Welcome to Seneschal Version 1.0!

This text file serves as a help file for Seneschal (a proper, online help system
will be implemented in Version 2.0 of the program).
Contents:
1) Introduction
2) Menu commands
2a) File Menu
2b) Edit Menu
2c) Tools Menu
2d) Window Menu
2e) Help Menu
3) The Organisers
3a) Regent Organiser
3b) Blood Abilities Organiser
3c) Birthright Lists Organiser
4) Regents, Realms and Domains
4a) Regent Display Window
4b) Realm Display Window
4c) Domain Display Window
5) Contacting Me
6) Version 2.0 Information
7) Other Stuff
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1) INTRODUCTION
Seneschal allows you to keep electronic track of a great deal of the information
needed to run a Birthright campaign. If nothing else, it's kind to the forests!
In this version of the program, you can keep a record of the details of realms,
regents, domains, holdings and blood abilities. It also tracks the races, class
es and bloodline derivations you decide are available in your Birthright campaig
n.
Seneschal is the first real program I have ever created, so I apologise up front
if it is not speedy or glossy as you would like. However, it works, and I aim t
o improve the performance and appearance of the program in future versions.
NOTE: Throughout this text and Seneschal itself, the terms "realm" and "domain"
deserve note.
"Realm" refers to any collection of holdings where the regent of the holdings in
question is also the ruler of one of more provinces. A "Domain" refers to any c
ollection of holdings under the control of a regent. So, although a realm is tec
hnically also a domain, only certain domains can be classed as realms.
2) MENU COMMANDS
This section runs through the available menu commands one by one. For anyone wel
l acquainted with the Birthright rules, Seneschal will be pretty self-explanator
y. However, there are a couple of "quirks" that is worth your knowing about.
2a) FILE MENU
- New Realm:
Use this command to begin the process of adding a realm to Seneschal's database.
Note that you will only be able to select already created regents to control ho
ldings in the realm, so make sure you have created all the necessary regents bef
ore hand. Of course, you can create the realm without any or all of the holdings
and simply add them later with the Add Holding command (Edit Menu). Also, note
that each realm (and domain) in Seneschal's database must have a different name.
If you wish, you can select a regent for the new realm (although this can be do
ne later via the Regent Organiser)
- New Domain:
This command allows you to create a new domain. The new domain is created by sel
ecting already existing holdings in whatever realms you have entered into Senesc
hal's database. Again, the domain must have a unique name. Also, each holding ca
n only belong to the one domain, so any holdings that are already part of anothe
r domain will not appear in the Available Holdings list. If you wish, you can se
lect a regent for the new realm (although this can be done later via the Regent
Organiser)
- Display Realm:
Simply select a realm from the drop down list that appears after you choose the
command. The selected realm will then be displayed. Only one "copy" of any realm
can be open at any time
- Display Domain:
As per Display Realm, above, except that a list of domains rather than realms is
displayed.
- Delete Realm:
This command displays a dialog box that allows you to choose a realm to be delet
ed from Seneschal's database. You will be prompted for confirmation before the d
eletion occurs. When you delete a realm from the database, a number of other thi
ngs may be affected. For example, any domain that holdings in the deleted realm
has those holdings removed. Also, any regents who had holdings in the domain hav
e their holding lists adjusted to reflect the removal of the realm's holdings.
- Delete Domain:
This command deletes the selected domain from Seneschal's database. Note that, u
nlike the realm delete, holdings that are a part of a deleted domain are NOT del
eted from the realm as well (ie. they still appear in the realm and regent displ
ays). The domain entry in the database is simply a list of references to holding
s in various realms, so deleting the domain only deletes those references (which
makes the holdings available for another domain), and not the holdings themselv
es. Individual holdings can be deleted by using the Add/Remove Holding command (
Edit Menu)
- Exit:
Exits Seneschal.
2b) EDIT MENU
- Add/Remove Province:
This command displays a dialog box that allows you to add or remove a province t
o a realm. If you choose to remove a province, note that you also have the optio
n of "moving" the provicne to another realm (if the province was conquered and t
hen divested, for example). Moving the province to another realm adjusts other d
isplays appropiately, as does deleting the provicne.
Note that this command can be used to rename a province but leave it in the same
realm. Select the Remove tab and then choose the province you wish to rename. T
hen select the "Add province to another realm?" option and select the realm you
wish to move the provcince to (the same realm as where the province currently is
if you just want to rename the province). Type in the new name for the province
in the "As:" text box and click OK.
- Add/Remove Holding:
You can add or delete individual holdings via this command. Simply select the re
alm, province and holding type you want to adjust in the drop down lists at the
top of the dialog box. Select the "Add New" check box to add a new holding to th
e selected province (you will, of course, need to enter the appropriate informat
ion for the new holding). To delete an existing holding, make sure the box to th
e left of the holding is "ticked" and then click "Add/Remove". You delete multip
le holdings at a time if you wish. When you close the "Add/Remove Holdings" dial
og box, any currently display, realms, domains and regents are adjusted to refle
ct the changes you have made.
- Edit Province:
This command can only be selected when a realm display is the "active" display.
Selecting the command brings up a dialog box that lists the provinces in the rea
lm and each of their current sizes and source levels. Use the arrows to the righ
t of each number to adjust the levels as you wish. If you don't want the source
level to decrease if the province size increases (in an elven realm, for example
), make sure the "Adjust Separately" option is "ticked". Note that you will not
be able to adjust the levels below the total number of each type of holdings in
a province (eg. if a size 4 province has 3 levels of law holdings, you will not
be able to lower the province size to a 2). Use the Edit Holdings command (Edit
Menu) to adjust the holdings first, then come back and lower the province levels
.
- Edit Holdings:
This command can also be selected when a realm display is currently selected. It
displays a dialog box that, after a province is selected and the "Show Holdings
" button is clicked, displays a list of all the holdings in the selected provinc
e, separated into four tabs (Law, Temple, Guild and Source). Use the arrows besi
de each holding to adjust the levels as you wish.
2c) TOOLS MENU
- Regent Organiser:
This command displays the Regent Organiser, which is explained in more detail in
"3) THE ORGANISERS", below
- Blood Abilities Organiser
This command displays the Blood Abilities Organiser, which is explained in more
detail in "3) THE ORGANISERS", below
- Birthright Lists Organiser
This command displays the Birthright Lists Organiser, which is explained in more
detail in "3) THE ORGANISERS", below
2d) WINDOW MENU
- Cascade:
Stacks all the open windows in a cascading pile.
- Window List:
The Window Menu also displays list of all open windows.
2e) HELP MENU
-About Seneschal:
Displays a dialog box which contains, among other things, copyright information
for Seneschal
Note: In future versions, there will be a proper Help system implemented.
3) THE ORGANISERS
3a) Regent Organiser
This "Organiser" keeps track of all the regents you have entered into Seneschal'
s database. It has a number of functions which are desrcibed separately below.
- Display:
Displays the selected regent (see 4) REGENTS, REALMS AND DOMAINS, below, for mor
e details about the regent display window)
-Edit:
Displays the selected regent ready for editing.
- New:
Starts the Create Regent wizard which allows you to enter a new regent into the
database.
Note that in the Create Regent process, blood abilities do not have to be chosen
- they can be entered later, via the Regent Display window.
- Delete:
Deletes the regent from the database. Note as holdings cannot be "uncontrolled",
deleting a regent also delete all the holdings controlled by that regent. Howev
er, any realms or domains under the regent's control are NOT deleted, but simply
no londer have a regent. A message box will display to tell you what realms had
holdings deleted as a result of the regent's deletion.
- Search:
This button displays a window which enables you to search through the regents fo
r mention of a particular regent "abbreviation" or of a realm or domain. Results
of the search are displayed separately and you can display any or all of the re
gents returned by the search. The searched for information will be highlighted o
n the Regent Display window.
- Add:
Click this to assign regency of a particular domain or realm (chosen in the resu
lting dialog box) to the selected regent. In the domain/realm selection dialog b
ox, domains currently without regents are displayed although you can choose to d
isplay all domains if you want a domain to have more than one regent.
- Remove:
If you wish to remove a particular regency from the selected regent, select the
domain you wish to "remove" (this doesn't actually delete the realm) and then cl
ick the remove button.
- Close:
Closes the Regent Organiser.
3b) Blood Abilities Organiser
This window displays all the blood abilities you have entered into Seneschal's d
atabase, along with their allowable derivations and levels. The functions of the
Blood Abilities organiser are detailed below.
- Edit:
Allows you to change the derivations and levels of the selected blood ability.
- New:
Seneschal comes with no blood abilities defined, so you will need to add them us
ing this command. Enter a name for the ability, select its allowable derivations
and levels and click OK.
- Delete:
Deletes the selected ability from Seneschal. Note that any regents who have this
blood ability also have the blood ability deleted from their blood abilities li
st.
- Close:
Closes the Blood Abilties Organiser
3c) Birthright Lists Organiser
This window allows you to manage what races, classes and bloodline derivations a
re available. It also keeps a list of all the realms and domains currently in Se
neschal's database. This window's four tabs are each described below.
- Races:
Shows the list of races in the database. Seneschal comes with the standard Birth
right races already entered. Note that if you delete a race from this list, any
regents of that race have their race entry changed to "None". You can add a new
race (you will need to specify a unique abbreviation for the new race) via the a
dd button.
- Classes and Derivations:
These two tabs function in the same fashion as the Races tab, described above.
- Realms and Domains:
This tab is simply a list of the realms and domains currently in Seneschal's dat
abase.
4) REGENTS, REALMS AND DOMAINS
Each regent, realm and domain can be displayed in it's own window if you desire.
The three types of display windows are described below.
4a) Regent Display Window
This display is made of two tabs - one shows the actual bloodline and character
information of the regent while the second displays all the holdings controlled
by the regent. Each of this window's functions are described below.
- Edit:
Clicking this button "unlocks" first tab, allowing you to adjust race, class, bl
oodline information, etc. It is also enables the Abilities button, which allows
you to add or remove blood abilties.
- Lock:
This button replaces the Edit button when it is clicked. Clicking the Lock butto
n "locks" the information in place so that it cannot be edited.
- Update:
If you have changed any of the regent's information, clicking the Update button
saves your changes in the databse. Clicking the Update button, also "locks" the
information, if it isn't already.
- Realms:
This button is on the second tab and allows you to select which realms you wish
Seneschal to search for holdings belonging to the regent. By default, only realm
s in which the regent in question actually has holdings are searched when the re
gent is displayed, but you can change this if you desire (if you unselect a real
m where the regent does have holdings, those holdings will not be displayed in t
he Regent Display Window).
- Close:
Closes the Regent Display Window
4b) Realm Display Window
This window displays the provinces (and their sizes, etc) and holdings (regent a
bbreviation and size for each one) for one realm. Also, there is a list of abbre
viations at the bottom of the display.
- Edit:
Clicking this button allows you to change the realms alignment. The database is
updated when you click the "Lock" button which appears.
- Close:
Closes the Realm Display Window.
4c) Domain Display Window
This window is similar to the Realm Display Window (including the function of th
e Edit button) except that it displays the holdings of a particular domain. This
window also has one other button, the Holdings Button, described below.
- Holdings:
This button allows you to select holdings for the domain from all existing realm
s. Any holdings already part of the domain in question are marked with a tick bu
t any holdings that are currently part of another domain are not shown. Tick or
untick a holding to add or remove it respectively from the domain.
5) CONTACTING ME
I would love to hear your thoughts on Seneschal! Liked it? Hated it? Please let
me know (and why). If you find any problems/bugs or have any suggestions on a be
tter "interface", again, I really want to hear them. My contact details are:
E-mail: dragon@uq.net.au (I promise to respond to all e-mails!)
ICQ: 2863795
Website: http://www.uq.net.au/~zzphodge (Drop by often - there will be h
eaps more than just Seneschal available there)
6) VERSION 2 INFORMATION
Here are some of things I aim to include in the next version of Seneschal:
- a proper help system (not this rather pathetic text file!)
- the ability to print realm, domain and regent display windows
- a function that will convert a realm, regent or domain display to an HTML file
- a full tax/income/maintennance system as per the Birthright rules
There will be even more to come beyond this, including a War Card battles simula
tor, domain action resolution and much more! Got some ideas of your own you want
to see implemented in future versions? Let me know about them (e-mail: dragon@u
q.net.au)!
7) OTHER STUFF
Seneschal is copyright 1998 Peter Hodge.
I spent alot of time putting this together so please respect my "ownership" of S
eneschal.
Birthright is a trademark of TSR Inc.
Seneschal, is totally and utterly freeware. If you paid in any way (not just mon
ey) to get Seneschal, you have been ripped off. And the person who sold it to yo
u has broken all manner of copyrights (not just mine, but, more importantly, TSR
Inc's copyright's of Birthright which specifically state that no money can be m
ade through their trademarks, etc without their express, written permission!).
Please ask me before you make Seneschal available at any other Websites. I can't
imagine why I would say no and I would to have an idea where it is going!
Thanks for downloading Seneschal. I hope you enjoy using it!