[Lacynth40]

Wow... So, how much would this thing cost, just to get Hero Lab up and running, with the free pick being Shadowrun... And all of their bundle things? This is looking like about $100 when everything is said and done. For one program that helps make characters. I can do this all with paper and pencil for free. Seriously, after spending this much on the books, dropping $100 more just seems... A lot.

[JustADude]

Wow... So, how much would this thing cost, just to get Hero Lab up and running, with the free pick being Shadowrun... And all of their bundle things? This is looking like about $100 when everything is said and done. For one program that helps make characters. I can do this all with paper and pencil for free. Seriously, after spending this much on the books, dropping $100 more just seems... A lot.

Chummer is free, it has items from all the current supplements, and it keeps track of your points for you. It isn't at all helpful if you don't already know what you want to do, though. Since it's unlicensed, all Chummer has in it are the names of things, bare-bones stats, and a book/page reference. It also has several annoying glitches and a single-person development "team" working gratis, meaning those glitches are gonna be around a while.

Hero Lab, by comparison, is licensed, and has real, full-blown tech support from people that work on it as their day-job. That means Hero Lab can give you all the information you need right there, sorted and organized for your convenience, with a more comprehensive (and more accurate) set of auto-calculations than what Chummer uses... not to mention a sexier GUI and, last but not least, a much better set of tools for managing a "living" character once you've finished character creation.

If none of that matters to you and you just want something to auto-calculate your BP / Essence / Nuyen expenditures as you make your build selections, use Chummer. If you want a full-blown character creation and management suite, use Hero Lab. Just remember, you get what you pay for.

[Mara]

You know...it could be worse..they could be like WotC and charge you 10 dollars a month to use the
chargen...

Also, considering that they are doing bug fixes to things, incorporating the errata, etc, in the long term, it is not that bad of
a deal. Now, the big advantages come in with it doing all the math for you, allowing you to do lots of changes on the fly without
having to recalculate everything yourself.

Of course, it is a CONVENIENCE thing, not a requirement, so....if you think that is too much to pay for convenience, then
that is how much you value your time. Admittedly, my goal, once Unwired and Runners Companion are in, is to build a character
so complicated that you NEED Hero Lab to be able to keep track of everything you are doing...

[JustADude]

Of course, it is a CONVENIENCE thing, not a requirement, so....if you think that is too much to pay for convenience, then
that is how much you value your time. Admittedly, my goal, once Unwired and Runners Companion are in, is to build a character
so complicated that you NEED Hero Lab to be able to keep track of everything you are doing...

So a SURGEd Technoshaman Elf with 8 Charisma and a half-dozen drones around him/her at all times being piloted by Machine Sprites?

[Lacynth40]

While all of that is true, I don't know a lot of gamers that are just rolling in the dough. And seriously, most of us didn't even pay that much for the operating system that's running the whole computer, much less a single section of a single program. Yeah, the convenience is nice, and it's pretty, and it has tech-support. But, that all applies to my anti-virus, too. And I got them whole damned anti-virus suite, not just a section. With weekly updates. That kind of pricing just seems like they're milking gamers something fierce. 

[Mara]

Of course, it is a CONVENIENCE thing, not a requirement, so....if you think that is too much to pay for convenience, then
that is how much you value your time. Admittedly, my goal, once Unwired and Runners Companion are in, is to build a character
so complicated that you NEED Hero Lab to be able to keep track of everything you are doing...

So a SURGEd Technoshaman Elf with 8 Charisma and a half-dozen drones around him/her at all times being piloted by Machine Sprites?

Actually...I can do that with pen and paper easy...

[FastJack]

Wow... So, how much would this thing cost, just to get Hero Lab up and running, with the free pick being Shadowrun... And all of their bundle things? This is looking like about $100 when everything is said and done. For one program that helps make characters. I can do this all with paper and pencil for free. Seriously, after spending this much on the books, dropping $100 more just seems... A lot.

$20 for the main program, then $9.99 for each data bundle. The Suite bundle is cheaper at $34.99, but the total still comes out to be $75, but that's IF you need everything.

[rasmusnicolaj]

You need everything and possible a little ekstra on the side 

I have tried their demo version and it is a real cool program but also a bit to priecy for my taste.
Especially because it is not at a first glance easy to incorporate your own houserules and then it becomes worthless.
So I will stick to my old trusty excel.

Regards
Rasmus

[CanRay]

$20 for the main program, then $9.99 for each data bundle. The Suite bundle is cheaper at $34.99, but the total still comes out to be $75, but that's IF you need everything.

"IF"?

[rasmusnicolaj]

$20 for the main program, then $9.99 for each data bundle. The Suite bundle is cheaper at $34.99, but the total still comes out to be $75, but that's IF you need everything.

"IF"?

Safe houses is part of one of the extra bundles right? 

Rasmus

[CanRay]

Apparently it's a free one.  All my hard work and it's just given away...   

[Patrick Goodman]

At least your stuff's still popular....

[CanRay]

Hottest Item #12 on Drive-Thru RPG at the moment. 

[FastJack]

$20 for the main program, then $9.99 for each data bundle. The Suite bundle is cheaper at $34.99, but the total still comes out to be $75, but that's IF you need everything.

"IF"?

Hey, there's some weird people out there that DON'T buy everything they publish...

[Murrdox]

If I was just a player in Shadowrun, I'd have very little need for Hero Lab. 

As a GM though?  AWESOME and saves me tons of time writing up NPCs and also does a pretty darn good job of organizing everything too.  Yeah, it's pricey, but so are all the BOOKS that I buy!