Digital Adventures August Release -- Complete SRD Ruleset!

[richvalle]

What's your thoughts on this? Is there a way I can disable them having to download the ruleset and still use it?

I will bring it up with the SmitWorks guys.

Thanks Dirk.

I think the question is... do the players need to download the ruleset everytime they join or just the files that have been updated?

If they just have to dl the modified files then you could run the FG server for a couple of days before your next game and let the clients login and dl the files they need. Then when it is game time the dl won't take long at all.

If they are going to have to dl ALL the rule set files each time... that is going to be a major issue.

rv

[Ged]

I think the question is... do the players need to download the ruleset everytime they join or just the files that have been updated?

Just the files that have been updated.

[johnhaines]

I think that a more worrying issue for people selling content, e.g. rulesets, is whether a player who has a full licence has effectively received a full copy of the new ruleset for free and can then use it to produce their own content.

Has anyone tried connecting to a game using a custom ruleset to see exactly which files are copied?

[Skotticus]

As far as I can tell, *all* the files that are missing are copied over-- so if a client doesn't have any of it, they will receive the whole thing.

[Thore_Ironrock]

As far as I can tell, *all* the files that are missing are copied over-- so if a client doesn't have any of it, they will receive the whole thing.

Ville and I are currently gathering information on this issue, and will post to the board very soon. I also want to thank everyone for their feedback on this issue, as it will help us greatly with future releases.

I also want to apologize to folks who are having issues with client downloads. It was not our intention to create friction here. I tested the full-client relationship before posting, and the download time was apparently not as bad as some of you are having. Guess I must have a good connection. :wink:

In any event, we will have more information on this soon. I hope it will not detract from the excellent quality of the product, as we plan to do other rulesets in the future.

I would also ask that for those of you who did purchase the Complete SRD Ruleset please post some feedback (aside from the download issue please) so we can see what people do and do not like about how we presented this ruleset.

Thanks to all!

[richvalle]

From the above post by Ged I think my idea is valid... connect a couple of days/hours before the first game with the new rule set and walk away for a while. Then when you go to play for real you'll have everything you need.

I think the rule set looks excelent and I plan on buying it as well as the cool looking monster expantion (as well as the pdf for said monsters). Once I get the cash to do so that is. ops:



rv

[Ged]

This will now be quite a bit beside the original topic of this thread, but to preserve continuity, I'll post this here nonetheless...

How to transfer a campaign from one ruleset to another
If the data in the original (A) and target (B) rulesets are compatible, changing the ruleset name in \rulesets\[ruleset_name]\campaign.xml does the trick, for example change the d20 in <ruleset name="d20" /> to whatever ruleset you intend to use, for instance d20_with_houserules.

Ruleset incompatibilities
There are three cases for incompatible rulesets:
1. Data defined in ruleset A are not used in B,
2. Data used by B are not defined in A, and
3. Datatypes for items labelled identically are different in A and B. (Say, in one a piece of data is int and in the other string)

In case 1 there is no problem; the data remains in the database but is just not displayed anywhere.
Case 2 is non-lethal for Fantasy Grounds. Because the data are missing, the places where they should be shown remain empty. This corresponds to making for example a new field in the character sheet, for which there obviously cannot be any data before such is input. (This is also the case for links where the naming has changed between rulesets, mentioned above by Zane_Marlowe. The link does not find the particular data and displays empty content.)
Case 3 is true incompatiblity that will result in undetermined behaviour.

In the future
From version 1.05 onwards, custom rulesets can be declared compatible with existing rulesets for the purpose of importing data, e.g. modules. To use, include the following in the ruleset definition:

         <importinfo>
                 <acceptfrom ruleset="d20" />
         </importinfo>

You can substitute any ruleset for the name, and include several "acceptfrom" entries. You could also export a campaign as a module from d20 and with the definition above in the other ruleset activate the module there effectively transferring the campaign to the new ruleset.

The objective of this new defintion has been to enable the creation of material in a standard ruleset (typically d20) while retaining the possibility to use a ruleset with "house rules". In particular, it is not meant as a generic tool for converting data from a custom ruleset A to a custom ruleset B.

The definitions can be included in the ruleset already, but in the 1.04 they just don’t do anything.

[DirkGently]

Thanks for the responses gentlemen. That gives me something to work with.

As far as Dirk's comment about extra cost, I figure that the comparison isn't to a computer game (most of which begin at $40 if they're on sale, and MMO's have ongoing subscription fees after that), but to a pen and paper book which, for one this length, would cost you at least $40. The FG Client + SRD Ruleset comes out to $20, so it's the cost of a discount game and you get a rules reference that (as far as I know) runs about 875 pages if you were to print it out.

I didn't mean to imply that the cost was unreasonable or that the product was not worth it. Quite the contrary. Excellent product at an excellent price. It's just that I am loath to "require" my players to buy it, just so I can use it.
Thus I was merely seeking an alternative for me to be able to use without them needing to download.

There are several of us on dial-up in the D&D trial, and are scattered between the U.S. and England. The Crescent Order has members pretty much from all corners of the globe, and it is my hope to draw many of them from the MMORPG venue to which we are used to playing.
Thusly, significant downloading is an issues when it comes to tight scheduling windows.

[Zane_Marlowe]

It's just that I am loath to "require" my players to buy it, just so I can use it.

I think I was trying to say that they get access to it as well. Remember that when you use the player's client, you have access to the reference information section, which is where the vast majority of this material is. Your players would not be buying something they would see no benefit from. The only thing they wouldn't really have access to is the monsters database.

[richvalle]

I think the rule set looks excelent and I plan on buying it as well as the cool looking monster expantion (as well as the pdf for said monsters). Once I get the cash to do so that is. ops:



rv

My 'major' purchase (a Treo 650) has fallen through for a lack of funds.

So I bought all 3 of these to cheer myself up.



rv