(Labyrinth Lord) Resource List Update

Updated the LL Resources Page to include:

The Character Sheet from netherwerks.

And my minor NPC Generator.

(Labyrinth Lord) NPC Generator Standalone

I added a separate page for NPC Generation base entirely off the early efforts within the Monster Stocker. Doing so will allow me to tweak on the NPC generation system without having to worry about a random selection of the NPC Party types showing up as a random result.

Currently, the code has no support for the AEC. I plan to add it to both systems downstream. I have a few ideas for expansion. Mostly I just wanted to split it out to make my test and development cycle easier. Doing so adds a minor utility which may aid others.

(Labrinth Lord) Monster Stocker Updates

Minimal tweaking today due to lack of time.

1. Shifted Elves and Magic Users to actually generate full spell books rather than just the minimal memorized spells.
2. Add a (Count) output per spell book level to indicate number of memorized spells per level for Elves & Mages
3. Changed weapon generation to be a unique array so secondary weapons of the same type don’t get listed.
4. Fixed a typo in the Level 2 tables, which caused orcs to appear more often than desired.

Beyond that I was searching around for a flexible mechanism for just allowing printing of the results section I could apply to multiple generators. I believe it would be far nicer to just be able to print or PDF those particular sections. Sort of like the print/pdf button featured on many blogs. I should really look at the code for that plugin. I suspect it will have limited CSS handling which is a major stumbling block. Having to redo layout for PDF vs. HTML is a pain.

All the updates are live.

(Labyrinth Lord) Tweaks on NPCs in the Monster Stocker

NPC generation is tricky business.

Magic

Some campaigns are bereft of magic while others have it in abundance. As a starting place, I added the possibility of magic armor, shields, and weapons to be added to the NPC routines in the Monster Stocker. Rather than leaving the poor gals (and occasional guy) without some magical gear, I settled on functional chance based on level:

The chance of a magical weapon or set of armor is equal to 5% plus the level of the NPC * 5. For example, a 4th level NPC has a 25% chance of having magical gear. The percentage covers her primary weapon, armor and shield. Secondary weapons suffer a -20% penalty to being magical with a minimum set at 5%.

After looking at a few thousand results, the level of magic appears lower than what I expected. My campaigns trend toward magic being uncommon — not rare. I may be over analysing the results.

Personality Traits

In addition to the magical gear, I also added a personality trait line based partially from the Masks supplement and other sources. Keyword traits can never define the complexity of an individual. Treat them as nothing more than a starting place and adjust as you see fit. Occasionally you will see terms that appear to conflict. You can either to choose to deconflict them or imagine a deeper personality based off those rough traits.

Future Stuff

I still need to work in some level of treasure for the NPCs. Not lair level hoards. Something approaching a general level of magical gear and treasure people of level X may be carrying. I intend to lean toward sparse magic. Adding to scarcity is far easier than scratching off abundant items. Especially for filler results.

The PDF output is nearly done. Test site has it but the layout is still giving me some fits.

(Labyrinth Lord) Minor Utility Updates

I updated the Resource List with several new resources. After doing so, I realized I should keep track of the updates to pimp the new resources. I’ll do better the next time around.

I added a couple of levels to the Labyrinth Lord Monster Stocker. The new levels are NOT based on the cool Oubliette tables noted previously based on the Monster Mark system. Instead, I used gut feeling and the stock LL wandering monster tables as a starting point. NPC’s now have weapon selection but still lack treasure entirely. Finding a balanced approach to NPC treasure has proved more difficult than I thought it would be.

Oubliette’s Monster Mark Tables + Treasure = Monster Stocker for Labyrinth Lord

Been a while since I tinkered with generator goodness. Inspired by the Monster Mark tables from Oubliette #6, I started down the path toward what could be considered the monster side of the old Monster & Treasure Assortment books. Djeryv’s excellent version is a more accurate account of the original title .

My version, the Monster Stocker, folds in my treasure routines as well as the minimal monster stat block code I did earlier. The NPC parties need some layout and detail help. I’m still trying to decide what information is necessary in a minimalist manner. I’ll probably add an option to select how many outputs you want and a PDF output option. For now, you get 100 results and are stuck with the AJAX html lists.

If you haven’t snagged a copy of the latest Oubliette, now would be a good time. For about $10.00, you can get the current issue (free through August) and all the back issues. Money well spent.

If you have suggestions, comments, corrections, etc., let me know.

Meandering Monsters: Pondering another Book on Demand for Labyrinth Lord

When I originally coded the Labyrinth Lord Monster Generator, I wanted a simple and easy to use utility for generating quick wandering monster stat blocks. In the back of my mind, I keep thinking of expanding it into a book-on-demand supplement similar to the Treasure Book. The heavy lifting is already complete. The monster generator already pulls in the treasure routines. Not to mention, I have a working example for converting data into PDF on the fly.

The lingering issues are matching wandering monster tables and crafting NPC parties, which I touched upon earlier. The issues are achievable. I am not convinced it would be generally useful to others, let alone certain I would personally use it.

The largest obstacle is the latency required to convert the output of the utility into PDF. After spending hours trying to make the treasure book more efficient, I’ve determined it is simply computationally expensive. Like everyone, I hate waiting. Anything chugging away for minutes at a time is going to get skipped, more often than not.

Layout is a challenge within code. It is far easier to use a modern editor than to encode the layout details. Frustration mounted just trying to insert a simple cover page for the treasure book. A book of random critters would be no different. Perhaps I should just hand craft a few books.

I’m leaning toward passing on automation.