recommend, as you might be able to include more material than just the non-copyright game mechanics.

[Valarian]

Okay. For Dresden Files, you'll want to start with the Fate Core character sheets as the base, rather than those of the Age of Arthur extension. Use the extension as a guide to the structure of an extension, but replace all the campaign folder files with the Fate Core ones. This has the High Concept and Trouble already in place. The Social stress track should fit in the stress track frame already there, by moving the physical up slightly and then placing Social under the Mental stress track (one would think it was almost planned that way).

The only real remaining change is the skill list in the data_common.xml file (scripts folder).

You can drag and drop numeric values on to the stunt/powers list in abilities already, so that caters for the variable stunt costs in DFRPG.

The current DFRPG ruleset has the backing of Evil Hat as a community offering. I reached out to Fred Hicks when I was releasing that. The feedback was "No rules = okay".

[Valarian]

For the copyright text (fate_chat.xml), you'll need to reference the existing license in the Dresden Files pak file. It's Open Game License, so a link to the WotC OGL page may be an idea (HTML link over the Open Game License text).

Open Game License v 1.0 © 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Fudge System 1995 version © 1992-1995 by Steffan O'Sullivan, © 2005 by Grey Ghost Press, Inc.; Author Steffan O'Sullivan.
FATE (Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment) © 2003 by Evil Hat Productions LLC; Authors Robert Donoghue and Fred Hicks.
Spirit of the Century © 2006, Evil Hat Productions LLC. Authors Robert Donoghue, Fred Hicks, and Leonard Balsera.
Any material found in this book which is not directly taken from the above named works is deemed to be product identity.
The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game: Volume 1: Your Story and The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game: Volume 2: Our World © 2010, Evil Hat Productions LLC.
Based on the original works in The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher as published by the Roc imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Arranged through the author's agent: Jennifer Jackson, Donald Maass Literary Agency. The Dresden Files, all of The Dresden Files book titles, all of the characters, descriptions, and plots from The Dresden Files books and stories, and all quoted material from The Dresden Files books are ©2000-2010 Jim Butcher.

[Siggy442]

So I was tinkering this afternoon and I've been able to modify the sheet a bit. Added the Social and Hunger stress tracks by enlarging the sheet slightly, which also allowed me to get creative and put in a Debt Box, as well as add a Sponsor bit under Fate Points, because of how those are typically related quite a bit. Still trying to get some of the spacing right, but I wanted to show you guys the progress before I went off to class.

The other thing was that I added an Other stress box, because there's sometimes a need for an extra one, depending on house rules or the possibility of using it as a power source. Back to work!

Attachment 9604

Additionally, I need some feedback. What are people's thoughts on the NPC loadout? Do you want it small to be easier to have a couple on the screen at the same time, or would you prefer it to basically resemble the character sheet? I'm leaning more towards the later because in the DFRPG, a lot of the NPCs are practically characters and PCs themselves. Thoughts and suggestions? This is my next step.

[Siggy442]

Requesting help now, actually. I decided to try and go ahead with what already exists as far as the NPC sheet. I decided that one solution would be to add more tabs to the Main and Notes tabs that already exist. Unfortunately, I seem to be struggling to grasp how it's done - I haven't any success. I'm usually able to reverse engineer how the things work (which is how I learned how to alter the PC sheet), but I'm having a difficult time grasping how the tabs are set up. Could someone help, or provide a good resource for me to figure this one out?

[damned]

I suggest you have a look at the MoreCore extension.
You will see two main sections - one is a character sheet extension - adds another Tab and the other adds functionality to the Combat Tracker.
It has a pretty good amount of Comments within the code so it should help you out.

FG Con 6 – April 17-19th 2015 - register at www.fg-con.com for all the latest info.

[Siggy442]

That's definitely getting more on the right track, but it seems I'm still running into problems.

<subwindow_record name="main">
				<class>npc_main</class>
			</subwindow_record>
			<subwindow_record name="abilities">
				<class>npc_abilities</class>
			</subwindow_record>	
			<ft_record name="notes">
				<anchored to="contentframe" position="over" />
				<empty textres="ft_empty" />
				<invisible />
			</ft_record>

			<scrollbar_record>
				<target>main</target>
			</scrollbar_record>
			<scrollbar_record>
				<target>abilities</target>
			</scrollbar_record>	
			<scrollbar_record>
				<target>notes</target>
			</scrollbar_record>

			<tabs_recordsheet>
				<tab>
					<icon>tab_main</icon>
					<subwindow>main</subwindow>
				</tab>
				<tab>
					<icon>tab_abilities</icon>
					<subwindow>abilities</subwindow>
				</tab>	
				<tab>
					<icon>tab_notes</icon>
					<subwindow>notes</subwindow>
				</tab>
			</tabs_recordsheet>

This is my current code. You can see I added the abilities bit in there, and I've defined the windowclass npc_abilities later on in the file. When I compare it to the MoreCore...

<subwindow name="more">
				<bounds>0,65,-1,-20</bounds>
				<class>charsheet_more</class>
			</subwindow> 
			<subwindow name="main">
				<bounds>0,65,-1,-20</bounds>
				<class>charsheet_main</class>
			</subwindow>
			<subwindow name="abilities">
				<bounds>0,65,-1,-20</bounds>
				<class>charsheet_abilities</class>
			</subwindow>
			<subwindow name="inventory">
				<bounds>0,65,-1,-20</bounds>
				<class>charsheet_inventory</class>
			</subwindow>
			<subwindow name="notes">
				<bounds>0,65,-1,-20</bounds>
				<class>charsheet_notes</class>
			</subwindow>

			<tabs_charsheet>
<!--   Added new MoreCore Tab to the Character Sheet -->
				<tab>
<!--   Create transparent PNG file with text for the new Tab. File lives under \graphics\tabs -->
					<icon>tab_more</icon>
					<subwindow>more</subwindow>
				</tab> 
				<tab>
					<icon>tab_main</icon>
					<subwindow>main</subwindow>
				</tab>
				<tab>
					<icon>tab_abilities</icon>
					<subwindow>abilities</subwindow>
				</tab>
				<tab>
					<icon>tab_inventory</icon>
					<subwindow>inventory</subwindow>
				</tab>
				<tab>
					<icon>tab_notes</icon>
					<subwindow>notes</subwindow>
				</tab>
				<activate>1</activate>
			</tabs_charsheet>

It's most the same thing with a few differences I didn't think meant much. The only thing I could pick up is that he's doing it for a character sheet while I'm trying to do it for an NPC sheet. I know the Abilities tab already exists in graphics, so as it is, I'm having a hard time understanding why I can't get it to show up.

[Dakadin]

Do you have the graphics for the <icon> and <class> tags defined?

[damned]

That's definitely getting more on the right track, but it seems I'm still running into problems.

....

It's most the same thing with a few differences I didn't think meant much. The only thing I could pick up is that he's doing it for a character sheet while I'm trying to do it for an NPC sheet. I know the Abilities tab already exists in graphics, so as it is, I'm having a hard time understanding why I can't get it to show up.

im not positive but I dont recall ever seeing a NPC sheet with more than 2 tabs....