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Text File | 1992-11-15 | 77KB | 1,922 lines

The Completely Official Documentation for The Completely Unofficial ** RoleMaster (tm) ** GameMaster Assistance Program (version Am1.0) by Darryl C. Burgdorf (c) April 1992 I Disclaimers and Other Legal Information . . . . . . . . . . 2 II Installation, Setup, and Other Startup Stuff . . . . . . . . 3 III Getting Started -- the Main Menu and General Notes . . . . . 5 IV Generating New Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 V Inputting Characters (New or Used) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 VI Character Advancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 VII Character Class Skill Cost Data Input . . . . . . . . . . . 19 VIII Running Quick Combats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 IX Generating "Weather Forecasts" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Appendix One -- Character Race Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Appendix Two -- The "Complete" Skill List . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Appendix Three -- Background Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Appendix Four -- Character File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Appendix Five -- A Brief History of the Program . . . . . . . . . 31 April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 1 I Disclaimers and Other Legal Information The RoleMaster game system is owned and copyrighted by Iron Crown Enterprises; that company knows absolutely nothing about this program, and has not endorsed it in any way. The HiSoft BASIC Compiler is the copyrighted property of HiSoft Corporation. The "Set Textfont" and "CLI from BASIC" subroutines utilized within the program appeared in Amiga Tricks & Tips, copyright 1989 by Abacus Software. Notwithstanding the valuable input of Richard Norton (who has given me some of the best suggestions I've ever ignored, as well as quite a few that I've used), the RoleMaster character creation program itself is entirely mine, and is being distributed as Shareware. Permission is hereby granted to distribute it freely, so long as all files are present and unaltered. If you find it useful, please send $20 (or whatever you deem appropriate) to: Darryl C. Burgdorf 4202 South 20th Street Omaha NE 68107 Not only will this make your use of the program guilt-free, it will also entitle you to receive any updates I eventually write. Such updates are not, of course, guaranteed, but are fairly likely. Finally, the standard computer software disclaimer that you've read over and over applies here. This software is distributed AS IS; there are no guarantees of any sort, and I am not liable for any problems arising from its use or misuse. [** PLEASE NOTE ** [Updated information as of November 1992: [My snailmail address is now 4619 Cass St, Omaha NE 68132. Note that the program's intro screen still gives the old address; eventually, I'll have to get around to correcting that. I also now have access to Internet -- I can be reached as dburgdor@unmcvm.unmc.edu or as dburgdor@cwis.unomaha.edu. Bug reports, suggested changes, and flames are all welcome. Well, okay .... I don't really LIKE flames, but hey, at least they're mail! [Enjoy the program! [Darryl Burgdorf, November 15, 1992] April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 2 II Installation, Setup, and Other Startup Stuff First things first: If you own an unexpanded A500, forget it; this program will not run. (Exactly how this program went from having pieces small enough to run on a C64 to being too large to run on an A500 is not entirely clear, even to me; but such is, nonetheless, the case.) I've played with a number of options, but with only 512k RAM, it simply can't be trusted. The RoleMaster program consists of the following files: .info CharIcon CharInfoA CharInfoB CombatProg CustomRaces DocFile DocFile.info HiSoftBASIC.library MainLoop MainMenu OccuData RoleMaster RoleMaster.info SetupStuff SkillCostInput SkillCosts SkillData1 SkillData2 WeatherGen These files can be anywhere, so long as they are all in the same directory. (Actually, technically, the HiSoft BASIC library doesn't need to be in this directory, if you make it a permanent part of your "libs:" directory. If you don't, the program will reassign LIBS: to RAM:libs after copying your "libs:" directory and the HiSoft library into that new directory. Note that the program does not currently cancel that reassignment upon termination.) If you have only one disk drive and, for whatever reason, normally run off of a physical workbench disk, you will probably want to transfer your "c:" directory to RAM: before you run the program. (From the CLI, enter: "MakeDir RAM:c", "Copy c: RAM:c quiet", "Assign c: RAM:c".) Otherwise, you will be facing an unbelievable number of disk swaps just to get it started. It also wouldn't hurt to copy over the "libs:" and "fonts:" directories. (The program, in case you're curious, requires the 9-point "Garnet" font, which is available on the master WorkBench disk.) You can run the program from a physical disk or from a hard drive; it makes no difference. You can also, if you wish to speed it up a bit but don't own a hard drive, run it from your RAM: disk. If you do so, however, be aware that, while all character data will be saved to your character disk normally, any new skill cost information you input will not be permanently saved. To save it, you'll need to copy the "OccuData" file and the two "SkillData" files from RAM: back to your program disk after you finish. (That'll make more sense once you get to the section of the docs dealing with character skill costs and the inputting thereof.) April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 3 The program runs just fine under WorkBench version 1.3; I'm not entirely certain, though, about other versions. As far as I can tell, I've used only commands that are available in WB version 1.2, so it should still work. Similarly, while I've never worked with WB version 2.0, I can't see any reason offhand why the program shouldn't function; of course, a great many things which SHOULD function under both 1.3 and 2.0 don't seem to do so. Anyway, if bugs of any sort arise, feel free to let me know. I can be contacted either by normal mail sent to the address already given or through e-mail addressed to me on any number of Omaha-area BBS's. (When I'm not going by my real name, I'm usually "Bard Simpson".) The only problem I know of in advance where WorkBench version 1.2 is concerned involves the "IconX" program, which, of course, is missing in the default 1.2 "c:" directory. If you don't have it, the WorkBench icons I've created won't work; you'll have to start the program from the CLI ("CD" to whatever directory you have the files in, then "Execute RoleMaster"), and you won't be able to load character files directly, since their icons will also not function. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 4 III Getting Started -- the Main Menu and General Notes I am going to assume, in the course of discussing the RoleMaster program's operation, that you have at least a basic familiarity with the RoleMaster game system and with its procedures for character creation. (If you don't, I would suggest that you get a copy of Character Law and acquaint yourself with them.) In other words, I will discuss character creation rules only as they apply to the operation of the program, and not attempt to explain them all from scratch. Feel free to experiment. The best way to learn to use the program, after all, is to play with it! I've attempted to make it as self- explanatory as possible (again assuming at least a basic knowledge of RoleMaster); I have also endeavored to make it reasonably user- friendly. I have used "hotkeys" in all cases where multiple-character string input is not required, so pressing the "return" key will generally not be necessary. You shouldn't have to worry too much about crashing the program, either, as it should simply reject input outside the range of values it's designed to handle. (For example, it is impossible to input a "per level" skill bonus of less than 0 or of more than 3.) Finally, the program will double-check most input. I realize that constantly hitting "y" may get a bit tiresome, but I suspect being stuck with something you didn't want just because you accidentally hit the wrong key would be even more aggravating. By the by, the program multitasks just fine. The easiest way to start the program is simply to click on the "RoleMaster" icon. (I realize that should be self-evident, but you never can tell.) It's also possible to start the program by clicking on the icon for a specific character; doing so will take you directly to the point where you have the option of advancing that character to a new level (see section VI, "Character Advancement"). Hit any key to pass the interesting and informative introductory screens (but not until after you've read them!), and you will find yourself looking at the program's main menu. Options 1 and 2, "Create a new character" and "Input an existing character", are discussed in detail in sections IV and V of this manual. Option 3, "Update or print a character already on disk", will first ask you to insert a character disk, and will then present you with the following sub-menu of options: "(U)pdate a Character" will allow you to continue development of one of the characters on the disk (see section VI), just as if you had selected that character's icon instead of loading the main menu. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 5 "(A)lter Character Data" is currently non-functional. (For a discussion of the character data files and how to manually alter the information contained therein, see appendix four.) "(R)ename a Character" does exactly what it says. Note that this command will not allow you to duplicate a name already in use for another character. Note also that it not only changes the name of the data files on the disk, but also alters the main data file itself so that the new character name is used when you attempt to load the character directly. However, only the name, and not the contents, of the file with the character's "character sheet" is altered. Thus, if you rename a character and then immediately print out a copy of the character sheet before you've resaved that character (with or without additional alterations), the sheet will still show the old name. "(D)elete a Character" erases the character files from the disk. "(P)rint a Character Sheet" should be incredibly self-evident. "(C)hange Character Disks" allows you, obviously, to switch to another character disk. "(Q)uit to Main Menu" takes you back to the menu from which you accessed these options in the first place. Option 4 of the main menu, "Prepare a new character storage disk", will put the necessary character directories and icons on any formatted disk, so that character files may be stored there by the program. A few notes about character disks are in order here. As the program stands right now, character files cannot be read from or written to either virtual disks or hard drives. While the directory containing the program files may be anywhere, character disks must be physical disks, and the character directories must be top-level directories on those disks. Moreover, the program will only recognize character disks in device df0: (the built-in floppy drive). This will undoubtedly change in future versions of the program, but for the time being, you'll just have to live with it. The character directories can be on the same physical disk as the program directory; in fact, if you're going to run off of a physical disk anyway, this is probably the preferred option, so you won't have to worry about actually swapping disks. Individual character data files average only about 12-13k, with the stored character sheets running an additional 5-8k each, so you shouldn't have to worry too much about storage space. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 6 Main menu options 5, 6 and 7, "Input skill costs for a new profession", "Stage 'quick combat' between characters" and "Generate 'weather forecast'", are detailed in sections VII, VIII, and IX of this manual, respectively. Option 8, "Exit to workbench", will, obviously, end the program. I can think of only one other general note to add here. All through the program, you will encounter scrolling menus. On all but the shortest of these, you will have an option, by hitting the "?" key, to jump directly to a particular item in the list. These searches are not case sensitive, and do not require a full string match. In other words, typing "b" will jump you to the first item beginning with the letter "B", etc. If you want to jump in the skill list to "Body Development", for example, simply typing "body" will serve just fine. (Of course, you do have to be sure that what you type is enough to be distinctive; otherwise, the search may stop at another item that also matches what you typed.) April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 7 IV Generating New Characters (As a preliminary note, let me point out here that the program draws not only from the basic RoleMaster rules, but from the various companion volumes, as well. Thus, if you don't own all of them, there may be skills, character classes, optional rules and the like referenced either in the program itself or in this manual with which you are unfamiliar. Either ignore them, figure out for yourself how to deal with them, or go out and purchase the extra books!) When you select from the main menu the option to create a new character, you will first be asked what class of character you wish to create. All the character classes from the basic rules, the five regular companion volumes, and the Elemental Companion are included on the list; they are aranged alphabetically within the categories of Non-, Semi-, Pure and Hybrid Spell Users. (Some of the class names, I'll admit, are abbreviated a bit oddly, but you shouldn't have any trouble recognizing them.) Once you've selected a class, the character's stat scores will be generated. Note that the numbers are not yet attached to particular stats! You will be asked if you wish to continue; typing "n" will return you to the list of character classes, typing "r" (for "reroll") will generate a new set of stats, and typing "y" will continue with the stats already generated. Once you have a set of stats that you like, the character's prime requisites will be listed, and the program will ask, for each one in turn, if you wish a score of 90. Those 90's, if used, will replace the lowest stats on the list you generated. You will then assign the remaining numbers to the stats, as you see fit. Simply pick the score you wish to assign, and the stat to which you want it assigned. If you make a mistake, typing "u" (for "undo") will unassign the last score assigned. Once all the stats are assigned, the program will generate and display the characters potential stats, and ask if you are satisfied. If you type "n", you will be taken back to the point where you are asked about the prime requisites. Typing "r" will simply generate a new set of potentials, without affecting your assignments of the temporary stats. Typing "y", of course, will allow you to continue onward. Next, you will be asked to select the character's race. You have the option of choosing from either the standard RoleMaster races or from a list of races you can customize to fit your own game world (see appendix one for more information). The cryptic symbology which appears next to the race names on the list is really not all that difficult to decipher. It simply indicates which, if any, stats carry a racial modifier of at least +10, and gives the total of all ten April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 8 racial stat bonuses. I find the information a bit useful, as it helps to avoid having to flip through the books. You will next be asked for the character's sex and, in the case of those characters for whom the matter isn't decided by their class, for the realm of magic in which they are eventually going to be most interested. (The latter bit of information is needed, of course, for the determination of power points.) Simply type the first letter of the desired response. At this point, the program will inquire as to whether or not you wish to choose the character's basic physique. If you answer "n", the program will randomly determine the character's height and weight (based upon the averages for the race in question, of course). If you answer "y", you will be able to indicate the RELATIVE values for the character's height and build. The program will still determine the absolute numbers (again, based upon the averages for the specific race). If you answer "y", the program will also ask you for the character's Appearance score (1-100), which would otherwise have been randomly determined (subject to the restriction that it cannot be more than 20 points lower than the character's Presence stat). You've now reached the first significant breakpoint in the development procedure. The program will display all the information determined up to this point, and ask if you wish to continue developing the character. If you answer "n", the program will double-check to be sure you really want to abandon it. If you do, you will be returned to the point at which you select a character class. Otherwise, you will be asked for the character's name, and the program will continue onward. Be forewarned that, after you type the character's name, the program window will close. This is normal; a new window will open momentarily. It's a quirk of the HiSoft BASIC compiler that each program is considered a separate entity; even though the programs are chained, each has to open and close its own window. IMPORTANT NOTE: The character's name is also the name of the character's data file, so you should avoid using keyboard characters (such as asterisks, slashes, or quotation marks) that could cause trouble with later disk access. Note also that, while the use of spaces in the file name will not cause problems with normal access, it will prevent you from loading the character file directly, as "IconX" will only recognize the first word of the name, and will attempt (without success) to load the file accordingly. At this point, if you are creating a character for which skill cost information has not yet been input, you will be temporarily diverted April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 9 in order to input that information (see section VII, "Character Class Skill Cost Data Input"). Once that information is input, you will resume where you left off. Next, you will have the option of personalizing the character's "per level" bonuses. These are fully described in RoleMaster Companion II. In short, they range from 0 to 3, and apply to sixteen skill groups roughly equivalent to the skill categories given in appendix two. If you choose to individualize them, the default values for the class in question will be displayed. Simply hitting the return key will retain those values. (This is probably as good a place as any to mention the fact that, in deference to the incredible number of skills that have been added to the game in the companion volumes, I long ago dropped the distinction in my own games between "primary" and "secondary" skills. Frankly, I find many of the so-called secondary skills to be at least as important to many characters as are the original set of skills. The program is written accordingly, and groups skills only according to type, and not according to an arbitrary determination of relative importance.) Now we come to the determination of the character's background options. You will first be asked how many picks the character will receive; the default value for a member of the character's race will be shown. Either hit the return key to keep that number, or input the desired new number. The first five lists come from Character Law; the other two, "Skill at Arms" and "Skill at Magic", come from the first companion volume. On the first list, "Set Options", you pay one background pick and get to select your result. On the second, third and fifth lists, you may either spend one background pick and get a random result, or spend two background picks and select a specific result (or, in the case of money, get a bonus to the random roll). The fourth list, "Special Status", and the two lists from the original RoleMaster Companion, allow only random selections, at the cost of one background pick each. Finally, on the latter two tables, a result of less than 10, in addition to yielding a less than desirable trait, automatically rolls a free second option. If the second roll is also less than 10, the character is simply stuck with the results. (Unless, of course, you reject the whole set of picks and begin again.) Most of the background options, though important when playing the character, are irrelevant within the context of the character creation program. There are relatively few which have effects in that context; those options are listed in appendix three, together with the April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 10 modifications they produce. Be aware that these may not be the only effects that those background options have. It should also be noted that, since I felt it was impractical for the program to attempt to maintain a list of all the equipment carried by a character, such is not done. The character sheet for a first level character will list only such items and cash as were obtained from background picks; character sheets for higher level characters will list no items, although a space is reserved for the player to manually write in any important equipment. The program automatically gives Dwarven characters a +25% special bonus in Caving; full elves receive +25% in the various meditation skills and +10% in Poetic Improvisation. These bonuses are as suggested in the rules system, but if you don't like them, they can easily be changed by "correcting" the data files. Unfortunately, though, they are currently "hard-wired" into the creation process program code, so they will be given to any newly created character. FOR CLERICS ONLY: The program will ask what type of god(dess) the character serves. (This is per RMC-I, wherein are discussed special "religious" base spell lists and skill cost changes.) In some cases, the program will then inquire as to whether the character's "per level" bonuses should be altered. If you answer in the affirmative, the cleric's normal "per level" bonus of +2 in General skills will be dropped to a +1, and another area's "per level" bonus will be increased by one. Those areas are Deadly skills for those who worship deities of death, Medical skills for those who worship deities of healing, Outdoors skills for the servants of nature, Subterfuge skills for those who follow deities of Subtlety, and Combat skills for those whose deities love warfare. Now we get into general spell-related matters. The program will ask you to input the character's base spell lists. Type in each of the list names (if any), and then type "end" to go on. You will then have an opportunity to indicate what, if any, spells are already known (via either background options or previous character development). You will be asked next whether the character will learn spells by list pick, as per the basic rules, or by individual spell, as explained in RMC-III. If the traditional system is used, the program will determine at each level advancement whether or not any spell lists currently being researched were, in fact, learned. If the alternate system is used, the cost of spell development will be changed for all character classes to "1/*", and the program will simply record how many points you spend on learning spells; at each development phase, you will be asked what specific spells those points allowed you to learn. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 11 Once that's all taken care of, you will be asked what languages the character speaks. The native tongue (that is, the first language you input) is automatically given a level of 6; other languages are given levels of 5. The program maintains only one list, although it does treat normal and magical languages differently. Magical languages are denoted on the list by an "(M)" preceding the name. (Do not type that as part of the name; it is added by the program.) You will next have to designate the "order of ease" with which the character will learn weapon skills. Simply put, select the order in which you want weapon skill development costs assigned to the weapon categories. The first one selected would be the least expensive. At this point the program will assemble the character's individual skill list. Once that is done, you will be asked what percentage of normal development points the character will have available to work with. (In light of the great number of skills added to the game since the publication of the original rules system, I give characters in my world 30% above their basic development points. It makes their lives a bit easier, and serves to allow for somewhat better rounded characters.) If the character had any background selections giving skill bonuses to certain skills, those bonuses will be assigned at this time. Finally, you will be asked for the character's hobbies. The primary hobby bestows four free skill ranks; the secondary hobby bestows two. You may not select, as a hobby, a skill that costs 20 or more development points to train in normally. You can, of course, elect not to give the character any hobby skills at all. You will note that in the skill list, certain skills are enclosed in parentheses. These are group skills. When one is selected, you will be asked for the specific new sub-skill to which the skill bonus or levels will be applied. Another quirk to be aware of regarding the skill listing is that, although Stalk and Hide are listed as separate skills (since they are affected by different stats and thus will have different stat modifications), they are in fact treated for development purposes as a single skill. It is not possible on any skill list to select "Hide"; you must select "Stalk". Both skills will be modified. The character is now ready for his or her initial skill rank development. You may proceed on to that immediately, or you may save the character and continue later. (If you choose to continue later, the character will be saved normally, WorkBench icon and all, so you can later load the program directly into the character development, if you are so inclined.) Adolescence and apprenticeship development April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 12 phases are, for all intents and purposes, handled exactly as are later level developments. For details, see section VI, "Character Advancement". April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 13 V Inputting Characters (New or Used) The option to input a character, rather than to create a new one from scratch, serves several purposes. Most obviously, it allows you to create a data file for a character that already exists, so that the computer can handle the character's bookkeeping in the future. It can also be used to allow greater control over the "random" elements of character creation, either for a GM creating a specifically-tailored NPC, or for a player who simply prefers rolling real dice to relying on a computer's random number generation. The procedure for inputting a character is, in many respects, virtually the same as that for creating one. You will first be asked for the character's class, then will be required to input the temporary and potential values for each of the ten stats. Selection of the character's race works just as in the creation process, except that one new option is available. Choosing "Input Unique Race" allows you to input, on the spot, the relevant information (racial stat modifiers, resistances, etc.) for the character's race. In this way, you can create a character who doesn't quite fit into any normal race, without having to first add that information into the "CustomRaces" data file. The program will ask for the character's sex and magical realm, as in the normal creation procedure. It will also ask for the character's Appearance score, height, weight, and number of languages spoken. The program will also ask for the character's experience level. If you chose to input, rather than create, a character simply to allow yourself more control over the random elements, but aren't actually entering a pre-existing character, you can enter an experience level of "0". Doing so will allow you to go through the normal skill development procedures from scratch, as the program will not simply assume that such development has already been done. This option is most useful for those players who want to roll their own dice, but who still want the computer to do all of the bookkeeping. (There's one like that in my group; her own dice rolling is much better than any truly random number set.) When you reach the point where you begin selecting background options, you will not be rolling randomly, but will be choosing specific items from the lists. Thus, if you are, in fact, creating a new character, you will probably want to use physical dice and the books. You will also note that the default number of background picks will be displayed as zero; this is correct, as the program will continue letting you add background options to the character until you select "No more picks". April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 14 (Yes, it is possible to seriously abuse the rules system if you input a character; in fact, even in the normal creation process, there are places where you have the option of inputting information that would allow you to create a "superman" character. It is therefore advised that GMs keep a close watch over their players as they create characters, to be sure that everything is done legitimately and fits within the standards of their game worlds.) When you input the languages spoken by your character, you will also input the skill ranks to which those languages are known. (This is different from the creation process, wherein those skill ranks are simply assigned.) Immediately after, the program will inquire as to the character's hit point total. Be sure to input the base total -- that is, the total before any modifications due to the character's CO stat. The final difference between the creation and input procedures is in skill assignments. Where in the creation process you would be asked only to assign the character's hobbies, in the input procedure, you are given a chance to indicate all the skill ranks already learned by the character. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 15 VI Character Advancement The actual process of advancing a character from one level to the next is fairly straightforward. Essentially, you just select the skills that the character will learn, and assign any spells or languages acquired as a result. Note that the program does not specifically support the system wherein you assign the skills your character is going to learn at the level prior to the level at which he or she will actually acquire them. It doesn't need to. If you play in your own campaigns according to that rule (and, while I've never really liked the idea, it IS part of the basic RoleMaster rule system), simply advance the characters in the program a level ahead of their actual advancement in the game. Then, when they make a new level, print out the already-prepared character sheet, and advance them for the next level. On to specifics: At the beginning of each development phase (except for those of adolescence and apprenticeship), the program will determine what, if any, changes have occurred to the character's temporary statistics. You will then find yourself looking at the character's list of skills. At the top of the screen will be displayed the number of development points you have remaining in this phase. Each entry on the list will include the skill name, the character's current rank in that skill, a number of asterisks indicating how many skill ranks have been purchased during the current development phase, the development point cost for the skill, and the current total skill percentage. The latter number includes not only the actual skill ranks, but also any stat bonuses, special bonuses, or "per level" bonuses that may apply. (Bonuses for first level will not be incorporated in the display during the adolescence development phase; they will, however, be incorporated during the apprenticeship phase.) (Trust me. It makes a lot more sense when you actually look at it.) Simply select the skills you wish the character to learn, spending until you have no development points left to spend. If you make a mistake, type "-" (the dash, or minus sign) to undo your last skill purchase. (Note that ONLY the last purchase may be undone.) What could be simpler? (Seriously, it really is incredibly self-explanatory.) Now I get to mention what is, in my humble opinion, one of the neatest features of the program: You don't have to allocate all of the character's skill points yourself. The program is capable of self- directed character skill development. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 16 Basically, what that means is that the program can randomly allocate skill points. But it's not truly random; the process is weighted toward skills that have already been trained and toward those skills with high "per level" bonuses and/or low development point costs. In other words, while the program decides on its own what skills get learned, the results are reasonably intelligent in terms of the character's profession and previous training. While such development is not recommended for PCs, it can make the generation of higher-level NPCs much easier. And occasionally, the program will have a character train in some skill you never would have considered; devising explanations for such oddities can add a lot to the character's background and personality. Adolescence and apprenticeship development phases cannot be handled randomly. (After all, the program needs SOME initial guidance!) To allow the program to allocate the character's development points for any other phase, simply type "r" instead of "y" or "n" when the program asks if you wish to advance the character to a new level. You may also have the program "finish" allocating the points for a development phase. This could be useful if, for example, you want a basically random character, but still wish to insure that one or two key skills are trained. After you spend whatever points you want to specifically allocate, type "q"; when the program asks if you're certain that you're finished, type "r" instead of "y" or "n". After any random skill development, you will be able to scroll through the skill list. The computer's picks will be shown with asterisks just as your own would have been, so you will be able to see exactly what skills the character gained when left to his or her own devices. After the skill points for a development phase have been fully allocated (however it may have occurred), you will need to indicate any languages and spells that were learned. The procedures are simple; just select from the lists the languages or spell lists in which you wish the character to advance. And that's it. Your character can now be advanced to yet another level, or saved in his or her current state. When you save the character, two files will be created on your character disk. The first, in the "RM.Characters" directory, is the actual data file for the character. It is this file which should be modified if you wish to make permanent changes to the character (see appendix four). The second, in the "RM.CharacterSheets" directory, is the file which is sent to the printer when you choose to print out a character sheet. It can just as easily be printed from the CLI, April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 17 without bothering to load the program. Don't make permanent changes to this file, though, as it will be overwritten any time you re-save the character. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 18 VII Character Class Skill Cost Data Input The RoleMaster game system includes about 75 different character classes, each of which has different development point costs for each of over 200 different skills. I decided quite some time back that I had no intention of inputting into the program myself all of those costs for all of those skills for all of those character classes. Thus, option 5 from the program's main menu allows you to do that work yourself. (The same routine is called from within the character creation process, if you choose to create a character of a class for which skill cost information has not already been input.) You will first be given a list of all the character classes, with colons (":") next to all classes for which skill cost data has already been input. If you select a class not already input, the program will proceed through the entire skill list, allowing you to input the appropriate costs. Just type in the skill costs as printed in the books; the program will correctly interpret the slashes and asterisks. Selecting a "checkmarked" character class will allow you to edit the skill costs already input for that class. The program will scroll through the skill list, showing the costs as they are currently recorded. The "<" and ">" keys will alter the speed of the scrolling; hitting any other key will stop the scroll and allow you to enter a corrected skill cost. Simply hitting the return key without inputting any new numbers will retain the current entry. Information utilized by the skill cost input routine is stored in three files, "OccuData", "SkillData1", and "SkillData2". If you are running from RAM:, and input new character class skill costs, you will need to copy these three files from RAM: back to your physical RoleMaster program disk when you have finished. BUG ALERT: There is a known but not yet conquered bug in the skill cost input routine. The short and sweet of it is, if you do not return to the main menu after each run through the routine, you will corrupt your data files. Select a class, input or revise the skill costs, and return to the menu. You can do this as often as you like, without difficulty. But the first time you run through two lists -- be they skill costs for two different classes or the same skill cost list twice in a row -- without visiting the main menu between them, your data files will be trashed. I will fix this just as soon as I can figure out exactly what the hell it's doing. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 19 VIII Running Quick Combats Main program menu option number 6 allows you to run combats between characters. This is done in accordance with the rules for the "Super- Fast Combat System" presented in RoleMaster Companion III. This system simulates normal RoleMaster combat fairly well, without the use of all the tables; thus, it's handy when you want to run a number of combats relatively quickly. It does tend to kill more often by concussion damage then by crits, unlike the normal combat system, but what the heck. Everything has a trade-off. The program is fully self-sufficient, and can be used even by those who've never seen RMC-III. For each combatant, you will need to input name, armor type, defensive bonus, total and current concussion hits, current bleeding per round, current offensive bonus, information regarding crit class and possible stun immunity, and weapon type. Both total and current information is requested, so that you may run multiple combats in which characters are becoming progessively more wounded, etc. You will see a round-by-round description of the battle; eventually, one or the other combatant will be defeated and you will be asked whether or not you wish to run another combat. If you answer "n", you will be returned to the main menu. The program does not currently allow you to save information on various combatants. That capability may very well be added in a future release. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 20 IX Generating 'Weather Forecasts' Option number 7 from the main program menu allows you to determine weather patterns for your game world, using a system based upon the one presented in TSR's Wilderness Survival Guide. (I'm no big fan of AD&D, but some of the support material is excellent.) This is probably the most comprehensive weather generation system I've encountered, and yields highly variable, but very realistic, results. You'll start by inputting a bit of information. First, you'll need to input the length of your world's year, and when to begin and end the forecasted period. Days are simply referenced by number, with the winter solstice considered to be day number one (the first day of the year). Note that forecasts can "wrap around" the year's end; thus, for example, you can run from day 140 to day 141, and get a forecast for two days, or from day 141 to day 140, and get a forecast for an entire year. You will also, of course, need to tell the program the latitude of the area for which you want the forecast, and the type of area (e.g., desert, forest, seacoast, or whatever). You have the option of printing the results directly to the printer or to a disk file (RAM:WeatherReport) which you can edit as you see fit before printing. You also have the option to either start a new forecast from scratch or continue from a previous generation. In the latter case, you will be asked a few relevant bits of information about weather conditions on the last day prior to the new forecast period. The printout for each day will list any "special" weather occurrences (heat or cold waves, especially violent storms, etc.), high and low temperatures, maximum wind speed and average direction, approximate number of daylight hours, cloud cover, amount and type of precipitation, and basic humidity level. When relevant, it will also list accumulated snowfall. (Accumulated snowfall, by the by, is not listed for the arctic regions, where permafrost is a simple fact of life.) Note that the last day of the forecast period will not list a humidity level, as that determination for any given day is actually based in part on the next day's weather conditions. A few comments are in order for the benefit of "purists". First, the original system allowed for the occurrence of hurricanes. Those are not implemented in the program. When they would have occurred, they are treated (for the time being) simply as extraordinary precipitation. Second, the additions I've made to the basic system as presented in the book are the calculations of cloud cover and of accumulated snowfall amounts. Those two, and especially the latter, April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 21 are thus the most likely elements of the program to yield less than perfect results. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 22 Appendix One -- Character Race Data When creating a character, you are given the option of choosing either from the standard RoleMaster races (the character races as detailed in Character Law and in the first RoleMaster Companion) or from a list of races that you can customize to fit the races in your own game world. The custom race data is stored, logically enough, in the "CustomRaces" data file. Each entry in that file consists of 26 items, arranged as follows: #1: race name #2-11: racial stat bonuses (in order -- CO, AG, SD, ME, RE, ST, QU, PR, IN, and EM) #12: number of starting languages #13: hit die type (e.g., "10" for d10, "8" for d8, etc.) #14: number of background option picks #15: appropriate column on the "Build/Frame" section of Character Law table 15.75 (1=humans, 3=elves, 5=dwarves, 6=halflings, 7=orcs, and 8=trolls; columns 2 & 4 are used automatically by the program for female members of races listed as using columns 1 & 3) #16: appropriate column on the "Height" section of Character Law table 15.75 (1=common men, 2=elves, 3=dwarves, 4=halflings, 5=lesser orcs, and 6=trolls) #17: number of inches by which to modify the results from the column noted as #16 (e.g., high men have a modifier of 8, as they use the "common men" height column but are actually over half a foot taller on the average than are common men) #18: weight modifier (this can be any number, with "1" being the setting which yields typical human height/weight ratios; within the listing of standard races used by the program, ".75" is used for elves, ".88" for most of the half elves, "1.77" for dwarves, and "2" for pure halflings) #19: this is a string with absolutely no relevance except on the display of races from which a character's race is chosen; to remain consistent with the description of that display in the main documentation, this string should begin with an open parenthesis, list any stats for which the race has a +10 or better racial modifier, and end with a semicolon (e.g., the string for high men reads "(ST/PR/CO;"), but in fact, this string can be left null without any ill effects #20: racial hit point maximum #21-25: racial resistance bonuses (in order -- essence, channeling, mentalism, poison, and disease) #26: "maximum" height, in inches, for a member of the race (this number is used only in the event that the Special Abilities background pick "Unusual Strength and Height" is rolled, in which case the character's size is automatically revised to this height) April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 23 The "CustomRaces" file which I've provided as a default includes the character races I use in my own game world. All the human races are included in their standard forms, except that common men and dark tribesmen have five, rather than six, background picks. No half-elves are included. The elves in the list have SD modifiers of 0 rather than of (-20); to help compensate, their CO and ST modifiers are 5 lower than given in the standard race list. Fair elves also have three, rather than two, background picks. Tallfellow halflings have the same racial stat bonus adjustments as do elves; normal halflings also have their SD modifiers raised to 0, but only the CO modifier is reduced in compensation, as the standard SD base is only (-10) rather than (-20). All the other normal races are included in their standard forms. I've also added a few races not in the standard list. Giants, Hira'razhir (avians), and Sstoi'isslythi (serpents) all come from the first Creatures & Treasures. The Lyrri are a feline race statistically identical to C&T's Idiyva race. The "RatBeast" is a human-sized rat creature I designed specifically for one of my players. (Don't ask.) Listed below, just for general reference, are the "average" heights and weights for male members of all the standard races. Humans: Half-Elves: Arctic Men 5'8" 159# a (High Men) 6'6" 202# Bear Tribesmen 5'11" 199# b (Mixed Men) 6'4" 187# Common Men 5'10" 173# c (Tribesmen) 6'2" 183# Dark Tribesmen 5'9" 166# d (Northmen) 6'3" 180# High Men 6'6" 240# e (Common Men) 6'1" 166# Mixed Men 6'2" 205# f (Vile Races) 6'5" 206# Northmen 6' 188# Vile Races: Elves: Lesser Orcs 4'5" 97# Wood Elves 6'4" 159# Greater Orcs 5'11" 235# All Other Elves 6'5" 166# Half-Orcs 5'9" 199# Trolls 9'10" 1124# Other Good Races: Half-Trolls 7'10" 524# Half-Ogres 6'10" 334# Halflings 3'5" 69# "Great Men" 7'10" 504# Tallfellows 4'4" 113# Stouts 3'8" 81# Dwarves 4'5" 133# Half-Dwarves 4'10" 148# April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 24 Appendix Two -- The 'Complete' Skill List COMBAT SKILLS: Armor skills, Weapon skills, Martial Arts, Brawling, Grappling Hook, Iai, Lancing, Reverse Stroke, Stunned Maneuver, Tumbling Attack, Tumbling Evasion, Armed & Unarmed Disarming, Missile Artillery, Subduing, Two-Weapon Combo, Yado ACADEMIC SKILLS: Administration, Alchemy, Architecture, Drafting, Engineering, Heraldry, Mapping, Mathematics, Mining, Navigation, Siege Engineering, Stargazing, Weather Watch, Anthropology, History, Philosophy / Religious Doctrine, Military Organization, Tactics, the various Lore skills ANIMAL SKILLS: Animal Handling, Animal Training, Beast Mastery, Driving, Herding, Loading, Riding ATHLETIC SKILLS: Body Development, Climbing, Distance Running, Diving, Rapelling, Rowing, Sailing, Skating, Skiing, Sprinting, Surfing, Swimming, Athletic Games, Dance, Flying / Gliding CONCENTRATION SKILLS: Adrenal Defense, Adrenal moves, Body Damage Stabilization, Control Lycanthropy, Dowsing, Frenzy, Meditation skills, Mnemonics, Space Location Awareness DEADLY SKILLS: Ambush, Silent Kill, Use / Remove Poison EVALUATION SKILLS: Appraisal, the various Evaluation skills GENERAL SKILLS: Advertising, Cookery, Fletching, Gimmickry, Horticulture, Painting, Rope Mastery, Sculpting, Skinning, Crafting, Leather Working, Play Instrument skills, Smithing, Stone Crafts, Tactical Games, Wood Crafts GYMNASTIC SKILLS: Acrobatics, Contortions, Juggling, Jumping, Pole Vaulting, Stilt Walking, Tightrope Walking, Tumbling LINGUISTICS SKILLS: Linguistics, Lip Reading, Mimicry, Music, Poetic Improvisation, Propaganda, Public Speaking, Signaling, Singing, Tale Telling, Trading, Ventriloquism MAGICAL SKILLS: Attunement, Channeling, Circle Lore, Magical Languages, Power Perception, Power Projection, Runes, Spell List Acquisition, Symbol Lore, Targeting Skill, Transcend Armor, Warding Lore, Directed Spells, Divination, Magical Ritual, Spell Mastery MEDICAL SKILLS: Animal Healing, Hypnosis, Diagnostics, Drug Tolerance, First Aid, Midwifery, Second Aid, Surgery April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 25 PERCEPTION SKILLS: Detect Traps, Direction Sense, General Perception, Lie Perception, Locate Secret Opening, Poison Perception, Read Tracks, Sense Ambush, Sense Reality Warp, Surveillance, Time Sense, Tracking SOCIAL SKILLS: Diplomacy, Duping, Gambling, Interrogation, Leadership, Seduction SUBTERFUGE SKILLS: Acting, Begging, Bribery, Camoflage, Disarm Traps, Disguise, Falsification, Item Hiding, Mimery, Pick Locks, Pick Pockets, Set Traps, Stalk, Hide, Trap Building, Trickery SURVIVAL SKILLS: Caving, Scrounging, Streetwise, Foraging Note that this list is, essentially, the list that appeared in RoleMaster Companion II. Although there are a few quirks of my own invention, there are no skills included from later companion volumes. The reason for this has to do with the complexity of the manner in which I originally encoded the master skill list. Most skills, during the creation process, are referenced within the program only by number (singly or in groups); to alter or add to the list would require changing all of those strictly numeric references. I have not yet felt up to the task. It is not too difficult, however, to add new skills to a character's file or to alter the skill information already contained therein. For details, see appendix four. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 26 Appendix Three -- Background Options As mentioned in the main program documentation, most background picks are, as far as the program is concerned, meaningless. The following is a listing ONLY of the background selections which have effects within the bounds of the program's operation; the listed effects may not be the only effects that the background selection will have upon the character in the course of play. "Set Options": All results are self-explanatory, and are dealt with by the program as one would expect; some, however, may take a while. (For example, specific skill bonuses will not be assigned until after the program has compiled the character's full skill list.) "Special Abilities": Soothing Voice (SA 21) -- +15% to Acting, Duping, Public Speaking, Singing and Trading. Nimble Skeleton (SA 41) -- +20% to Acrobatics, Climbing, Stalk (but not Hide), Swimming and Tightrope Walking. Enticing Eyes (SA 46) -- +15% to Diplomacy, Duping, Leadership, Public Speaking and Seduction. Lightning Reactions (SA 67) -- +5% to Defensive Bonus and to all weapons and martial arts skills. Resistance to Pain (SA 71) -- +3 to all Body Development rolls. Fine Wrists (SA 76) -- +20% to Thrown Weapons and to Martial Arts Sweeps/Throws. Quiet Stride (SA 81) -- +20% to Stalk (but not to Hide). Unusual Strength & Height (SA 86) -- +20 ST bonus; also alters character's height to maximum for applicable race. Allergy (SA 96) -- +40 RR bonus against one magical realm. Enchantment (SA 100) -- +50 RR bonus against one magical realm. "Special Items": These should be self-evident. The character gets the goodies. "Special Status": Multi-cultural (SS 41) -- +(2-3) additional languages. Rich Family (SS 91) -- free roll on "Special Wealth" table. "Special Wealth": See the note under "Special Items". April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 27 "Skill at Arms": Martial Arts Training (SaA 11) -- all MA attacks and adrenal moves cost 1/3; Adrenal Defense costs 3/7 (unless, of course, these skills are already cheaper for the character). Subtle (SaA 13) -- +25% to Stalk and Hide skills. Mind Over Matter (SaA 14) -- +25% to all adrenal moves. Natural Horseman (SaA 15) -- +25% to Riding. Natural Armor Facility (SaA 17) -- all armor maneuvering skills cost half normal. Assassin Training (SaA 20) -- Ambush, Silent Kill, and Use/Remove Poison cost half normal. Natural Physique (SaA 21) -- halves Body Development skill cost and increases racial max hits by 150%. Directed Weapons Master (SaA 24) -- allows improved development of primary weapon (see RMC-I) and increases all other weapon skill costs by 150%. Outdoorsman (SaA 38) -- +50% to Foraging; +20% to Read Tracks, Set Traps, Stalk/Hide and Tracking. The various stat bonus modifiers are self-explanatory. "Skill at Magic": Resistance (SaM 13) -- +25 RR bonus against one magical realm. Item Lore (SaM 16) -- +25% to Attunement (the old Staves/Wands skill). Runic Lore (SaM 17) -- +25% to Runes skill roles. Elvish Training (SaM 18) -- +25% to all meditation skills (note that this background option may not be received by an Elf character, who already has those bonuses). Aura (SaM 19) -- one additional power point per level. Archmage Abilities (SaM 21) -- changes power point calculation so as to be based upon all three realms (please look this option over carefully, as it is subject to highly variable interpretation as to its full effects). Archetype (SaM 29) -- twice normal power points. Psionic (SaM 31) -- not available. Herbalist (SaM 38) -- +50% to Cookery and to Foraging. The various stat bonus modifiers are self-explanatory. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 28 Appendix Four -- Character File Format Altering a character's data file is simple. Any text editor or word processor can be used. But be careful; screwing up the data file is also simple. Just pay attention to what you're changing, though, and you should be fine. The first six lines of the data file are the CLI commands executed when you start the program with the character's icon. Don't play with them. The next line shows the character's race, occupation, level, and realm(s) of magic. The next 10 lines are data regarding the character's stat scores (in order -- CO, AG, SD, ME, RE, ST, QU, PR, IN, and EM). For each stat, the temporary and potential scores are listed, followed by the stat bonus. Note that the listed stat bonus already includes any modifications due to race or to special circumstances. The line following the stat information lists the character's sex, appearance score, string descriptions of relative build & height (these may be null entries), height in inches, weight in pounds, number of languages, and hit die type. The next two lines contain strictly numeric data. The first line lists the character's base development point total (that is, the number of development points derived from stats as per the basic rules, without any modifications), power points (again, this is the base value -- do not include modifications due to "Archetype" or "Aura" background picks), racial concussion hit maximum, and resistances (in order -- to essence, channeling, mentalism, poison, and disease). The second line lists the percentage of normal development points the character has to work with, the character's wealth in gold pieces (this is only relevant to first level characters), any modifications to the character's defensive bonus (this is in ADDITION to QU bonus and training, if any, in Adrenal Defense), base spell casting bonus, body development "per level" bonus, and number of spell lists (this includes all spell lists on the character sheet, whether actually studied yet or not). Next, each of the character's spell lists, if any, will be listed on a separate line. The actual number of entries MUST match the number of spell lists given immediately prior to them, as that variable tells the program how many list names to expect to read! The next line contains only two pieces of information. The first is a flag indicating which of the spell acquisition systems is used by the character ("1" = the traditional method, while "2" = the "by spell" system of RMC-III). The second is a string description of the type of April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 29 deity the character worships (for any character except a cleric, it will be simply "-", a sort of "no preference" choice). Next will be listed, one per line, the languages spoken or read by the character. The same note applies here as with the spell lists; specifically, the actual number of entries MUST match the listed number of languages which appeared earlier in the data file. The next line lists the character's base hit point total (this is the total prior to any CO adjustments), armor sizes (as determined by the optional rule in Character Law), and number of background selections. One per line, those background selections are listed next. Again, the number of entries must match the numeric variable. Now you get to the character's actual skill list. This section is very long, but highly repetitive. For each skill, there are three lines of data. The first contains simply the name of the skill. The second lists the development point cost (this is shown as two numbers; if the skill can be purchased an unlimited number of times per development phase, the second cost will be "99") and the skills which affect the character's stat bonus with the skill (they are shown as numbers, with the order being as listed earlier; up to three may affect a given skill). The third line lists the character's current skill level, any special bonuses that apply, and any "per level" bonus that applies. The end of the skill list will be the end of the data file for all but first level characters. For those, the data file also lists the character's total number of items and, of course, lists the items individually. It is recommended that, after altering a character's data file, you run the program, loading and resaving the character. This will serve two purposes: first, it will allow you to be sure that the data has not been garbled by a mistake in your work, and second, it will recreate the character's character sheet to reflect the revised information. April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 30 Appendix Five -- A Brief History of the Program Back in November of 1987, while in Germany as a member of the U.S. Air Farce, I innocently decided to spend a few weeks writing a program on the Commodore 64 to assist in and to speed up the process of generating RoleMaster characters. At the time, I had no conception whatsoever of the true complexity of the task I was setting for myself. The RoleMaster program has since become perhaps the only project on which I have ever actually continued to work for over four years. Version 1.0 was never actually completed, for, as I slowly realized what I was up against, several major changes became necessary in the way in which I was doing things. Version 1.1 was scrapped in the summer of 1988 (after I'd returned to the States and to civilian life), when my then-fiance, Glenda, suggested several significant improvements in the program. While she was neither a gamer nor a programmer, she possessed a common sense which I all too frequently lack. Unfortunately, implementing her suggestions required extensive rewriting of the code. I completed version 1.2 in late August, then moved to California in September, only to discover from friends there that RoleMaster Companion II had been released, and had sent me back almost to the proverbial square one. The publication of RMCIII was not quite so frustrating, but did result in some notable changes from version 2.0, which was all but complete when it was released, to version 3.0, which I finally completed in the spring of 1989. Two of the most significant of those changes were the elimination of the data file containing all the available spell lists (there were getting to be too many, and besides, RMCIII had introduced a new, and less list-dependant, method of learning spells!), and the decision not to try to personally input all the skill costs for all the professions. At that point, with version 3.0 functioning and with no new information to incorporate from yet more new Companion volumes, tired once and for all of the whole thing and sick of trying to read and revise my own spaghetti code, I declared everything finished, swore I was done with the RoleMaster program for good, and went on to other projects (including the weather generation program which is now part of this package). For a year and a half, everything was fine. (Except for the fact that I never did manage to get the program successfully uploaded to the Q- Link C-64 telecomm network.) Then, in September of 1990, I finally April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 31 purchased an Amiga. My resolve not to convert the program over to the new machine held for all of two months. My original intention was to make version Am1.0 an essentially unaltered port of Commodore version 3.0. But the capabilities of the Amiga, even when limiting myself to working with AmigaBASIC, were a bit too tempting. I worked on the conversion on and off for several months, but didn't really get a great deal done until last summer. I moved to Omaha in June; for two months thereafter, I was unemployed, and spent a majority of my free time working on the program. It was nearly done when, in August, I started working again, and also started spending more and more of my time with the woman to whom I am now engaged (Joy and I are getting married in June). Version Am1.0, very near completion, was virtually forgotten. It was finally resurrected early this year when I decided to start running a new RoleMaster campaign. (My last campaign had faded out in very early 1990.) At that point, I decided, once and for all, to finish ironing out the last few known bugs and to get the documentation written. Thus, the product you now hold in your hands. (Well, figuratively speaking, anyway.) In some ways, version Am1.0 is still not really an Amiga program; in particular, I have made no use of menu bars or of the mouse. In many respects, except for the addition of the character classes from RMCIV, RMCV, and the Elemental Companion, it is still the same program I wrote originally on the C-64. But it runs, and more to the point, it accomplishes the goals I set for it so long ago. There are improvements I still want to make, but they can wait for future versions. For now, the RoleMaster character creation program I started four and a half years ago is finished. -- Darryl C. Burgdorf April, 1992 April 1992 RoleMaster Program Docs page 32