Hero Lab Online and Starfinder Q&A

[kbs666]

Originally Posted by kellhorn

My biggest remaining question is exactly how view-only the offline view is. If I can't do things like apply buffs to characters, deal and subtract damage, add items I find, etc. then a printout is more useful because it's easier to scratch down numbers on the character sheet than pull out a notebook to keep track of everything.

This. I'm extremely concerned over this.

My experience with con wifi is that it gets overwhelmed at the absolute worst times.

My present use case for HL is to store all my .por files in my Dropbox account. This lets me use HL on both my desktop and laptop with a single secondary license. In the worst case scenario where I'm playing somewhere and the wifi goes down I simply save the .por locally and then log in at home and Dropbox updates automatically. I never lose anything and having the wifi go down is more of a nuisance than a major catastrophe.

Switching to HLO wouldn't happen for me unless it could handle losing an internet connection at least that gracefully.

[daplunk]

When you say wifi are you talking actual wifi or mobile network? From what they have said so far it sounds like all we are going to need is a mobile network with very little bandwidth requirements.

[kbs666]

Generally at cons I'm talking about Wifi. Right now I use a laptop that has wifi not any sort of cellular modem. Even if I were to switch over to my tablet I'd still prefer wifi over using up my data, I'm very leery of anyone saying an app will use very little bandwidth until I see it, I've burned on that too many times, or dealing with spotty reception inside a convention hall.

[MNBlockHead]

Originally Posted by daplunk

When you say wifi are you talking actual wifi or mobile network? From what they have said so far it sounds like all we are going to need is a mobile network with very little bandwidth requirements.

Yeah, but that won't help on international flights. How am I going to game on a 12-hour flight?

;-) <just kidding>

[BJ]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

Yeah, but that won't help on international flights. How am I going to game on a 12-hour flight?

;-) <just kidding>

Omg no... That's it, you're grounded. :P Haha

[rob]

Originally Posted by charlieluce

I understand how this is likely to work for things like the various Community Packs, but how is it going to work for (1) individual groups custom content, and (2) Authoring Kit systems?

While I'm asking, how does HLO work if a group doesn't have all the same data packages? How does it distinguish between the GM and players, and do simultaneous logins on the same account affect that?

The way everything is currently coming together, custom content will be tied to the character. When you create a character, you'll specify what content it's built upon, whether that be different data packages we offer and/or custom ones. Each character can be tied to different sets of data, just like it is today.

The convenient advantage of HLO over HLC is that the GM can view characters from different players and the players can have different data packages. In fact, the players can even own/use packages that the GM doesn't own. [Disclaimer: None of this is 100% finished, so what I'm outlining COULD change, but it's not likely at this point.]

All the characters tied to a given login/account are limited to the set of data packages available to that account. A given character can use a SUBSET of those data packages, but it can't use material that isn't owned by the account. This is exactly how things work today, so there's nothing new with this behavior.

Hope this helps!

[charlieluce]

That helps somewhat, though I'm still not sure about custom content created by users.

To give an example, in my Iron Gods game I've defined a new Firearm, the Carbine. I created a Carbine.user file in the Editor to distribute to any of my players who want to use this new weapon.

In Hero Lab Online, how would the equivalent situation work?

(More questions occur to me concerning what control a GM will have over what configuration is legal to use in their game, but that may be getting ahead of things.)

[Toblakai]

Originally Posted by kbs666

This. I'm extremely concerned over this.

My experience with con wifi is that it gets overwhelmed at the absolute worst times.

A lot of people are talking about cons. I only go to one a year, it hasn't had any cell or wifi issues in the last few years (more ubiquitous good wifi). The rest of the year I game at home or friends about once a week. So even if I did have a bad connection at the con it wouldn't be a big deal being only once a year.

So are you guys going a con every weekend or something?

[kbs666]

Originally Posted by Toblakai

A lot of people are talking about cons. I only go to one a year, it hasn't had any cell or wifi issues in the last few years (more ubiquitous good wifi). The rest of the year I game at home or friends about once a week. So even if I did have a bad connection at the con it wouldn't be a big deal being only once a year.

So are you guys going a con every weekend or something?

In a good year I get to a couple of regional cons as well as GenCon plus several gaming nights at game shops. Since those involve a lot of travel and expense having them ruined by something like my character sheet would suck.

[Dragnmoon]

Due to the Online nature I am unlikely to buy this because the majority of the places I play do not have a reliable internet connection. That said I understand there will be an offline option in the future that will be less powerful. The capabilities of this could sway me to buy this in the future. From that I have a few questions I am reposting (some editing) from the facebook post since it was not answered there.

1. If after I move my content to Herolabs Online and pay the fee and I buy a Data sets later would that data set be available for both version without any additional fees?

2. What functionality will the offline version of herolabs online have? Can I add new items I pick up during play? Gold? Can I add spell effects, ability effects other bonuses/penalties I get during play? Can I add portfolios when connected online of my summoned creatures and use them in offline?