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Text File | 1993-06-12 | 13KB | 338 lines

06/13/93 This is by no means complete and is added to when I am not busy with the program itself or I make some significant change. I am sorry about that, but I never originally intended this program to become nearly this complex. See the README.1ST file on how to install makechar on your system. -Bill There are 2 parts to this file. The first describes (partly) what the format of the data files (xxx.DTA) is like. The second describes the format of the genre (xxx.GEN) files. Makechar is officially supported on America On-Line, a national on-line service. You can try it out for free by requesting a membership kit from 1-800-xxx-xxxx. You can contact me on Internet at BillSeurer@aol.com. Because of limits on the size of messages I can't send copies of makechar nor its files onto Internet. If someone who has access to both would like to put makechar at some ftp site let me know and I will add the location here. ========== ========== DATA FILES ========== ========== The data files are a formatted table. Each "type" has its own format. The best examples of data files are BASIC.DTA and NORDRUTH.DTA since they are the ones that I use in my campaign and tend to be up to date. LINES ----- Each line in the data file represents one "thing". Blank lines and those starting with a '*' are ignored. Lines ending in a "\" (back-slash) are "continued" on the next line (the two are appended together). No line can be longer than about a thousand characters. A line starting with the string "type" starts a new section that defines things of the type. For example, "type advantage" says that until the next line that starts "type" everything defined will be an advantage. A line starting with the string "category" starts a new sub-grouping under the current type. For example, "category Physical Advantages" says that the next sections defines things under the sub-grouping "Physical Advantages". TYPES ----- The types form the basic characteristics that make up GURPS. The types are fixed by the program and are made up of: attribute Attributes are one of ST, DX, IQ or HT. They are all pre-defined. advantage Advantages disadvantage Disadvantages are identical to advantages except their point costs are (usually) negative. quirk Simplified disadvantages that always cost -1 points skill Skills spell Magical spells are skills with some special rules equipment Things you can purchase with $ bonus A modifier of an attribute, skill, spell, etc. category A sub-grouping of a type counter Used in fulfilling prerequisites like "6 Light College spells" modifier Similar to a bonus but used in different situations. list A list of other things. package A package deal on equipment and/or advantages, skills, etc. unknown This is used when a name is encountered before it is defined. Yes, Makechar allows forward references. I knew all those compiler classes I took in school would come in handy! Once all the data files have been read in, anything left as "unknown" is probably (but not necessarily) an error. There are all explained in detail below. CATEGORIES ---------- The types are divided up into categories. Categories are flexible and any number can be defined under one type. Categories have special meaning for spells since they are the spell colleges and some special code keeps track of counters for them for fulfilling spell prerequisites. NAMES ----- Names are case sensitive for every letter! Some general things to avoid: 1) Commas and semi-colons. These are used as dividers for various things. Use colons and parentheses instead. 2) Duplicate names. So far this hasn't been much of a problem. Usually makechar can figure out that the Shield skill is different from the Shield spell, but not always! 3) Dashes. Actually, this is usually ok. But it took me a week to figure out why Savoir-Faire wasn't working as a default for another skill. (Savoir-Faire-3, see the problem?) Better to just avoid them. SKILLS/SPELLS ------------- Each skill line has the following format: Name; Diff,TL,Spec; Defaults; Prereqs; Added Bonuses; Mods; Added To Bonuses Examples (some are abbreviated): Weaver; M/A; IQ-4 Weaver is Mental Average. It defaults to the IQ attribute at -4. Surgery; M/VH, TL, Opt; Physician-5, First Aid-8; Physician@12 Surgery is Mental Very Hard, varies with the tech level, and allows optional specialization. It defaults to the better of the Physician skill at -5 or the First Aid skill at -8. It has a prerequisite of the Physician skill at 12. Bolas; P/A; ; ; +Ranged Weapon Bonus Bolas is Physical Average. It has no defaults nor prerequisites. The Ranged Weapon Bonus is added to the skill. Carousing; P/A(HT); HT-2 Carousing is Physical Average but is based off of health (HT) rather than DX like most other physical skills. It has a default from the HT attribute at -2. Boxing; P/A; ; ; ; ; +5 Punching Damage Bonus Boxing is Physical Average. It adds 1/5 its value to the Punching Damage Bonus. Ear Clap; MA/A; Brawling-6, Karate-6; Brawling@12,| Karate@12 Ear Clap is Martial Arts Average. It defaults to the better of the Brawling or Karate skills at -6. It has either the Brawling skill or (that's what the ",|" means, OR) the Karate skill as prerequisites. Difficulties ------------ The allowable skill difficulties are: P/E Physical Easy P/A Physical Average P/H Physical Hard P/VH Physical Very Hard (This doesn't exist (yet) in the GURPS rules but fits in nicely). P/S Physical Super (from GURPS Supers) M/E Mental Easy M/A Mental Average M/H Mental Hard M/VH Mental Very Hard M/S Mental Super MA/A Martial Arts Average (for Martial Arts maneuvers) MA/H Martial Arts Hard MA/S Martial Arts Special. For MA maneuvers which are known at a default but can't be improved. MS/A For Steffan's experiment with a new specialization system. MS/H For Steffan's experiment with a new specialization system. Any of the non-martial art difficulties can optionally be followed by an attribute if the skill level is not based off of the usual attribute (DX for physical, IQ for mental). For example, M/A(HT) would be a mental average skill based off of HT instead of IQ. Any difficulty can be followed by ",TL" to signify that the skill varies with tech level (each TL is a different skill). Difficulties can also be followed by ",Opt" to signify that specialization within the skill is optional or by ",Req" if specialization is required. (NOTE: There is presently no way to choose specializations) Defaults -------- Defaults can be another skill or an attribute. A list of defaults is allowable each one separated by a comma. The best of the defaults is chosen from the list. Prerequisites ------------- Added Bonuses ------------- These are bonuses that are added to the skill level when it is calculated. Modifiers --------- Added To Bonuses ---------------- These are bonuses that affect other things that are added to by this skill. ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES/QUIRKS ------------------------------- EQUIPMENT --------- Each equipment line has the following format: Name; description; Cost, Weight; Associated Skill; Added To Bonuses; Modifiers Examples: Farthings;1 $ each;1,0.01 Farthings are described as "1 $ each", cost $1 each, and weigh 1/100 of a pound. Axe;Cut/Sw+2;50,4;Axe/Mace; ; Cut/Impale Quality,Weapon,Melee Weapon Axes are described as "Cut/Sw+2" (note, this has special meaning, see below), cost $50 each, weigh 4 lbs., and use the Axe/Mace skill. They are modified by the 'Cut/Impale Quality', 'Weapon', and 'Melee Weapon' modifiers. Stealth Ring;Adds to stealh skill;2000,0.1;;+4 Stealth Bonus Stealth Rings are described as "Adds to stealth skill", cost $2000 each, weigh 0.1 lbs, and add 4 to the stealth skill bonus. Description ----------- This is just a text string that describes the item. In addition, for weapons, armor, and shields it describes the amount of DR, PD or damage ability that they have. Cost ---- This is the cost of the item in the generic GURPS currency $. Weight ------ This is the weight of the item in pounds. Associated Skill ---------------- This is the skill that is associated to the item. The only thing affected by this right now is what is printed on the character sheet for weapons and shields. Added To Bonuses ---------------- These are bonuses that affect other things that are added to by this equipment. Modifiers --------- These are the modifiers that can be taken for this equipment. LISTS ----- A list is just a list of names of other things. Right now they are only used for making common lists of cost modifiers. For example, if you had a dozen modifers that affected the cost of 50 advantages, rather than list all 12 on each advantage, you could make a list of them and just place the list with each advantage. PACKAGES -------- Each package has the following format: name; point-cost/$-cost; bonuses; gives; equipment gives "bonuses" are in the same format as for advantages. "gives" and "equipment gives" are identical in format (they are separated to allow for equipment named the same as skills, e.g., Broadsword) and are the same as for advantages. The point cost and $ cost may be negative to give a "discount". This is a way to group commonly bought advantages, skills, equipment, etc. The full cost of each of the items is charged but you may specify a discount on the $ cost of the equipment and on the point cost of the other things. This is actually a better way of handling races and human nationalities than using advantages and all such will eventually be converted to packages. Examples: Full Plate; 0/0; ; ; Greathelm, Corselet, Plate arm armor, Plate leg armor, \ Gauntlets, Sollerets Full Plate just gives you all the normal pieces of full plate armor at no discount nor additional cost. Bionic Arm; 10/0; +4 Punching Damage Bonus; Poor Tactile Sense@1; A bionic arm gives a +4 bonus to punching damage but adds the Poor Tactile Sense disadvantage. Hroth; 60/0; +1 DR Bonus, +4 ST Bonus, +2 HT Bonus, -1 IQ Bonus; \ Claws (thrust-1 cut), Peripheral Vision, Code of Honor (great), Hrothiss@0 A Hroth (member of a race of intelligent reptiles) grants various bonuses, advantages, and disadvantages. =========== =========== GENRE FILES =========== =========== Here is a sample genre file: 2 version flag Nordruth Bill Seurer's Nordruth World (Fantasy) Bill Seurer 3 default TL 2 min TL 3 max TL 20 Maximum attribute value from which a skill can default 20 Maximum skill value from which a skill can default basic.dta tl3basic.dta spells.dta tl3equip.dta magequip.dta quirks.dta optbasic.dta nordruth.dta The first line is simply to tell makechar what version of a genre file this is. Currently the valid version is 2 so this line MUST start with the digit "2". The 2nd line is the name of this genre. It is written into the save file of characters created with this genre so don't change it. The 3rd line is the long description of the genre. The 4th line is a list of the authors of this genre. The 5th line is the default technology level of this genre. The 6th and 7th lines are the minimum and maximum TLs for this genre. The 8th line is the maximum attribute value from which a skill can default. If an attribute is higher than this and a skill defaults from the attribute this calue is used instead. For instance, if someone had a DX of 23 and was using the Acrobatics skill (DX-6) defaulting from it the default value would be 14 instead of 17. This notion was introduced in GURPS: Supers. The 9th line is like the 8th but is used when defaults from other skills are being calculated. The last line (shown in two parts above but it should be just one long line) is a list of the data files that make up this genre. There is a preferred order to the genre file list since the data files build off one another. The basic files should come first with the specialized files coming later. For instance, tl3equip.dta should come before magequip.dta since magequip refers to things in tl3equip. This list of files is limited to about 1000 characters total in length.