DMLH - Official FAQ Guide (Compiled by: Ravenshire132; Updated on: 10/4/03)


Section 1: General Questions

1.1 What is DMLH?

1.2 - That was a really confusing answer. Can't you tell me straight?

1.3 - What edition of D&D does DMLH support?

1.4 - But I really want 3.5 source!

1.5 - What platforms does DMLH support?

1.6 - What's the legality of database distribution?

1.7 - So what's the legality of you distributing the database?


Section 1 - General Questions

1.1 - What is DMLH?

DMLH stands for the Dungeon Master's Little Helper, an application designed (as the name implies,) to be an all-around tool to assist the Dungeon Masters of Wizards of the Coast's® classic pen-and-paper role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons™. Put in terms only gamers of the fantastic series would understand, DMLH is an masterwork device which acts as a +5 swiss army knife of rule-enforcement and campaign-running (and for those of you actually wondering, yes, this is a spell-like ability.). What this means in plain english is that the program is intended to aid the 'referee' in running his or her game by allowing him or her to quickly look up various rules, roll dice, search and index spells or items into a vast but easily navigable database, while providing tools to edit the primary database in real-time. In short - DMLH does a little bit of everything. You can use it to index your campaign notes, come up with number tables on the fly (perfect for monster HDs in large battles,) and manage an extensive database of items and spells so they can be quickly searchd for the desired entry without bogging down the session to see what something does.

1.2 - That was a really confusing answer. Can't you tell me straight?

I could... but that wouldn't be any fun. For those of you that just can't find out what DMLH does by reading the above question, I will clarify some major issues that are probably nagging at the back of your mind, threatening to make your head implode if you don't recieve an answer now. First, if you don't play D&D, this will not interest you in the slightest. Secondly, if you do, then you'll probably find this useful for taking up free space on your machine. Alternately, you could use it to look up and enter in all sorts of nifty information without ever having to crack a book or look through an index... but it's just as efficient at eating up spare processor power if you're not doing much of anything with it.

1.3 - What edition of D&D does DMLH support?

All information used in DMLH is drawn directly from the 3rd edition Core-Rulebooks. None of the information in the half-assed 3.5 (in my opinion... who wants to shell out another $30 per source book for 20 pages of 'bonus' material?) versions yet, although this may change if there is enough demand for the material. Want to petition for 3.5? Mail me here. (Flaming and trolling will be immedietly deleted - I won't even bother honoring you with a reading of your uneducated heathan filth.)

1.4 - But I really want 3.5 source!

And I want a pony. There are several solutions, if this is the case. First, go out and do it yourself. It's really not that daunting, considering the absolutely staggering ammount of information already available in the database. 20 pages probably won't kill you. If you don't have 3.5, but you want the source anyway... go buy 3.5. DMLH is not in existence to rip off WotC, it's here to help take some of the pressure off of being a DM. Lastly, you can read above about the possibility of petitioning for official support of 3.5 material.

1.5 - What platforms does DMLH support?

DMLH currently only supports Windows platforms. Of course, due to the open-source nature of this project, someone with a lot of free time could fairly easily port it to other systems. In time, the community may do this, or we may actively seek out multi-platform developers on SF to provide this service for them.

1.6 - What's the legality of database distribution?
If you are the sole copyright owner of all the material in the database you've compiled, then you're legally allowed to do whatever the hell you please with it. If you use material others have provided, or original source material in an illegal way, then you shouldn't be distributing it.
1.7 - So what's the legality of you distributing the database?
Aren't you a nosey little tattle-tale? The default database used in DMLH is simply a re-compilation of existing material from the books. In that respect, you can no more learn to play the D&D role-playing game through use of DMLH then you can learn to program by playing Frogger in an old arcade. Using the program does not reveal the insights of the game-play mechanics - it merely provides a means to index information (items, spells and tables,) which is already available to the end-user of the program.