So who else now has the Hero Lab Character Generator for SR4a? |
So who else now has the Hero Lab Character Generator for SR4a? |
Aug 9 2011, 02:06 AM
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#51
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Target Group: Members Posts: 53 Joined: 19-June 11 From: St. Louis Member No.: 31,741 |
I grabbed Hero Lab from a Loot ! special for 15$ dollars. I was going to use it for Pathfinder until I noticed that it would cost a mint to grab the books I wanted - so I grabbed the SR core set.
So far I'm digging it. Very slick UI and haven't run into any errors yet. The only limitation is not having all the books yet. I'm guessing the pricing will be in the 10 - 15 range. |
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Aug 9 2011, 01:48 PM
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#52
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 423 Joined: 18-August 08 From: Dear lord help me, Maryland Member No.: 16,254 |
I grabbed Hero Lab from a Loot ! special for 15$ dollars. I was going to use it for Pathfinder until I noticed that it would cost a mint to grab the books I wanted - so I grabbed the SR core set. So far I'm digging it. Very slick UI and haven't run into any errors yet. The only limitation is not having all the books yet. I'm guessing the pricing will be in the 10 - 15 range. For Pathfinder, I recommend PCGen. http://pcgen.sourceforge.net/01_overview.php I've been using it for D&D style gaming for at least 10 years. It's still maintained and updated regularly and it's Free! |
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Aug 17 2011, 03:44 AM
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#53
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 366 Joined: 10-November 08 Member No.: 16,576 |
Thanks for that bump Fyndhal! We appreciate it.
And I was going to mention that Lone Wolf first talked about getting a SR character builder about 3 years ago IIRC, but somebody already mentioned that it had been in development for a while so that is covered. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I'm checking out the demo right now, it looks really solid so I'm probably going to pick it up. At least until I get my data hacks done so I can make a SR gamemode and datasets for PCGen. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) It's only been 6 years since I've been working on it, off and on:) |
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Aug 19 2011, 01:11 AM
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#54
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 366 Joined: 10-November 08 Member No.: 16,576 |
Just bought it. There's a few quirks to it, but on the whole it's pretty solid.
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Feb 1 2012, 03:25 PM
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#55
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Moving Target Group: Validating Posts: 151 Joined: 27-August 05 From: MI / USA Member No.: 7,628 |
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Feb 1 2012, 04:00 PM
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#56
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,001 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Michigan Member No.: 1,514 |
It looks nice, but I'm a cheap SOB. I'll stick to free stuff. More money for hookers and blo...I mean books. Yeah, books.
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Feb 1 2012, 06:12 PM
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#57
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Moving Target Group: Validating Posts: 151 Joined: 27-August 05 From: MI / USA Member No.: 7,628 |
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Feb 1 2012, 11:43 PM
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#58
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Target Group: Members Posts: 30 Joined: 16-June 10 Member No.: 18,712 |
$34.99 ? for the 5 books? Yea, I think that's a reasonable price, given the quality of the Pathfinder data sets.
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Feb 2 2012, 12:05 AM
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#59
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Target Group: Members Posts: 32 Joined: 9-January 12 From: Ontario, Canada Member No.: 46,890 |
I have it. Its slick. I would say worth it.
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Feb 2 2012, 02:13 PM
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#60
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,840 Joined: 24-July 02 From: Lubbock, TX Member No.: 3,024 |
Well, can you blame em? The way to do things now is base thing and DLC.
I'll pass, maybe I should send some money to the guy making Chummer instead. |
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Feb 19 2012, 03:27 PM
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#61
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 366 Joined: 10-November 08 Member No.: 16,576 |
Arsenal, Augmentation and Street Magic just went up for sale for HeroLab.
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Feb 20 2012, 05:01 AM
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#62
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 427 Joined: 24-June 09 From: Earth...I hope... Member No.: 17,317 |
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Feb 21 2012, 09:24 AM
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#63
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,468 Joined: 5-December 06 From: Somewhere in the Flooding, CalFree Member No.: 10,215 |
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Feb 21 2012, 09:45 PM
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#64
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,840 Joined: 24-July 02 From: Lubbock, TX Member No.: 3,024 |
Each is a serpate purchase (with some package deals), and they've been up front about that from the start. Can't knock em for that, at least.
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Feb 21 2012, 11:39 PM
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#65
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 873 Joined: 16-September 10 Member No.: 19,052 |
Meh, I still like the spreadsheet best. Even though not everything is correct, at least I can make everything work by myself, even house rules. Chummer has a ton, but not those that I use - so... And a commercial program? Hell, actually Catalyst should provide that. For free, WITH their fracking books. Why do I have to pay AGAIN for the same content, just a little more utility? If the generator came with all the full text of the books, then that would be... sort of ok, but to pay more in the range of about half of what the books cost for a thing you don't really NEED is just too much.
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Feb 22 2012, 02:51 PM
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#66
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,840 Joined: 24-July 02 From: Lubbock, TX Member No.: 3,024 |
Well, I can see a smaller outfit not wanting to pay programmers etc to keep a product up to date.
FASA sure never supplied a generator though, and the ones from the other big sytem have never been all that great either, and if I recall correctly, you had to pay for or have some kind of insider subscription anyway. But yes, having to purchase modules for each 'core' rule book, much less anything put out after the generator was released is a sore spot for many I'd imagine. |
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Feb 23 2012, 07:30 AM
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#67
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Old Man Jones Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 4,415 Joined: 26-February 02 From: New York Member No.: 1,699 |
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Feb 23 2012, 09:53 AM
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#68
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 873 Joined: 16-September 10 Member No.: 19,052 |
Right. And what exactly is their incentive to do that? Sorry, a little bitter. Working retail right now and have run into far too many customers who want free stuff. -k How about to provide a modern roleplaying system? I mean books are so 2011... IF they license a commercial program - at least in conjunction with disallowing free, user made ones - it should be provided with the books. As is, I don't really care. (And right back at you: A little bitter. Been a customer all my life and have run into far too many money grabbing companies that provide barest value for money, and still keep raising prices or blatantly abuse their market position. Yes I know the whole not NEEDING to buy stuff. Guess what, very often I don't, except far too many people still do.) |
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Feb 23 2012, 04:17 PM
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#69
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Old Man Jones Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 4,415 Joined: 26-February 02 From: New York Member No.: 1,699 |
That would require that Catalyst provide significant compensation to the software developer, as nobody works for free.
I don't know if you realize this, but publishing, especially RPGs, is NOT a very profitable business. Your net profits are very thin. So, to provide the software with the books, one of two things must happen: - Either the publisher takes a profit hit, quite possibly to the point where they are LOSING money on each sale. Remember nobody works for free. or - Or they have to raise the price of the books. No business will do something for nothing. Even when you see "free" stuff being added to an offer, it's not really free. It's a calculated risk - the business is betting that the increased sales from the bonus stuff will more than compensate for the added production cost. In the case of Shadowrun, I would strongly think that including free software with the books would NOT increase sales enough to cover the cost of developing the software. Simple fact is that Shadowrun is a tiny market. The small number of purchasers of this brand would mostly buy with or without the software. Therefore, not enough incentive to include such a freebie. The third alternative is for the publisher to just allow a third party purchase a license, letting them develop the software as a separate product. In this scenario, regardless of whether the licensee makes money or not, the publisher gets paid. If you were running this business, which option would be most appealing to you? -k |
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Feb 23 2012, 07:10 PM
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#70
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 170 Joined: 7-March 08 Member No.: 15,752 |
As a GM, I just have to say that Hero Lab for Shadowrun is EXTREMELY useful. I'm using this more than any other game supplement.
Hero Lab lets you work out of "Portfolios" which store multiple "Heroes" including those Heroes' minions, vehicles, etc. So what I've done is develop a "Master" Portfolio for my game which contains the Heroes for all my characters. Then, I create secondary Portfolios for every major "Scene" that the Heroes are going to be in. For example, there might be a planned scene that takes place in a bar with a Mr. Johnson meet. I'll create a Portfolio for the bar which contains the Bartender, the Bouncers at the door, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Johnson's security detail, along with anyone else important at the location I think the players will run into. If the players start trouble, I can import the combat participants from the Bar portfolio into the Master portfolio, and use Hero Lab's combat tracker to track injuries and ammunition for the fight. Then I can save that Master Portfolio, and the stats are all saved up for next playing session. This is GREAT for keeping track of how much Edge my players have used, and their ammunition and injuries between playing sessions. So far the new supplement books are really well implemented, but some of the more advanced things that you could do aren't there. Like you can't have a Spirit possess someone, etc. It's $30 for Hero Lab and $35 for the bundle of all the supplement books. Not bad in my opinion, but I'm not sure if I'd buy it if I was only a Player and not a GM. |
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Feb 23 2012, 07:43 PM
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#71
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 697 Joined: 18-August 07 Member No.: 12,735 |
It's $30 for Hero Lab and $35 for the bundle of all the supplement books. Not bad in my opinion, but I'm not sure if I'd buy it if I was only a Player and not a GM. I bought HL for D&D 4e because Character Builder went online only. I still pay for my insider account, but the character count limit with the online model wasn't enough for me, and I needed something that works when I'm not on the internet too. I bought SR4 for HL when it was released and posted my post about it here that started this thread. In January I did a little freelance for Lone Wolf and added some of the Arsenal content. I have since purchased the data compilation package. Do I think it's worth it as a player? Oh god yes. I'm personally at the point where if I maintain characters for an RPG, they must be maintained digitally. I no longer want to look at my handwriting from last week and pencil and pen marks and whatnot on a hand maintained sheet. I prefer commercial software. I honestly never though of using it as a GM tool like that. If I ran a home game it would probably work better. Mostly I use it for my missions characters. I've gotten several friends to pick it up. If we just played missions at a home game, I think that would rock for the GM (we rotate that around) I've known you could do that, but I never thought to try. Awesome. |
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Feb 23 2012, 08:02 PM
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#72
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 170 Joined: 7-March 08 Member No.: 15,752 |
Here's another really cool thing. I created a "Generic NPC" Portfolio that I can use for unplanned events. I can create quick characters for bar patrons, drug dealers, businessmen, bouncers, random gang members, street toughs, street shamans, etc.
Whenever my players do something weird and unexpected, I have the stats for the relevant NPC right there without having to flip through a book or PDF files. Also, I don't have to re-create the "Ork Security Doorman" everytime I have a bar scene. I can just import the same Ork (or multiple versions of him if there are more than one) from the Portfolio to the scene that I need. If these Orks at this particular club are different somehow from the standard template (let's say they're working at a Yakuza club and I want them to have Katanas) that takes less than a minute to modify. So basically I have a "Black Book" of NPCs available for any situation I can think of ahead of time. Oh, and it makes Spirits SOO much easier to deal with now, especially now that Street Magic is implemented. Now when a player or an NPC summons a Spirit, I don't have to look it up in the main rulebook to try and remember what powers it comes with, and what its stats are compared to its Force. I just create it in Hero Lab, and it takes like 5 mouse clicks. Boom, instant Force 5 Spirit of Man with whatever optional power I want for him. |
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Feb 23 2012, 09:42 PM
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#73
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 697 Joined: 18-August 07 Member No.: 12,735 |
Can those of us using HL get you to put the files up somewhere? I think a lot of us would love to borrow your work (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
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Feb 24 2012, 05:13 PM
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#74
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 170 Joined: 7-March 08 Member No.: 15,752 |
I can probably swing something like that. I spent last night going through some of the ones I've made and fleshing them out a bit. I'm also trying to make sure the "Generic" NPCs don't use anything from Arsenal, since I think they'll be more useful in case people have not chosen to purchase the Supplement books add-on for Hero Lab.
I've customized my Data Set a little bit too so I just have to test and make sure loading them into vanilla Hero Lab won't produce errors. Most of these NPCs are very on the "light" side. No Knowledge Skills, and only skills that a GM would typically need them to have. Basic equipment is usually left out, other than a Commlink, which I try to make sure to include for everyone, just in case. |
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Feb 25 2012, 06:15 PM
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#75
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 366 Joined: 10-November 08 Member No.: 16,576 |
Talk to CeaDawg on the HL SR forum, he's trying to assembly a character repo also
http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=19035 |
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