Some very basic questions

[burrahobbit]

Hi all - I'm considering purchasing FGII, and had a couple of pretty basic questions about what it is and is not capable of doing that I was hoping someone could help me answer. I've downloaded the FGI demo, and have played around with it a little, but my understanding is that the customization options I'm interested in might require the full version. I'm not familiar with XML, but am willing to learn. I would like to get up and running as soon as possible, however.

1) Let's say I wanted to play a game with the standard d20 races, plus a race from Arcana Evolved and a homebrew race of my own design, along with a homebrew skill or two, and the feats, core classes, and prestige classes from the "Complete" books I own. Easy to do? Do I have to modify source files, or is there a utility built into the program for custom data like races, classes, skills, feats? Any estimates on how long it would take to enter the data?

2) Say I have a monster from some 3rd-party source, or even just wanted to use one of the IP monsters that doesn't show up in the SRD. Easy to enter? How much does the program "understand" in terms of calculating attack bonuses, etc.?

3) Say I have a house rule that everyone has Use Magic Device as a class skill - how much wrestling with the program would I have to do to convince it?

4) How easy is drawing up a combat map on the fly?

5) Say I wanted to play Mutants and Masterminds. I know people are talking about eventually developing a ruleset, but what if I don't need the program to autocalculate anything on the sheets, or really "understand" what's going on...how easy would it be to distribute a sheet for which the players would do all the math and leave the program basically to roll dice, show maps, facilitate chat, and let me see the sheets?

I know this is all basic and might reveal some of my misunderstandings of what the program does, but it looks exciting and I'm interested to know if it's what I'm looking for.

Thanks!

[Dachannien]

1) The default d20 ruleset doesn't artificially impose constraints in this fashion. Your players can play whatever races or classes you permit, and they are responsible for ensuring that their characters are correct. There are reference materials (the stuff in the SRD) that are included in the default ruleset, but they are there as a convenience, not as a limitation.

To a large degree, the default ruleset is mainly just a d20 character sheet in electronic form.

2) You can add a monster in two ways: one, as a personality. Or two, you can edit the default ruleset's monster manual module (or make a separate module, if you choose) to include the monster. However, this isn't actually required at all. You can add blank entries to the combat tracker and fill in the details manually, or you can forego the combat tracker altogether and keep track of stuff on paper, if you want.

That said, if you do enter monsters and NPCs as personalities or add them to a ruleset module, you get extra functionality like dragging and dropping a monster onto the combat tracker, or being able to drag from the full attack entry on the personality sheet and automatically get the proper number of d20's to make a full attack roll.

3) The default ruleset doesn't impose the class/cross-class limitations. It leaves that up to the players to get correct. It does have a helper function (which I have never found that helpful, to be honest) for spending skill points when you level up.

4) You can use the drawing tool on a blank map, if you want, but this is handy only in an extreme pinch. It's almost as easy to just draw up a basic map in a graphics editing program and then drop the file into the campaign's images directory. You can then access it from inside FG right away, even if FG is already running. I personally prefer to make a few generic maps and reuse them in various generic situations (like campsite, inn, town center), asking my players to suspend their disbelief that they always camp out in a place that looks the same every time.

5) To some degree, that's what the default ruleset does with d20. It does autocalculate some things, like adding up armor class and attacks, and there are some particular pages (like spells, inventory) that are superb in terms of default functionality.

If you wanted to craft a ruleset from scratch for an arbitrary system, to be honest, the most time-consuming part is probably adding all the various controls and adjusting the look and feel of the pages. Basic calculations would be a snap compared to that. In terms of difficulty, though, doing the basic character sheet isn't hard - it's just time-consuming.

BTW, keep in mind that the FG1 demo and the FG2 demo are miles apart in terms of functionality. They've added a veritable metric crapload of features in FG2, and customization is easier and much more versatile.

Most of this is my opinion, of course Other folks might have more to add or a different perspective on things. Feel free to ask more questions if you have them. One great thing about FG is the community is very helpful.

[burrahobbit]

One great thing about FG is the community is very helpful.

So I see. Thanks for the info!