Tweak and Tune: Labyrinth Lord Generators

As with all random generation systems, there are details which result that you just are not happy with. Tonight a few defective elements were tackled. #1 on the list was the Monster Stocker. Inline treasure generation was changed to be optional rather than assumed. Treasure should be a function of the situation not just implied by the default Hoard Class.

Next on the list was the over zealous approach to magical equipment for Non-Player Characters. The NPC code is utilized not only by the Monster Stocker but also by the NPC Generator. The original code used a fixed constant as a multiplier based on character level. The result was a lot of magic in far too many results. The replacement is an exponential function to significantly increase the odds high level NPCs have magic while eliminating many spurious results for lower levels. Additionally, the average magical bonus for equipment was changed to be more inline with charts.

Overall, the changes create far more useful results. The DM can always tweak up as desired but constant need for reduction was annoying. Erring on the low side is far more useful than being prolific.

Labyrinth Lord Spell Book Generator Tweak

I changed the Spell Book generator to follow the more traditional model of 2 known spells per level. Additional spells, if any, are randomly added to the levels allowed as defined by the class spell progression chart.

For example, the magic user progression is defined as 2 1st level spells and a single 2nd level spell. The generator will result in either 3 first and 1 second or 2 first and 2 second level spells. More useful but not quite what I would find useful overall. I want to restructure the entire generator into something far more flexible. Doing so will need to wait for another day.

You may also like Skull Crushing for Great Justice’s version better, which uses the AD&D spells and optionally Unearthed Arcana. Options and versatility are good.

Tweak and Tune: Simplo Changes

Site5‘s Simplo theme is quite nice. The theme is simple, legible, and well designed with a good menu interface. It covered most of what I wanted but not everything. I had to change a couple of minor things to fit my needs.

Categories

I like the design of the background color for categories. I didn’t like them being placed prior to the post title. So I tweaked a couple of files, index.php and single.php to drop them down below the content of the post. Both files are located in the themes directory of the blog. Normally the directory structure is something like wp-content/themes/simplo from within the installation directory of Word Press.

Once located, I had to tweak both the index.php and single.php files. The former lays out the list of posts for the index and the latter displays only a single post. Both have similar frameworks so its easy to derive the changes within the index to fit the the single post.

I shifted the category code from the top of the display to down below the content. Look for the category code within the file as:

<div class=”categs”><?php the_category(‘ ‘) ?></div>

I then moved it down to the bottom of the post below the content. Cut the noted line from the top and place it below the content display code, which is similar to this:

<?php the_content(__(‘Continue reading &raquo;’)); ?>

Titles

Making the above changes puts the author and time stamp information as the lead.  I didn’t want that either so I moved the post title to the top of the layout.   The simplo theme lingo is similar to:

<h1><a href=”<?php the_permalink() ?>”><?php the_title(); ?></a></h1>

Just move that line above the meta layout as indicated by the meta div.

<div class=”meta”>

Tags

Finally, I wanted post tags enabled. Simplo doesn’t handle tags. It relies on the category selection, which is more prevalent. I like tags to add sub-categories I don’t have listed.  Just below the categories, I added the following:

<?php the_tags(‘Tags: ‘, ‘, ‘, ”); ?>

I haven’t added a style to the tags yet but wrapping them in a div of your own design is easily done.

Extraneous Category Commas

For some reason, the separator for the categories was listed as a comma and it ended up listing multiple commas at the end of the category list. I haven’t actually looked at the code deeply enough to determine why it was happening. Instead, I changed the calls from  the_category(‘, ‘) to simply spaces like this:  the_category(‘ ‘).

Final Results

The resulting sections I generated were as follows:

index.php

<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div>

<h1><a href=”<?php the_permalink() ?>”><?php the_title(); ?></a></h1>
<div>
<div><?php the_time(‘M j, Y’) ?></div>
<div><?php the_author_link(); ?></div>
<div><?php comments_popup_link(‘No Comments’, ‘1 Comment ‘, ‘% Comments’); ?></div>
</div>

<?php the_content(__(‘Continue reading &raquo;’)); ?>
<div><?php the_category(‘ ‘) ?></div>
<?php the_tags(‘Tags: ‘, ‘, ‘, ”); ?>
</div>

single.php

<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div>

<h1><a href=”<?php the_permalink() ?>”><?php the_title(); ?></a></h1>
<div>
<div><?php the_time(‘M j, Y’) ?></div>
<div><?php the_author_link(); ?></div>
<div><?php comments_popup_link(‘No Comments’, ‘1 Comment ‘, ‘% Comments’); ?></div>
</div>

<?php the_content(__(‘Continue reading &raquo;’)); ?>
<div><?php the_category(‘ ‘) ?></div>
<?php the_tags(‘Tags: ‘, ‘, ‘, ”); ?>
</div>
<?php comments_template(); ?>

Reality

I don’t have the slightest amount of visual design skills. I just am never happy with the defaults of any layout. I always want to tweak and tune it slightly. Going beyond simple changes is not something I’ll undertake. I leave that to the people with skills.