Author Topic: A new toy to play with for NPC creators  (Read 3058 times)

Offline The Mighty Buzzard

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1041
  • Unemployed in Greenland
    • View Profile
A new toy to play with for NPC creators
« on: November 01, 2011, 11:04:59 PM »
So, Sanctaphrax and I've been trying to get the Generic NPCs list in order and filled into the wiki lately.  It occurred to me that it would make things easier if everyone had a tool to input the data once and get all the data back formatted for copy and paste to both the board and the wiki in one go.

To that end, I wrote this ugly little bit of perl: NPC Formatilizer 9000

Feel free to play around with it.  Everything should be working except the Plain Mortal checkbox (I just forgot about it).  My to-do list includes that and counting up power/stunt costs and calculating Total Refresh Cost from the script instead of you having to add it up in your head.  The Additional Notes field at the bottom is for npc description or anything else that doesn't readily fit into the other boxes.

Bear in mind, this is running on my home server.  That means that it will occasionally be unavailable when my DSL connection is cycling, when I have all the bandwidth tied up playing Global Thermonuclear War, or in the event of zombie apocalypse.

Comments and suggestions welcome.
Violence is like duct tape.  If it doesn't solve the problem, you didn't use enough.

My web based NPC formatter, output suitable for copy/paste to boards and wiki, can be found here.

Offline Sanctaphrax

  • White Council
  • Seriously?
  • ****
  • Posts: 12401
    • View Profile
Re: A new toy to play with for NPC creators
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2011, 08:47:41 PM »
I endorse this wholeheartedly.

PS: Are you actually unemployed in Greenland?
PPS: Do you know what "Awaiting Approval" means?

Offline The Mighty Buzzard

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1041
  • Unemployed in Greenland
    • View Profile
Re: A new toy to play with for NPC creators
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2011, 09:27:13 PM »
Pure Mortal checkbox now actually does something.  Anything else can wait till I've had a bit of coffee.
Violence is like duct tape.  If it doesn't solve the problem, you didn't use enough.

My web based NPC formatter, output suitable for copy/paste to boards and wiki, can be found here.

Offline LordDraqo

  • Participant
  • *
  • Posts: 23
    • View Profile
Re: A new toy to play with for NPC creators
« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2011, 12:21:58 AM »
I love this and will be using it for my own campaign in the near future.

Offline The Mighty Buzzard

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1041
  • Unemployed in Greenland
    • View Profile
Re: A new toy to play with for NPC creators
« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2011, 12:50:25 AM »
I love this and will be using it for my own campaign in the near future.

If plain-text or html formatting would help, I can add it in.

Non-reply side note: Here's the source in case I get struck by a meteor or get an attack of religion and decide to become a monk.  It's beer-ware licensed.  That means you can snake the code and use/modify it for anything but if we're ever in physical proximity and you dug it, you have to buy me a beer.

http://ashbentiel.mine.nu/npcs.pl
Violence is like duct tape.  If it doesn't solve the problem, you didn't use enough.

My web based NPC formatter, output suitable for copy/paste to boards and wiki, can be found here.

Offline Pbartender

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 136
    • View Profile
Re: A new toy to play with for NPC creators
« Reply #5 on: November 03, 2011, 04:55:11 PM »
If plain-text or html formatting would help, I can add it in.

Plain text would be fantastic...  players could use it for their character sheets.

Offline The Mighty Buzzard

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1041
  • Unemployed in Greenland
    • View Profile
Re: A new toy to play with for NPC creators
« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2011, 10:59:54 PM »
Plain text would be fantastic...  players could use it for their character sheets.

Well, it isn't really meant for PC creation but if they want to use it that way more power to them. Plain text output is live. It's below the wiki output.

I'm seriously considering doing up a web based version of the DFRPG CharCalc Spreadsheet for player use.  Definitely looking at pulling all the custom stunts/powers in from the wiki for dropdown lists. Possibly even outputting the data onto a pdf or image for printing afterwards.  That, however, will take quite a lot more work and won't be done any time soon.

EDIT: Added large ◯ stress bubbles to plain text output as opposed to the smaller ○ ones in the wiki output.
« Last Edit: November 04, 2011, 01:43:31 AM by The Mighty Buzzard »
Violence is like duct tape.  If it doesn't solve the problem, you didn't use enough.

My web based NPC formatter, output suitable for copy/paste to boards and wiki, can be found here.

Offline Pbartender

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 136
    • View Profile
Re: A new toy to play with for NPC creators
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2011, 12:21:59 PM »
Well, it isn't really meant for PC creation but if they want to use it that way more power to them.[/url]

Oh, I know...  but getting standardized, legible sheets from the players that I can keep on file would be awfully handy.

I'm seriously considering doing up a web based version of the DFRPG CharCalc Spreadsheet for player use.  Definitely looking at pulling all the custom stunts/powers in from the wiki for dropdown lists. Possibly even outputting the data onto a pdf or image for printing afterwards.  That, however, will take quite a lot more work and won't be done any time soon.

SQUEEE!    ;D

Offline The Mighty Buzzard

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1041
  • Unemployed in Greenland
    • View Profile
Re: A new toy to play with for NPC creators
« Reply #8 on: November 11, 2011, 12:31:43 PM »
Interactive PC creating web page is coming along nicely.  Still have some design decisions to work out for how to lay out skill selection but I think I'll skip that in favor of working on stunts and powers today.

Question for those who'll be using it: Do you want refresh levels above and below the RAW ones or will those four be enough?
Violence is like duct tape.  If it doesn't solve the problem, you didn't use enough.

My web based NPC formatter, output suitable for copy/paste to boards and wiki, can be found here.

Offline Pbartender

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 136
    • View Profile
Re: A new toy to play with for NPC creators
« Reply #9 on: November 11, 2011, 02:07:01 PM »
Question for those who'll be using it: Do you want refresh levels above and below the RAW ones or will those four be enough?

You'll want lot's of available refresh levels for the purposes of advancement, if nothing else.

Offline The Mighty Buzzard

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1041
  • Unemployed in Greenland
    • View Profile
Re: A new toy to play with for NPC creators
« Reply #10 on: November 16, 2011, 03:44:10 PM »
STATUS UPDATE:

Work on the PC creation page is progressing about as well as can be expected after TES V: Skyrim was released.  Which is to say it's on hold until I get slightly less obsessed.  Fear not, I've suffered through too much javascript already to not finish it.
Violence is like duct tape.  If it doesn't solve the problem, you didn't use enough.

My web based NPC formatter, output suitable for copy/paste to boards and wiki, can be found here.