LWD-PR's page

A major new release of Hero Lab is now available for immediate download. The ENnie Award winning character management tool continues to evolve and bring even more capabilities to players and GMs alike.

Hero Lab V3.6 marks the initial release of data files for the Call of Cthulhu game system from Chaosium. This update also incorporates major enhancements for the Pathfinder RPG, including the playtest classes from the upcoming Advanced Players Guide. Numerous new features have been added to the product in general, significant performance improvements have been implemented, and the data files for every game system have been updated with new capabilities.

Discover for yourself why gaming groups around the globe are standardizing on Hero Lab. From its extensible character creation to robust in-play support, Hero Lab offers gamers an array of features that simplifies bookkeeping and keeps the focus on the game. Fight the monsters, not the tools.

For more information, visit our website at www.wolflair.com.

Not to be argumentative, but I would be careful of the assumption that 3 pirated copies per legit copy meant 3 lost sales. There are people who simply won't buy a product. They'll pirate, but not buy. I would personally guess that while you saw a bump in sales, it wasn't a 3 fold bump. Probably closer to 50 to 60 % at most. Just based on the studies I've read. Which is still a good bump. Just I have a degree in math, and statistics like that always leap out at me. :) The old 'Statistics and Damned Statistics' line. :)

Sorry, I should have included the actual results of the change in the my post. You are correct that the jump wasn't a full 3x, since there are always going to be folks who won't ever buy. However, the jump was more than 2x. So the licensing change converted us from a company that relied on consulting work to prop up a fiscally unsuccessful product to one with a comfortable profit. In fact, that profit is what funded the development of Hero Lab. And then we just brought some of the cool Hero Lab features back into Army Builder, so both products are benefiting. :-)

Unfortunately, that's true. And it's one of the reasons I'm nervous about buying anything with DRM. As I said earlier, for me, the integrity issue is on the other foot. I have to trust in not just the integrity of the company today, and it's employees and CEO today, but also trust in the integrity of the CEO and employees tomorrow, and next week, and a year from now. And the way things are going in corporate circles, that's not a fun leap of faith to take. It's sad that you have to try to get a legally binding promise from a company not to jerk you around before you can trust them, and equally sad that company's making a good product feel forced into alienating potential customers to stay in business. Kind of scares you for what things will be like in 50 years. :(

It is definitely a sad spiral that we are now in, which doesn't bode well for the future. :-(

One thing I was wondering--will you support the Open Game Content from other Pathfinder products? I spent the last week getting the feats and traits pulled out of mine and put into the XLS file. I'll continue doing so as new products come out, so I've got a continually up-to-date Campaign rule set as well as core rules. My goal is to also intergrate the prestige classes, equipment, magic items, and spells. However, this is all in a spreadsheet and I do like the "campaign management" aspect Hero Lab seems to support. I expect this would be an expansion pack cost or some such, but if you do plan to support something like this I'm pretty much a guaranteed sale.

Will we support it? Yes. Will we include it? Unknown at this time.

The real question here is whether there is enough demand for the open content to justify us spending the time adding it all. If so, then we'll add it. Otherwise, we'll provide the ability for users to add whatever content they want via the Editor. In that event, what will most likely occur is that a collection of users will enter the content and share it, just like they are currently doing for d20 content. The added benefit of it being done by users is that it would all be free. :-)

Are there any plans to develop a portable version of the software? It would be much easier for me to have the program run from a flashdrive that that I take to/from work, travel, etc.

We're considering something like that, but we haven't begun work on anything yet. It would need to be a technology that we can integrate into our current licensing technology, so we're investigating the options.

Part of the licensing agreement that states that if the company ever ceases to support the product, they will release a patch to disable the DRM for their customers. It would have to be not in the license though (since most companies use the 'we can modify this at any time any way we like' verbiage).

That sounds like a pretty reasonable thing to do. We'd never consider that before. I'll talk to the rest of the team about doing something like that.

As an alternative, since it's downloaded, each program could be compiled with the name and information of the purchaser in it (much as the PDF's are 'personalized'), so that the owner of the software is placed on each page printed out by character. This would require some additional work, but then if someone does pirate your software, you know who they are (much as Paizo knows who put their PDF up on bittorrent).

This would entail a fundamental change to how we do things. We currently provide the full product, sans unlock key, as the demo version. By dropping in the unlock key, everything works. Individually branding each copy of the product in this way would require major changes. More importantly, though, it would eliminate our ability to sell the product as a packaged product in stores, which is an important part of our sales model.

Another option would be to modify the software so that if it tries to contact the servers for authentication, but fails, it assumes the authentication servers are off-line, and continues to work normally, but also attempts to contact them at every use anyway, shutting down if it connects and fails to authenticate. This way if the servers ever go down because you are out of business or stopped supporting the product, the owner of the software could continue to use it normally. It would work with your current setup (failing to authenticate after connecting requiring a call to customer support), and would, I believe, give you the best of both worlds. The only 'pirating' at that point would be someone willing to put it on a computer that never connects to the internet. While there may be a few hardcore people out there willing to dedicate a piece of hardware to this, I don't think it's a statistically relevant portion of your potential sales market. And it would give your customers confidence that they will not have a lump of useless code should something untoward happen to the company.

We looked closely at doing something like this. The problem is that this approach has a fundamental piracy exposure. It means that anyone could readily write a loader that merely blocked the check at launch, after which the product would run normally. They don't need separate hardware for it at all. It also puts all the logic into the full product, where it can be readily hacked and unlocked. We used this technique in our V1.x and V2.x releases of Army Builder, and both were hacked quickly. Since we switched to the currently approach seven years ago, none of our products have yet been hacked, which means that the effort required is thus far enough to keep them from doing it.

I applaud you for that, it's nice to see a software company supporting code it wrote. Again, this isn't a direct attack on your company. I think you have what seems to be a very good product, and I wish I felt comfortable buying your product. I really do. But it's not just $30.

Core Software (Pathfinder): $30
SDK Kit : $20
Extra License : $10
SRD Expansion : $20

That's $80 right there, and that assumes I would never buy another expansion pack, which isn't realistic, since the idea of your software is to put out expansions to bring in more revenue. As I understand it, the SDK is required to put in your own custom (read splatbook) data.

The Authoring Kit (or SDK) is solely for users who want create data files from scratch for a completely new game systems. For example, we have users who are creating data files for Legend of the Five Rings, Dark Heresy, and a couple others right now. If you want to add custom content to an existing game system (e.g. Pathfinder or d20), you would utilize the integrated Editor. There is no additional purchase required. So the total cost for Pathfinder, d20, and an extra license would end up being $60.

That being said, you are right. For what you would be planning to purchase, the net cost would be double the standard entry price.

Again, please don't take this as an attack on your company. It is just that as a frustrated consumer, I am so tired of being treated like a thief before I buy something that I've drawn a line in the sand.

I don't blame you for drawing that line, and I definitely don't take your posts as attacks. Far from it. It's valid discussion about issues that I'm sure others here on the forums are also thinking, so it gets those issues in the open.

The primary reason that we've adopted our current licensing mechanism is experience. We actually embedded some tracking information into our last release of Army Builder V2.x, which we knew was being pirated. We wanted to know how many sales we were actually losing. The results were astonishing. It turns out that there were THREE pirated copies in use for every ONE copy that had been purchased. Based on that data, among the gamer population, it's 75% likely that a gamer will be content using pirated software. So we were forced to face the harsh reality that we needed to re-think our philosophy based on the assumption that the majority of gamers are happy to be thieves. :-(

The obvious drawback with this is that honest folks, such as yourself, end up feeling like they are being treated as thieves. I wholly understand that because, at a very basic level, any business that wants to survive is compelled to view its customers that way. It's a very sad state of affairs, but it is the reality we live in with today's society. :-<

My reason for posting was not to deride your company, or to tell you how to run it. It was simply the only way I could tell you how you lost a sale. I do hope your company does well, and perhaps if our desires ever align I can be a happy customer. Your product looks good, very good, and I'm sure your developers are very happy with what they've done.

I appreciate the discussion, as I'm sure you're not the only one who has these sentiments. As with most things in life, it's the rotten apples that spoil it for everyone else, and the restrictions of our licensing approach are no exception. I know that I was shocked to learn the numbers I quoted above, and it forced me to think of everything differently if I wanted the company to survive. So perhaps this explanation will provide some helpful context on why we're doing certain things that could easily feel like an insult to someone with integrity, such as yourself. I hate to say it, but integrity seems to be a quality that is steadily dying out. :-(

A dumb question: Does HeroLab allow one to add new classes/feats/items/spells etc ?

The reason I usually skip any chargen software is that they usually feature only the SRD, and if you want to add in anything extra it's either impossible or requires a PhD degree in programming. What's the status with HeroLab on this issue ?

That is all accomplished via an integrated Editor. Since the Editor is wholly dependent on everything else, it's always the last thing we add. As such, it's not enabled yet within the Pathfinder data files. However, it will be in place with the update scheduled for the end of the next week.

The Editor makes it relatively straightforward to add anything you want in the way of custom content. You can add simple stuff like spells and feats, or even highly complex stuff like classes. You do NOT need to have a PhD in programming to use it, as evidenced by many of our users who are posting on our forums. For example, one is an art teacher who has never programmed anything before.

The Editor works the same for all game systems, except that the specifics are obviously different. If you are interested in seeing how it will work for Pathfinder, I recommend playing around with the d20 System data files. There are tutorials included in the documentation that walk you through the process.

We also have an active community of users on our forums that are adding content to various game systems and sharing it amongst themselves. So you don't necessarily need to add all the content yourself, assuming its from other published works.

Hi, I just downloaded the demo version and Im seeing that some of the descriptions are wrong, for example the decription for Dodge is from the Beta version, and the descriptions of the races refer to skills like spot and listen so im guessing they are from 3.5 although when I select the character race the abilitis I gain are from the PFCR, I probably check more tomorrow I need to sleep now,

No one received advance access to electronic versions of the Pathfinder material. Consequently, our choices were to re-type everything by hand or wait until after PFRPG was released. With only 6 or so weeks to work on the PFRPG data files, we opted for the latter. We'll be getting all the proper descriptions into place for an update by the end of next week. The update will also fix bugs and resolve a few mechanisms that didn't get implemented in time for GenCon.

Im looking for a good character creator program but Im concerned about the DRM issues that were mentioned before I also have 2 laptops and my desktop PC and plan on buying new laptops for my wife and I before the end of the year and my desktop pc get upgrades often so Im concerned that if I buy the program I may be unable to install it again if I change my OS or when I buy my new laptop.

With the purchase, you'll get one license initially, plus access to a free secondary license if you wish it. So that covers 2 of your three computers. To run Hero Lab on the third computer, you would need to purchase an additional secondary license, which is only $10.

If you upgrade the O/S or replace a computer, you can move the license to the new computer. If it's been more than 120 days since the last time you activated the license on a new computer, it will automatically work. If it's less than that, simply contact technical support and they'll modify your license to eliminate the waiting period. The goal with this approach is simply to police it so that a gaming group doesn't just buy one copy and simply install it on everyone's computers, and it's only an issue if you're re-installing the product within a short time window.

If you know you will be upgrading to a new operating system or replacing a computer in less than 120 days, you can contact technical support in advance. That way, the license can be tweaked on our end before you start the re-install of everything - so you can get up and running immediately.

BTW this is def a BETA release of Pf, lots of feats are blank etc, so there is no rush!

The reason that much of the description text is missing is because Paizo elected not to make an electronic version of the Pathfinder content available to anyone prior to release. This meant that we would have had to re-type everything. Now that Pathfinder is out, the electronic version is available, so we can get that content copied across appropriately. We're planning an update to the Pathfinder data files for next week, which should include all the descriptions, bug fixes, etc.

Will the data set selection screen look the same as the data set selection screen on the demo? (Except that I just get to select one data set to keep after I pay?)

The demo version of Hero Lab is the *full* product, except that it lacks the necessary unlock key. When the unlock key is missing, the only features that are disabled are printing and saving. And you can use Print Preview in demo mode to see what the output would look like. So everything will look exactly the same.

Also, when your unlock key grants access to one game system, the other games are accessible in demo mode. This allows you to play with them fully and potentially decide to add more game systems in the future to your license.

Although, I do have 3 machines at the house I would install it on if I had it. My desktop, my laptop (I travel for a living), and my wife's desktop (she plays too). I could just go with my desktop and my laptop, but my wife prefers to use her computer.

For the initial $30 purchase, we provide two licenses, which accommodates the vast majority of users out there. For the uncommon case where a household has more than two computers, we offer additional secondary licenses for $10 apiece, to a maximum of four licenses.

I don't want unlimited machines, but I do want unlimited installations on my machines.

Given the current limitations of what can be achieved on consumer PCs, there is no optimal way of solving this that makes economical sense for a $30 software product. The viable options present difficult tradeoffs, wherein there will always be a number of prospective users unhappy with the results. Our licensing mechanism seems to work well for the vast majority of users, but if you can propose a better solution that also provides reasonable safeguards against piracy (which is rampant among gamers), I'd love to hear it.

It's less about going out of business than just that I have no recourse if they ever change their mind about me using the software. And before you say 'No, they wouldn't do that', NFL did, Microsoft did, Apple has done so, Amazon recently pulled documents off the kindle's other people had bought. Basically, let's say I decide I like version 5.0.5 of the product (or whatever version). And they stop supporting the servers it talks to. I can never get it to work...

I guess we *could* do this. But we haven't so far, and we don't have any plans to change things. Heck, we're still supporting the old V1.x licenses for our Army Builder product, and those licenses were replaced by V2.x nearly *TEN* years ago. So I wholly understand your concerns here, but is it possible that you might be just a tad overly cautious with regards to Hero Lab? Especially for a $30 piece of software?

Is there going to be a Pathfinder option or do we select the D20 option to be able to use the Pathfinder data files?

This product looks to be just what I have been looking for and I already enjoy your Army Builder product. I know you did a quality job with that program so I expect great things from this one.

There is a separate option for Pathfinder. Since Pathfinder already has some distinct differences from d20, and the game will continue evolving in the years to come, we split Pathfinder off from the d20 files. This will allow us to adapt the data files in whatever ways are necessary to evolve with the game, without having to worry about trying to support d20 mechanics as well within the same data files.

Thanks for the kudos on Army Builder. :-) Both Hero Lab and Army Builder share a significant base of common code, so you'll find a lot of similarities between the two products.

Greetings!

We just got back from GenCon last night, and it was an awesome show again this year. Paizo sold a truckload of the new Pathfinder books, and Pathfinder was one of the very few bona fide hits of GenCon this year. We managed to make a nice splash ourselves by having Pathfinder data files available on Thursday. Lots of attendees came up and asked "When will you support Pathfinder?" and we were happy to be able to say "Now!". :-)

Anyways, thanks for you patience on the various questions above. I'll do my best to start answering them now....

On August 13th, Lone Wolf Development will release the eagerly-awaited Pathfinder Roleplaying Game data package for Hero Lab. The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game package allows you to create adventurers and NPCs in the world of Golarion, described in the upcoming "Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook" from Paizo Publishing.

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game data package includes all the races, character classes, spells, feats, magic items, and all the new mechanics introduced by the Core Rulebook, presented in Hero Lab's award-winning user-friendly interface.

Like all of Hero Lab's supported game systems, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game data package allows players to create characters in minutes, verify them with Hero Lab's built-in validation engine, and print out character sheets (or use Hero Lab itself at the game table). GMs can create NPCs, and use the Tactical Console to manage encounters between the players and their foes.

For more information, please visit our website at www.wolflair.com.

(Note - this is an early release of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game data package, so the integrated data file editor, prestige classes, and some other functionality are not yet available. These will be corrected in free updates that will be made available in the weeks after the initial release.)