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TavernMaker is a
customizeable tool for role playing games. The aim of the program
is to create gaming aids for the game master, mainly randomly created
taverns. The idea is, that a game master who is in need of "any
tavern along the storyline" can quickly and effordlessly create
one in matter of seconds. However, the problem with good roleplaying
stuff is, that you want creative tavern descriptions, genuine ideas
and maybe even starting points for good side plots. Neither of them
can be achieved by pure random descriptions mixing some numbers and
attributes creating endless lists of more or less the same boring
patronage...
TavernMaker tries to go a different way. It does not really "create"
any descriptions
but rather relies on the big creativity of the role playing comunity
"out there". By the concept of TeamWare it tries to collect
a huge database of genuine, creative and interesting descriptions
from which it then randomly selects to create its output. To ensure,
that the output "makes sense", e.g. that you do not get
any dwarves in a pure human city tavern, each dataset has some "flags"
which are used by TavernMaker to sort out invalid descriptions based
on the user setting.
But TavernMaker
is more. Together with the map and patronage, the program also generates
a pick-pocket information. This second document holds all game-master
information, e.g. what could be stolen from the certain customers
etc. Later version of the program will additionally create a menu.
That is still
not all: A main question we had when starting the program was: For
which of the hundrets of role-playing systems should we create our
program? Is it for an AD&D high fantasy game? Is it for the StarWars
setting? Which language should we use? Our answer was: all. And so
we put a huge efford into making all things of the project customizeable.
Everybody can define a so called RPS-file (RolePlayingSystem file)
which defines the global parameters for the program (races, tavern
types, currency system, some variables etc.) and from here on the
program can be completely changed into "something new".
All it needs is to create new databases, new graphic templates and
off we go... Okay, it is a lot of work, but I think there are a lot
of people out there too...
The main
frame of the program will always stay the same, but to understand
them I refer you to How TavernMaker works.
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