Tuesday, September 6, 2011

More Tables (Oh My)

Work continues apace with the DMG Tables project. I bullied my way through spying (page 18-19) and the Lycanthrope as PC Random Changes by Moon Phase (page 23) and I am now stopping to take a pause, and try to get everything up for other people to poke at.

The next item on the list is the Gems, Jewels and Other Objects Value table. This one could be tricky. A lot of going up and down in value is possible, also requires a lot of input on the user end. but I'll be tackling that some other night. Right now, I'm just happy with what I've accomplished to this point.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Back To Work... Sort Of?

Recently I've had a lot more time off than I really know what to do with. I'm not unemployed (last time I checked, anyway) but in between bouts of insanity, I am bored.

Seeing as I recently got into a Play-by-Post of good old AD&D over on RPG.net, I took out my copy of the 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide, and settled down to reminisce about a lot of wasted evenings and weekend from a long time ago. What I got instead was my latest project.

I like random tables. No, not like that. I like random tables the way that other people like salty food. I don't understand why, I never have. I used to spend hours when I was younger making them. The first major campaign I ever finished running was completely generated by random tables I'd spent a whole summer writing up for a six day orgy of die-rolling that determined everything from how many Gods there were and what areas they influenced to the name of the tavern in the town the PCs would be starting in and whether or not there would be a bar fight in progress when they walked through the doors (not that they knew about any of it). And all of this was inspired by the sheer number and diversity of charts in the 1st Ed DMG.

Random Harlot Table on Page 192!
So, abusing my limited knowledge of Java and JavaScript (which aren't the same thing at all, as you likely well know), and (eventually) drawing on the girl's 'extensive' knowledge of HTML, CSS and her designer's eye, I've launched the DMG Table Project.

Starting from the first page and going all the way through to the end of the book, I will recreate every table in it's magnificent random Gygaxian glory, faithfully crafting them to perfect completion. I can't promise one per day or getting them all done inside a year, as I think there are just shy of OVER 9000 tables in the book, but it will be done.

In fact, as of this writing, I've been working on things for about a week, and I'm already up to page 15, having finished the followers table earlier today, after finally conquering the Assassin Multi-Class Stupid.

Some days I'm really surprised that I can tie my own shoes.

Links to completed work will be posted as soon as I figure out how to get them someplace where people can look at them. Commentary to continue as I come across interesting bits.