[Runequest] [Tool] BRP Generator spreadsheet

[Peter Brink]

Hi List,

I've created a fork and a redesign of a spreadsheet called "RQ Roller" 
created by Styopa in 2006. This version uses VBA functions and 
procedures almost exclusively and has a different way of handling user 
input. The data is however not altered very much.

The spreadsheet is still in alpha stage, mainly because it has not been 
tested on any other PC's than my own and also because there's a fair bit 
of redundant code that needs to be removed. There's also some changes to 
the creatures stats that Styopa did that need to be changed back to the 
  "official" values". I would very much like some feedback from other 
users, the spreadsheet suits my needs pretty good and I have no problems 
using it but that might not be true for other people. I'd also like to 
know if there's some other features or functionality that people would 
find handy to have.

The spreadsheet and the sourcecode it contains are offered to the public 
under the GNU GPL 3.0 license. You may thus freely distribute and modify 
the contents. If you do create a fork I only ask that you change the 
name so that people can keep track of the different versions.

The spreadsheet can be downloaded as a zip-file: 
http://www.rollspelshornan.se/files/BRP_Generator.zip

/Peter Brink	

 From the workbooks information page:

How this spreadsheet works:							---------------------------	
By clicking the "Create Minor NPC" button on the SETUP page the user can 
set the properties of the NPC on a form. The choices made on the form 
are stored and used by function calls from the OUTPUT page. The 
Miniblock page is linked to the OUTPUT page. By calling a macro the user 
can save the contents of the Miniblock page to the Report page. By using 
another macro the user can save the contents of the Report page to a new 
workbook. The report page is then cleared. 								
The contents of the "Data", "Weapons", "HitLocs", "Armour" and "Other" 
sheets can be altered by the user. The VBA procedures and functions need 
not be adjusted to account for such changes.								
Usage:	
------							
1) Click the "Create Minor NPC" button on the SETUP sheet. A Form titled 
"BRP Generator :: Minor NPC/Creature" will appear.								
2) Fill out the form. The only mandatory field is the Creature Type 
combo box. All other settings can be left at default values if desired. 
The Location, Name and Title fields on the "Basic Data" tab are useful 
if you want to add some personal details about the NPC. They will all 
appear on the OUTPUT page.								
3) Click "Create" when you are done, or click "Exit" to terminate 
the form.					
			
4) When the form closes you will automatically exit on the OUTPUT sheet. 
You can now review the NPC and add some notes if you wish.								
5) When you are done reviewing the NPC and wants to keep it, press "CTRL 
+ SHIFT + S", this will trigger a macro that copies the contents of the 
Miniblock to the Report sheet.								
6) You can now flip back to the SETUP page and create a new creature or 
you can press "CTRL + SHIFT + G" and the Setup form will appear.								
7) Each time you copy a Miniblock to the Report sheet it will 
automatically be placed below the Miniblocks you already has created. 
Thus the Report sheet stores the output of the generation process.								
8) When you have created all the creatures you need you can call a macro 
to copy the Report sheet to a new workbook. Press "CTRL +r". The Report 
sheet will now be copied to a new empty workbook. The entire sheet is 
copied, including page setup settings. The Report sheet is configured 
with a header and footer and the margins have been set so that three 
Miniblocks fit into one page. The settings are designed for the A4 
format, but they can easily be altered and since the sheet and not just 
its contents are copied to the new workbook any such alterations are 
automatically "inherited" by the new workbook.								
The Report sheet will be cleared of all contents after the sheet have 
been copied to a new workbook. Now you can start generating a new 
batch of creatures.		
						
Implementing your own house rules:						----------------------------------		
Since all game system functions are implemented as VBA functions you can 
easily modify the behaviour of the workbook. I would recommend that you 
put all house rules in their own modules, for example "House rules", and 
copy the functions and procedures that you want to adapt to that module 
and prefix the copied functions with "my". Your version of the function 
genStat (which generates STR and CON etc.) would thus be called 
myGenStat. This way you could benefit from possible future enhancements 
of the BRP Generator. Keeping your own functions in their own module and 
using modified names makes it easy to move your functions to a new 
version of BRP Generator.								
The data can also easily be modified. Inserting new rows (new creature 
data for example) is no problem. Inserting new columns (new categories 
of data) could however create problems. Making the functions 100% 
independent of user manipulation of the data is on the 
"To-do" list.