Question for the Community....

[ShadowChemosh]

Hello Community.

I am trying to put together the latest Community Bestiary package and what I am finding is that more and more "Official" Hero Lab packages are required to be able to load a Community package. I have done my best in the past to limit this as best I can but especially with the Community Bestiary its gets really hard and eating up more time than I have really...

Mostly because the monsters from the AP use more and more stuff outside the core. As most of the community editors have all the packages they reference stuff from the Official packages. This means to load the in example CB v1.9 we are looking at needing to require the following Official Packages: CORE, Bestiary, Bestiary 2, Bestiary 3, APG, UC, UM, Companion Golarion #1, Campaign Setting #3 & Campaign Setting #6. Just a note that I am not done yet so this can easily grow.

This means if you try and load CB v1.9 and don't have the above HL will display an error and then go into Safe Mode and not load ANY custom created stuff including anything you have made.

I would like to know if this is a big deal or not? In other words do most everyone have all the above so I am worrying about nothing or is it actually a big deal and time should be taken to limit the more Odd packages like "Campaign Setting 3 & 6" for example. Their would be no way to limit them all currently but never know about the future...

[bodrin]

I plan on purchasing the data packages as they release. For me it's the better way of maintaining a cohesive and current HL rule set. I would very much prefer to utilise the official data whenever possible and strip out any community duplicates. So for me it's not a vast inconvenience.

I don't have the time now to sit for hours on end entering custom stuff, I barely manage to run my game once a fortnight

However I do understand the implications of maintaining the large community project to comply with the standard HL vanilla package with or without the add ons.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by bodrin

I plan on purchasing the data packages as they release. For me it's the better way of maintaining a cohesive and current HL rule set. I would very much prefer to utilise the official data whenever possible and strip out any community duplicates. So for me it's not a vast inconvenience.

I don't have the time now to sit for hours on end entering custom stuff, I barely manage to run my game once a fortnight

However I do understand the implications of maintaining the large community project to comply with the standard HL vanilla package with or without the add ons.

It seems it may only be possible if the community package was split up into multiple parts for which source material they require - again, more work for you it would seem. So you'd end up with CB_v1.9_Core, CB_v1.9_B1, etc. out of curiosity, what parts of the extra data are they pulling from, and can this functionality be pulled from somewhere else?

[bodrin]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

... [snip] out of curiosity, what parts of the extra data are they pulling from, and can this functionality be pulled from somewhere else?

For example Council of Thieves have the Cerberi creature in it. No big deal but bestiary 3 with the cerberi was released just as I was completing the datafile . As I had worked for a long time inputting that particular file I didn't remove my version, however I did stop inputting the Kalikang which can be found in the Inner sea world guide.

There's also coded powers / abilities etc. that get bootstrapped from most sources.

No need to duplicate once it's in the official files.

[ValaraukarU]

I do not have all the above listed data packages (only CORE, Bestiary, Bestiary 2, APG, UC, UM). I had always preferred those package be split by publication rather than one large package. This is mainly because I tend to like to add only specific parts that I need out of the current add on package rather than including things I don't need. I also don't plan on buying all those above listed packages so this would preclude me from using it as a whole anyway.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by bodrin

There's also coded powers / abilities etc. that get bootstrapped from most sources.

No need to duplicate once it's in the official files.

This is what I had figured. But I wonder if it is just a few powers that are shared among multiple monsters, and if duplicating just a few effects would eliminate 80% of the problem.

[Thazar]

I personally have everything that is out so I am good either way. That being said I would say it is reasonable to assume that the community will or should have all of the core material... but they may not have the campaign material.

So all the hard back books can be assumed, but the campaign stuff not assumed. That seams like the best compromise for a large community.

Alternately, you could have two versions of the package. The main one that requires 100% of all purchasable content. This add on would be the most complete. There could then be a second copy that only requires core material. This would exclude any creatures that require campaign material content be purchased.

EDIT - When I say core I mean Core, APG, UM, UC, B1, B2, and B3.

[ChrisRevocateur]

I have (or at least plan to purchase) pretty much everything, so for me, it is not a problem.

[chiefweasel]

I have everything as well, so no issue for me.

[Fuzzy]

I agree with Thazar on the 'core material'. I can see purchasing Core, APG, UM, UC, B1, B2, B3 - but don't really see purchasing any campaign material (we run our own campaigns, not pre-written ones).