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Text File | 1987-07-19 | 20KB | 413 lines

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Character Generator Version 0.91 (Beta Test) 19-Jul-87 Written by Monte Ferguson 833 W. Highland Ravenna, Oh 44266 Or E-mail on Infoguide BBS (216) 349 4515 WHAT IS IT? This is a program made for players of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game. If you aren't a player of this game, and you thought this was some sort of utility to create printer fonts, I'm really sorry. You've downloaded the wrong program, and you might as well erase it now... If, on the other hand, you are a player or Dungeon Master of AD&D, you will find this a very easy method of generating Level 1 characters! WHY IS IT? Time was (before TSR published the Unearthed Arcana rulebook), a savvy player of AD&D could grab a handful of dice, a piece of paper and pencil, and whip up a new character in about 15 minutes, with only two or three glances at the Player's Handbook (if at all!). But now, with all the new Classes and Races listed in the UA, things aren't so easy... you've got about seven hundred tables to consult, all sorts of rules and exceptions, twelve million and a half die rolls... good grief! This looks like a job for a Computer! So, I wrote the AD&D program... To the best of my knowledge, it follows to the letter all of the rules on character generation laid down in the PHB, the UA and the DMG. If you see something I've missed, please drop me a line and let me know about it... REMEMBER: This is a BETA-TEST version (which simply means I'm ADMITTING to putting a potentially buggy piece of software into the public domain). There are quite likely some bugs, maybe some omissions, and quite definitely some new features left to implement. HOW DO I GET IT RUNNING? The program AD&D.EXE is the main program. It needs two files to run: CLASS.DAT and RACE.DAT. It will look for a file called AD&D.CNF, but if it doesn't find it, it will set the configuration to the defaults. Invocation syntax is: AD&D [/PATH=pppppppp] So, just type AD&D at the DOS prompt, and away to go. The program will read and write files from and to the default directory, unless you specify a different directory with the /PATH= command line switch. For example, if you wanted to run AD&D from your A: drive, but you wanted the read the files on a RAMdrive (this would speed program execution), you might start it up like this: AD&D /PATH=F: (or whatever you RAMdrive path is). Then the program would read the .DAT and .CNF files from drive F:, and write the Character Sheet files there as well. Once the program is going, everything is pretty much self-explanatory. The menus are of the Lotus-123 Bar type, so you should have no problems. Use the left and right cursor keys to hilight the menu option you want, then press Return to select it. YOU MEAN THOSE ARE ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS I GET?!? Yup. Like I said, everything is really self explanatory. If you are in the slightest bit familiar with the procedures for character generation in AD&D, you'll have no problems getting the hang of this. HOW ABOUT THE AD&D.CNF FILE? WHAT'S THAT? This file allows you to customize certain parts of the AD&D program to your specific needs. It is an ASCII file. You can edit this with a straight ASCII file edittor (like Wordstar in the non-document mode), or SPF/PC or, Ctulhu forbid, EDLIN. If you >really< want to get simple, use the COPY CON: AD&D.CNF command, and enter the lines one at a time. When you've entered all of them, press Ctrl-Z and then Return. The lines are: 1) Default Player Name. Up to 20 characters. 2) Normal color (1-15) 3) Emphasize color (1-15, I suggest you select something OTHER than Normal Color) 4) Points Available for HOUSE2 method. Well, this is kind of moot, since I don't have the HOUSE2 method implemented yet... just enter 84 here, and things will be fine. Trust me, I'm a doctor... 5) Use Gygax's stupid Maximum Female Strength rule (more on this later). Must be capital Y or N 6) Printer supports Line-Drawing Character Set. Must be capital Y or N. 7) Allow Psionics. Must be capital Y or N. About line number 5: I happen to think that the rule of limiting Female strenth is idiotic, and it should never have lasted this long in the game. My rationale is this: The very physiological fact that makes men stronger then women (on the average) makes women more dexterous then men. Men have larger muscles, that make large and strong movements well. Women have smaller muscles, which make smaller (more dexterous) movements well. If the game is going to be totally realistic (and why do we need this degree of realism in a game of Dragons and Magic?), you should put a cap on Male Dexterity... But, Gygax and some players continue to defend this archaic rule. Which means that any female fighter is crippled compared to her male counterpart. Is it any wonder that the vast majority of AD&D players are male, given this type of thinking? Ok, ok... I'll get off my soapbox now. Let me just say that putting a Y on line 5 means you WANT to impose the Female STR limitation (like Gygax), and an N on that line means you want to IGNORE it (like me). That's pretty much all you need to know about running the program. Oh, wait - one more thing: When you print a character sheet to a file, it appends that file (so you can print multiple sheets to one file, then dump them later). When it asks you if you want to format the output, it means "Do you want a Form Feed at the end of this sheet?". I'll do something about that next version... it's a little (?) oblique at the moment. ALL THE FILES LISTED AD&D.EXE - The main program AD&D.CNF - The configuration file AD&D.DOC - This document file CLASS.DAT - Contains specifications on the character classes. Needed to run AD&D.EXE RACE.DAT - Contains specifications on the character races. Needed to run AD&D.EXE These are files you'll only need if you want to make changes in CLASS.DAT or RACE.DAT: CLASS.WK1 - The Lotus 1-2-3 worksheet that CLASS.PRN was generated from RACE.WK1 - The Lotus 1-2-3 worksheet that RACE.PRN was generated from CLASS.PRN - An ASCII print of the data in CLASS.WK1 RACE.PRN - An ASCII print of the data in RACE.WK1 MASSAGE.BAS - A BASIC program that will convert the .PRN files into the .DAT files that AD&D.EXE wants to see. TECHNICAL STUFF It was my goal from the outset of this project to make the race and class data table driven, so that individual players and DMs could modify, delete, add to, and otherwise go nuts with the races and classes. Browse the files CLASS.PRN and RACE.PRN to see what data go into making the .DAT files. The easiest way to modify this stuff is to use Lotus 1-2-3 (or some clone spreadsheet program that can read .WK1 files). Modify what you will, then do a print to disk with the /PF option. This will create the .PRN file, which is then converted in the .DAT file (final version) with the BASIC program MASSAGE.BAS. Here's a list of what goes into the RACE.DAT file: Record Layout Sheet # of Records: Project: AD&D Character Generator: RACE.DAT Rec Lgth: 256 # Fields: 42 Field # From To Length Description -------- -------- -------- -------- ----------------------------------- 1 1 20 20 Name 2 21 23 3 Abbreviation 3 24 25 2 Str Minimum 4 26 27 2 Int Minimum 5 28 29 2 Wis Minimum 6 30 31 2 Dex Minimum 7 32 33 2 Con Minimum 8 34 35 2 Cha Minimum 9 36 37 2 Com Minimum 10 38 39 2 Str Maximum 11 40 41 2 Int Maximum 12 42 43 2 Wis Maximum 13 44 45 2 Dex Maximum 14 46 47 2 Con Maximum 15 48 49 2 Cha Maximum 16 50 51 2 Com Maximum 17 52 53 2 Max Female Str 18 54 56 3 Str Adjustment 19 57 59 3 Int Adjustment 20 60 62 3 Wis Adjustment 21 63 65 3 Dex Adjustment 22 66 68 3 Con Adjustment 23 69 71 3 Cha Adjustment 24 72 74 3 Com Adjustment 25 75 77 3 PP Thieving Ability Adjustment 26 78 80 3 OL Thieving Ability Adjustment 27 81 83 3 FT Thieving Ability Adjustment 28 84 86 3 MS Thieving Ability Adjustment 29 87 89 3 HS Thieving Ability Adjustment 30 90 92 3 HN Thieving Ability Adjustment 31 93 95 3 CW Thieving Ability Adjustment 32 96 98 3 RL Thieving Ability Adjustment 33 99 148 50 Classes Allowed, 1-50 (these correspond to the records in the CLASS.DAT file.) 34 149 149 1 Source (P=Player's Handbook, U=Unearthed Arcana, D="Dragon" magazine PC, N="Dragon" magazine NPC, S=User's entry. There is as yet no code that uses this field, but there may well be in the future. Be sure to fill this column, and all others, or you'll be sorry when you try to run MASSAGE.BAS) 35 150 150 1 Active (A capital Y means the race IS active, capital N means it isn't. The program won't allow the user to select an inactive race) 36 151 153 3 Save Adjust: Para/Poison/Death 37 154 156 3 Save Adjust: Petr/Polymorph 38 157 159 3 Save Adjust: Rod/Wand/Staff 39 160 162 3 Save Adjust: Breath Weapon 40 163 165 3 Save Adjust: Spell 41 166 195 30 Exception Flags (See desciption below) 42 196 256 61 Future Expansion (Don't mess with this, or Most Holy will get righteously ticked...) WHAT ARE EXCEPTION FLAGS? These are a way to take care of all those weird little rules like "Elves get +1 when using Sword or Bow", or "Only Fighters get +3 or +4 HP adjustment due to CON". Almost all flags are either capital Y or capital N. The only exception is the "Number of Classes" flag, which is a number. I am using only one of the 30 flags available for Race, and 28 of the 50 available for Class. I will expand on what these flags control below. This is what goes into the CLASS.DAT file: Record Layout Sheet # of Records: Project: AD&D Character Generator: CLASS.DAT Rec Lgth: 256 # Fields: 41 Field # From To Length Description -------- -------- -------- -------- ----------------------------------- 1 1 15 15 Name 2 16 18 3 Abbreviation 3 19 20 2 Str Min 4 21 22 2 Int Min 5 23 24 2 Wis Min 6 25 26 2 Dex Min 7 27 28 2 Con Min 8 29 30 2 Cha Min 9 31 32 2 Com Min 10 33 34 2 Str For 10% XP Bonus 11 35 36 2 Int For 10% XP Bonus 12 37 38 2 Wis For 10% XP Bonus 13 39 40 2 Dex For 10% XP Bonus 14 41 42 2 Con For 10% XP Bonus 15 43 44 2 Cha For 10% XP Bonus 16 45 46 2 Com For 10% XP Bonus 17 47 47 1 # of Hit Dice @ 1st Level 18 48 49 2 Hit Die Type (This had to be fudged a little for Multi-class, but what the hell - it works) 19 50 50 1 LG Alignment Allowed 20 51 51 1 LN Alignment Allowed 21 52 52 1 LE Alignment Allowed 22 53 53 1 NG Alignment Allowed 23 54 54 1 NN Alignment Allowed 24 55 55 1 NE Alignment Allowed 25 56 56 1 CG Alignment Allowed 26 57 57 1 CN Alignment Allowed 27 58 58 1 CE Alignment Allowed 28 59 59 1 Source: P=PHB, U=UA, D=Dragon PC, N (Same as RACE.DAT) 29 60 61 2 Str # Dice used for Method V 30 62 63 2 Int # Dice used for Method V 31 64 65 2 Wis # Dice used for Method V 32 66 67 2 Dex # Dice used for Method V 33 68 69 2 Con # Dice used for Method V 34 70 71 2 Cha # Dice used for Method V 35 72 73 2 Com # Dice used for Method V 36 74 75 2 Minimum HP @ 1st Level 37 76 76 1 Fights as class (F=Fighter, T=Thief, C=Cleric, M=MU) 38 77 77 1 Saves as class (Same as above) 39 78 127 50 Exception Flags 1-50 (See below) 40 128 128 1 Active Flag (Same as in RACE.DAT) 41 129 256 128 Future Expansion (Again, don't rush in where angels fear to tread...) Make sure that all flags, etc are in CAPITALS, or "unpredictable results will occur" (as IBM is fond of saying). If you are modifying the .PRN files directly, make SURE that you've got at least one space separating the entries in thier columns, or you'll be in trouble when you run MASSAGE.DAT - it looks for the spaces to delimit the fields. By the by, if someone would take the initiative to write a program that would make editting the .DAT files directly a snap, you would have my undying gratitude. I'd do it myself, but enhancements to this system pretty much have priority over that... A note about the Activity Flags: I included these so you could make a race or class unvailable to the player without actually removing the record. If a race or class is marked N in the Activity Flag field, the player will never be shown that option on any menu. HOW 'BOUT THOSE OLD EXCEPTION FLAGS? Ok. So far, there's only one RACE exception flag, and it controls whether or not that race gets +1 to Sword and Bow as elves do. There are 28 CLASS exception flags: 1) Percentile STR bonus as fighters 2) Use of M-U spells 3) Use of Illusionist spells 4) Use of Cleric spells 5) Use of Druid spells 6) Pick Pockets (does class have the ability or not? Same for 7-21) 7) Open Locks 8) Find/Remove Traps 9) Move Silently 10) Hide in shadows 11) Hear Noise 12) Climb Walls 13) Read Languages 14) Tightrope Walking 15) Pole Vaulting 16) High Jumping 17) Broadjump, standing 18) " " running 19) Tumbling, attack 20) " " evasion 21) " " falling 22) Ignore "To Hit" and "Damage" STR bonuses (as Monk) 23) Defensive adjustments as Barbarian 24) HP/CON Adjustments as Barbarian 25) Maximum Wisdom=17 as Barbarian 26) Percentile Stats as Cavalier 27) How many classes (1, 2 or 3) 28) All CON HP adjustment >2 as Fighters There you have it. Armed with this information, you can add your own races and classes to the database! PROPOSED ENHANCEMENTS: These are some things I'd like to add when I get the time. 1) Height and Weight generation as per the DMG. 2) An NPC mode that will allow a DM to generate any number of Non-Player Character of whatever Race and/or Class s/he wishes. This would also generate the random Personality Traits listed in the DMG. 3) A built-in .CNF file editor. 4) Editting programs for the CLASS and RACE data files. See my note above about this... Eventually, I'd like this program to be part of an entire system that will allow players and DMs to keep a database of their characters, and to maintain them as their experience and stats change. As soon as I find the time... I'm placing this program in the Public Domain. You may use it any way you like without sending me any money. If you >would< like to send me money, I'm sure as hell not going to stop you! I'd appreciate comments, bug reports, suggestions, money (what?) whatever. Send it to the address listed about, or contact me on Infoguide BBS (number above). I'm keeping the source code to myself. If somebody wants to buy it, get in contact with me. Before I go, I've got to include the Standard Disclaimer that you've all grown to know and love: This program might eat your hard disk. It might corrupt your boot sector, trash you FAT, and generally raise mayhem across every block - i/o device it can find. It might be a virus that will embed itself in your COMMAND.COM program, just waiting for the proper moment to strike, leaving your machine a worthless piece of slag. It might request random track seeks on your hard disk with such speed and ferocity that your head arms will bend from the sheer force of it. It might jump of the disk, tear your head off, and dance on your spinal column (ala Wonder Warthog). It might rape your dog. It might re-zone your nieghborhood. It might use you modem to call TRW and ruin the credit records of you and all of your offspring and ancestors retroactive to the twelfth century. It might call in an airstrike on your ex-wife (serves her right). It might spread terrible rumors about your deviate sexual practices.It might win the Lotto, and refuse to tell you where it hid the ticket. It might short-sheet yourbed. It might tap-dance on the heads of baby chicks. It might nuke Gay Whales for Jesus. Then again, it might not. In any case, I don't what to hear about it - this program is FREE, and you get what you pay for. Or, in the words of Reid Flemming (world's toughest milkman): "I though I told you to shut up!"