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View Full Version : Treasure And/Or Magic Item Generator Ideas/Wishlist (for D&D 3.5)



TheOverlord
2010-03-18, 09:42 AM
Magic Item Generator Development has begun! It will be another addition to the Monster Advancer (http://www.monsteradvancer.com) Toolset and I figured I would go straight to the people before I got too far.

What features would make an online magic-item generator exceptional?
What generators do people use right now that I should make sure to look at?

I am already under way and have a lot of new ideas, but I wanted to get feedback and hear the people's voice before I muddied the waters with my own ideas.

Thurbane
2010-03-18, 08:50 PM
Hey, nice to see you working on a new project, man! :smallsmile:

Hmm, ideas - well, obviously it will include automation of the custom item rules in the SRD. Formatting items so they can be printed out as easily transportable cards or sheets would be cool.

Ability to enter custom spells, perhaps? Say a DM wants to give a character a custom item of Big Bad Bob's Bucket of Brandy, so he can enter spell level, components and a brief description.

...just off the top of my head, anyway.

TheOverlord
2010-03-19, 07:34 PM
Hey, nice to see you working on a new project, man! :smallsmile:

Hmm, ideas - well, obviously it will include automation of the custom item rules in the SRD. Formatting items so they can be printed out as easily transportable cards or sheets would be cool.

Ability to enter custom spells, perhaps? Say a DM wants to give a character a custom item of Big Bad Bob's Bucket of Brandy, so he can enter spell level, components and a brief description.

...just off the top of my head, anyway.

Thanks for the support and the ideas Thurbane....I realize after reading your responses that my title gave the wrong impression of what I was originally going for more of a treasure generator...but a magic item generator both for creation of cards and/or custom items could be really nice as well...in that vein I think we could talk about both.

To clarify what I have started on...
Currently what I am working on is more of a treasure generator. What I have it doing so far will allow you generate any types of items in any amounts while putting constraints on what the maximum and minimum worth of a given item is. For instance. I could say I want 3000gp worth of potions that are all within the value range of 300gp to 1000gp as well as 20000gp worth of wondrous items with a value range of 1000gp to 5000gp. With that said here is what is generated given that criteria:

Wondrous Items:
Ioun Stone, Clear - 4000gp
Stone Salve (1oz) - 4000gp
Handy Haversack - 2000gp
Gauntlets of Ogre Power - 4000gp
Eyes of the Eagle - 2500gp
Elemental Gem - 2250gp
Bracers of Armor +1 - 1000gp

Potions:
Levitate - 300gp
Darkness - 300gp
Water Breathing - 750gp
Spider Climb - 300gp
Keen Edge - 750gp
Blur - 300gp
Misdirection - 300gp

When you start to think about this it becomes clear I can get something I have always wanted which is tailored hordes...what about the horde from the dragon who always coveted magical weapons...easy, what about the ransacked alchemy lab of Branstad the Black Mage (all potions and arcane scrolls)...anyway that was the thinking that got me started...

(Being able to do this means that it can generate random treasure with preset values based on appropriate CR pretty easily as well.)

Swordgleam
2010-03-19, 09:44 PM
Hey, sounds like we're working on similar projects. Mine's 4e and all abstract stuff (blue fizzy potion as opposed to potion of strength, etc) without any magic items, so we're hardly stepping on each other's toes.

What language do you code in?

ericgrau
2010-03-19, 10:07 PM
The magic item shop generator in my sig is also a treasure generator; it uses the standard treasure tables. If you set # encounters to 1, you get an encounter's worth of treasure rather than a shop's worth.

But what you really might like is that you can edit the tables willy nilly and it will still function perfectly. You can even add new tables. To make the main tables reference your new table you simply put the new table's title into column 1 of one of the main tables. You'll see what I mean when you look at the existing tables.

TheOverlord
2010-03-20, 10:23 AM
Hey, sounds like we're working on similar projects. Mine's 4e and all abstract stuff (blue fizzy potion as opposed to potion of strength, etc) without any magic items, so we're hardly stepping on each other's toes.

What language do you code in?

I am Java guy myself. Obviously for web apps I do a lot of work with javascript for the front end as well..and in that vein I tend to lean on Prototype and Yahoo User Interface libraries (and occasionally jQuery). Other than that since I have to design as well my kung-fu is strong in css.

Abstract Stuff is always good...Idea generation is always better with more people. So you deal with color, texture and description--that has a lot of promise from my perspective. I think a generic description generation portion for most items would be awesome...(unless you are of the mind that all potions of strength should always look the same--which I am not.) This would work well for magic swords and armor too. I remember reading about someone's low magic setting where any sword with a +2 or greater had to have a name and a back-story. If we could generate weapon, potion and armor descriptions and an occasional back-story for a higher-powered item that is starting to seem pretty appealing to me.

Do you(or anyone else paying attention) think that this is a feature that people would want?

Goldfly
2010-03-20, 10:35 AM
Abstract Stuff is always good...Idea generation is always better with more people. So you deal with color, texture and description--that has a lot of promise from my perspective. I think a generic description generation portion for most items would be awesome...(unless you are of the mind that all potions of strength should always look the same--which I am not.) This would work well for magic swords and armor too. I remember reading about someone's low magic setting where any sword with a +2 or greater had to have a name and a back-story. If we could generate weapon, potion and armor descriptions and an occasional back-story for a higher-powered item that is starting to seem pretty appealing to me.

Do you(or anyone else paying attention) think that this is a feature that people would want?


Sound like an interesting and useful idea to me. I'm sure many a DM would love it.

Swordgleam
2010-03-20, 12:48 PM
Do you(or anyone else paying attention) think that this is a feature that people would want?

People seem to like it. You can check out the first link in my sig for examples of what I do - already have a potion and weapon/artifact generator on there, though I personally don't think the weapon gen is some of my best work.

I've been writing in vb.NET, since it makes UIs a lot easier than Java does. That's just for standalone stuff, though; my online stuff is all PHP or JavaScript.

Right now my treasure parcel generator comes up with only mundane items, since in 4e, a single magic item is an entire treasure parcel in itself. But I have it take input from my art object gen and my jewelry gen, so it's very diverse.

I can't tell if I want to add potions to this one or not. The only reason not to is I'm putting together themed packs of generators, and I might want to save the potions for some kind of 'alchemy pack.' And the treasure pack already has six generators and I haven't added the magic artifact one yet. Decisions, decisions.

TheOverlord
2010-03-21, 01:15 PM
Well, from the sound of it, flavor goes over well with DM's. I will put some extra time into getting some cool flavor by way of descriptions and back-stories.

New Question:
How frequently would people use a feature where you could automatically get a creature's treasure generated along with it when you generated a creature with the normal advancer (or the random encounter generator)?

Swordgleam
2010-03-21, 02:21 PM
Why not just throw it in? If you set up everything a certain way, it's not much work. One of my generator packs has a 'complete kingdom builder' page that basically just calls each other generator once. That's pretty much what monster + treasure would be doing, right?

TheOverlord
2010-03-21, 03:36 PM
Why not just throw it in? If you set up everything a certain way, it's not much work. One of my generator packs has a 'complete kingdom builder' page that basically just calls each other generator once. That's pretty much what monster + treasure would be doing, right?

That was exactly my feeling...I figured if people had a resounding opposition to it I may have left it off just to keep from cluttering things up...but as it stands there are always ways to keep things from being obtrusive.

Swordgleam
2010-03-21, 03:41 PM
I use tabs on mine. Here's a screenshot of it, just to give you an idea of how I do layouts: http://chaoticshinyproductions.com/imgs/kdbuilder_kd.png That's the one that just calls all the other generators.

TheOverlord
2010-03-24, 09:09 AM
I use tabs on mine. Here's a screenshot of it, just to give you an idea of how I do layouts: http://chaoticshinyproductions.com/imgs/kdbuilder_kd.png That's the one that just calls all the other generators.

I like your approach. I have tried to stay away from tabs thus far but the newer interface I am doing has a bit of tab-influenced flavor to it. I will post a screenshot when I have the chance if you wanted a sneak peak at the prototype for my new interface design.

Melayl
2010-03-24, 10:28 AM
These look really fun. Random treasure/item generators are always useful. I will be following the results of this.

Have any of you found/been interested in creating a custom RPG calender program? Something really customizable: number of days in the year, months/year, days/month, phases of the moon, important holidays, etc?

the humanity
2010-03-24, 11:24 AM
Heartseeking Amulet
Helm of Glorious Recovery
Cloak of Stone

always useful.

Thefurmonger
2010-03-24, 11:29 AM
Something that would be REALLY handy would be a book refrence witht he items.

for example

13x Dragonsbreath Arrows (RotW)

Swordgleam
2010-03-24, 05:29 PM
I like your approach. I have tried to stay away from tabs thus far but the newer interface I am doing has a bit of tab-influenced flavor to it. I will post a screenshot when I have the chance if you wanted a sneak peak at the prototype for my new interface design.

I'm glad you like it! It's good to get an opinion from someone else with a little design experience. Want to beta test each other's programs? I don't know a whole lot about 3.5 crunchy stuff, but I do know usability. And I can always use a different perspective on my stuff.

I'd create a thread asking for beta testers on my own, but since my products eventually cost money, I think it might be too close to an advertising thread. (I was hesitant to even link that screenshot.)



These look really fun. Random treasure/item generators are always useful. I will be following the results of this.

Have any of you found/been interested in creating a custom RPG calender program? Something really customizable: number of days in the year, months/year, days/month, phases of the moon, important holidays, etc?

Someone on this very forum made one a little while ago. I don't remember the thread, but the calendar is here: http://www.eightcharacters.com.au/calendar/

Melayl
2010-03-24, 07:59 PM
Someone on this very forum made one a little while ago. I don't remember the thread, but the calendar is here: http://www.eightcharacters.com.au/calendar/

This is almost exactly what I was looking for! Thank You!

TheOverlord
2010-03-26, 04:23 PM
Want to beta test each other's programs? I don't know a whole lot about 3.5 crunchy stuff, but I do know usability. And I can always use a different perspective on my stuff.

That could be interesting. Shoot me an email some time and we can talk about what would or would not be helpful.


Something that would be REALLY handy would be a book refrence witht he items.

for example

13x Dragonsbreath Arrows (RotW)

I can certainly make good on this request. I have never appreciated getting treasure that I cannot find a reference for.

Je dit Viola
2010-03-26, 04:51 PM
Someone on this very forum made one a little while ago. I don't remember the thread, but the calendar is here: http://www.eightcharacters.com.au/calendar/

Wow, that's pretty good. I might use it for inspiration for a book!

It's extremely customizable, as well, which makes it even better. If only it put in holidays, as well...