Best method to distribute heros to players

[ethanism]

I'm looking for an easy way to get individual character portfolios into the hands of my players. I know you can export heros into individual portfolios and I have ways of sharing those with my players, but I'm running into a few stumbling block that I thought the community might have answers for.

An important details is the fact that my players haven't purchased Hero Lab licenses, so they won't have the full version of the software, nor will they have all the content packs that I've purchased. Some of the characters are using content from source books in these packs, or community content. One of them is using a familiar from a custom .user file that I created for that purpose.

I can share the exported portfolio files, but when they load them up in their copy of Hero Lab, there are errors about missing sources, which I assume has to do with the content in the source books or .user file that I created. I don't have the specific error in front of me, but maybe I can generate it somehow and add it to this thread if it seems like it would be useful.

Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to accomplish this? I don't need the players to be able to make permanent changes to their heros, so it would basically be a read-only scenario where they use it as character sheets during play, and any changes that they want saved I would make in my master portfolio and re-export for the next session.

Thanks in advance for your help and expertise,
Ethan

[AndrewD2]

The only way to really share the files with people that don't' have the software is the save character sheets/statblocks and give them those. As far as I know.

[ethanism]

My intention was for them to have the software, but not necessarily have to buy the full version or all the content packs. I guess I was under the impression that you could install Hero Lab without a license and use it in a sort of "read-only" mode, such that players could view their characters but not make permanent changes, save, or output them. Looking at the download page, it appears that an unlicensed copy of Hero Lab will only operate in demo mode, but I guess I don't know if that is sufficient for my needs.

[AndrewD2]

Demo mode only has the core data files for the program, so Core Rulebook, Adventure Paths, a few Monsters, but that's it. You're required to have actual packages to utilize stuff from them. They only need the packages for what's on their character though, they don't need every package you have.

So technically you could use Demo Mode but it would have to be Core Rulebook only

[ethanism]

Okay, that makes sense. Depending on how committed my players are, I may be able to talk them into getting full copies. Otherwise I guess I can output character sheets/stat blocks or use Obsidian Portal or something similar. Thanks again for your quick response.

[Farling]

If your players had iPads then they could use the app to manage their characters during game time.

[RavenX]

Ethan,

If you go under the Develop Menu, you can activate "Enable Datafile Debugging". This will give you access to a feature in hero lab under the Develop Menu called "Prepare Portfolio for Distribution". If you use this after you've made your heroes, you can use Ctrl K to pull up the config screen for each hero and go down the list on the right. It will show you which sources you have active for each hero which will help you narrow down which datafile packages each character needs or has options from.

Other than that little bit of help, you could also just print off the characters and hand them out to players as well. I mostly use Hero Lab to run the game for the tactical console, my players still submit characters on paper to me much of the time and I input them myself. You can save the characters as pdfs (you may need to download the pdf plugin and install it). The pdf plug in is on the updates screen.

[LazarX]

Use the character sheet custom export options and either host the pages yourself, or give them the html files. That way all they need is a web browser.

[radionausea]

Get them to chip in for you to purchase additional licences for your copy of herolab. They can install what you have then. And if they leave the group you can hand back the cash and then give the license to someone else.

I assume that's what the multiple license system is for anyway

[rob]

Originally Posted by radionausea

Get them to chip in for you to purchase additional licences for your copy of herolab. They can install what you have then. And if they leave the group you can hand back the cash and then give the license to someone else.

I assume that's what the multiple license system is for anyway

The multiple license system is intended for users with multiple devices, such as desktop, laptop, work computer, iPad, etc. All secondary licenses tied to a particular master license (i.e. purchase) are supposed to be used by the same person. This expectation is spelled out in the license terms. Consequently, sharing secondary licenses with friends for use on computers not owned by the original purchaser would be considered an abuse of the licensing system.

The best solution would be either printing out the characters for the players or having the players all use the iPad version. The iPad version can be used in "Play" mode for free, and it has access to all packages.