Again Sorry for any lack of progress

I am currently in school right now and my time is limited. I am hoping to continue to work on Orc in upcoming months here and have something available this June. It will be an expanded version of Orc to include HARP and Hack and Slash. Until Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Sorry for the lack of updates

I have completed a Harp Character Generator that can be found at http://harpy-harp.googlecode.com/files/HarpCharGen.exe

I plan to return to Orc here soon with the intent on fixing up the RM side of things and then adding functionality to have it work for Harp and Hack and Slash.

It will be released as Open Source with the XML database being minimal. No critical information at all except table names and for Hack and Slash very little attack information.

Orc Sneek Peak

Main Screen

Attack Screen


Add Player Screen

Here some screen shots of Orc 1.02 which reflects the changes I felt were necessary after some actual play testing a few weekends ago. As you can see I have streamlined a few things and even added some features. Here's a run down:

• Main screen has been streamlined to only include the Character Name, initiative value, Hit points, power points, an action status, bleed and any penalties. The action status tells the user the condition of the player, for example, is the player stunned, down, out, dead, etc. It does not indicate the number of rounds as this is something I feel isn't all that necessary to know on a constant basis however you can get that information from the Critical Detail window if the player asks.
  
• Any action Orc would have taken based on the action status is eliminated in favor of a warning box to remind the user what condition the character is in. Before Orc would not allow you to attack if the player was stunned. Here the user can do anything they want that fits whatever rules they are using for that particular action. Orc leaves the appropriate action to the user.
  
• Weapon selection added to the target area in attack window so user can adjust this value immediately.
  
• Also I have eliminated Use Adrenal Defense and cover selections in favor of user fields.
  
• User Fields allow the player to define specific player values that can be used during melee. You can add four different values per user field: a value for Melee, MissileBolt, AreaBall or a default value. The user field selection window will display the appropriate value based on the attack. If no value exists, the default value is displayed.
  
• Quickness bonus, adrenal bonus, armor bonus and other bonuses have been eliminated in favor of MeleeDB, MissileBoltDB and AreaBallDB. This is to reflect the specific bonus based on each type of attack to the player. This eliminates the specific rules that Rolemaster uses in favor of any house rules that might be in place which calculates these values. These values do not include your shield bonus or your adrenal defense bonus. This is important to remember. The reason for this is because Adrenal Defense is a rare skill and it different per attack and has rules when it can be used. Shields also have different values per attack and have rules on when they can be used.
  
• Adrenal Defense has been removed from the Add Attack tab in the AddPlayer Window. Again this is a user field and is not necessary to define it for an attack. This is something the GM can and should do on his own per house rules.
• I have also added a UserFields.xml file to define the basic userfields for melee such as cover, lighting and positional modifiers. Go ahead and add to this file any other fields you can think of that each player should have. These fields will display for all players. The userfields you define PER player in the AddPlayer window is displayed ONLY for that player.
  
• Cleaned up main window to remove values that are zero. Therefore only values that have meaning display on the main window.
• Clicking Done on the attack windows saves and closes the window. Save and Attack will save and clear all values for another attack. Use this if the player gets another critical, attack, etc. A message box will appear for criticals that get two rolls each for a different table if you click done. The critical information is automatically updated.
  

Things not yet added but I plan to at some point.

• "Player overrides stun" checkbox. User checks this if a maneuver was performed that can override the stun for a round. This tells the program NOT to reduce the stun value by 1.
• I would like to bold the text in the Action Status so that it stands out a bit more.
  
• I would like to add a column so the user can select an action the player is going to perform that round. This allows the user to know who is doing what. This field will be controlled entirely by the user as it should.
  
• Calculating experience points for the whole melee when finished.
  
• Keeping track of exhaustion points however how many people really want this?
  

Things not changed

• I have not changed the Spell Casting window or Maneuver windows. (exception: I added a default value of 5 to the maneuver window for the Feet per Hex value.
  
• You can still add ranks to the critical in order to get a spread of criticals you can scroll through.

I am hoping I can make Orc available soon. I have and continue to use this program and I think it is a pretty solid application. Used in conjunction with Battlegrounds makes for a rather fun experience. In fact I now run ALL my combats using Battlegrounds and Orc.

Updates on Orc

1) The idea of creating this as Open Source is looking rather impossible. Everything boils down to the database which is copyrighted by ICE. The only real solution that would be to create a completely original database which still might not be enough if ICE also owns the "structure" and "rules" which I also believe is the case. In the end, Orc is a bit too specialized to be Open Source. Streamlining it is also a solution where Orc becomes generic enough to be able to handle most attack systems in a very basic manner. I will be discussing a possible license with ICE when it comes to Orc so yes, I have removed Orc from being Open Source.

2) Ran through Orc during a game and I was actually impressed. If a program doesn't work I will usually jettison it in favor for something I am used to, but with Orc I not only used it once for a big combat I used it twice for another big combat. A few issues get crop up, for example Hit Points were not getting applied except if you hit the apply button and the program forces the user a bit too much. So I am going through Orc to create a program that is a bit more streamlined:

• Message boxes will appear reminding GM's on events or statuses of players. For example, if a player is stunned, the program will no longer control your actions on the stun, it will simply tell you the player is stunned. This allows for House rules as well.
  
• I am going to remove a LOT of fields from the add player in favor of having fixed values for defense: Melee DB, Missile/Bolt DB, Area/Ball DB and that's it. I will still have a field to adjust DB with or without shield.
  
• User fields/GM Screen. There will two buttons, one for the player and one for the target that the user can bring up for user fields. These fields can be used for shadow or lighting, cover or elevation, etc. It can also be used for Adrenal Defense or Adrenal Evasion values as well. Adding User fields will be another tab in the add players dialog where you can add as many user fields as you want for the player. A general user field XML will be created that will always display for every player.
• Re-arranging the GUI's for a bit more of a streamlined look and to make certain values stand out and easier to read such as the hit attack and the critical areas.
  

Orc: Version 1.01 is available

Orc Version 1.01 is now available. Features include a new Database structure, more critical and attack logic added, multiple attacks now supported, Active Spell Pane and now the ability to change player properties during combat, for example a spell that increases hit points, or they pick up a weapon.

This release is still in beta. It seems pretty stable. I ran through a combat test run and didn't have any issues. I'll will try more combat runs during the week.

Download Orc 1:01b

Testing for 1.01 Underway

I have completed development for version 1.0 and all that is needed to be done now is some database entry for final testing. Here are the new features for 1.01

• Main: Completely refurbished database in order to support the idea of ICE acquiring it. The reason for this was to format for an already created database by someone else who had already made the XML database work under an XSL template. These templates are just fantastic and are very close to looking like an actual page from the book. There is also an index.htm which lists all of the XML files which when clicked will render an attack table or critical table. These databases are 100% customizable however I do not recommend changing the node names or attribute names as a lot of them are used by Orc. Again the XML database submitted in the program will be empty save for the template itself. However I do not plan to change the format in the near future or ever as this is a format that works well and in my mind is pretty solid.
  
• Secondary: New fields and logic for AddPlayer so that a player can create characters that cannot stun or bleed.
  
• Logic for armor bonuses and other bonuses for defense.
• Can now link an attack to another attack. This allows a player to define two attack weapons such as the skill Two Weapon fighting or if you created a Martial Artist whose style allows for a second attack. Also a field to link this attack only if a critical happen which helps with creatures who attack with one natural weapon and if they crit can attack with another.
  
• Added a Spell Pane which now lists all active spells. To make a spell active, go into the spell dialog window, select a spell from the list and click cast. If the spell casts normally it will appear in the Active Spell Pane.
  
• Also this version links large creatures and super large creatures to the large and super large critical table.
  
• Also this version allows a player to mark their weapon as magical, mithril, holy or slaying.

There is also some new logic for attacks:

• The ability to define more than one critical for a result. For example an F crit shown in the book can be defined as an E crit with a table and a C crit on another table for example.
  
• Also if a condition is a part of the critical, for example if the critical asks if the target has arm greeves you can select this condition over the regular critical and apply it. This works with bracketing criticals as well.
  
• Also criticals keep track of more information such as initiatives, parry penalties, death and death in rounds, knocked out, knocked down and prone.
  

That's all I can think of for now. I'm looking forward to having this version finished and done so I can move on to bigger things like the Character Generator.

Also: again, for anyone interested in helping to develop Orc, want to add new things, fix things, make it work under Linux or a Mac (everything is coded using wxWidgets and C++ and XML so integration into these Operating Systems should be easy and standard) or if you are interested in being a beta tester. Again source code will be available and if you setup Code::Blocks all you have to do is load the project file and you are all set.

New Database Design

For those who may have downloaded the program and have started their own database work, you might want to stop for now until I have loaded into Orc my new database design that I am working on with Vroomfogle who let me tinker with his rather incredible piece of database work. I have a draft finished and will start moving this draft into the code here. Hopefully I will have something by next week. It will be in version 1.01.

This database I've been working on though is just awesome. Imagine if you will having the ability to just click a link on your browser (unfortunately right now it's IE only) and have an exact replica of an attack sheet in front of you, or a critical table sheet. Not only does this database do that, but software developers will and should be able to utilize it as well as I plan to prove with Orc.

Once we have this database finalized then hopefully we can get ICE to acquire it. We shall see.

(the reason is it IE only right now is that Mozilla is not capable of reading a DOCTYPE ENTITY to load an XML file into another XML file. It's a limitation of Mozilla unless I can find a solution).

Beta is now available!

I have made Orc .10Beta available to the public. Things to note with this release.

1) This is not a stable version and therefore could be prone to a few bugs and crashes. If it does crash I would love to know when the crash happened and what you were doing at the time so I can address the issue.

2) The XML Database again are all templates with no data in them. Copyright issues prevent me from making full databases available to the public. Also please don't ask me to send you these files as an aside. If I can't make them available in this application then I can't send them via email as well.

3) If you think there is a bug in the program please send me an email on it and I will address the issue in time.

4) I also accept enhancement requests if you have ideas. I already have a few of my own which include the following (Active Spells pane on the main window listing all active spells, better functionality for creatures and beasts and help files). I'm aware there is no automation of phases in Orc. This is a feature I do plan to have in time, but I need to think about a design first. ;)

Enjoy!

Beta is almost up

I have completed the development phase of Orc and will now move into play testing. Hopefully the testing will go smoothly and I can have a beta ready for testing by next week. I will post more information on the beta when I am ready as there is legal-ise that needs to be mentioned as well. If you are interested in being a beta tester, please send me an email at brdavid@gmail.com.

Here are some screenshots of Orc as it stands for Version 1.0.

Main Window

Add Player

Attack Window

Maneuver Window

Spell Window

Updates: Add Player Dialog

Have completed updates to the Add Player dialog. I don't have a before picture to show, but believe me, this is half of what I used to have. This is from what I gather the least requirements to get a Combat Application going. Again, everything is saved in XML format.

Next up is to make sure the following functions: New Encounter, Duplicate Encounter and Import Player. Then move into working on the Attack Table. Hopefully I will have something in two week with the Attack Table. Things are looking more like the end of March before I have a beta ready for testing.

Major Revision underway

After getting some rather excellent feedback I am moving to revise and streamline much of the application for version 1.0. I don't have any screenshots as of yet but let's just say the AddPlayer dialog has been cut in half, and the Attack Dialog has been significantly cut down. This is in order to remove some aspects of combat that really don't need to be automated as strictly as my initial idea was. For example I have replaced the Subdual, Ambush and Reverse Stroke checkboxes with just a Special Attack checkbox. The user checks this if the player is attacking in a way that would be "special" rather than a standard melee. This could be a cast from an item like a directed spell from a ring, a subdual attack, reverse stroke, etc. Also I have removed the Flank, Rear and Surprise checkboxes from the dialog box and will assume the player will include that number in the modifiers box.

I still have separate boxes for the first roll and the open ended roll. This is purely to check for fumbles and breakage numbers since they are all different based on the weapons. The application still will keep track of parries and attack numbers. It will still keep track of the basics like hit points, power points, exhaustion points, Critical information, initiative, bonuses, etc.

This version will also not have the 5 Step Action Phases from RMSS/RMFRP. The plan is to implement this later after the application has had a few months of use to gauge how practical the app is. Active Spells will be displayed on the Attack Dialog AND in a Pane in the main window.

No word yet on the Databases. Hoping to hear something by either the end of this week or the beginning of next week. I am in the process of overhauling the databases as well in attempt to make them a bit more readable and to make them a lot faster to load and read. For example each weapon now has it's own attack.xml file and each critical table has its own xml file.

XML Databases Replaced with Templates

Per request of ICE I have removed all XML database files from the repository/source and have replaced them templates. As of right now when it comes to development, I am not sure how these will be distributed or how another developer will be able to get a hold of completed XML files for testing or developing purposes.

I should know by the end of this week, hopefully, what direction we are going to go with these databases.

Thanks!

Code updated today

I have updated the repository with what I have thus far with the code. Again let me stress that right now this code is for developers only. This is not release code. Also if you are using Code::Blocks you will find the Code::Blocks project file already in the source code. If you are using MSVC++ I'm not sure if the project file can be imported or if you need to start with an empty project and just import the code.

I have completed the logic with the Spell Dialog so that it now comes back with a result from the Spell Static Maneuver table. It's not 100% completed as there are still a few rules I have not implemented yet such as action based on types, resistance and so on.

Here is a rough idea of my to do list. I haven't included any dates since I don't know how long each portion will take.

1) Need to move some code into the CombatObj class file in order to allow both the Attack Dialog and Spell Dialog to share some logic. Specifically the attack rolls. I plan to keep the Spell Dialog window for anything spell related included directed spell attacks.

2) Complete the Spell Dialog logic to include Basic Spell Attacks, EAR and BAR rolls, resistance, targets.

3) Include a place in the AddPlayer Dlg to include Spells for the character. This will also include some clean up of the window itself. It's getting clogged with information. (When I have the Character Generator program up and running, these dialog boxes will ultimate disappear and an encounter will automatically generated based on the character sheet. To edit, the character generator will be accessed through Orc as well as Orc can be access through the Character Generator.

4) Start coding the logic for the action steps: Action Declaration Phase, Initiative Phase (Already implemented), Snap action, Normal action, and Deliberate action phase. Have the players select what action will happen in which phase. The program will then parse through each step during combat.

5) This is where code implementation will stop and testing will begin. Once testing is completed I will release Orc from this point as Version 1.0. Ceats will not be a part of this version unless I can get another developer to work on that. Also the only Database for this version will be a RMSS database that has been customized somewhat. It is not an exact copy. Additional databases will not be included unless other developers want to create these databases.

Again I do not have exact dates for each of these goals, however a guess is three to four weeks until I get to testing. I would say a good 2 weeks to test so possibly 6 weeks at least until a stable release of Orc.

After this Elf: A RMSS Character Generator will begin coding. (Yeah, codename right now is Elf. Orc for fighter, Elf for builders ;) ).

Spell Dialog Taking Shape

Right now all this dialog box does is display the players spells, and gives the GM all the information they are going to need to cast the spell, including the description. When it comes the XML database for this particular dialog I have included only the spells from Spell Law. I do have all of the spells from the entire line of Rolemaster RMSS/RMFRP in my computer in Access Database form and this XML spreadsheet came from that database file so in time I can augment this XML file to include other books, however this release is geared to be simple and small. As you can see only the spells the player can cast are present. By clicking the spell you get a description.

From here, the user then enters the rest of the information: Preparation rounds (if the spell is Instantaneous, marked by an asterisk, this field is ignored), modifiers if any and then the 1D100 roll. The program automatically adds the +50 per RMSS rules and also any modifiers from the Spell Casting Table such as Base Lists mods, use of voice, hands, etc. Also if not instantaneous, then it grabs the modifiers based on preparation rounds. The result from the Spell Static Maneuver table is returned. If the spell is automatic the result will simply state: "Spell is cast".

I hope to have a window pane like a marque that will display all spells currently active for the round. I don't have it here right now but also if the player fumbles, the fumble roll will happen here.

The difference between all three dialog boxes depend on the action the player is taking. Sometimes they combine. For example a Directed Spell attack would mean the player needs to first cast the spell from the Spell Dialog, then if successful, the Player then uses the Attack Dialog selecting the Directed Spell Attack and rolling normally for the attack.

Logic to Movement Maneuver Complete

The Movement Maneuver Window for Orc has been completed. The last thing to do is link to the attack dialog in a way where the user could go back to this window to get movement information or save that information to the Player Object to use in conjunction with either the 5 Step Melee Process with Rolemaster or Ceats.

The Movement Maneuver dialog takes the Movement Maneuver table and allows you to cross reference the difficulty and a 1D100 roll to get a result. If you add a speed value you will get the distance traveled by your character based on their BMR. You will get four values, one for each action phase (snap, normal, and deliberate) and the total. The value for each action phase is the distance the player is to move for that action phase. For example, let's a say a player decides to perform a press and melee. They need to roll a Movement Maneuver first. Using the example above we see the player rolled pretty high and therefore can move 2 hexes (he's a hobbit by the way). If there is a description with the value, that description is displayed. Currently any hit point information is not automatically saved.

Here is a summary of what is left to do with Orc before full debug testing will being.

1) Link the movement generated here to a variable in the Player Object to reference later on.
2) Have Movement Maneuver update hit points or anything else from the description
3) Start the Spell Dialog Window and implement the ability to cast spells and get the results of the cast.
4) Link the Spell Dialog as well to the Player Object to reference later
5) Implement the 5 phase Action sequence for RMSS. This will be a Dialog window at the beginning with a Selection List for each phase. The player needs to pick a phase and an action. They need not fill in for each phase. From here the program will parse through the list and display what needs to be done by what player. Program will take away the percentage from that action to calculate movement and attacks.
6) The ability to update any information on the character screen by clicking the node and having a text box come up.
7) Implement a pane to show casted spells if any.
8) Additional time for other enhancements such as implementing Ceats and a Skill Window.

I'm hoping to get up to number 6 by the end of this month where I plan to move into closing out enhancements and moving into debugging for a few weeks. Middle of March I plan to have a beta ready to test.

April is when I plan to start development on the Character Designer for RMSS. I'm hoping to have something available from that by August of this year.

New Development: Movement Maneuver

Time to start adding a few final touches to Orc which includes the Movement Maneuver Dialog, followed by a Spell Dialog and maybe a Skill Dialog but that will remain to be seen. The Spell Dialog will certainly happen.

The Movement Maneuver Dialog is a necessary component in that a player might opt to either move for the whole round, or perform a press and melee during combat. As you can see on this dialog the user enters the Difficulty (Medium, Hard, Very Hard, etc) and Speed (Walk, run, Sprint, etc) and the number of feet or meters (for you metric users out there) per hex. Entering the player's roll, plus any mods and clicking enter will give you a result from the Movement Maneuver table. You will either get a number or some text that might be a fail or a spectacular success. I will let the user deal with that number in their own way. However I will display a spread of values to help the user with some number crunching. As you see there is a Snap, Normal, Deliberate and Total Label below the Result area. Under these labels will be a value depending on which button is toggled at the time: Feet/Meters or Hex. In order for these numbers to get calculated I have to add a new value into the Add Player dialog box to hold the BMR. Snap will represent the first 20% of the maneuver and can be used for Press and Melee or just a snap action run. Normal is the next 60% and is done while everyone else performs their action as well. Deliberate is the last 20%. The total is self explanatory.

It's much simpler than the Attack dialog that's for sure.

Opensource Rolemaster Combat

Orc
A Rolemaster Combat Management System

This is the initial release of Orc 1.0 which is right now in an Alpha state. This release is not stable and is just a Demo release to show everyone what I am developing and to give you a basic idea of what this application does and could do in the future. You can download the binaries here. Because the main idea is simply to introduce the application I'm not currently taking any bugs from the application as of yet, but I will be opening the bug tracker for beta testers when we have a beta version. There are definitely bugs and the application itself could crash during use. The risk is minimal to any user's computer if the program does crash but let it be known that in rare cases, an application crash could cause instability issues on your machine. Most of the time a simple reboot fixes the problem.

Overview

"Orc" is a new Open Source project programmed in C++/WxWidgets that can create and manage player characters and non player characters through a melee combat using the Rolemaster RPG system. Orc will maintain a player's hits, power points, stuns, bleeding, etc, look up damage from an attack, calculate defensive bonuses based on an attack, track targets and most of all initiatives keeping the GM from having to keep track of these timely tasks himself. Orc mainly uses rules from the RMSS, however tables are generated using the new RMFRP templates.

Works on most operating systems:

Because Orc is programmed with wxWidgets and C++ it will work under most modern operating systems including Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, OSX and Linux, targeting more specifically the Ubuntu line, however it should also work under other Linux distributions. All databases are developed using XML markup language so any user can easily update these databases using any text based editor or even an XML editor if you choose.

Installation:

Right now there is no installation file to use. Simply unzip the file to wherever you choose and run the application from this folder. The xml database is included as well as a manifest file which really only gives the application a facelift on the GUI. The application itself was compiled on Windows 7, so I don't think the binaries are going to work under OSX or Linux. However if there is a developer out there who is interested in getting binaries for OSX and Linux let me know and I can get you access to the Source Code.

Free:

Because Orc is open source, it's freeware. You get the whole application. No ads, no limitations, no annoying text warnings. You get the full application, databases and all.

Expandable:

Because all databases are written in XML markup language you can also expand or even create new databases. Just follow the included DTDs for each xml file.

Shout out to developers:

If you are interested in helping develop Orc further please goto the Rolemaster OpenSource Group and sign up.