The Original Elthos Prime Gamesmaster's Toolbox

(Unpublished)

What is the Elthos Prime Gamesmaster's Toolbox?

It's a a fully functional Hybrid-Computer RPG System application that allows you to run the Elthos Prime Role Playing Game System (which is a larger more sophisticated version of the Elthos ODS).   The computer serves as the Gamesmaster's assistant for World Weaving, Character Generation, Terrain-Movement Mapping, Combat, Experience calculations, Alignment tracking, and the Elthos Cosmological System.   Among other things.   There are a large number of features that the Elthos Prime Gamesmaster' Toolbox shares with the Elthos RPG ODS Web Application... but there are also many features that ONLY exist in the Elthos Prime Gamesmaster's Toolbox, at least for now.  Those features allow you to actually play the game on the computer, dragging pieces on maps you create yourself, and doing all of the combat calculations for you on the fly.  It's another amazing pieces of software, which will be published in some form or other eventually.  

What does it do?

Those of you who Gamesmaster will appreciate how much effort really goes into the many-fold tasks of managing an RPG, and just how difficult it can be to keep records up to date in the paper and pencil game. Well, the Elthos RPG System is designed to handle those mundane, time consuming, and frustratingly error prone tasks. In other words, it makes the life of the Gamesmaster that much easier, while attempting to avoid interfering with the creative aspects of the game. The Gamesmaster's Toolbox allows the GM to create any kind of World they wish, and populate it with whatever kinds of artifacts, maps, and creatures they may need. It comes with a standard stock of Elthosian creatures, artifacts and items, but these can be added to, subtracted from, or modified according to the wishes of each GM. The Toolbox works in conjunction with the Elthos Prime Rules System and is programmed in Visual Basic 6, a weird but relatively easy little language.   As it was my first effort in the direction of Hybrid Computer RPG Software, created between 1994 and 2006, it has some features that are totally missing, such as any kind of Internet support, and uses a rather rinky dink MS Access Database on the back end.   The files are all local on your client machine and don't talk with anyone else's system.   It also lacks some of the sophistication that got built into the Elthos RPG ODS Web Application in terms of support for the World Weaving and Group Management.   But like I said, many, if not most of the features overlap between the two programs.

When can I get my greedy little paws on it?

The Toolbox is actually finished but is not ready for distribution because it's a bit too buggy in it's current form. I expect that it will become available reasonably soon. The Elthos Gamesmaster's Toolbox Windows Client Software is not the same program or rules as the Elthos ODS, by the way.   I realize it may be a bit confusing.  There are two separate rules systems and two separate programs.  Elthos "One Die System" is a subset of the Elthos Prime Rules, and the program is an Internet Application, rather than a Windows Client.  They share a lot in common, but they are not the same thing. Currently the Gamesmaster's Toolbox is not  ready for public consumption, and I am considering folding the features from it into the Elthos ODS Web Application.  

But be sure of this - if I can get far enough the Gamesmaster's Toolbox Client Application will become available eventually in one form or another.  I promise!

In the meantime... A few Screenshots of the Elthos Gamesmaster's Toolbox