Author Topic: HeroLab for A Time of War (Read 7903 times)

bblaney · « **on:** 05 March 2016, 16:50:49 »

So seeing as Shadowrun is in Herolab, why can't we get AToW in it also?

Would be awesome and insanely easier for players and GM's.

beachhead1985 · « **Reply #1 on:** 05 March 2016, 17:24:15 »

Gods! Yes please!

Maelwys · « **Reply #2 on:** 05 March 2016, 21:50:05 »

It wouldn't surprise me if a character generator fell under the same licensing restrictions that everything else electronic with regards to BT falls under. In other words, if Hero Lab wanted to do something BT related, they'd have to license the rights from Microsoft

Archangel · « **Reply #3 on:** 06 March 2016, 06:08:10 »

Quote from: Maelwys on 05 March 2016, 21:50:05

It wouldn't surprise me if a character generator fell under the same licensing restrictions that everything else electronic with regards to BT falls under. In other words, if Hero Lab wanted to do something BT related, they'd have to license the rights from Microsoft

Most likely this. In all likelihood nobody has bothered to even approach Microsoft to sound them out.

Lorcan Nagle · « **Reply #4 on:** 06 March 2016, 06:28:21 »

Quote from: Maelwys on 05 March 2016, 21:50:05

It wouldn't surprise me if a character generator fell under the same licensing restrictions that everything else electronic with regards to BT falls under. In other words, if Hero Lab wanted to do something BT related, they'd have to license the rights from Microsoft

Shadowrun is under the exact same restrictions.

Daryk · « **Reply #5 on:** 06 March 2016, 08:11:07 »

So the OP's original question stands: if Shadowrun is in, why not A Time of War?

Lorcan Nagle · « **Reply #6 on:** 06 March 2016, 12:06:02 »

I'd assume because Shadowrun is far, far more popular.

Daryk · « **Reply #7 on:** 06 March 2016, 12:20:00 »

Right... back to Excel it is! I think I've almost got all the bugs worked out of my spreadsheet, and expect to repost it within the month.

bblaney · « **Reply #8 on:** 19 March 2016, 05:25:11 »

You might be surprised by the amount of people that have HeroLab and play Battletech and A Time of War.

It would make designing characters infinitely easier and faster, and could help bring people in.

PhoeniX0302 · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 March 2016, 17:14:16 »

Not only would it make character creation much more easier, it should be legally possible.
Why? Look at Army Builder from the same company which I use for building my Alpha Strike forces. As far as I know, it was officially promoted by TPTB some time ago.

monbvol · « **Reply #10 on:** 20 March 2016, 16:11:58 »

It is clear something has officially changed regarding the electronic IP rights some time ago, the nature of this change is not currently public knowledge but there does seem to be a lot more freedom to get some things done as far as designers go. Heck if you dig around a bit there is even a thread calling for finished various designers by CGL in the computer games section of this forum. So it might actually be possible to get one eventually. How long we have to wait is still unknown though.

bblaney · « **Reply #11 on:** 17 July 2016, 05:54:06 »

Quote from: Lorcan Nagle on 06 March 2016, 06:28:21

Shadowrun is under the exact same restrictions.

Shadowrun though is a part of HeroLab

Lorcan Nagle · « **Reply #12 on:** 17 July 2016, 14:50:38 »

Quote from: bblaney on 17 July 2016, 05:54:06

Shadowrun though is a part of HeroLab

And like I said upthread, Shadowrun is far more popular than BattleTech, let alone A Time of War. There's a much larger financial incentive to work out the licensing for Shadowrun than BattleTech.

beachhead1985 · « **Reply #13 on:** 17 July 2016, 17:05:05 »

Quote from: Lorcan Nagle on 17 July 2016, 14:50:38

And like I said upthread, Shadowrun is far more popular than BattleTech, let alone A Time of War. There's a much larger financial incentive to work out the licensing for Shadowrun than BattleTech.

Really? I mean...yeah, I guess, maybe...I suppose I hear more people talk about shadowrun than ATOW and some editions of Shadowrun are at least as convoluted.

monbvol · « **Reply #14 on:** 17 July 2016, 21:02:27 »

I also suspect there were actually fewer legal hurdles to work out for Shadowrun then there would be for A Time of War/Battletech.

As far as AToW character generation being convoluted, I've seen far worse but I suspect I should stop there before we have scrounge up another dead horse.

Lorcan Nagle · « **Reply #15 on:** 18 July 2016, 03:50:13 »

Quote from: monbvol on 17 July 2016, 21:02:27

I also suspect there were actually fewer legal hurdles to work out for Shadowrun then there would be for A Time of War/Battletech.

As I understand it, BattleTech and Shadowrun are under more or less the same licensing restricitons - the software rights for both are owned by Microsoft as a result of the FASA interactive deal.

monbvol · « **Reply #16 on:** 18 July 2016, 13:33:00 »

Yeah I probably should strike the word legal from what I said there but just the association of the (thankfully now dead) unseen issue and having more computer games that I know of could make working something out for Battletech have a few more hurdles even if they had the same licensing restrictions/ownership.

Thankfully Microsoft and the current license holders seem(warning this is personal perception/interpretation only as I do not have full details) to be interpreting their Electronic rights in such a way that designers can be created now as evidenced by the thread in the computer games section where Catalyst has issued a call for new official designer software.

So yeah we could eventually get something, might not be a HeroLab module but a little patience and possibly some prodding of coder friends could be rewarded with us having an official character creator program.

Cryhavok101 · « **Reply #17 on:** 18 July 2016, 16:25:26 »

If a Time of War actually got a HeroLab module it would finally motivate me to get it. I play several games it supports, but I have never loved them as much as I do the battletech universe.

Hammer · « **Reply #18 on:** 20 July 2016, 20:41:39 »

There is an abandoned Character Generator on GitHub. Its like 5 years old but I used it when it was in development and it wasn't bad. Was written in C++ if I recall. Someone would just need to fork it and resume work on it.

https://github.com/bearchik/Battletech-Character-Creator

Ghost cub · « **Reply #19 on:** 20 July 2016, 21:34:20 »

That character creator has been updated periodically. You can get the .exe from https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-Y-CAEci0MCZFJEbTladG1sbUU I used the character creator for my roll20 ATOW game and people new to the system have found it helpful.

Kit deSummersville · « **Reply #20 on:** 22 July 2016, 12:41:42 »

Quote from: Lorcan Nagle on 06 March 2016, 12:06:02

I'd assume because Shadowrun is far, far more popular.

Close: Shadowrun has better hackers.

Quote from: Lorcan Nagle on 18 July 2016, 03:50:13

As I understand it, BattleTech and Shadowrun are under more or less the same licensing restricitons - the software rights for both are owned by Microsoft as a result of the FASA interactive deal.

Correct, though location-based software is owned by a third party, Virtual World Entertainment.

Wrangler · « **Reply #21 on:** 08 August 2016, 08:21:32 »

Quote from: Kit deSummersville on 22 July 2016, 12:41:42

Close: Shadowrun has better hackers.

Correct, though location-based software is owned by a third party, Virtual World Entertainment.

They still Exist?

Kit deSummersville · « **Reply #22 on:** 19 August 2016, 14:53:59 »

Quote from: Wrangler on 08 August 2016, 08:21:32

They still Exist?

Yup. Here's a little article about some of that.

Shadowlarke · « **Reply #23 on:** 14 September 2016, 19:31:47 »

My experience with Hero Lab comes back with a simple answer... because no one has asked. In the past , WolfLair has developed datasets for new games that they knew they could sell. I don't know if ATOW has the draw.

BUT! The system is open, and there are editors for it, so someone wanting to be that enterprising could create the shell and then share it with everyone. I am not sure of the specific licensing from the WolfLair side, but I would be willing to bet that Catalyst Games would not have an issue as long as you do not try to market and/or sell it.

Wrangler · « **Reply #24 on:** 14 September 2016, 20:40:00 »

Another solution is use ShadowRun 5 rules as substitute for ATOW. It can be done. Some tweeks, ignore magic, dumb down cyber wear. Your golden. It's not easy. Least SR5 is supported.

Nebfer · « **Reply #25 on:** 18 September 2016, 00:10:37 »

Quote from: Ghost cub on 20 July 2016, 21:34:20

That character creator has been updated periodically. You can get the .exe from https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-Y-CAEci0MCZFJEbTladG1sbUU I used the character creator for my roll20 ATOW game and people new to the system have found it helpful.

The Last version I'm aware of is 8.9 which came out years ago, and has a few bugs (I think) that prevent me from going from stage 3 to stage 4...

So if theirs a newer version out...