What changes/enhancements would you like to see?
 

Greetings!
We are looking at making some changes to Hero Lab to better support Savage Worlds. So, I'm soliciting feedback on what folks think should be added or changed to allow Hero Lab to be able to be used for more of the Savage Worlds settings. A partial list of what we're looking at is:

1. The Fantasy Companion book
2. The Super Powers Companion book
3. Adding the capability to support a second Faction
4. Adding functionality to better support Derived Traits related to Rank
5. Updating it with the changes in Savage Worlds Deluxe

What we're looking for is feedback on what else Hero Lab could do in order to make it more useful for Savage Worlds players. What kinds of things would you like to see?

Ron
(CapedCrusader)

I'd like a couple of campaign options that you can set, such as increasing the number of starting Edges and the option to override/ignore Background Edges restrictions so that they can be taken after character creation. From a quick glance at the Savage Worlds Deluxe edition it looks like the restriction on Background Edges has been lifted so my second request may be moot if you're going to support the Deluxe edition.

Regards,

Freefall

For my part, it looks like you're nailing the two things I would most like to see:
1. Support for Savage Worlds Deluxe
2. Ability to purchase the Fantasy Companion

Given how vital new edges are in customizing a setting, you will want to ensure that doing so is as easy as possible (I have no idea how hard it is now; haven't tried).

Is SWD going to "replace" EE, or will there be a toggle?

Update the Languages to make them more user friendly.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by more user-friendly. Could you be more specific?

HL needs the ability to adjust the number of language slots a PC gets.
Pulse it would be great to be able to add user defined Languages.
For example for a fantasy game I have Common, Orc, and Zoolander as languages. It would be great to be able to select those languages with out having to type them every time.

As far as modifying the number of languages a character gets, there's an Edge in Hellfrost called Linguist that allows someone to have their Smarts in languages rather than half Smarts. I can show you how to code an Edge that will allow you to modify the number of Languages a player gets now, and you can create an Edge that you can give to either a single hero or the entire party for free. The code in the Eval Script looks like this to add a single language:

#resmax[resLang] = #trait[attrSma] + 1
#resleft[resLang] = #trait[attrSma] + 1

To add more, just change the number being added in both equations. To make it Smarts instead of half Smarts, use this:

#resmax[resLang] += #trait[attrSma]
#resleft[resLang] += #trait[attrSma]

The timing on either of these two Eval Scripts needs to be Phase:Final Priority:2000. I've attached a .user file with an example. Will that cover your needs as far as number of languages?

Having a list of pre-set languages is a bit more difficult. Since Savage Worlds is such an open-ended system, it's not easy to come up with a fixed list of languages. Each game would have it's own set. If we set it up to use a fixed set of languages from a list built using the editor, it could force everyone to set up a list in the editor and not all users are comfortable with that. I have an idea or two about how this could be handled, but it's not a sure thing.

Keep those ideas coming!

- I have to put in a big vote to update to the Deluxe edition. This would be by far my number 1 must have to kep Hero Lab even viable for SW.
- Also, the Fantasy Companion would be a great addition, especially if you could get the race creator in there. I'd love to see some of the Pulp Edges added in as well from the Pulp Toolkit.
- A few more custom options would certainly be great, like the ability to add an extra Edge (for free, like can be gained in Slipstream with the use of the Heroic rule.)
- Of course I would love to see the official settings added, especially Slipstream so that we would have some Sci-Fi options.

Order of preference for me:
1) Update to SW Deluxe
2) Support for Realms of Cthulhu (this should be relatively easy, perhaps doing stat changes first then support for 1890s, 1920s, modern equipment second)
3) Support for Fantasy Companion

Add the super power books, Deadlands, and Space 1889 and you got my wish list.

Alrighty, so to compile things a bit...looks like the bulk of the people want

SW Deluxe
Supers Companion
Fantasy Companion
Pulp Toolkit

RoC (In Progress)
Deadlands (There is a Deadlands Reloaded User file up at this site. www.cheeseweasel.net. Also check out this thread)
Space 1899
Slipstream (I have heard rumors that someone is working on this)


Custom options for
- extra Edge
- override/ignore background edge restrictions

I agree with Crusader's thought on Languages. While it would be a lot easier just to select the languages you want, each of those languages would need to be entered in the editor...for each setting. If you are talking a modern, real-world setting, the list is MUCH longer than 10 languages (it's over 7000).

It might be possible to take care of those last two already.

Extra Edge: You can add an extra Edge on the Personal tab with Permanent Adjustments.

Override Prerequisites: Open the Editor, and create a duplicate of the Edge you want to set up without prereqs. Remove the prereqs from the duplicate. Then bootstrap the original Edge to it, and open the Tags menu in the bootstrap item and add:
Group ID: thing
Tag ID: skipprereq
This will cause it to skip all prereqs. Then on the duplicate, click on Omit from Printout and the printed character sheet will only show the bootstrapped Edge. Voila!

The main reason I wrote it out this way was to show how to skip pre-requisites. Actually, once you've created the duplicate without the prereqs, you're done. Just choose that version.

strange coincidence....you posted this yesterday....I read it this morning...and needed it this afternoon :)

Rob one time mentioned adding an Adjustments tab to the Editor for adding such things as extra edges, extra hits/wounds, etc. Is this still in the works?

I'll check on it...

Suggested Change/Enhancement.

Currently, Arcane Backgrounds are selected through the powers, to determine which powers are useable by which arcane backgrounds. The issue with this, is every time a new setting book comes out with a new arcane background, all the powers need to be copied, with only the new AB selected in them.

Suggestion, would be to change how this is done, where, through the Arcane Background, the applicable powers are selected. This would reduce the time needed to copy all the core powers into a user defined file for a new setting, just to add in a new Arcane Background.

Sundered Skies Companion has been added in. Unfortunately I had to integrate the files together. There are still some issues I am trying to work out. If anyone is interested in the files, I'm more than happy to share them.

If it's not too late to add a request...

It would be very helpful to have the option of entering a custom Edge or Hindrance.

That way users could use HeroLab for new published settings with unique Traits without having to wait for someone to create a data file for them.

Have you seen the Editor? New Edges and Hindrances can be entered there.

I was going to post some suggestions, but realized I may be way too late to this party if the coding is in its final stages. I'll wait for the new release, then comment with an eye toward future enhancements.

Are you planning on having Edges, Magic, and Weapons from the various setting books available in the core pack for SW, or will each setting be a separate add-on?

I have yet to successfully use it to make any changes. Whatever skill is required to operate it is sadly beyond my means. :o

Nestor, in the Editor, if you go to the Help menu at the top, there are a series of tutorials you can work through to help you get your feet under you with how to work it.

I would suggest not changing what is already there, as whenever there is a new update, the update will overrwrite your changes.

Instead, add new content by creating a new data file (File>New Data File). If you want to modify an Edge in existance, you would then create a copy of that Edge. First, navigate to the Edge tab along the top of the editor, then along the left side towards the bottom, clock the New(Copy) button and find the Edge you want to copy.

Actually modifying your revised Edge or creating a new one will take some doing, and will be specific to what you want it to do. If you post some more specific questions, like "How would I create an Edge that is like Berserk, but gives a +3 Fighting and a -3 Parry?", we'd be happy to help you.

I'll give you a hint, one of the first things I'd tell you to do on that specific one would be to make a copy of the Berserk edge and take a look at how it is built, and how it functions.

Most likely Edges, Magic and Weapons from the setting books will be in setting specific files. I'm not sure how Crusader has things worked out, but that is how I would do it.

Thanks for the offer. :)

One of my first obstacles was figuring how to actually open a file for editing, since every time I tried it told me I couldn't modify it. And the way the instructions describe it, you copy the file then open it, which didn't work.

But I can see where starting with a fresh file could work. :)

yeah copying a file will copy everything in the file....and the program will freeze up seeing two copies of everything. That's why everything needs a unique name.

I would like support for the new Earthdawn Savage Worlds Edition as well as the Agents of Oblivion setting. Those are my big wish list items there.

Custom Character Sheets
 

I would love to see new custom character sheets, or at least grab the XSLT files used to create the current ones, so I can build my own.

With Regards,
Flynn

I just picked up the SW license for my Ghostbusters campaign. :) So my request (besides finishing the Horror Companion dataset) would be an option to print out a "training wheels" style character sheet for your character.

( http://www.peginc.com/freebies/SWcor...ngWheelsCS.pdf )

-The Gneech :cool:

Well, request #1 is very close to ready. It's in testing now.

#2 would take more work...

Here's something crazy...

If you take the time to build your own setting, why not have the ability to add your own custom logo to the loading page as well? I've got four Savage Worlds mods and IF I'm in a hurry (like right before we start for the evening and someone has forgotten their character and I need to print one...) having the custom logo might keep me from loading the wrong setting... twice...

Not crazy at all. And already doable. :)

Each instance is stored in its own folder. Within that folder is a file named logo.bmp, which is the logo image displayed by Hero Lab on the Select Game form. If you replace this file with your own logo, *please* make sure to keep the dimensions the same as the original file.

Hope this helps...

Thanx Rob... Found it, did it and it looks great.

One thing I'm wondering, though... does that custom graphic go with the file when you export it, or does it need to be sent as a separate item then installed by the recipient?

Sorry for not seeing this until now. I monitor the forum via email, and edits to posts (like the addition of this question) are never sent via email. Fortunately, John spotted this and flagged it to me. :)

I'm 99% sure that it does not get included by the HLExport tool, and a quick test seems to confirm that. I'll ask Colen (the HL guru) about this to see what can be done in the future.

Hopefully I didn't just overlook this but, is there any way to have herolab calculate the combat rating of a character / npc in savage worlds?

And I apologize if this has already been addressed or asked, I did a quick search but I have the bad habit of overlooking things...

I'll see what I can do, but there's a subjective component that will be hard to program for. It stipulates that "A wizard who typically uses the bolt power averages a standard bolt attack of 2d6". Having Hero Lab know what attack a character "typically" uses will be difficult, and then for a variable damage spell like Bolt, there's no way for Hero Lab to know how much damage a hero typically does.

The rest of it is do-able, but the Attack part of that equation is tough. There might be a way to create a place to enter the amount of their typical damage manually, and then it could be changed if the hero changed tactics. Otherwise we'd have to build a whole infrastructure to determine which things could be considered "attacks" for CR purposes, and then there would still need to be a way to deal with variable effects like Bolt.

No, it had not been addressed yet, you are the first person that has asked about it. So no apologies necessary! Your search told you true.

That's a good point...

If I were implementing it myself I'm probably just work around that by making a magic attack weapon in which I could specify the damage and then have HL use the damage value for the currently equipped weapon.

But that's pretty much a hacked solution...

I look forward to hearing any further ideas you have and obviously I understand if it would require too many changes to support.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

I think my big request right now would be a way to do a conditional bootstrap in code. Admittedly with things that are basically the addition of an Edge or Hindrance you can try to code in the effect of that Edge or Hindrance in a conditional statement, but some things just can't work that way (like bootstrapping a skill or otherwise making the Edge/Hindrance show up on the character sheet in the usual spot.)

EDIT: I think we have a better idea from a post by Mathias about why this specific thing above would not be workable in HL. So please ignore it. We need to work from boostrapping things and then conditionally ignoring them rather than being able to conditionally add them.

I'd also second that a combat rating calculator might be nice. I would only add that it doesn't have to get too down in the weeds on those calculations, though, as a ballpark figure would probably be good enough.

Way down on the pie-in-the-sky wish list would be for a nice way to modify the printable character sheet. Custom output is ok, if more than a bit obscure, but even with some XSL tools I'd been messing around with it has been tough to set-up anything decent looking with the information I wanted to put on the sheets. Definitely not something I think is even remotely easy to put into something like Hero Lab but you did ask for what we'd like to see in the program, after all. ;)

EDIT: For the character sheet part of this request I didn't realize that we already had that available by just taking the dossiers.dat and sheet*.dat files and changing them into .user files. I used that method to make an Extended Character Sheet (just search the forum if you might be interested) using that method. And many thanks to Mathias for pointing that out!

Support for different Wild Die than d6
 

At least one variety of SW (Daring Tales of the Sprawl, from TripleAce) uses different wild die for different traits/abilities--such as a d12 for the ability, with a d10 for the wild die, while d6 remains the "default" wild die for everything else.

I don't see any way to make a .HL file that could possibly support that...but then I am no expert at the HL editor.

Support for Cyber Ware equipment

To agree with the last post

With Interface Zero 2.0 coming out and other near future campaign settings there should be a way to add bionic equipment just like you do with magic items in a fantasy campaign.

We looked at Interface Zero, but their rather complex cyberwear design system would require a whole new set of base code to support, on the level with Magic Items for the Fantasy Companion. Unfortunately, it's quite a lot for just a Setting.

For Daring Tales all that's really needed is the Wild Die change in the short description. Since changes in the Wild Die are not tracked anywhere this would cover it. In order to go any farther, we'd have to make a change to display the current Wild Die for each trait, and since this is the only Setting that does that, again it's an awful lot of change for a single Setting.