Ruins of Glorantha - Generated File

[soltakss]

I looked through Ruins of Glorantha but the generation process seemed a bit long-winded, just because I haven't the patience to roll loads of dice any more.

But, I am a computer programmer by profession, so instead of taking 15 minutes to roll up one ruin, I took 6 hours to write a program to roll up as many ruins as I want.

The link is to an Excel spreadsheet with 1000 Building Ruins and 1000 Town Ruins, the difference being that Buildings and Towns have different numbers of features.

I haven't limited the size of features, so it is possible to have a house with a Colossal feature, which I prefer.

The sheet is at http://www.soltakss.com/ruin_generator_result.xls and any comments are welcome.

 

[The King]

Thanks a lot. I'll tell you what I think of it as soon as I put your programm under trial. And with Lairs of Glorantha coming out in September, you may well have to developp another one. :wink:

Nowadays it's the better way to design random generated creations anyway.

6 hours is a very long time though but you would be worshipped as a god if you would proposed such a things to fans of Conan for Ruins of Glorantha.

 

[soltakss]

Most of the time was spent keying in the data. The programming itself took about half an hour and it takes 15 seconds to generate 2000 ruins.

I don't have Ruins for Conan, but if anyone can provide me with the tables then I can get generating.

 

[The Bull]

Hello

I just stumbled today over your astonishing spreadsheet.
But how do you use it as a generator to get an output?

Thanks for your tremendous work in any case.

The Bull

 

[soltakss]

I just stumbled today over your astonishing spreadsheet.
But how do you use it as a generator to get an output?

Ah, now that is easier than you'd think.

1. Open the Spreadsheet in Excel (presumably other spreadsheet programs would work the same way)
2. Roll 1D1000
3. Check the result and read across

The other spreadsheets in this series use 1D20/1D100, so you would roll 1D20, read it off and then roll 1D100 and read that off. I do not know why I haven't converted this to work in the same way. I think this was an early attempt.

Thanks for your tremendous work in any case.

No problem.

Once I had cracked the program, the data just needed to be keyed in and I can generate as many as I need.

 

[soltakss]

I have uploaded a new version at http://www.soltakss.com/d20d100/Ruins_Generator.xlsx.

1. Open the Spreadsheet in Excel (presumably other spreadsheet programs would work the same way)
2. Roll 1D20 and select the result on the D20 column
3. Roll 1D100 and select the result on the D100 column
4. Check the result and read across

 

[DamonJynx]

I have uploaded a new version at http://www.soltakss.com/d20d100/Ruins_Generator.xlsx.

1. Open the Spreadsheet in Excel (presumably other spreadsheet programs would work the same way)
2. Roll 1D20 and select the result on the D20 column
3. Roll 1D100 and select the result on the D100 column
4. Check the result and read across

I must be missing something. All I'm getting is a big table with no apparent automation is this right?

 

[soltakss]

I must be missing something. All I'm getting is a big table with no apparent automation is this right?

Yes, it is, as it doesn't really need any automation.

Roll a D20 and see what you get as the result. Say you get 7.

On the D20 tab, click on the arrow and click "Select All" so that nothing is selected, then click on "7".

Now, roll a D100 and see what you get as the result. Say you get 23.

On the D100 tab, click on the arrow and click "Select All" so that nothing is selected, then click on "23".

That leaves you with one line chosen, line 624, which you can copy and paste into whatever document you want.

I cannot load up .pdf or .doc files, so have a look at http://www.soltakss.com/d20d100/D20D100ScreenShots.pdf for some screenshots.

I suppose I could automate it slightly, by having a tab at the start which allows you to select each D20/D100 and then go to the selected row. Would that be useful?

In fact, which would you prefer?
1. Manually select 1D20 and 1D100 as above
2. Select 1D20/1D100 in a separate tab and go to the resulting line
3. Randomly generate 1D20/1D100 in a separate tab and go to the resulting line

 

[soltakss]

I have added a first tab that allows you to select the D20/D100 and shows the results.

Random generation should come another day.

 

[The Bull]

Ah now I get it.

Thank you for your explenations and the new spreadsheat with the pdf.

Will find my way around now.

The Bull

 

[DamonJynx]

Yes, it is, as it doesn't really need any automation.

In fact, which would you prefer?
1. Manually select 1D20 and 1D100 as above
2. Select 1D20/1D100 in a separate tab and go to the resulting line
3. Randomly generate 1D20/1D100 in a separate tab and go to the resulting line

Doesn't really matter, either or is fine. It's just in your previous posts you alluded to a 'program' which led me to believe it was an auomated generator; I don't see how you could generate 2000 items in 15 secs manually -that claim maybe a little exaggerated :wink:

Bloody good table though!

 

[superc0ntra]

Thanks, good work.
I changed the dice fields to a random function so every time I open the file I get a new ruin.

 

[soltakss]

Doesn't really matter, either or is fine. It's just in your previous posts you alluded to a 'program' which led me to believe it was an auomated generator;

The Progress program that i wrote takes the setup files and then randomly generates a couple of CSV files that I combine to get the spreadsheet. Once the spreadsheet is generated, it is then fixed. It's just the rolling of loads of dice that I get bored with.

I don't see how you could generate 2000 items in 15 secs manually -that claim maybe a little exaggerated :wink:

That's the magic of computer programming for you. It does only take 15 seconds - in fact it takes longer for me to check that the files have been generated than to generate them.

This kind of thing is so easy to generate, once you have worked out the rules and links between tables. I just need to find other areas where I can use the same techniques.

 

[DamonJynx]

The Progress program that i wrote takes the setup files and then randomly generates a couple of CSV files that I combine to get the spreadsheet. Once the spreadsheet is generated, it is then fixed. It's just the rolling of loads of dice that I get bored with.

Ok, now I get it. The program 'generated' the spreadsheet, clever. I thought the program used the spreadsheet to generate the ruins and produce an output of some sort.

 

[soltakss]

There's a new version at http://www.soltakss.com/d20d100/Ruins_Generator.xlsx.

1. Open the Spreadsheet in Excel (presumably other spreadsheet programs would work the same way)
2. Remove the read-only setting
3. Choose Pick or Random
4. If you choose Pick, then choose a D20 or D100 in the appropriate fields
5. If you choose Random then two random values will be chosen
6. Read the Town and Building stats from the rows beneath

Enjoy!

 

[soltakss]

If you want any more tables converted to a similar format then please let me know.

 

[auyl]

Very cool, will have to look at it a bit more to get the most out of it but will be very handy in my personal adventures with my group.

 

[soltakss]

I have updated the main sheets at http://www.soltakss.com/d20d100/d20d100Downloads.html.

They now have:

• Treasure Hoards using RQ2's Treasue Factor system
• Scenario outlines using the tables from Deus Vult
• An improved list of ruins using the tables from MRQ2's ruins supplement
• A random selection of character appearances using tables from the StormBringer game

 

[The Bull]

Thank you soltakks for your explications and the links to your generators.
Very useful indeed! :shock: