Play DnD everywhere - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Play DnD everywhere

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
goddess_mystra
Nov 05, 2012 7:11:14
Intro;

a lot of people have netboards, ipads, mobilphones and computers. Perhaps even almost all... And we on these message boards also love or play DnD.

My idea;

so why not mix them? Let us make a program that makes it easy to play DnD anywhere, anytime, each day in stead of only each second or third saturday.

Most of the work of a DM is mathematics; dice rolls, skill check, combat, keeping track of effects and spells number of rolls, you name it. All of this can be turned over to a computer/mobile/ipad as they are made for mathematics. Then the DM only has to worry about the story...

Programming language;

as I'd like this to work on all the mentioned computers/phones I guess Java is the only or best option. At least that's how I have understood it; a java program will work on all machines with the java script. I have a windows laptop, a linux stasjonary computer and an android phone so an across system programming would be extremly handy. What do others think or know about this?

Work;

now I've already looked into this briefly as I attempted to make it myself (in smallBasic witch is a free programming language from microsoft) but I early on realised making it myself were out of the question... DnD is more hugely avesomely complicated than most people realise... And huge...

So... we must shorten the workload. I see three ways to shorten the workload off the programmers;

use the open game license text files from the SRD. The DnD program almost have to call information from these files. Doing this would shorten the programming time with months, I belive.

It is impractical to include ALL the rules for playing DnD. Most games work fine without worrying about weather conditions, time, terrain type movement, temperature, height and weight of people and so on. Maybe also things like alignment and language can be ignored?

Stories. Probably best to leave this part to a living DM and not write pre-made stories for this DnD program. OR if someone want to make stories they could be added as modules later on?

Anyone interested? We would need some who knows DnD as DM (I think... or at least has the DMG) and the obvious; someone who know a programming language and/or who wants to learn programming.

Modules needed for this to be useful for players and DMs alike; create player(s), create or call pre-made NPCs (like shopkeepers, smiths, innowners and even some boss NPCs wich might be behind the trouble the players face), create or call forth pre-made monsters, skill challenges, combat, roll dices, equipment, magic equipment, spells, caracter (and monster) advancement (as in level up), effects and conditions. 11 modules not counting the sub-modules and all the edition rules...

As I said, DnD is huge, not someone can program alone. Anyway I have the structure ready I belive;

Possible Program Structure for Play_DnD (or whatever it will be named),

Menu; -make PC, -make NPC, -get monsters from SRD, -Roll dices, -equipment, -skill challenges,

    -combat, -level up. Options; choose 3,5ed, 4th ed, DnD Next, DM's house rules.

Make PC; (making PCs and NPCs start the same way so can use same subroutine for them)

.    name gender race class alignment, the 6 abilities (roll 4d6 drop lowest or point buy)

.    The below is decided by the SRD (DM houserules as always overrules the SRD) for an NPC;

.    languages skills feats, spells if spellcaster, animal companion if druid, familiar if

.    wizard or sorcerer

.    both PC and NPC need equipment.

.     Automatically extract from the SRD; hitpoints from class + con mod, AC 10 + dex mod + armor

.     init from dex mod + feat, BAB fort ref will from class, speed from race + class – heavy armor,

.     melee and ranged attack from weapon or spell, carrying capacity.

Monster; make a new or get one from the SRD. How many? Any Boss or sub-leaders? Equip them.

Roll Dices; how many dices? How many eyes?

Equipment; get or buy stuff, perhaps broken down into subsections like

.           weapon armor adventuring tools ridables vehicle hirelings magic scrolls

Combat; get the prepared monsters and (N)PC's, surprise round? Initiative order?commence the fight

.           round by round. Keep track of spell effects and the like. Withdraw or run away?

.          Who wins? Experience and treasure to whomever wins

Level Up; the 'Make PC' section make level 1 characters. To level up to 2 and up follows a totally different setup than

.      making level 1 characters so I think it is most practical to have a separate 'Level Up' section.

.     Level up a character based on experience

.     Or choose a spesific level you want your character to be (many games start up at highter than level 1).

.     Level up an NPC

A program like this would be helpful for both players and Dms. Dms can quickly playtest if an encounter is too much or too easy for a party. A DM can possibly play a character too as this program take care of the numbers for him. With other word the DM can be more of a storyteller than a DM...

And players can play DnD whenever they wish, letting the program be a small DM for them. If he don't have others to play with he can make a couple of NPCs that the program control and play his one char.

This program is minimum of what one need for it to be DnD. Adding story elements would be a bonus. I will leave the story side to others with more imagination than me.

Formula – mathematic;

HP = class + con mod + feat

AC = 10 + armor + shield + dex mod + size mod + magic items + spells

init = 1d20 + dex mod + feat

bab = class by level

fort = 1d20 + bab + con mod

ref = 1d20 + bab + dex mod

will = 1d20 + bab + wis mod

speed = race + class bonus (monk barbarian)

melee = 1d20 + bab + str mod + size mod + magic

ranged = 1d20 + bab + dex mod + size mod + magic – range penalty

animal companion;

.   bonus HD; extra d8's, list in SRD

.   natural armor; animals own + adjustment from SRD

.   str/dex bonus; str dex adjustment from list in SRD

.   share spells; master can share spells he cast on himself to also affect the animal.

familiar;

.   hit dice; animals normal HD or master level, wichever is highter

.   hit points; ½ the masters total rounded down

.   attack; masters bab (from all classes he has) + familiars str mod OR dex mod wichever highter

.   saving throw; familiars own or masters (all classes total), for each saving throw

.   skills; familiars own + masters ranks for each skill, except crafting. Familiars own modifiers.

.   natural armor; get from the list in SRD

.   intelligence; as above

.   alert; the master gains the alertness feat when the familiar is near him

.   improved evasion; familiar takes no damage from reflex save for half damage

.   share spells; master can share spells he cast on himself to also affect the familiar.

Thats what I got so far. A short program like this should take no time at all to make... heh (scoffs)

So who want to take part of this fan-made free program? What would it be called?

We would need someone to handle;

spells

equipment including magic items

combat

main program

any graphics?

any story?

any sound?

Maybe two people on each of these parts + a lead programmer... thats 9 to 15 people and me the organizer. Can never be too many

#2
ADHadh
Nov 05, 2012 9:05:08 I thought there already existed a few.

That's also what the VTT was supposed to be. Shame it never happened. SHAME.
#3
zombie_babies
Nov 05, 2012 9:21:15 It happened, brah. It was a letdown on a lot of levels, I guess. And then it died. And the peeps what said it was a letdown cried and another company picked it up. So it's there.
#4
jetshield
Nov 05, 2012 10:25:59
Most of the work of a DM is mathematics; dice rolls, skill check, combat, keeping track of effects and spells number of rolls, you name it. All of this can be turned over to a computer/mobile/ipad as they are made for mathematics. Then the DM only has to worry about the story...

Two points:

1) Either you've never been a DM or you're really bad at it.

2) There are already a bunch of projects like this in various stages of completion.
#5
WolfLordBran
Nov 05, 2012 13:03:43 I think it was GameTable that got it. I tried the VTT a few times when it was in Beta and it was pretty neat but oh well, that's what my regular group is for anyways.
#6
zombie_babies
Nov 05, 2012 13:12:55
The VT was picked up by another compagny? I thought they let it die after the Beta test.

Yep, some company got it. Worked it all out with WotC and everything. One of the doods what works there even posted a bunch of stuff here helping peeps port their junk over.
#7
Ragnar_Lodbrok
Nov 05, 2012 18:06:08 Thing is, I enjoy the game for the math as well as the story. Putting it on a computer would cheapen the game for me. I'm sure that there are people who would be interested, but I am not one of them.
#8
bone_naga
Nov 05, 2012 18:59:36
I think it was GameTable that got it. I tried the VTT a few times when it was in Beta and it was pretty neat but oh well, that's what my regular group is for anyways.

I believe Fantasy Grounds has a 3e ruleset, and Maptool probably does as well.
#9
bone_naga
Nov 05, 2012 20:25:22
So, in other words, this thread is moot.

Yep.
#10
The_Silversword
Nov 05, 2012 23:12:44
I think it was GameTable that got it. I tried the VTT a few times when it was in Beta and it was pretty neat but oh well, that's what my regular group is for anyways.

They never did do that 3d character creator thingy they kept going on about, really bummed me out.
#11
ADHadh
Nov 06, 2012 1:40:10
So, in other words, this thread is moot.

This thread?
#12
goddess_mystra
Nov 11, 2012 15:26:15 No no no, I'm not interested in MapTool or vvt as some call it. But I found out one can use Google + Hangout in combination with skype/chat, if we get a DM. But that was not wat I was looking for either...

#13
lokiare
Nov 14, 2012 22:07:22 Yeah, totally IP infringement and will get you a nice "Cease and Desist" letter from WotC.

It would be nice if they did it, but they won't. They'll do some kind of windows only SilverLight app that can only be accessed while online...wait didn't that already happen?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 goddess_mystra Nov 05, 2012 7:11:14	Intro; a lot of people have netboards, ipads, mobilphones and computers. Perhaps even almost all... And we on these message boards also love or play DnD. My idea; so why not mix them? Let us make a program that makes it easy to play DnD anywhere, anytime, each day in stead of only each second or third saturday. Most of the work of a DM is mathematics; dice rolls, skill check, combat, keeping track of effects and spells number of rolls, you name it. All of this can be turned over to a computer/mobile/ipad as they are made for mathematics. Then the DM only has to worry about the story... Programming language; as I'd like this to work on all the mentioned computers/phones I guess Java is the only or best option. At least that's how I have understood it; a java program will work on all machines with the java script. I have a windows laptop, a linux stasjonary computer and an android phone so an across system programming would be extremly handy. What do others think or know about this? Work; now I've already looked into this briefly as I attempted to make it myself (in smallBasic witch is a free programming language from microsoft) but I early on realised making it myself were out of the question... DnD is more hugely avesomely complicated than most people realise... And huge... So... we must shorten the workload. I see three ways to shorten the workload off the programmers; use the open game license text files from the SRD. The DnD program almost have to call information from these files. Doing this would shorten the programming time with months, I belive. It is impractical to include ALL the rules for playing DnD. Most games work fine without worrying about weather conditions, time, terrain type movement, temperature, height and weight of people and so on. Maybe also things like alignment and language can be ignored? Stories. Probably best to leave this part to a living DM and not write pre-made stories for this DnD program. OR if someone want to make stories they could be added as modules later on? Anyone interested? We would need some who knows DnD as DM (I think... or at least has the DMG) and the obvious; someone who know a programming language and/or who wants to learn programming. Modules needed for this to be useful for players and DMs alike; create player(s), create or call pre-made NPCs (like shopkeepers, smiths, innowners and even some boss NPCs wich might be behind the trouble the players face), create or call forth pre-made monsters, skill challenges, combat, roll dices, equipment, magic equipment, spells, caracter (and monster) advancement (as in level up), effects and conditions. 11 modules not counting the sub-modules and all the edition rules... As I said, DnD is huge, not someone can program alone. Anyway I have the structure ready I belive; Possible Program Structure for Play_DnD (or whatever it will be named), Menu; -make PC, -make NPC, -get monsters from SRD, -Roll dices, -equipment, -skill challenges, -combat, -level up. Options; choose 3,5ed, 4th ed, DnD Next, DM's house rules. Make PC; (making PCs and NPCs start the same way so can use same subroutine for them) . name gender race class alignment, the 6 abilities (roll 4d6 drop lowest or point buy) . The below is decided by the SRD (DM houserules as always overrules the SRD) for an NPC; . languages skills feats, spells if spellcaster, animal companion if druid, familiar if . wizard or sorcerer . both PC and NPC need equipment. . Automatically extract from the SRD; hitpoints from class + con mod, AC 10 + dex mod + armor . init from dex mod + feat, BAB fort ref will from class, speed from race + class – heavy armor, . melee and ranged attack from weapon or spell, carrying capacity. Monster; make a new or get one from the SRD. How many? Any Boss or sub-leaders? Equip them. Roll Dices; how many dices? How many eyes? Equipment; get or buy stuff, perhaps broken down into subsections like . weapon armor adventuring tools ridables vehicle hirelings magic scrolls Combat; get the prepared monsters and (N)PC's, surprise round? Initiative order?commence the fight . round by round. Keep track of spell effects and the like. Withdraw or run away? . Who wins? Experience and treasure to whomever wins Level Up; the 'Make PC' section make level 1 characters. To level up to 2 and up follows a totally different setup than . making level 1 characters so I think it is most practical to have a separate 'Level Up' section. . Level up a character based on experience . Or choose a spesific level you want your character to be (many games start up at highter than level 1). . Level up an NPC A program like this would be helpful for both players and Dms. Dms can quickly playtest if an encounter is too much or too easy for a party. A DM can possibly play a character too as this program take care of the numbers for him. With other word the DM can be more of a storyteller than a DM... And players can play DnD whenever they wish, letting the program be a small DM for them. If he don't have others to play with he can make a couple of NPCs that the program control and play his one char. This program is minimum of what one need for it to be DnD. Adding story elements would be a bonus. I will leave the story side to others with more imagination than me. Formula – mathematic; HP = class + con mod + feat AC = 10 + armor + shield + dex mod + size mod + magic items + spells init = 1d20 + dex mod + feat bab = class by level fort = 1d20 + bab + con mod ref = 1d20 + bab + dex mod will = 1d20 + bab + wis mod speed = race + class bonus (monk barbarian) melee = 1d20 + bab + str mod + size mod + magic ranged = 1d20 + bab + dex mod + size mod + magic – range penalty animal companion; . bonus HD; extra d8's, list in SRD . natural armor; animals own + adjustment from SRD . str/dex bonus; str dex adjustment from list in SRD . share spells; master can share spells he cast on himself to also affect the animal. familiar; . hit dice; animals normal HD or master level, wichever is highter . hit points; ½ the masters total rounded down . attack; masters bab (from all classes he has) + familiars str mod OR dex mod wichever highter . saving throw; familiars own or masters (all classes total), for each saving throw . skills; familiars own + masters ranks for each skill, except crafting. Familiars own modifiers. . natural armor; get from the list in SRD . intelligence; as above . alert; the master gains the alertness feat when the familiar is near him . improved evasion; familiar takes no damage from reflex save for half damage . share spells; master can share spells he cast on himself to also affect the familiar. Thats what I got so far. A short program like this should take no time at all to make... heh (scoffs) So who want to take part of this fan-made free program? What would it be called? We would need someone to handle; spells equipment including magic items combat main program any graphics? any story? any sound? Maybe two people on each of these parts + a lead programmer... thats 9 to 15 people and me the organizer. Can never be too many
#2 ADHadh Nov 05, 2012 9:05:08	I thought there already existed a few. That's also what the VTT was supposed to be. Shame it never happened. SHAME.
#3 zombie_babies Nov 05, 2012 9:21:15	It happened, brah. It was a letdown on a lot of levels, I guess. And then it died. And the peeps what said it was a letdown cried and another company picked it up. So it's there.
#4 jetshield Nov 05, 2012 10:25:59	Most of the work of a DM is mathematics; dice rolls, skill check, combat, keeping track of effects and spells number of rolls, you name it. All of this can be turned over to a computer/mobile/ipad as they are made for mathematics. Then the DM only has to worry about the story... Two points: 1) Either you've never been a DM or you're really bad at it. 2) There are already a bunch of projects like this in various stages of completion.
#5 WolfLordBran Nov 05, 2012 13:03:43	I think it was GameTable that got it. I tried the VTT a few times when it was in Beta and it was pretty neat but oh well, that's what my regular group is for anyways.
#6 zombie_babies Nov 05, 2012 13:12:55	The VT was picked up by another compagny? I thought they let it die after the Beta test. Yep, some company got it. Worked it all out with WotC and everything. One of the doods what works there even posted a bunch of stuff here helping peeps port their junk over.
#7 Ragnar_Lodbrok Nov 05, 2012 18:06:08	Thing is, I enjoy the game for the math as well as the story. Putting it on a computer would cheapen the game for me. I'm sure that there are people who would be interested, but I am not one of them.
#8 bone_naga Nov 05, 2012 18:59:36	I think it was GameTable that got it. I tried the VTT a few times when it was in Beta and it was pretty neat but oh well, that's what my regular group is for anyways. I believe Fantasy Grounds has a 3e ruleset, and Maptool probably does as well.
#9 bone_naga Nov 05, 2012 20:25:22	So, in other words, this thread is moot. Yep.
#10 The_Silversword Nov 05, 2012 23:12:44	I think it was GameTable that got it. I tried the VTT a few times when it was in Beta and it was pretty neat but oh well, that's what my regular group is for anyways. They never did do that 3d character creator thingy they kept going on about, really bummed me out.
#11 ADHadh Nov 06, 2012 1:40:10	So, in other words, this thread is moot. This thread?
#12 goddess_mystra Nov 11, 2012 15:26:15	No no no, I'm not interested in MapTool or vvt as some call it. But I found out one can use Google + Hangout in combination with skype/chat, if we get a DM. But that was not wat I was looking for either...
#13 lokiare Nov 14, 2012 22:07:22	Yeah, totally IP infringement and will get you a nice "Cease and Desist" letter from WotC. It would be nice if they did it, but they won't. They'll do some kind of windows only SilverLight app that can only be accessed while online...wait didn't that already happen?