Turn on Magic Item Tab from Fantasy Companion

[Gumbytie]

I am not using the Fantasy Companion for this particular setting but it does have "magic items". I can create the items I need in the Hero Lab Editor easy enough. It isn't a fantasy game, a horror setting similar to Rippers and Gaslight.

So my question, how can I "activate" the Magic Item tab so it will show up in my game? Right now there are no Magic Armours but I assume I could activate that tab via same mechanism.

[SeeleyOne]

What I have done is activate the Fantasy Companion, and then preclude the parts of it that you do not want. The Magic Items is specifically tied to it.

[Gumbytie]

Gadzooks, that will be a lot of work. Bad enough doing all the precludes from main book for spells and such

Would have to preclude every item, armour, etc. Not even sure what else comes with the Fantasy Books, I think more spells even.

Not to be picky but it seems like other settings have the concept of magic items and long term Hero Lab SW should look at a mechanism of incorporating magic item and creation of. Actually, that might already be a suggestion in the thread for desires for future development.

Thanks for quick response.

[zarlor]

It would be nice to add to the suggestions thread. There is something to be said for the ability to just make custom inventory items, weapons, armor, etc. right from within Hero Lab rather than going to make them in the Editor. Not sure what we're going to get in SFC, though, since there is a lot of things set up in that book based on that kind of flexibility (adding modifiers, like vibro or energy, to any existing weapon, for example) so maybe we'll see a few things like that coming in. I have my fingers crossed.

[SeeleyOne]

It is because of issues like this, and a few other things, that I have started to work on my own character creator program. [One reason is so that I can show a prospective employer an example of my C# skills]

How I am doing it is by having a level above "Setting" for "Campaign". I cannot tell you how many times it would be great to pull an edge or two, or some hindrances, or anything from other settings without taking the "All or Nothing" approach. As Hero Lab is currently configured, we have to take ths source and preclude everything else. And as stated earlier, it can be hard to figure out what that even entails.

The way that I am designing it there is no need to tromp around with the editor. I have found that tends to intimidate people. Instead it is a tree of a bunch of checkboxes and sub-menus. You can go to the book that you want and either "enable all" or enable things selectively. The Configure Hero settings does this, but this would take it one step further and gets into the individual details as selectable.

I want to be able to click on "Joe's Deadlands Game" and be done with it as it changes all of the other settings for me. In the meantime I have just made a "default character sheet" for each campaign with all of the correct settings. It works, but people have to remember to not save over it.

Savage Worlds is not confined by the core rule book. It is actually a very open-ended game system. There are many things that are immutable with Hero Lab but instead should be able to be opened up for alteration. Many of these things I have found hacks to get around, but they should not require such hacks. The ability to have options should have been built into it from the beginning.

What bothers me is that many of the things on the feature requests are really easy to do. Hero Lab can be made to do so much more.

[Gumbytie]

I agree with much of SeelyOne's post. The limits to what we can accomplish in HeroLab regarding Savage Worlds is very limited. Savage Worlds by design is a "generic" game with various settings to be placed atop the rules. So by design, the expectations is to pull from various sources the pieces you might want across various settings.

I really want magic item functionality in my settings. I don't even mind adding the 'Fantasy Companion' as a source to open up the magic item tabs. What I do NOT want to have to do is preclude 340+ magic items by hand because I don't want any of the default magic items in my non-fantasy game. I just want the functionality.

There is no nice way to mass preclude, like with have for Standard Items. As I branch out and run more Savage Worlds settings (some of my own creation and published) I am see the wheels come off the versatility and usability of HeroLab to continue to support my gaming needs.

I love the product, I understand there is a small core staff but the initial support for Savage Worlds is there. I would rather Savage Worlds (in HeroLab) be gone if it cannot be implemented to reflect all of the growing published settings.

[Paragon]

Originally Posted by Gumbytie

I love the product, I understand there is a small core staff but the initial support for Savage Worlds is there. I would rather Savage Worlds (in HeroLab) be gone if it cannot be implemented to reflect all of the growing published settings.

I have to point out you aren't the only one who uses it, and wanting it to be gone because it doesn't serve your need is, well, kind of self-centered. I'd prefer some additional functionality too, but I'm not going to tell other people they shouldn't have it because it doesn't perfectly serve my needs.