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Abdul Alhazred
post Aug 9 2011, 02:06 AM
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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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Fyndhal
post Aug 9 2011, 01:48 PM
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QUOTE (Abdul Alhazred @ Aug 8 2011, 09:06 PM) *
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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nylanfs
post Aug 17 2011, 03:44 AM
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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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nylanfs
post Aug 19 2011, 01:11 AM
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Just bought it. There's a few quirks to it, but on the whole it's pretty solid.
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AJCarrington
post Feb 1 2012, 03:25 PM
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New content due later this month:

Shadowrun Updates

AJC
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Paul
post Feb 1 2012, 04:00 PM
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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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AJCarrington
post Feb 1 2012, 06:12 PM
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(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I guess we all need to set our priorities.

AJC
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TheeGravedigger
post Feb 1 2012, 11:43 PM
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$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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NorthernWolf
post Feb 2 2012, 12:05 AM
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I have it. Its slick. I would say worth it.
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Bigity
post Feb 2 2012, 02:13 PM
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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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nylanfs
post Feb 19 2012, 03:27 PM
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Arsenal, Augmentation and Street Magic just went up for sale for HeroLab.
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Mr. Mage
post Feb 20 2012, 05:01 AM
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QUOTE (Paul @ Feb 1 2012, 12:00 PM) *
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.

You and me both. I'm just fine with the various free ones on this site. Work just fine for me!
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Trigger
post Feb 21 2012, 09:24 AM
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QUOTE (nylanfs @ Feb 19 2012, 11:27 AM) *
Arsenal, Augmentation and Street Magic just went up for sale for HeroLab.


Any word on whether these are included with the SR package, or do they have to be purchased separately?
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Bigity
post Feb 21 2012, 09:45 PM
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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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Brainpiercing7.6...
post Feb 21 2012, 11:39 PM
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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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Bigity
post Feb 22 2012, 02:51 PM
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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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KarmaInferno
post Feb 23 2012, 07:30 AM
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QUOTE (Brainpiercing7.62mm @ Feb 21 2012, 06:39 PM) *
Hell, actually Catalyst should provide that. For free, WITH their fracking books.

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
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Brainpiercing7.6...
post Feb 23 2012, 09:53 AM
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QUOTE (KarmaInferno @ Feb 23 2012, 08:30 AM) *
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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KarmaInferno
post Feb 23 2012, 04:17 PM
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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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Murrdox
post Feb 23 2012, 07:10 PM
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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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cryptoknight
post Feb 23 2012, 07:43 PM
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QUOTE (Murrdox @ Feb 23 2012, 01:10 PM) *
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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Murrdox
post Feb 23 2012, 08:02 PM
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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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cryptoknight
post Feb 23 2012, 09:42 PM
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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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Murrdox
post Feb 24 2012, 05:13 PM
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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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nylanfs
post Feb 25 2012, 06:15 PM
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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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