Linking from the encounter library

[Toblakai]

Is there a way to link an encounter from the hero lab encounter library? Specifically thinking of RotRL and Giant slayers encounters.

 

[AEIOU]

Save encounter to a portfolio in HL. Link the portfolio in RW.

 

[Toblakai]

Thanks, figured that was the only way.

Realm Works should have the sub title:

"Busy Work for Geeks"

 

[MNBlockHead]

Hopefully, when the Content Market is released, adventures sold in the CM will come with the POR files already in the scenes.

 

[Silveras]

Hopefully, when the Content Market is released, adventures sold in the CM will come with the POR files already in the scenes.

I don't know.. that makes the automatic assumption that a RealmWorks GM has HeroLab as well.

I don't know what the outcome will be, but it could be something like multiple versions, with and without embedded HeroLab content, are needed.

For publishers of adventures supporting multiple game systems (such as FrogGod Games or Kobold Press), a core "system agnostic" version is probably needed internally anyway.

 

[Farling]

The statblocks within the POR files can be viewed from within RealmWorks without requiring an external copy of HeroLab. So as an alternative to a basic statblock snippet it is quite feasible.

 

[MNBlockHead]

I think many GMs would still want a formatted statblock in-line with the text, but in either case, for those that don't have HL, they can just ignore the HL snippets. For existing HL it would be a huge value add and it may attract new buyers. I suppose they could release two versions, with and without, the HL snippets, but I don't see the point in that. Besides, RW already adds HL snippets to encounter topics by default, which implies that they would be including this data in the content released in the CM.

 

[AEIOU]

The only issue with HL snippets is that to open them in HL you probably need to own the prereq content -- i.e., Ultimate whatever, Advanced whatever, Bestiary number whatever. There will undoubtedly be threads started about a bait-and-switch from people that assume they have full access to this content from RW in HL.

Or I could be completely wrong and the RW content will open just fine in HL as long as you open from RW. That would be spiffy but completely unexpected.

 

[ThatOneMike]

I run Hero Lab on all of my Realm Works' PCs, so there may be something happening there I don't realize, but when I add a Hero Lab snippet and click it, I get nicely formatted stat blocks in the topic. It doesn't need to open Hero Lab. I assume the same could be done for Content Market.

 

[AEIOU]

@ThatOneMike: Probably. At least I would hope that would be the case that you can view the stat blocks without HL on your computer.

 

[rob]

Three quick notes to hopefully answer the questions above:

1. Hero Lab portfolios will be included within all scenes, as well as separately for NPCs that show up in multiple places.

2. The Hero Lab portfolios will serve as statblocks for viewing within Realm Works, and we'll be making it more obvious that they serve that purpose when Hero Lab is installed.

3. There will be no requirement to own Hero Lab, but there will be an obvious benefit for doing so.

Hope this helps!

 

[AEIOU]

You need to hire a new Liz real soon, Rob. You are spending way more time on the forums than is healthy for our release timelines.

And thank you so much for the various responses recently. Especially the quick notes confirming new features in the next big release. These really help us manage our own expectations and help us see the progress.

 

[MNBlockHead]

Rob, great news! This greatly increased the value of the material to me.

 

[rob]

One follow-up clarification. You WILL need all the appropriate data packages to utilize the Hero Lab portfolios within Hero Lab. We will also be making available special data packages that specifically include all the material from an assortment of modules so you don't have to buy a long list of stuff if you don't want to. These will work similarly to the existing data packages for Rise of the Runelords, Giantslayer, etc. However, viewing the statblocks will not require you to even have Hero Lab installed.

 

[jkthomsen9]

The only issue with HL snippets is that to open them in HL you probably need to own the prereq content -- i.e., Ultimate whatever, Advanced whatever, Bestiary number whatever. There will undoubtedly be threads started about a bait-and-switch from people that assume they have full access to this content from RW in HL.

Or I could be completely wrong and the RW content will open just fine in HL as long as you open from RW. That would be spiffy but completely unexpected.

If you load a HL portfolio and do not have the preq data sets, that data is dropped. You will get an error message when you load the portfolio, and it will tell you what is missing. I find this to happen most often at my table when someone creates a user data set for an item or what not and forgets to share it with the rest of the group.