Are the stand-in characters a replacement for the group license?
 

Some of my players are waiting with their purchase of Hero Lab, since they only play with me as their GM, and there is not that much information out there in regard to the group licence.

Am I correct in that the Stand-In characters are a feature that (in the future) will work next to the aforementioned group license? (In the sense that those are two separate things.)

If so: can you already reveal whether or not players who would like to use the group license feature in the future will definitely have to get their own HLO license as well? (As in: any of the existing 35 dollar ones. Or will there be a 10-ish dollar systemless-HLO license? (I just picked ten because that appears to be the price for HLO without a system's license. I'm not trying to suggest that as a price.))

Stand-in PCs are a completely separate feature from group licensing. We put them in early because it was a smaller scale change that will help many groups give HLO/Campaign Theater a shot in live games.

The plan is that they will work alongside group licenses seamlessly. There will always still be players who want to use 100% pen and paper and not touch technology. So even if the rest of the group is using HLO (with or without a group licence involved), the GM can still represent that player's PC in HLO for the rest of the group.

I don't personally have any final details about group licensing to share (and there have been so many models discussed and refined over the past months that I would not want to cause confusion by talking about a model that has been changed or abandoned). As I usually say, I'm a programmer, not a business guy. :) I'm sure Rob and BJ will make an announcement about how that will work when they have all the details nailed down.

I'm going to be honest with you, this is very, very disappointing. All I get form this is that the group licensing is absolutely no-where. Don't even know how you are going to do it. I have been suckered by this HLO vaporware long enough. Just received my renewal announcement for 3 licenses and I will not be renewing. You guys really need to get you house in order. I seriously hope that Paizo come to their senses and license someone else for PF2 tools because Lone Wolf are doing uptake of the game actual harm.

Did you read their recent news announcement? There was something in there about them launching group licenses soon.

I hate to be 'that guy' but this isn't helpful. The last 'soon' that included an actual date was Campaign Theatre. Let's just agree to say: It isn't here, they want it to be a feature at some point.

Holding your breath is not recommended. My advice to anyone thinking about renewing:

Renew your subscription with the understanding that you are renewing based on the current operating state of HLO and nothing more


Given the inconsistency with release dates and news, then simply renew for the convenience not the future features - or don't renew. I plan on holding until there actually is some form of group services. I imagine most people looking for this functionality are trying to get some feature/functionality/model parity with 5E D&D Beyond and don't want to be stuck in a wonky VTT.