So, here's the deal, I am currently taking a Visual Basic class in college and for my final project I decided to make a program which can automatically generate NPC stat blocks for GMs. It would first be able to randomly generate the stats, and then spit out a stat block in HTML format. I'm not sure how likely I am to finish it in time for my final grades, but I am interested in trying to develop it out into an actual tool for GMs to use to make their lives easier. I know when I run a campaign, if there is one thing I hate doing, it's making freaking stat blocks, it takes wayyyy too long. So, that being said, my current plan is to finish what I can for my final project (for the sake of simplicity, I'm currently only doing the expert, warrior, and aristocrat classes) before trying to make it a reality for GMs everywhere.
My question now concerns licensing. I would like to put this under the GNU GPL, but, due to the inclusion of OGL content would this even be possible? On that note, would it be possible for me to include material from later books outside of the Core Rulebook(in later releases of course)? I've noticed a bunch of community content covers material in other books (d20pfsrd is a prime example), but the community use policy doesn't seem to allow this sort of thing, so I'm just asking before I do it... long before I do it if you look where I am as far as completion of this project xD
Is there a place or a contact we can ask about this sort of thing?
I am wondering the same thing.
Is there a place or a contact we can ask about this sort of thing?I am wondering the same thing.
You can email me at airbornemist6@gmail.com.
This would be a nice program, generating stat blocks can be a bit too time consuming indeed, in the time it takes me to generate a stat block, i can do a dungeon, or a town...
Have you looked at PCGen? It's primarily a tool for managing player characters but does have random generation of NPCs as a feature.
I'm using to create my "important" NPCs by hand. If you do make an NPC generator you might look at having it export to the PCGen format so the could be opened up there for further management.
As for content, PCGen comes with a bunch of content including all the info for Pathfinder.
Hope this helps.
So, here's the deal, I am currently taking a Visual Basic class in college and for my final project I decided to make a program which can automatically generate NPC stat blocks for GMs. It would first be able to randomly generate the stats, and then spit out a stat block in HTML format. I'm not sure how likely I am to finish it in time for my final grades, but I am interested in trying to develop it out into an actual tool for GMs to use to make their lives easier. I know when I run a campaign, if there is one thing I hate doing, it's making freaking stat blocks, it takes wayyyy too long. So, that being said, my current plan is to finish what I can for my final project (for the sake of simplicity, I'm currently only doing the expert, warrior, and aristocrat classes) before trying to make it a reality for GMs everywhere.
My question now concerns licensing. I would like to put this under the GNU GPL, but, due to the inclusion of OGL content would this even be possible? On that note, would it be possible for me to include material from later books outside of the Core Rulebook(in later releases of course)? I've noticed a bunch of community content covers material in other books (d20pfsrd is a prime example), but the community use policy doesn't seem to allow this sort of thing, so I'm just asking before I do it... long before I do it if you look where I am as far as completion of this project xD
Hey Visual Basic Buddy!
I'm doing the same thing for my final project! Small world.
So basically what you guys are telling me is to not bother releasing it because PCGen is already out there?
This is going to get written regardless of whether I figure out my licensing or not (it's my final project). I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one doing it though. Of course, what I'm doing for my final project is incredibly simplified, so I'm not sure how much work it's going to require to become a viable alternative to PCGen, but it's something and it's something aimed at Pathfinder.
Ah, sorry, I misunderstood you. Thanks for the advice. Now I just need to finish coding this thing xD