Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Good luck to MT team
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 100620" data-attributes="member: 158"><p>I have to disagree on a couple of points, Leopold.</p><p></p><p>True, Access and SQL are not as stable as some other Database engines out there, but for home use, it is "stable enough." For non-corporate-scale DB's out there, it is quite stable, and several fan-based projects are based on it. For datasets of 40,000 records or less, it is as useful as any other database system.</p><p></p><p>As for being proprietary, the main reason I lobbied for MS access to be the back end two years ago on Eric's site, back when Jim Butler and Fruid entertainment had much more contact with the fan community, was because it was the most accessible database to non-computer programmers that exists. XML, for instance, carries the dual disadvantages of being very slow as dataset size increases, and for having very few user-friendly tools available on the market for fans to use.</p><p></p><p>I myself, prefer PCGEN (wink wink) but adding new items in the text-based format is both time-consuming and frustrating, especially when building new character classes. Also, the more .lst files that are loaded, the slower and less stable PCGEN becomes (this being on both a Pentium II 233, and an AMD 1.6 GHz system).</p><p></p><p>Access 2000, OTOH, has conversion filters for most file formats that people use (XLS, TXT, RTF, etc.), and anyone with about 3 hours of Access use can enter data, generate simple queries, etc.</p><p></p><p>Access is not the perfect tool, but for Mastertools or most any other single-user program, it is "perfect enough."</p><p></p><p>That said, Mastertools does not have anywhere near the customization capability of programs such as RPM or PCGEN. You can build almost any class combo or special ability you can think of, whereas Mastertools, from release, will be unable to handle:</p><p></p><p>-Psionicists</p><p>-Many prestige classes from the core classbooks (Sword and Fist, etc.)</p><p>-d20 Star Wars, Deadlands, and Dragonstar characters</p><p>-any special ability that has appeared in a sourcebook that was NOT in the core rules</p><p></p><p>In short, it will not help me in the slightest for my game prep's, the way my current tools ARE helping me. If WotC decides to amend their policies to make 3rd party tools illegal, and if programs like PCGEN are made unavailable, it will only chill my customer relationship with WotC. This relationship with WotC is strained already with their recent changes toward miniatures, and towards 1e/2e conversions. I don't expect my cessation of buying WotC products to hurt them in the least, but it will make my mind feel better.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Henry, post: 100620, member: 158"] I have to disagree on a couple of points, Leopold. True, Access and SQL are not as stable as some other Database engines out there, but for home use, it is "stable enough." For non-corporate-scale DB's out there, it is quite stable, and several fan-based projects are based on it. For datasets of 40,000 records or less, it is as useful as any other database system. As for being proprietary, the main reason I lobbied for MS access to be the back end two years ago on Eric's site, back when Jim Butler and Fruid entertainment had much more contact with the fan community, was because it was the most accessible database to non-computer programmers that exists. XML, for instance, carries the dual disadvantages of being very slow as dataset size increases, and for having very few user-friendly tools available on the market for fans to use. I myself, prefer PCGEN (wink wink) but adding new items in the text-based format is both time-consuming and frustrating, especially when building new character classes. Also, the more .lst files that are loaded, the slower and less stable PCGEN becomes (this being on both a Pentium II 233, and an AMD 1.6 GHz system). Access 2000, OTOH, has conversion filters for most file formats that people use (XLS, TXT, RTF, etc.), and anyone with about 3 hours of Access use can enter data, generate simple queries, etc. Access is not the perfect tool, but for Mastertools or most any other single-user program, it is "perfect enough." That said, Mastertools does not have anywhere near the customization capability of programs such as RPM or PCGEN. You can build almost any class combo or special ability you can think of, whereas Mastertools, from release, will be unable to handle: -Psionicists -Many prestige classes from the core classbooks (Sword and Fist, etc.) -d20 Star Wars, Deadlands, and Dragonstar characters -any special ability that has appeared in a sourcebook that was NOT in the core rules In short, it will not help me in the slightest for my game prep's, the way my current tools ARE helping me. If WotC decides to amend their policies to make 3rd party tools illegal, and if programs like PCGEN are made unavailable, it will only chill my customer relationship with WotC. This relationship with WotC is strained already with their recent changes toward miniatures, and towards 1e/2e conversions. I don't expect my cessation of buying WotC products to hurt them in the least, but it will make my mind feel better. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Good luck to MT team
Top