Blog for (rol): Web Based GURPS Character Creation

Progress pages

2008-10-08T17:41:00.003-04:00

I was getting impatient with how long some pages were still loading, even after turning cache on. Then I ran across this post on Stack Overflow that got me thinking: I should add a "loading progress" page for long processes.

So I did.

And I stole a lot of their messages.

So sue me.

But not really.

The world runs on Cache

2008-09-19T13:50:00.002-04:00

I've been playing around with my framework's caching mechanism lately. Although not perfect, I have implemented a caching scheme for (rol) on the pages that seemed to need it the most. Notably, the overall character page and the "Add New ..." sections for advantages, skills, etc. I took an overly conservative outlook on this, so there may be times when you are expecting the page to load quickly and it doesn't. However, at the very least it should reflect any changes that are made (either by you or someone else in the system, such as someone adding a new spell).

If the site starts getting pounded, I may revisit this and attempt to implement something that is slightly smarter.

For right now, I've only turned this on at the demo site, but it will soon be propagated to the main site if I don't hear any negative feedback in the next few days.

Expect to enjoy some quicker page loads in the near future!

Mobile Safari and demo errors

2008-09-10T13:00:00.003-04:00

Just a few quick updates.

I noticed that I wasn't able to access the site from my iPhone, but I could access the site on the old server. I dug around a bit and found out that the underlying framework was now identifying the browser as a "mobile" browser instead of a full featured browser. Having an iPhone version of the site is on my wish list, but at the very least I want to be able to view the full site. This is now fixed
My old server is now back in action, but will no longer be hosting the site. It's now fully on an external, redundant, professional hosting service. However, I am now confident that all files are up-to-date, so I can once again start moving forward with actually developing features into the site instead of getting it back into your hands.
While testing the latest files on the demo site, I found out that there were some errors on the "addNew" advantage and disadvantage pages. After digging around, I found out that I had some additional security timeout settings on the demo site that I neither had on the old server nor do I have on the main site. I had to disable these timeouts for the demo site, so hopefully you won't see any more "Internal Server Error 500" messages on the demo.
I have also had an inquiry about helping development of the site. I welcome any developers to help out. This is pretty much a community project after all. If you are interested, please email me at dev "at" rol-play "dot" com and we will see what we can do to get you developing.

That's about it. With any luck, I'll be able to start working on new features shortly. As usual, if there's anything you are waiting on (or more importantly, something that is just bugging the hell out of you), drop me a line and let me know.

Delete Latest Character Point Entry

2008-08-28T14:36:00.002-04:00

By user request, I have modified the Character Point page (where you can enter new character points) to be able to delete an entry, but only the most recent one. If you want the ability to delete ANY entry, let me know, but I thought it would be a safety feature to be only able to delete the most recent one.

Now, New and Improved!

2008-08-23T12:49:00.003-04:00

Ok, my old web server still hasn't come back from the dead, but I was able to get into some of the drives and pull the latest database out. For those wondering, I've spent the last three weeks fighting with a dead motherboard, dealing with a crappy vendor to get me a replacement, dealing with the bad motherboard that they finally did send me, threw up my arms in frustration, and continued to purchase an entirely new server (minus hard drives). The new server isn't up yet, and probably won't be until next weekend, but I hijacked a friend's machine for a day, dug around, and copied what I desperately needed. There might be a few outdated files yet, but they will hopefully be corrected once the old/new server is back up and I pull all my CVS files off it.

For now though, all your data should be restored, the domain has been redirected to the new location (http://www.rol-play.com), and I've even taken this time to add a few new features to the general site.

First and foremost, you'll notice on the login screen that you can now log in with OpenID and clickpass (which is basically just OpenID, just simplified). If you don't know what OpenID is, basically it lets you log into some websites using your username/password from other sites. For example, you can use your GMail user/password to log into (rol). No usernames/passwords from those sites are kept in (rol); basically Google just verifies that you are who you say you are. After you use OpenID for the first time on (rol), you'll still need to log in with your normal (rol) username/password, and we will remember that the OpenID is yours and you won't have to use it again. To edit your OpenIDs, you can go to the Options->Portal on the left pane after you log in.

Once inside, you'll also notice a few new items in the tree in the side menu. I went ahead and enabled some of the default Horde apps, such as the calendar, addressbook, comics, wiki, etc. Still no mail for now though. Since I had some downtime, I also wrote an import for the addressbook to import your Yahoo! contacts, if you so choose (I'm thinking about giving this to the horde.org project while I'm at it).

When you try to add friends now within the main GURPS application, I added a nifty ajax lookup from your addressbook as well. I figured that we have the addressbook, we might as well use it.

Finally, I added links in the side menu to the News Blog (so I'll probably be taking that off the Campaigns page soon), and I added a new forum link. The forum is phpbb, and I wasn't able to easily figure out a simple way to use your (rol) authentication for the forum, so you'll need to create a new user on the forum page to post anything. I've opened almost all the restrictions on the forum though, so once you have an account there you should be able to do pretty much anything.

Well, I think this post is long enough (long enough for the DNS redirect to spread?), so I'll let you get at it! As always, let me know if you find any issues!

New Site Coming Up

2008-08-08T16:09:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone. I apologize for the extended downtime. But, due to the generousness of a user (thanks Sean!), I have set up an external hosting account with a new URL. I still need to get the latest copy of the database off my old server, so DO NOT ADD ANY NEW DATA (or at the very least, don't expect that data to be there for long). Also, the database that is there is from a development machine, so I'm not sure how up to date it is, but at least it is there.

If you need to get to your character, you can go to the new site. The new URL is http://www.rol-play.com. Because all changes in user and character data will be replaced with the data from the old server (I should be getting that motherboard any day now. Really.), I have temporarily disabled the creation of new users, so if you don't have an account already, keep an eye on this blog and I'll post an update when the database is restored.

When the time comes, I'll redirect the old URL to the new one, but you might want to update your bookmarks anyway.

Thanks for your patience!

Server Down

2008-07-28T09:16:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone. My web server decided to have issues late last week, so the web site has been offline until the new motherboard comes in. Sorry for any problems this creates. I'll post an update once everything is back up.

Powers/Psionics Support Added

2008-06-29T23:07:00.003-04:00

After long last, support for Powers (which includes support for Psionics) has been added. You can now add Power Talents, Power enhancements/limitations, as well as Power Abilities/Advantages.

In addition, the powers appear on the Character and Notes PDFs.

Let me know if you find any problems!

Skill Defaults added

2008-06-15T23:29:00.002-04:00

Due to user request, I have added the ability to add a skill to your sheet that you are not going to put any points into. The benefit of doing so is that the default value will be added to your character sheet, but it doesn't deduct from the unspent points just to have it on your sheet.

At this point in time, there's no way for users to edit the defaults, so if you notice something missing or incorrect, feel free to contact me and let me know. It's on my list, but there are a few other things I want to get done first.

Enjoy!

Notes PDF Created

2008-06-09T23:10:00.002-04:00

I've added Notes PDF generation to the PDF tab. Since there are most likely more notes than there is space on the normal character sheet, I just created a separate PDF for this.

There are a few formatting issues. Fill out the "issues" form if you find something and I'll work on correcting it.

Enhancement/Limitation support added

2008-05-29T17:24:00.003-04:00

Here by request, support for Advantage and Disadvantage modifiers (ie Limitations/Enhancements) has been added! To access it, all you have to do is click on the little +/- symbol next to the (dis)advantage name, and you will be taken to the Add New Limitation/Enhancement page where you can select a pre-existing modifier or create a new one.

I'm pretty sure that I've got all the rules from the Basic covered, but if you find any problems or something is missing, let me know!

Thanks to the gamers from San Jose, CA for making the request! A special thanks to Jim Preston for all suggestions and the help testing.

Reputation Support Added

2008-05-28T18:31:00.004-04:00

Support for reputation calculation has been added as defined in the Basic (p 26). To access it, you have to add either the "Reputation adv" advantage or "Reputation" disadvantage. The fields will then appear on the Description page and will update the advantage or disadvantage cost. Note that you only need to add the advantage OR the disadvantage. If you add both, only the advantage cost will be updated.

You can add reputations as you get them, and a running total will be calculated for you.

Currently, the only thing that still appears on the PDF in the "Reputation" section on page 1 will be from the Reputation Notes section of the description, just as before. This is because there is potentially a lot of data that would need to be put on the PDF, but you as the player know what's important. The alternative is that the system tries to put way too much information on there, when all you really wanted, like me, is "+6 Girls for unknown reason".

Control Rolls added

2008-04-25T17:27:00.003-04:00

The ability to use the Control Roll rules (see Basic p121) has been added for disadvantages. All existing disadvantages that should have had control rolls now do, and any characters that previously had any of these disadvantages now have it at level 12 (the default level).

Equipment from Basic Added

2008-04-24T11:23:00.002-04:00

I've added all the Miscellaneous Equipment from the Basic Set (B288-289) and added a way to select it to be added to your character, as well as modify it if need be. I'm leaving the ability to modify the equipment open for now until someone abuses the power. Don't make me hurt you.

Equipment enhancement

2008-04-16T17:08:00.002-04:00

I've added the ability to edit an item location without having to create a new item, as well as allowing you to select a previously created item (either by you or someone else) and add it rather than having to type everything in.

Techniques Complete

2008-04-08T13:08:00.002-04:00

Well, finally another piece that was missing is complete: techniques. I've added most of the techniques that I could find, (many thanks to the Gurps Character Sheet for help with all the data!)

As is usual, let me know if you find any problems!

PDF improvements

2008-03-13T12:23:00.003-04:00

Due to a request, I have made a number of fixes to the PDF generation. The largest of these deals with overflow: basically when you have more skills than the default sheet will allow. My solution for now is to create an extra page with only the sections that are overflowing. Not the most elegant solution, I know, and not really much of a tree-saver either. But, it works for now. I'll come back to this eventually when more pressing issues are fixed.

And, just to give people a preview, I'm currently working on supporting techniques. I'm close to finishing, I just need to get the level calculation working correctly, especially when a technique could have a number of base skills. It'll come.

As always, if you are waiting on a feature, all you have to do is ask!

Multiple Skills on Hand Weapons

2008-02-12T16:51:00.000-05:00

The ability to associate multiple skills to a hand weapon has been added. I'll work on adding the multiple skills to some known weapons (ex: Brass Knuckles) in the near future.

Library Import from GCS is complete

2008-01-07T09:42:00.000-05:00

For the last month or so I have been working on importing the library files from the open source tool Gurps Character Sheet (GCS). Finally, I'm done. I'm importing more than I currently use on the site (defaults, prereqs), but at least I'll have the data so that when I do get around to it, I'll have a good starting point.

For those interested, I did find a number of typos in the GCS data, but I have made changes to the file and will send it back to the author (once I find my sourceforge login).

Chat now working

2007-11-19T14:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the great people at Meebo, I've added an online chat widget that you can use to talk with me in realtime (assuming I'm online, of course). Unfortunately, I can't set your username automatically yet, though I, and a number of other people, it seems, have asked for it.

Also, I don't see how people can chat with each other, which might be especially helpful if I'm not around. Until then, just click on the "Issues" link, which will send me an email and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Updates

2007-11-06T16:22:00.000-05:00

- Fixed PDF display of secondary characteristics
- Allowed Attributes to go below 10 (I missed this somehow)
- Improved support for longer range weapon names
- Improved support for PDF Block calculation with specialized skills
- Better display of Blog/News display

PER based skills complete

2007-11-05T17:37:00.000-05:00

I finished getting the javascript working so that they secondary attribute levels are calculated and displayed, and skills based on those attributes now work correctly. However, I discovered that the PDF value for these items are not working, and they possibly haven't been working for quite some time. :( I'll try to work on this tomorrow.

Back up!

2007-11-05T13:09:00.000-05:00

Well, the move went smoothly, and nothing was lost in the process. I'll be working on some more issues shortly. If you find something broken or are waiting on a feature, let me know by filling out a problem report!

Scheduled Downtime

2007-09-25T12:10:00.000-04:00

Just a note to users: The server will be having some scheduled downtime at the end of October through early November as it is re-located to my new home.

First Post

2007-08-31T16:08:00.000-04:00

Wow! I've been working on the site, and I just looked at the number of characters (and users) in the system, and it went from 2 to 35 character between times I've looked! I guess I should probably start thinking about moving to a development site soon so you don't see my debug code all over the place (usually on character saves, etc).

If there's something specific that you are looking for, let me know, as I'm am pretty much aimlessly working on items that I feel like as I see them (I just finished adding support for Perks/Quirks. Well, finished for now, I suppose). If there is interest in a certain area, I'll make sure to spend more time there as I will know that someone actually wants to use it. For instance, adding support for Supers characters is currently pretty low on my list, but if someone wants to create a supers character, let me know and I'll start adding support for it.

One note to users: if you think something is editable but you don't see an edit box on it, TRY CLICKING ON THE ITEM. This will usually give you a box to do your editing. I'm seeing a lot of "John Doe"'s in the database, which is the default character name if you don't provide one. You can always go back and change the name later, but I just thought I'd mention this since it looks like a lot of people aren't noticing it.

The best way to contact me is probably to click on the "Problem" link at the top and fill out the form. That way I can track problems and suggestions a little better. If I don't respond within a reasonable amount of time, feel free to email me: gurps "at" natemac "dot" com.

While I'm at it, you'll probably notice that there aren't a lot of graphics on the site, and the login page is way too generic for common use. While my strengths do lie in database and PHP programming, my talent is not in graphical design. If anyone out there is so inclined, I'd be interested in talking with someone about helping me out with graphics (or even a better HTML login page). It's all for the GURPS community, no money will be changing hands. However, If you let me know who your GM is, I'll do my best to get you some bonus character points for your effort! @:-)