[FastJack]

Not sure if it goes best here or not, but Hero Labs is a great toolkit for the Gamer with a laptop. I've been using it for 3.5/Pathfinder for over six months now and it's officially replaced all the excel spreadsheets I used to have scattered through my PAN. I also have the 4E toolkit, but I don't use it as much (not in any games) and they have toolkits for the Cortex system (Serenity, Smallville, Supernatural), Mutants & Masterminds, and Call of Cthulhu.

"But 'Jack! What's this all got to do with us runners?"

Well, if you go over and check, you'll see that they are working on releasing a SR4 toolkit for character creation. Last update puts the release date sometime around Christmas. And I can't think of a better present to find under the non-denominational tree.

[Caine Hazen]

Good to hear their still slogging through it!  Been looking forward to this for about a year now!

[Bull]

Herolab is a fantastic program, and I had the chance to chat with Colin and a couple of the other guys from Lone Wolf at Gen Con.  I'm really excited about it, and so far my only complaint is that I want this out like yesterday!

[Wayfinder]

can't wait, can't wait, can't wait....want it now, now , now....hmmm doesn't work for the kids and apparently not for me either. Guess i'll have to be patient.

[Jackal]

can't wait, can't wait, can't wait....want it now, now , now....hmmm doesn't work for the kids and apparently not for me either. Guess i'll have to be patient.

That's because you didn't sacrifice and Elf while chanting.

[Patrick Goodman]

I'll sure be interested to see how this one works out. I've never used Hero Lab before, but have heard some great things about it. If it works out for me, I might buy the author tools and try to work up some toolkits for CODA Star Trek and maybe Saga Edition Star Wars. Won't be able to sell them, but they'll be there for my own use.

[FastJack]

I'll sure be interested to see how this one works out. I've never used Hero Lab before, but have heard some great things about it. If it works out for me, I might buy the author tools and try to work up some toolkits for CODA Star Trek and maybe Saga Edition Star Wars. Won't be able to sell them, but they'll be there for my own use.

I love the program. It's got all the official stuff in there, but allows you to add on. It's not 'drag-n-drop' programming to add stuff; if you don't have any programming instruction, you'll have to figure it out, but once you do it's pretty easy to add-on to the existing. (For instance, I've been creating some Forgotten Realms material for the Pathfinder system.)

I haven't yet tackled the Authoring toolkit, but I imagine it's a bit more difficult than adding on.

[Mäx]

puts the release date sometime around Christmas. And I can't think of a better present to find under the non-denominational tree.

Thats only the corebook, sadly it fill probably be still next summer atleast before this will be nearly as good as the fan made excell chargenerators or really even usable.
Unless your willing to input all the additional book by yourself.

[Patrick Goodman]

I love the program. It's got all the official stuff in there, but allows you to add on. It's not 'drag-n-drop' programming to add stuff; if you don't have any programming instruction, you'll have to figure it out, but once you do it's pretty easy to add-on to the existing. (For instance, I've been creating some Forgotten Realms material for the Pathfinder system.)

I haven't yet tackled the Authoring toolkit, but I imagine it's a bit more difficult than adding on.

Well, it's still a ways off, and I'm not in a particular hurry, so I can probably teach myself quickly enough.

[Bull]

Patrick:  Hit the Herolabs website and download the trial of the base program.  You can grab "trial versions" of any of the official datapacks too.  You can't save or print characters, but otherwise the programs are, I believe, full unlocked.  So you can muck around, see how much detail they give you and what the program looks like and how it works.

Bull

[Casazil]

Have they released the SR stuff yet?

[FastJack]

Not yet. They're hoping to get it out by Christmas. They officially couldn't start working on it until the licenses got signed over, which happened around August.

[Longshot23]

I have 3 or 4 character generators, basically to do the number crunching.  My favourite one for SR - sadly obsolete now - is NSRCG3.

[Qemuel]

I have 3 or 4 character generators, basically to do the number crunching.  My favourite one for SR - sadly obsolete now - is NSRCG3.

Completely off topic:   Dude!  I love Longshot.  I have the mini-series from WAY back when.  The first one is even signed by Arthur Adams! 

[Longshot23]

I have 3 or 4 character generators, basically to do the number crunching.  My favourite one for SR - sadly obsolete now - is NSRCG3.

Completely off topic:   Dude!  I love Longshot.  I have the mini-series from WAY back when.  The first one is even signed by Arthur Adams! 

Yeah, well, it's the closest look i'm likely to find for a particular character. Plus, the handle applies for wholly different reasons.

I managed to get the mini-series as well - had no hope of getting signatures though.