Hero Lab - M&M character creation & advancement tool

[Colen]

Hi everyone,

I'm one of the engineers developing Mutants and Masterminds data files for Hero Lab. Hero Lab already supports the d20 System and World of Darkness game systems, and now we're adding a third game, M&M!

Hero Lab will offer the following:

* Instant, accurate calculation of points values (including points for minions and sidekicks, devices and alternate powers)
* Initial creation of heroes, and advancement as they gain Power Points and increase in Power Level
* Rules validation, including checking power level limits and correctly handling trade-offs
* NPC creation - create an NPC and Hero Lab will tell you how many points it costs and what PL it is
* Printed character sheets (the standard 2-page sheet as well as a shorter 1-page sheet)
* In-Play support, allowing you to use your laptop to track your hero at the game table
* GM support, using our "Tactical Console" to let the GM track combat and interactions between players and multiple NPCs

And much more!

You can see a sample screenshot here. We'll be posting more information in the next few weeks in the form of designer diaries on http://www.mutantsandmasterminds.com, so stay tuned to those for more information! The Mutants and Masterminds data files are tentatively scheduled for a June release.

If you have any questions about Hero Lab, please don't hesitate to post them here. Alternatively you can email me directly at colen@wolflair.com. There's also a thread posted in the Fan Resources forum which you can find here.

Thanks!


EDIT: We now have our own forum, so please post threads there instead of adding further replies to this enormous thread. Thanks! The forum URL is:

http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewforum.php?f=21

[Colen]

So, an initial question for everyone:

Powers like Alternate Form, Adaptation and Shapeshift allow you to reconfigure your hero by spending a "pool" of Power Points in different ways. Since you probably have several "standard" configurations you use for each of these powers (shape of a wolf, shape of a lion, shape of an doorknob, etc), Hero Lab allows you to create "Power Sets" that can be enabled and disabled with a single click. These "Power Sets" can contain any combination of traits that doesn't exceed the limits for the power.

Thus, if my hero the Incredible Bulk (ahem) has an Alternate Form that gives him 5 ranks of Super Strength, activating that Alternate Form will activate the Super Strength, increasing his carrying capacity. If I have Adaptation that gives me immunity to fire, I can activate it with a single click. And so on.

My question is this: If I'm using one of these "optional" sets of powers, should the changes it makes be displayed on printed output? Or should the printed character sheet be the "basic" character without any funky shapeshifting changes applied?

I appreciate your input. Thanks very much!

[Roman Virtue]

For characters that have only one other form, then maybe the 'heroic' form could be represented as the main one, with a small box display for the character in their normal form?

For characters that have several alternate forms, then perhaps a page (or for some, pages) of stats for their alternate forms?

[calibur1]

This is great news that I've been waiting for. I purchased Hero Lab awhile back just for M&M. I don't play D&D anymore, but I was pleased when the Vampire update was relesed. Now that the M&M update will be a reality, I don't feel like I wasted my money.

[Delemental]

Perhaps there could be some way to designate a particular configuration as the 'primary', which then gets printed out on the main sheet, and the rest get printed as a set of abbreviated stats. This way, if you just have one Alt Form (like your Incredible Bulk) you could mark the 'Bulk' form as primary, and his normal stats would be abbreviated. But someone with several alternates would mark their base character as primary, and the alternates would come out in short form.

EDIT: Perhaps you could also give users different print options, like -
'Print Primary Only'
'Print Primary and Alternates (short form)'
'Print Primary and Alternates (full form)'

[Delemental]

On a subject unrelated to character sheets...

Will Hero Lab have the capacity to apply the effects of powers to a character? I know that this is possible for conditions like fatigued or entangled, because you can do that for a d20 character made with Hero Lab.

I'm talking more about the effects of things like Drains or Boosts. For example, I might have a character who has Boost 12 (all traits). Obviously, if this were a PC you could work it out ahead of time, but if it's a villain run by the GM, figuring that out in-game would be... slow. And let's not even think about refiguring as the Boost runs down each round...

It'd be great if I could just select "Boost" off a list, input the ranks, and indicate the traits affected, and then just decrement the value as needed.

[Greyman]

Powers like Alternate Form, Adaptation and Shapeshift allow you to reconfigure your hero by spending a "pool" of Power Points in different ways.

Well, actually Alternate Form doesn't. It's not a Variable Power; it's a Container of various powers which are fixed at creation.

However, you can place it in an array of Alternate Powers, which may be other alternate forms, so it is a related concept.

Since you probably have several "standard" configurations you use for each of these powers (shape of a wolf, shape of a lion, shape of an doorknob, etc), Hero Lab allows you to create "Power Sets" that can be enabled and disabled with a single click. These "Power Sets" can contain any combination of traits that doesn't exceed the limits for the power.

Nice idea if you've got a laptop to take to games. Useful for play by email too.

Thus, if my hero the Incredible Bulk (ahem) has an Alternate Form that gives him 5 ranks of Super Strength, activating that Alternate Form will activate the Super Strength, increasing his carrying capacity. If I have Adaptation that gives me immunity to fire, I can activate it with a single click. And so on.

My question is this: If I'm using one of these "optional" sets of powers, should the changes it makes be displayed on printed output? Or should the printed character sheet be the "basic" character without any funky shapeshifting changes applied?

Containers, such as Alternate Form and Device, should appear as part of the basic character, as they are such.

Sample power sets for Variable Powers, not so much, but it would be a nice option to add summaries for these. I don't think you'd need to print entire alternate character sheets, as you might for Normal Identity or Metamorph, just the varied power blocks.

[77IM]

My question is this: If I'm using one of these "optional" sets of powers, should the changes it makes be displayed on printed output? Or should the printed character sheet be the "basic" character without any funky shapeshifting changes applied?

Both. It would be very helpful to be able to print out both the baseline character, plus a full sheet for any special "modes" they can go into. Multiple full sheets are easier to use during game-play because you don't need to manually recalculate all those values. Remember, math kills.

For these sorts of questions, I will always vote for the option that is easiest to use during game play, even if that option is slightly ugly, conceptually inelegant, or wastes a lot of paper.

-- 77IM

[Grayson]

Will the data set include the contents of Ultimate Power or will it be just the core rulebook?

[Darrin Kelley]

They are doing the core book and a very few supplements. Ultimate Power is on the schedule to be included at a later date. Just not right out of the gate.

[Ed]

Hey guys, when I asked a similar question regarding UP over at the Wolf Lair Forums I also asked if there was going to be included the capability in the initial package to enter custom information.

I was advisd that 'yes' you will be able to enter custom data.

It's my hope that the custom feature will be flexible enough to get me through to the time when/if the UP and Masterminds Manual sets are released.

Regards,

Ed

[Paragon]

Hey guys, when I asked a similar question regarding UP over at the Wolf Lair Forums I also asked if there was going to be included the capability in the initial package to enter custom information.

I was advisd that 'yes' you will be able to enter custom data.

It's my hope that the custom feature will be flexible enough to get me through to the time when/if the UP and Masterminds Manual sets are released.

Regards,

Ed

Its hard to picture having any useful data editing capability in it and not being able to do that, since most of UP's changes are simple shifts in cost or additional straightforward extras or power feats.

[Colen]

Hey everyone! The first Hero Lab Design Journal is up at Mutantsandmasterminds.com. You can check it out here:

http://www.mutantsandmasterminds.com/su ... 000575.php

This week we've got some previews of how powers will work. Check it out!

[sak0232]

Hi,

You've probably heard this lament before, but as a Mac user, I'm a bit melancholy about Hero Lab.
So, my suggestion is to start working on a Java version for the Mac...

Steve-0

[WayneLigon]

1. Will it have the ability to output to HTML character sheets that look like the printed sheet?
2. Can it produce and export a canonical stat-block like we see in the printed products?

Both of these things are very, very important to me.