D&D Starter Set (5E)
 

Not sure if this topic's been discussed or not, I couldn't find it. With the arrival of the starter set on July 15th, as well as character creation rules free and downloadable at the same time (in PDF format), I was wondering if we'll see Hero Lab for Dungeons & Dragons (5E) around that time as well? I've messed around with Hero Lab for the Pathfinder Beginner Box and the Hero Lab Demo, but D&D is really my game.

Hi there,

Unfortunately without knowing what licensing terms (if any) Wizards makes available for publishers like us and D&D5, we can't answer this one way or the other. Even with the character creation rules for D&D Next being free, if they're not licensed in a similar way to the d20 and Pathfinder reference documents, we won't be able to provide Hero Lab implementations of those rules. :(

We're waiting to find out more about Wizards' plan for licensing D&D5 - when we do, we'll be able to provide more clarity here. Until then, it's possible that users could put together they're own data files for D&D5 using the Hero Lab authoring kit, but unfortunately we'll be unable to.

Hope this helps!

Just wondering if you are already in contact with them over this and do you have a time frame of when you expect to hear back if that is the case? I am already building a world in Realm Works and wanted to use the new rules so creating this system from scratch with the authoring system would take away from what I need to be doing.

Also assuming Wizards gives you a greenlight how long would it be before we saw a data file created by LoneWolf?

Just bumping this up hoping to get a clearer picture on the above questions.

thanks

This Newspost makes me worry if Hasbro is going to license DnD Next IP to anybody else.

Or I might just have missed the "Welcome LWD" News post on the Wizards site.
:(

Sorry for the shameless bump but hoping the Devs may answer this before the weekend. If it is going to be a minimum of a year or two or maybe more then figuring out how to use the authoring kit will be a necessity unfortunately.

Thanks for pinging us. We've spoken to them about support, but we don't have anything to share at the moment. If we're able to support it, we'll definitely share on our website and in our newsletter. I know that's not a terribly exciting or informative answer, but that's honestly where things stand. :(

As for how long it would take to create data files, that really depends on what is included in the publisher's license and the amount of content to input. It could be a few months or something longer.

I hope that helps.

That is a different company.

Hi Liz,

Thanks for responding and letting us know a bit more. Good to know that you are in talks with them and hopefully they will give you an answer soon :)

I guess Hero lab is out for 5th Edition since WOTC announced something called "Project Morningstar" which is said to be a character generator and program that will have the books in it digitally.

Are people still playing D&D? I swore off it with the 4th edition rules. I also heard that someone from Paizo claimed that 4th edition was the most effective marketing tool for Pathfinder.

HA! That is true! 5th Edition was released this week. It seems to be a vast improvement. I think of 4th Edition like Metallica's ST.Anger album. Pretend it doesn't exist.

Or Windows ME?

Exactly!

I am sure there is a market for D&D 5e, but the size is in question.

For myself and my entire gaming group, we left WotC with the release of 4e to Paizo and Pathfinder, and have not looked back. Not only do I like PF better then D&D (yeah yeah just tweaked 3.5 rules, but they are better!), Paizo is 10 times the better publisher, and they have kept alot of crap creep out of their products that WotC did not (2nd edition was terrible, out went balance and quality for the next fast buck). Plus each new printing updated PDF sales? A concept I asked WotC for years and years and nada, sorry WotC, you failed me the gamer and Paizo pickup the dropped ball and ran to the goal line. My gaming table will unlikely ever be shared with D&D again, been a long run from D&D basic to 3.5,and it takes alot to get an old fart like me to change.

LWD and Paizo have such a great working relationship, there is no way I will leave that for what ever half baked crap WotC can put out, I remember their player Gen crapware product, never again. If it don't work with Hero Lab, I am not interested.

In the immortal words of Kosh "They are a dying game system, we should let them pass."

I still play 3.5 over pathfinder, as many people do. as far as ignoring a game if its not in hero lab, i guess thats a nice commitment, but id never go that route. too many good games that id never play if i did that.

and to be honest, there are things about 5th edition i like. i wont be switching to it, but its actually a very good thing for the hobby, in my opinion.

you want a simple system out there to get new people/kids to join, and then have a more complicated system later on. thats what made D&D so succesful for so long anyway. otherwise the "dying" thing will be the hobby as a whole.

Everyone, this thread is about adding 5th edition to Hero Lab. This is not the appropriate place for comments about any edition and what editions should be played.

My group is the same way for the most part. We've all been playing since 1st Edition AD&D up thru 3.5. I ran a 4th Edition Dark Sun game for a bit but the system was so dumbed down that, as experienced players, we got bored and gave up on it. Our current game is a 3.5 Ravenloft campaign. We're also gearing up for a Pathfinder Skull & Shackles game next month. No one in my group even wants to entertain 5th Edition. I'm picking up the PHB because I want to see the improvements the developers have brought about. Ultimately, its a waste of my fifty bucks.

Sorry, Mathias. We posted at the same time. Back on topic.

This is what I was talking about:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...gstar-Revealed

I would buy 5th Edition D&D for Hero Lab if that were to happen someday.

EK

Unless someone here has the initiative to create it using the Authoring kit then I highly doubt we will ever see it. WOTC has chosen another company to make a program exactly like HL for 5th Edition.

WOTC has a pretty horrible track record when it comes to software (stemming all the way back the the "character creator" that was included in 3.0 books. We shall see.

I have no doubt that if enough people end up playing 5e, there will be a community supported system in Hero Lab for it - but you won't find anything 'official'.

So far there hasn't been any Open licensing on 5th. The OGL for 4th didn't emerge from WotC until 4e was dead production-wise. We might be waiting awhile. It is likely a community data set will be necessary if this system is to happen in hero lab.

I would be very sad if I could not use HeroLab with 5th. I love HeroLab and do not see myself buying into their Morningstar all in one roduct. I have been burned twice by WotC's digital efforts. I would rather stick to pen and paper if I could not use HeroLab.

Started my 5th ed. game this weekend, and yeah, I really wish there was HeroLab support for 5E. +1 for hoping this happens.

If those tactics really upset you, why buy 5e anyway?

Cant speak for Dafrca - but it doesnt sound like like Dafrca feels they are "tactics", just that they dont do good digital products. I also dont think digital products, or the lack thereof is a reason to play or not play a Pen and Paper RPG.

Do I wish that it worked with HeroLab - of course. Am I going to boycott a game because it doesnt have a license for it? Nope. I play plenty of other games that dont.

Personally, I have other issues that I dont like WOTC, but I actually think, so far, that their 5e is a not bad product, and as a whole will be good for the hobby.

I bought 5E personally because the wife wanted to as well. I too have been burned by WotC and their poor software when it comes to character creation systems. I have to say Morningstar is something I am not really looking forward to with their software knowing full well it is going to be subscription based. (based again on WotC's track record). So Fuzzy you wanted an explanation from him, you are getting one from me.

I want it for Hero Lab because I hate WotC's software practices. I have a lot of issues with WotC in general. I have been a gamer now for 40 years with D&D. I have worked for both TSR and WotC in one form or another and I quit on my own terms. Fortunately I am glad I am not part of the engine that they have going now and their lack of a good customer service like another company I know.

My main point was that Paizo's policies are so much more friendly, which is the main reason I am going to stick to them. The game system is not the most important part of an RPG, so if I can play one that most freely lets me use it however i choose (Hero Lab, online documentation, etc), then i will continue to do so. People who complain about WotC, yet still buy the products, are WHY they haven't changed their ways.

Fuzzy; you clearly have read so much more into my post than is there.

I feel a company can make a bad product once in a while or fail to maintain a marginal one and not be bad. They can have a particular line that I believe is not good and still not be a bad company.

Paizo has produced some products I love and some I dislike. The fact that I disliked some of Paizo's products, per your way of thinking, should stop me from buying any more of their products. Is this really what you think?

As Mirtos said, and was right, I don't feel WotC is good at digital products. Both of their last two attempts at a character generation program has failed in my opinion. If they were really smart they would admit digital is not their strong suit and work with an existing product that has stood the test of time, like HeroLab. But that is just my opinion of course. ;)

I was inferring that what you did not like (and this is partly coming from the tone of the thread in general, not just your post) was their licensing, leading to an inability for 3rd parties to make/release tools for their ruleset. Somewhat draconian licensing is something they apply company wide, not really restricted to a particular product, which is why I recommended simply going to another publisher.

Its my belief, that to make a product, that is supposed to be a storytelling tool, and then limit the scope of what can be done with those tools, is pretty contradictory.

The Hero Lab issue for them, I feel, is one of pride, more than actual business acumen. I feel many at WotC see the very close (near official) relationship between Hero Lab and Pathfinder, and feel that to connect themselves to the same 3rd party tool would somehow validate what they see as Paizo's 'theft' of their 3.5 gaming system (even though it was their open license that allowed it). Even if WotC could get more money in licensing DnD5 to Lone Wolf than they could get from their own in-house solution, I don't think they'd do it.

For those of you who want to see Hero Lab support for D&D 5E, your best course of action is to POLITELY and publicly (e.g. on their forums), let Wizards know of your desires. If there is enough demand, they may just see fit to give their players what they want. It certainly wouldn't hurt to ask. :)

Partly true, but not getting in to a debate about WotC's policies and customer service issues. This thread was started for D&D 5th Ed for Hero Lab.. not for debating WotC's issues in here. So lets put it to rest now :)

Fuzzy please don't speculate on what is on another companies mind and what they do or do not want to do. As Rob mentioned lets go to their forums and try and get them to let Lone Wolf support 5E through Hero Lab. Though I do warn everyone... you will have a negative response from a lot of people there. Be prepared. I have spoken out about Hero Lab and wanting it for Hero Lab :)

Unfortunately, the lone wolf forums are about the only system agnostic board where this type of thing CAN be discussed. Bringing it up on either Paizo's or WotC's forums result in being trampled upon by one side or the other. About the only other gaming centric forum I can think of is Giant In the Playground, and they haven't even figured out that Pathfinder is different than DnD 3.5 yet.

I also wrote a polite letter asking if they would be allowing Lone Wolf to add 5th ed to their stable of supported games. I have not heard back and to be honest do not expect to, but I figure a letter does sometimes find it's way to the right people. :)

WotC/Hasbro kind of dropped the ball in digital tool outsourcing last edition. They had outsourced the character builder to another company, along with the dm tools. They promised us 3d dungeon tiles and designs for running the game, but somewhere along the line they had a falling out with the company they outsourced it to. We ended up with their character builder as a result. I had to use Hero Lab after their builder went "online only" because their online builder crashed repeatedly. Hero Lab was a necessary evil in 4e, no one in my group wanted to write out all their powers by pen and paper. It killed the game.

I wish they would just License Hero Lab, if they can outsource writing of modules to Kobold Press (who also writes content for Pathfinder), I can't see why they wouldn't just license hero lab. WotC/Hasbro's track record on software hasn't been good. But this is the same company that decided to just throw four previous editions into a blender and call it 5th edition for fear of alienating anyone rather than producing a new edition and taking risks. I hope if this edition doesn't sell well that Mike Mearls gets the axe and that they bring in new talent (hopefully someone with experience). If you really want them to license hero lab, go write to them about it. You can sit here hoping for a license or go over to WotC's forum and raise a stink about it. If you get enough people petitioning WotC they might actually listen.

So I went to the WotC forum and started a thread. I asked real nice if there was any information regarding HeroLab being able to have 5th edition in the program. After 10 days I only had one person post saying they would like it too. :(

I hoped they might take notice if the thread pulled losts of "me too" posts but two posts in 10 days means the thread will be ignored for sure.

Gong to be honest. One of the reasons you might not be getting as much traction is the simplicity of 5e. A lot of people might be thinking that software isn't as much a necessity for it as compared to pathfinder or 3.5 or even 4e because of its simplicity. Eventually, as book creep eventually takes over, that mig change.

The only way to generate buzz about it over there would be to tell people you created a thread there. Share the thread here with interested parties and it might speed things up.