US making a character generator?

[ToniXX]

I’m thinking about how the generator will work. I’m imagining that the user is presented with a form with the following fields (and maybe more, but I don’t think so).

• Name (text field)
• Class (select pulldown)
• Race (select pulldown)
• Level (text field)
• Gender (select pulldown)

The user may enter none or all fields, and a PC will be generated based on what is entered. If they enter no data, they get back an entirely random character, including a fantasy like name based on gender. If they enter paladin for class, the generator makes rolls until it gets necessary stats for a paladin. If they enter paladin and gnome, the generator kicks back an error (as gnomes can’t be paladins).
What do you all think? Do you think this is possible?

I have ideas about a village generator as well, but let's tackle one thing at a time.

[Leitz]

Phone ate my response, will try again when fully online.

[Lance]

I found this in the css files: https://www.unseenservant.com/support/s ... _trans.png

[Lance]

I’m thinking about how the generator will work. I’m imagining that the user is presented with a form with the following fields (and maybe more, but I don’t think so).

• Name (text field)
• Class (select pulldown)
• Race (select pulldown)
• Level (text field)
• Gender (select pulldown)

The user may enter none or all fields, and a PC will be generated based on what is entered. If they enter no data, they get back an entirely random character, including a fantasy like name based on gender. If they enter paladin for class, the generator makes rolls until it gets necessary stats for a paladin. If they enter paladin and gnome, the generator kicks back an error (as gnomes can’t be paladins).
What do you all think? Do you think this is possible?

I have ideas about a village generator as well, but let's tackle one thing at a time.

Of course this should all be possible, including warnings if a class/race/level combination is given that the rules don't allow. On the other hand, every campaign is different, os we shouldn't deny combinations that are against the book.

[GreyWolfVT]

I found this in the css files: https://www.unseenservant.com/support/s ... _trans.png

unfortunately that is a transparent block not the image with the dragon/serpent I was aiming for. Thank you for the try though.

[Lance]

Surely you don't mean this, right? https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/11 ... X-ed-Basic

Because that would be here: https://www.unseenservant.com/support/s ... er_mag.jpg

[GreyWolfVT]

Surely you don't mean this, right? https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/11 ... X-ed-Basic

Because that would be here: https://www.unseenservant.com/support/s ... er_mag.jpg

yup that was what I was looking for but I found something else that I think works better.

[Leitz]

Okay, sort of on a computer. I hate Macs...

There are things that classes need; stats, alignments, races, etc. Validation can occur, and an error page redirect happen. Not sure of the exact path, but putting all queries on one page seems a lot cleaner, UX wise. I hate multiple pages with 1-2 questions. While I agree with Lance about each campaign being unique, the final changes are up to the player/DM, who can edit the character sheet directly.

That said, I thought we were shooting for an NPC generator at first? Straight by the books, and fairly bland for starters. The integration logic will be "fun", as I don't know how the character sheets work. The logic in the current code says "if your class requires high stats, I use your highest rolls first, in order. Then anything you don't make gets raised to the minimum." That was part of my thinking about an NPC generator; you want a paladin, you get a paladin, with 17 Charisma even if they rolled straight 3's. What does re-rolling add?

We can make level a pulldown and keep the names automatic, eliminating all user provided input data. Again, if someone wants to customize a PC, they can change the name, etc, on the character sheet.

We probably also need to limit access to logged in USS full members. Otherwise you'll risk a lot of useless data in your DB. That means we likely need to store which user created the character, as well.

You did see that I created a village generator, right? Anyway, we could probably just do a checkbox for whatever people types they wanted in the village. We can deal with racial issues at some point, it depends on if the DM wants all one race, or mixed.

[ToniXX]

That said, I thought we were shooting for an NPC generator at first? Straight by the books, and fairly bland for starters. The integration logic will be "fun", as I don't know how the character sheets work. The logic in the current code says "if your class requires high stats, I use your highest rolls first, in order. Then anything you don't make gets raised to the minimum." That was part of my thinking about an NPC generator; you want a paladin, you get a paladin, with 17 Charisma even if they rolled straight 3's. What does re-rolling add?

Yes, an NPC generator is a good start and that works for me. Integration logic is something that I'll handle. I plan on adding a boolean field to the PC table to note if the PC is an NPC.

We can make level a pulldown and keep the names automatic, eliminating all user provided input data. Again, if someone wants to customize a PC, they can change the name, etc, on the character sheet.

Yes, I agree with this. They can make changes as they see fit after the NPC/PC is generated.

We probably also need to limit access to logged in USS full members. Otherwise you'll risk a lot of useless data in your DB. That means we likely need to store which user created the character, as well.

Yes, and yes. That's easy.

You did see that I created a village generator, right? Anyway, we could probably just do a checkbox for whatever people types they wanted in the village. We can deal with racial issues at some point, it depends on if the DM wants all one race, or mixed.

I was thinking that villagers don't need stats (str, int, wis, etc). They don't need classes either, but they do need jobs. I thought that an entire village could be generated after the user specifies the number of villagers he wants. And yes, we can do single race village, multi race village, etc. This entire village can then be saved in a new table (not the current PC table) and can be modified if the GM so desires.

[GreyWolfVT]

I've done minimal "index page" design so far. Part that will present challenges for my part is buttons and dropdown menus for this probably best done with javascript which i do not know.

[Leitz]

Well, i tend to interact with NPCs a lot, and having stats for them can be useful. In my traveller chargen stuff i assign physical attributes like skin and hair color, and mental things like mindset and what sort of plot their life is in.

[Leitz]

I've done minimal "index page" design so far. Part that will present challenges for my part is buttons and dropdown menus for this probably best done with javascript which i do not know.

I can work on the menu items and such. Having a nice place to put them helps a lot!

[GreyWolfVT]

Well to be honest the landing page design wasn't much just needed a decent background image (hopefully it is to everyone's liking.) and I tried to match the font on the roller and here as closely as I could for the header. Granted I am now noticing i skilled the space between Unseen and Servant.

[Leitz]

When i get my gear set back up I'll add some stuff and then probably ask you to make it look sane.

[dmw71]

Well to be honest the landing page design wasn't much just needed a decent background image (hopefully it is to everyone's liking.) and I tried to match the font on the roller and here as closely as I could for the header.

Really cool background image.

Granted I am now noticing i skilled the space between Unseen and Servant.

I was going to point that out so I'm glad you already caught it yourself.

[GreyWolfVT]

It's fixed on my copy I just need to update the version on the github.

"make it look sane" hmm what do you mean by that good sir?

[Leitz]

Okay, I finally got my computer set back up. Took a couple hours (and some mumbling) to figure out how to get PHP running on this particular Linux variant, but finally got it working.

If you're not familiar with Git branches, now is a great time to see how awesome they are. I created a branch "webform_1", and you can see the new code if you go to github, and on the left side under "code", you'll see a funny symbol and "master". Click "master", and then scroll down to see "webform_1". Click that, and you'll see the new code. With branches, we have totally, mostly, isolated copies of the code. We can merge branches, but I'd like to get some feedback on what I've done, and maybe talk rredmond and crew into doing some data entry. Also, maybe GreyWolfVT can make my form look like something real.

Here are the main changes:

1. Modified the css file to not have the really nice background, but a parchment thing for readability.
2. Used the nice background as an image on top.
3. Wrote index.php, and started on the radio buttons for class, race, gender, and alignment selection.
4. Moved the images into the "/images" directory.
5. Imported the character and chargen code to generate simple characters.

Things that need work. Username in [] is the suggested person to lead the effort. Feel free to volunteer!

1. Write unittests [leitz]
2. Add the rest of the classes, races, and alignments to the radio buttons. [rredmond]
3. Add more names, at least a few for each race, to names.php.
4. Add the rest of the classes to the prefs.php and mins.php files. [rredmond]
5. Make the character output use all of the various bits. [leitz]
6. Start the error checking (class to alignment, class to race, etc). [leitz]
7. Make the HTML layout look better. [GreyWolfVT]
8. Constrain the image to the size of the page. [GreyWolfVT]


The downside of converting this to PHP is that you have to have a PHP enabled server to see the pages. ToniXX, any thoughts on this? We don't want to over-burden you, but it would be nice to have a way for everyone to see the same page.

[ToniXX]

Good stuff. I just put this up real quick.

https://www.unseenservant.com/chargen/

Sorry, got rid of that huge image. It's cool but we don't need it at this point.

[Leitz]

I need to see if there's a way to include the web form from a separate file. If so, then the php page and the web for could be worked on separately. I can also do any minor syntax fixes before merging the code for ToniXX to put on the demo site.

Just downloaded OSRIC, so that'll be fun to read and code around. Still looking for data contributors.

[Lance]

https://www.w3schools.com/php/php_includes.asp