1 Attachment(s)
New School NPC Maker - 5E Extension
Version History
New School NPC Maker - 5E Extension v.1.0.0 released 2/12/17 - Current Version
Changelog
Version 1.0.0
initial release
Q&A
Who is the target audience for this extension?
It is intended for those individuals in our community that spend their free time developing professional quality adventure modules for the 5e ruleset.
What ruleset is this extension designed for?
This is an extension to the Savage Worlds ruleset.
Why Savage Worlds? It says it is for 5e in the title?
This extension runs in the Savage Worlds ruleset so that it can be used in conjunction with the SW Library Extension Tool by Ikael while doing adventure module or reference manual layout. The reasons it says 5e in the title will become clear shortly.
What does this extension do?
It replaces the data fields in the Savage Worlds NPC sheet with data fields from D&D 5e.
How will this benefit me?
Up until now, you either had to do all your module creation directly in the 5e ruleset and if you wanted to take advantage of the reference manual mode, you had to hand code the xml and then splice two xml files together or you could opt to use the SW Library Extension Tool in SW to give you a WYSIWYG interface, but then you had to go back to 5e to do all your npc records and then splice that into the xml code No longer, I say! Blasphemy, you say! Hear me out.
With this extension, you can make your npc's and add them to encounters and link them into your module, all without leaving the Savage Worlds environment. Once your module is done, you can export it and have it be read properly by the 5e ruleset.
But, I normally use the MM, Volo's Guide, and other 5e Bestiaries when I'm designing. I won't have that in Savage Worlds. I don't want to type in data fields or copy/paste from a pdf. I want my stinkin' manuals.
Now hold on now grasshopper. You can have that too. Well, of a sorts. You can drag copy the npc's you need from those modules and make your own portable bestiary that you'll be able to bring into Savage Worlds.
Ah, but that takes time. I'm a busy person.
Yes you are, and we all appreciate that. But, you don't have to do the whole MM at once, just what you need for your project. And just think of the time it will save you not having to do all the major editing in XML. You can make your work look nicer than ever in less time.
But, what about the links in the MM, such as tokens and pictures of the monster and the description text? I want to make sure that is available for my customers.
No problem. When you save your custom bestiary, those links get saved also; not the actual tokens or images, but the links are still there. When you finish your module and open it in 5e, the links will still work; provided the customer has the necessary manuals open.
Ah, but there has to be some catch. This sounds too easy. Nothing is that easy.
I'm glad you asked. Yes, there are some minor edits you will need to do to prepare the xml for reading in 5e.
1) Change the target ruleset in the definition.xml file to 5E.
2) Do a Find/Replace for the variable "xp1" and change it to "xp" in all npc records.
3) If you built encounters, you will need to change the Savage Worlds xml tag "Combat" to be "Battle".
4) Ensure any instance of sw_referencetext, sw_referenceindex and sw_referenceinlineindex windowclasses are replaced with CoreRPG versions. If you are unsure what a CoreRPG window class is, it's not so important, just search for sw_ and remove that pre-fix.
5) That's it, folks. Load up your new 5e module.
Note: There is actually an optional step 5. You may want to look thru your npc's and remove any blank fields for Actions, Reactions, Legendary Actions etc. for optimal appearance of your npc's in the 5e ruleset.
Also note that when exporting a custom bestiary from 5e, the "xp" variable will not match up and display in the SW ruleset unless you change it to be xp1.
Note: Bidmaron is currently assisting with making a Visual Basic Script that will help auto-prepare your SW output db.xml for import into 5e. Will update when we have things ready.
