Question About Extension Ruleset Dependency

[claedawg]

Are extensions made for D&D 5E (and maybe some other rulesets) automatically able to be used with the CoreRPG ruleset (except for things specific to D&D or the other ruleset). But basic things, like inventory management and things that could technically be used in any ruleset.

[Trenloe]

Are extensions made for D&D 5E (and maybe some other rulesets) automatically able to be used with the CoreRPG ruleset (except for things specific to D&D or the other ruleset). But basic things, like inventory management and things that could technically be used in any ruleset.

Extensions can be tagged with a specific ruleset. If they are, then they can only be enabled in a campaign with a tagged ruleset without editing the extension.xml file - see the <ruleset> tag here: https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassia...n+-+Data+Files This includes CoreRPG campaigns - only extensions tagged for CoreRPG or no ruleset at all can be enabled for a CoreRPG campaign.

[LordEntrails]

Rulesets have a Child < Parent relationship. So features that work in CoreRPG work in 5E (unless overwritten). But features in 5E are not available in CoreRPG.
This means extensions written for CoreRPG (generally) work with all child rulesets (5E, PF, etc), but extensions written for a child ruleset (such as 5E) will not work with CoreRPG.

That said, as Trenloe said, extension have a tag that limits what rulesets they can be loaded in.

[claedawg]

Thanks!

[Mike Serfass]

Also note that some things in CoreRPG are not used in some rulesets. Sometimes they're things not used in a ruleset, and CoreRPG has functionality specific to D&D which is ignored or overwritten in non-D&D rulesets.
There are a number of extensions in the Forge which are tagged as any ruleset which really don't work with non-D&D derivatives or don't work very well, so please check that your extension really does work with other rulesets.

[claedawg]

I have noticed that most of the 5E extensions do show as able to be loaded but there are some I have seen that do not. Most of the ones that do don't really work with COreRPG because they touch on something very specific that (at the time I tried) was specific to D&D only (NPC records extension is what I was trying to change but I can't remember the name of it right now).

I know most of Mad Nomad's extension work in CoreRPG and even XCore and other rulesets (like the coin manager and item seller buttons at the top of an item and his character sheet Journal extensions also work).

Some extensions read like they should probably work with CoreRPG but do not show up on the list.

I don't actually have any example at the moment of the one that seem like should work but are not available. It was really just one of those "late night" questions that I asking myself, so I decided to ask you guys lol

[Trenloe]

This is the way ruleset code is layered, with extensions running on top of the ruleset code - extensions override the base ruleset code. The order of loading is:

Base Ruleset -> Layered Ruleset (s) -> Extension #1 -> Extensions #2 -> ... -> Extension #n

The extensions are loaded in order based on the <loadorder> tag in the extension - info on that here: https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassia...556/properties Depending on the loadorder later loading extensions may overwrite earlier loading extension code.

In the case of the D&D 5E ruleset the order of loading is: CoreRPG -> 5E -> Extensions (based on loadorder).

Extensions override the base ruleset code, the layered ruleset code and other extensions with a higher loadorder value. Often some extensions can appear to "work" in other rulesets, but it can be impossible to know (without examining the ruleset and extension code) if they aren't actually overriding some code in another ruleset that is specific to that ruleset. Loading without errors and appearing to provide the functionality of the extension is not a true indicator that the extension hasn't impacted other base functionality. Extension developers often will only test their specific functionality within the ruleset they use - and may not be experienced enough to fully test their code or realize the implications on other functionality. It's great that community members code extensions and make them available for others to use. But, there's no realistic way to avoid potential issues when using extensions - all FG GMs can do is limit the number of extensions they run (the more extensions used the more the likelihood of there being a clash - either with another extension or the ruleset code), be aware of the functionality provided by the extensions they're using (to help understand what might be causing issues if errors or missing functionality occurs), be cautious of loading extensions in rulesets that aren't listed as being supported/tested, test after FG updates (especially the big updates) before their game sessions, etc..