Jamis Buck and 3.5?

[WizarDru]

It just occured to me the other day that with the move to 3.5, we're going to lose one of the single best tools available to DM's: Jamis Buck's NPC generator.

Now, I grant you, it isn't going to evaporate or disappear, so to speak...but it's utility will be greatly hampered by the switch to 3.5. I know Eric Noah has publicly stated that the single biggest deciding factor to moving to 3.5 will be electronic tool support, and I doubt he's alone in that.

This begs the question, then...what will happen to it. As I understand it, Jamis stopped work on all his generators about 1.5-2 years ago, and while I remember he was working on some 3E palm software (which went bust, IIRC), I assume he's not going to return to update them. The town generator probably won't require much tweaking, nor the treasure generator...but the NPC generator is a fantastic tool, and I'd hate to lose it when I switch to 3.5.

Does anyone have any ideas what the future holds for these tools? Is it now in the open, so that someone could modify the basic code and release it? Is there a possibility that Jamis will update them himself at some point?

What are your thoughts?

 

[Vaxalon]

For an NPC generator that's more likely to be updated, try:

http://mwtools.thyle.net/index.html

 

[EricNoah]

I think Jamis' decision to move away from the field was largely due to his family situation (a new child). Unless he finds himself suddenly with a lot of time on his hands I doubt he would return to spruce up his tools for 3.5.

On the other hand, I would imagine that if he were approached about someone else taking on the task, he'd probably enthusiastically support it.

 

[alsih2o]

excellent question, i use the heck out his tools

 

[WizarDru]

I think Jamis' decision to move away from the field was largely due to his family situation (a new child). Unless he finds himself suddenly with a lot of time on his hands I doubt he would return to spruce up his tools for 3.5.

On the other hand, I would imagine that if he were approached about someone else taking on the task, he'd probably enthusiastically support it.

Well, I certainly can appreciate that, as the father of two, myself. I'm currently using DM Genie, which takes Jamis' generated stat-blocks directly into the program. I consider Jamis' NPC generator to be the cornerstone of the electronic tools out there.

There certainly are enough programmers floating about the boards...maybe someone will take up the challenge. I'd do it, but I'm a network guy, not a programmer.

Of course, we need 3.5 in our hot little hands first.

 

[Fenes 2]

I myself use this NPC-generator, which offers, imho, more than Jamis':

http://www.stanford.edu/~marke/npc.html

I especially like that the generator gives a list of prepared spells and that you can customize the output that well and easily. It might get updated to 3.5.

 

[Joshua Randall]

This is my favorite kind of discussion on message boards:

Person 1: "I wonder what so-and-so will do about such-and-such?"

Person 2: "He might do this."

Person 3: "He might do that."

Person 1: "I guess we will never know."

Umm. It's the Internet. E-mail Jamis Buck and ask him!

Sheesh.

 

[jdavis]

I use the heck out of Jamis Buck's NPC generator, and I would love to see it updated for 3.5 . Got nothing to really add here except I agree that it is very useful and I hope it gets updated.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Nothing really to add to the thread, except to say that Buck's generators are my favorite electronic D&D tools out there.

His Random Dungeon Generator has saved my ass many times (So sue me, as a DM I'm occasionally slack)

 

[WizarDru]

For an NPC generator that's more likely to be updated, try:

http://mwtools.thyle.net/index.html

Well, unless I'm missing something, that's a stat-block generator, not an NPC generator. That's actually pretty handy, but I still have to manually generate the NPC...it just puts it in the stat-block of my choice.

Originally posted by Fenes 2
I myself use this NPC-generator, which offers, imho, more than Jamis':

http://www.stanford.edu/~marke/npc.html

I especially like that the generator gives a list of prepared spells and that you can customize the output that well and easily. It might get updated to 3.5.

Wow. That is pretty sweet. If this gets updated to 3.5, then problem solved.

Joshua, do you know what Jamis current e-mail is? Last I heard, he dropped off the face of the earth, and had changed ISPs. I've never sent him one, and only ever seen him back when he posted here. Mind you, I think Eric's already pretty much answered the question, but I wouldn't mind asking him directly.