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Lyvean
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 13

Old April 24th, 2016, 08:38 AM
Hi all.

I was a big fan of Masterplan and used extensively for years in our DnD campaings, so Realm Works looks like a great upgrade. I have some questions though and I can't seem to find the answers in the official faqs.

I know that Hero Lab and RW can be connected, but:

a) Does that mean that I can create encounters with simple clicks like it was in Masterplan while using the official 5th edition content from Hero Lab (and the community pack)?

b) Can I have information about the encounters, like lay of land, lighting, terrain, objects while I build them?

c) Do I have to exit RW to run the encounters in Hero Lab?

d) Can I connect RW to Syrinscape?

e) Can I have the players see from their homes what I have made available for the story, characters, etc? Is that the player's edition and do they have to buy it in order to see those things?

And two questions for Hero Labs:

a) Do all the players have to buy the software in order to have access to making their characters? We are party of five. Do we need to buy 5 hero labs plus one for myself as the DM?

b) Can the players maintain their characters online in Hero Lab and level up by choosing feats, items, etc from the included 5th edition modules, a bit like it was with the official online tools in the 4th edition? Can they print those character sheets?

Thank you so much for your patience and any help in advance.
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ich.pdf
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Cologne, Germany
Posts: 46

Old April 24th, 2016, 10:07 AM
Well, I am relatively new to the community, but I will try to answer your questions. The more experienced members will correct me if I am wrong :-) I don't know masterplan, so I can not compare the functionality of masterplan and RW

1.a) You can create the encounters in HeroLab by preparing a portfolio and integrate this into the relevant topic for that part of your adventure. Then you can either open this portfolio in an instance of herolab by simply clicking on it or - if you maintain a PC - portfolio with all the PCs of the party - you can integrate this portfolio into the one running in hero lab. Hero Lab and RW can be run simultaneously.

1.b) I am not sure what you mean. You can have notes on the encounter in Realm Works: Modifiers that apply according to lighting or other environmental conditions. You can flesh out the scene in RW, have a description, text to read to the players, notes for you as GM/DM. What you can not do is using RW s a Virtual Table Top. A few users found workarounds but most of them - and I do, too - will recommend to use a dedicated software for that purpose. Maybe a very basic functionality will be implemented in the future but certainly no dynamic lighting or something like that. I personally don't use VTT anymore. Even for combat, I try to use only descriptions. That really makes imagination more vivid and VTTs can be a horrible slow down in both preparation and actual play. If it gets rough, I have a whiteboard. 20 bucks, and you're good to go :-D

1.c) no, see 1.a)

1.d) Yes, you can save Syrinscape links into realm works and easily start effects and moods from within realm works. This will start syrinscape and the respective sound. I recommend to have syrinscape already open in background - launching the program can cause a little delay. But it's super cool together with RW :-D By the way, Spotify works as well.

1.e) Yes, that is player edition. It is not live, so you have to upload your realm before they can download it. Players are only downloading revealed information. they will have to buy it - or you buy it for them. It is relatively cheap compared to the GM Edition. If you buy it in a bundle for five, you can get it for $ 5 I think. However, there is a web version planned, that is for free but has fewer functions. From the top of my head, players won't be able to take their own notes in the web version..

2.a) Depends. Just for character generation, you could sit all together and use one computer. However, you can purchase additional license keys up to a total of 5. You get 2 with the software right away, and each of the following will be $ 9.99. But each of those keys will have acces to all of the content that you purchased.

2.b) You can maintain your character in HeroLab and use HeroLab as character sheet. However, this would make it necessary for the players to either have one of your keys or a seperate license with the relevant content. I personally print (yes, it is possible) the character sheets for the players from time to time and let them take notes if something changes. Keeps the pen & paper feeling alive :-) And at least for shadowrun, you can add rule summaries for the items and qualities etc, so the player have everything at their fingertips that they need. However, I maintain the characters in Herolab as well and my version is the primary and deciding one in case of conflict. This way, I see better chances to convince them to buy a realm works copy, what is much more important to me.

Hope this helps ^^

Last edited by ich.pdf; April 24th, 2016 at 10:15 AM. Reason: minor amendments
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Lyvean
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 13

Old April 24th, 2016, 11:35 AM
That is a great help, thank you so much. Just to clarify, I can buy the RW and then I can buy five more keys for the rest of the players for the player edition so they can access everything they need to know from their home, after I have uploaded them.

And the same applies for Hero Lab? I need to buy it for myself as a DM to help me run the battles and build them and then buy 5 keys so each player can have it for themselves to manage their characters.

Correct?
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ich.pdf
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Cologne, Germany
Posts: 46

Old April 24th, 2016, 12:34 PM
For Realm Works, you can purchase the GM Edition and then buy player edition(s). Those Player editions each need an own account. You can technically set up those accounts and give away username and password, so you can transfer them later to other players. However, every person with access to the account can change the password. But I guess, trust is not or at least should not be a big issue in a gaming group. However, you purchase a GM license and multiple player licenses

Herolab works different. You buy Herolab and maybe extra content. For Shadowrun and most of the other systems, supplements are extra cost, but I don't think this applies for Pathfinder. To this version, you can have multiple keys for multiple devices, beginning with two and up to five. But you will need to for yourself if you use herolab on a desktop PC and a notebook. So for Herolab, it would be one licence but multiple keys. Those keys can be transferred to other devices once within 180 days or upon a customer request with good cause.

EDIT: So you see, RW works account based and herolab device based. You can of course have each player buy his or her own version of herolab but if there is extra cost for supplements, the financial effort can exceed the benefit if the player uses herolab only to keep track of one or two characters.

I do love both RW and HL although I am using them only for 3 or 4 weeks now and I never regretted the investment. But I am a GM and for a player this solution might be to costly. I strongly suggest my players to invest there money in a RW player edition. Hero Lab versions for them are rather useless, because everyone would have to bring a notebook and in the end, my version is the one that counts as I manage encounters and combat with them and save them again. Though, Shadowrun is a lot of micromanagment (keeping track of every bullet etc.) so it might be different for you.

Last edited by ich.pdf; April 24th, 2016 at 12:43 PM.
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AEIOU
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,147

Old April 24th, 2016, 01:00 PM
REALM WORKS
GM buys GM edition. Full cost. Plus monthly cloud cost.
Players buy player editions. They own them. ~$10/each for limited use.

If you wait for the web version, players will be able to see material for free. This will create three tiers: view-only online (free), a view-only plus journal creation (~$10) and a full blown GM version.

HERO LAB
GM buys whatever they want. Full cost.
Players buy whatever they want. Full cost.

If you buy add-ons and the players want to use them, then they need to buy add-ons as well which can make HL a very expensive tool.
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Farling
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Greater London, UK
Posts: 2,623

Old April 24th, 2016, 01:08 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by AEIOU View Post
REALM WORKS
If you wait for the web version, players will be able to see material for free. This will create three tiers: view-only online (free), a view-only plus journal creation (~$10) and a full blown GM version.
I think it is worth clarifying that players will be able to view SOME material online for free.

Also, it is worth clarifying that the license for HeroLab expects each player to own their own license if they are going to install a copy on their machine. However it is probably OK for all the players to use the version of HeroLab installed on one player's machine.

Last edited by Farling; April 24th, 2016 at 01:11 PM.
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