Forum > Rolemaster Software
ERA for Rolemaster - Creating characters and managing adventures
Voriig Kye:
ERA is an application I've been developing for the last 9 years to use with my roleplaying group. It started as a way of having an electronic version of a character, to be leveled up and then printed whenever the player needed. Then over the years I started adding some features, mainly to speed up the GM's task of looking up tables in the pile of books. The unexpected surprise was that, apart from helping the GM and the players, it also helped in introducing new players, since the system would take care of all the rules and formulas involved. Last year, I decided to add the possibility for players to access the application with a smartphone / tablet, to check their character status, skills and spell descriptions, allowing even more paperwork to be done automatically. Every new feature lets the group focus more on having fun and less on flipping pages and making calculations.
So then, why not share it? Half or more of the system rests on the tables obtained from the books, and that's ICE property. Just like Merkir's Minion has tables for combat, ERA has tables for skills, spells, races, professions, and a lot more. But, after talking it over with the powers that be, we agreed to create some tutorial videos so that you can see how it works, and let us know what you think about it.
Character creation (9 min): http://youtu.be/tr1FpH7sN2A
Character sheet (6 min): http://youtu.be/_M5bfyGyqXs
Adventure (10 min) http://youtu.be/vW0wGjz5kfA
To sum up, you can:
- Create characters step by step, then level them up and keep them updated
- Manage adventures: handle combat, all skill resolution, spell casting, resistances, resting, and more, all using the characters in the system, or add custom NPCs on the fly.
- Watch each character status (hits, pp's, stun, bleed, penalties) and check skills and spells (including full descriptions) from a smartphone, tablet or laptop.
All the samples are for RMFRP with additional house rules my group uses. I also have the first steps for an RMU version, which I could show if there is interest.
Ok, now you know how ERA looks like. Do you think you would use it? It is quite a complex application, so just ask and I will help you better understand what it can do and what are the current limitations. Would you be interested in trying it out?
you can now download a free version of ERA, get it here:
http://goo.gl/NTMqH9
For more information, see:
http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=14144.msg182909#msg182909
jdale:
It seems like you have a pretty customized version of RM, with a lot of RMC/RM2 stuff mixed into RMSS. Can those house rules be turned on and off by the GM?
To what degree can the data be customized? Races, cultures, professions, languages, skills, spell lists, etc... Can you change the tables as well? (I am planning a pretty customized game myself, most importantly with different realms of magic.)
Is there a way to print out a character sheet? If so, what does it look like? The online lookup is nice but not all our players want a computer/tablet/phone in front of them (and it creates distractions in many cases).
I like the idea of integrating the combat tracking etc with character maintenance, that saves some steps. On the other hand, the combat side of things doesn't seem as fluid as Minion. The main display doesn't show any status/condition information, and setting actions for each character requires going into a separate view, which also means you don't get an overview of what you've already done. Personally, I want to be able to see an overview of how things are going in the main screen. Are the players winning? Losing? Doomed? That matters for what happens next.
It also doesn't seem to remember anything from round to round. And even though you say in the declarations what actions are being taken, you still have to select those actions again when they come around. That seems like there is room to streamline quite a bit.
arakish:
I am with jdale on the customizability of the software. My biggest problem is most RPG software is not very customizable. The same goes for spreadsheets. At best, it seems the only customization available is the ability to add other species. Most often, specifically the way magic/power works on my worlds, is quite different than the standard RM. Especially for my new world of Onaviu. Additionally, I have characters using a No-Profession with Skill Specialization, Skill Classification, and Skill Bonuses to alter the initial No-Prof closer to one of the archetype professions in RM.
However, what you have created looks very nice. If my world were like your world, I would probably use the software you have created.
Keep up the good work.
rmfr
Voriig Kye:
You can easily customize:
-Skills
-Professions
-Races
-Cultures
-Attack Tables
-Criticals
-Talents and Flaws
-Spells
Then, with a little more work, a "power user" could tweak armor parts, maneuver tables, spell failures.
Changes to the realms are possible, but not completely supported. You could add a realm, create a profession for it, but allowing configuration such as casting and encumbrance penalties would require a bit of work on my part first.
A character sheet can be printed at anytime from the character module. In the video you should see a "file for print" button in the upper right corner.
I've uploaded the resulting file so that you can check it:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4VSGeZf5uqxQXJWdjBFSWd1LVk
(you should download it and then open it, the online view just shows the inner contents of the file)
During a combat you see the avatars of all combatants (heroes on the left, enemies on the right) with a red circle showing remaining hit points and a blue one with remaining power points. Downed characters show crossed bones over their avatar and dead ones add a skull on top of that. By hovering on an avatar you get a summary of stun and bleeding status. In the future I might add more visual clues for bleeding and stun, similar to what the characters see in their smartphones.
The need to select the actions performed by the characters in a round, despite having declared them during initiative is a work in progress. For now, clicking on the action portrait is just a way of helping the GM keep track of how the round progresses. There is a tooltip when hovering over an action that reminds the GM of the action declared, percentage used, etc.
As regards the logic of the rules, they are defined in a configuration file. You can switch between available predefined sets, which for now means RMU and RMFRP with house rules. I intend to add to that at least the official RMFRP rule set or RM2, starting with the one which generates more interest. Eventually, if enough people are interested, I could expose in the configuration files the different components of a rule set, so that you could mix them however you like.
Voriig Kye:
The tutorial videos show only a part of what the system can do, since there are also whole modules not shown.
I'd thought it might be good to add here a list of all the current features, so you can get a complete picture of what it does.
ERA Requires a javascript+html5 enabled browser (any modern one will do). Internet connection is NOT required.
Character creation
- Create a character from scratch, selecting from all RMFRP professions including companions, any Shadow World race. Everyman/restricted skills included.
- Pick any talent/flaw from any RMFRP book, all descriptions/costs included (the effects on the character are not automatic so far though).
- Roll stats, assign temporaries and potentials.
- Create combat styles using all RMC Combat companion rules if desired.
- Choose culture, assign hobby ranks with all related rules included.
- Assign language ranks, based on race and culture.
- Recommended screen size: 14’’ or bigger.
Character sheet
- Manage all skills, stats, resistances, and lots of additional information.
- Level up.
- Enter stat gain rolls.
- Spend DP's, with filters for favorite skills, skills affordable with remaining DP's, etc.
- Register purchased TP's (effects not automatic).
- Assign armor parts to build customized armor.
- Create HTML to obtain a printable standard character sheet to take to the gaming table.
- Recommended screen size: 10’’ or bigger.
Adventure module
- All done from a browser, customized to be usable even from a 10'' display.
- Add adventurers and enemies (using the previously created characters).
- Roll for moving maneuvers, resistance rolls, automatic spell casting, with all the table lookup done by the system, also PP's used are automatically subtracted.
- Register individual and party rest/sleep, automatically recovers HP's and PP's.
Combat module
- Also browser based, can be accessed at the same time as the adventuring module.
- Cast complex spells (rules for spell preparation, armor encumbrance, overcasting, etc., are all considered).
- Attack targets, deliver criticals, all handled by the system (current version uses RMC Combat Companion attack tables and criticals).
- Defenses can be customized per character, with parry percentage and stun status also automatically considered.
- Resulting damage, bleeding and penalties can be registered and considered on subsequent maneuvers.
- Bleeding is automatically considered as rounds pass.
- Cast force spells and let all the complexities of the Basic Spell Attack be managed by the system, the resistance result considers the target's modifications.
Inventory Module
- GM can specify items carried by each party member, NPC, horse, etc.
- Common items can be loaded before starting, with the official RMFRP weights and descriptions.
- Organic/Inorganic composition can be specified, to help compute characters spell casting penalties.
- Recommended screen size: 10’’ or bigger.
Mobile character sheet module
- Any smartphone/tablet/etc. logged to the same Wi-Fi network as the GM can access his/her own character status.
- Optimized for displays of 3.7’’ or more.
- Allows a detailed status of any character in the hero party (left column) of the adventuring module.
- Check rounds of spell preparation, bleeding, remaining HP and PP percentage.
- Access and search all skill ranks and bonuses developed.
- Access the description of all known spells.
- Access personal inventory, with description and total encumbrance and spell casting penalties.
Of course, most of these features are not mandatory to use. You can ignore character creation steps, edit skill names and bonus, play directly in the adventuring module defining only hits, DB and OB, ignore all spell casting features and just keep track of power points manually, etc.
I'd really like to hear from you what features not listed here would be required in each of your gaming groups to make ERA a useful tool. It could be a house rule, some formula from a companion, information regarding a concept not currently considered, etc.
And of course, as soon as the RMU beta 2 comes out, I intend to prepare a rule set to match it, so as to help with playtesting.
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