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.