TRoS Referee
A handy utility for tabletop gaming
What is this?
TRoS Referee was conceived as a useful tool for players of Driftwood Publishing's tabletop role playing game, The Riddle of Steel. The application handles complex die rolls within the game and provides damage table entries with a clean and simple GUI.
It's implemented in Java SE 6, using the Swing framework.
Why is this?
TRoS's combat system, while gruesomely realistic and pleasantly strategic, is extremely cumbersome. Players regularly have to roll fistfuls of 10-sided dice (the game recommends using a bowl), tallying up results, and consulting various lengthy charts. Needless to say, some players find this daunting. Even those who don't can be frustrated by how slowly combat moves.
I wanted to make a tool that could handle the damage tables and dice rolling, speeding up combat turns substantially without removing player agency.
Most importantly, I wanted to brush up on my very rusty Java before resuming coursework.
Is it finished?
No. The GUI is passable, and the application runs with no hiccups, but I never finished transcribing the damage tables. Moreover, there are many improvements that I'd like to make now that I look back on it two years later.
I won't be touching it for the foreseeable future, but the code is here for anyone who'd like to improve it or implement their own version (e.g. for TRoS' spiritual successor: Blade of the Iron Throne).