merton_monk
First Post
PCGen is a java-based character generator that works on just about every platform. Our yahoo membership at http://groups/yahoo.com/group/pcgen is currently just under 1900 members and we typically have 5000 to 10000 downloads per week. Currently we put a new beta release out every week, though once we get to a production-level status (which isn't far off), that schedule will change. You can check out PCGen at our release site http://pcgen.sourceforge.net and try it out - email me if you have any difficulties getting it to run. It does require java 1.3, and preferably java 1.4, available at http://java.sun.com
Our aim is to support every d20 publication produced. A lofty goal indeed! This is a community freeware effort and we require that people get permission from the publisher before converting their material and including it with our releases. We enjoy the support of many publishers who view us as a free marketing tool to reach our large user-base. We make creating characters fast and easy for players, and they get to take a look at a lot of material they didn't even know existed! We take great pains to make sure that any characters created in PCGen cannot be used without access to the books, which is good for the publishers. I have been emailed by users who have told me that they only allow books in their campaigns which are supported by PCGen. Others have emailed me that they have purchased books because they liked what they saw in them within PCGen.
Publishers face many obstacles in order to generate sales - two of those are making potential customers aware of their products, and customer's resistance to new material based on the learning curve needed to properly use it. PCGen helps alleviate both of those obstacles. The first is addressed by making your product viewable to our user-base. We provide source information so users will know who published each book, how to contact you, and we even provide a link to your website if they right-click on your book within PCGen. When a user looks at a list of races from which they can choose, we make it clear which race came from which book. If they like the name of a race, class, feat, spell, whatever, they can see where it came from and if they want to accurately use it within a game they must go buy the book. PCGen applies all the mechanics - not completely in all cases, but this is constantly being improved - which greatly lowers the learning curve for users in actually using your classes, feats, etc. PCGen indicates if you qualify for a class, and if you advance a level in it, it will roll your hit points, allow you to pick spells and feats and everything else. This way a user can concentrate on what kind of character they want to play without having to figure out all the mechanics behind it. PCGen does not describe the classes, their organization or motivations - PCGen is purposely skimpy on details like this on everything. If the users want that kind of information (and they'll need it to play it - and no DM would allow a character to use options they can't refer to during game play in case there's a question about its rules!) they must get the book.
PCGen is completely free and is written by developers who love gaming. We have a lot of support people who help convert the data files into our file-format. We think we've found a happy medium between being useful to both users and advantageous to publishers.
As I said - our goal is to support all d20 material. We would like to have your permission to include your material within PCGen. If you don't want it in, let us know that as well. If you're uncomfortable with PCGen in anyway - let me know and I'd be happy to discuss with you ways to alleviate your concerns. PCGen is completely free, which means getting all the material to include in PCGen comes out of our own pockets. Many of us are avid gamers, so eventually someone in our group will purchase just about everything so we can start to convert it for inclusion within PCGen. A number of publishers have been kind enough and supportive enough of PCGen to send us copies of their books, which has been very appreciated! In addition to your permission for converting your material, it would be very nice if you could send us a copy. That would greatly speed up the time in which it will make it into a release. We have a lot of people who work on converting materials, and any materials sent to me I would then send to whoever would be available soonest to commence work.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please let me know!
Bryan McRoberts
Original Author, Chief Code Monkey, and Guy In Charge of PCGen
merton_monk@yahoo.com
Our aim is to support every d20 publication produced. A lofty goal indeed! This is a community freeware effort and we require that people get permission from the publisher before converting their material and including it with our releases. We enjoy the support of many publishers who view us as a free marketing tool to reach our large user-base. We make creating characters fast and easy for players, and they get to take a look at a lot of material they didn't even know existed! We take great pains to make sure that any characters created in PCGen cannot be used without access to the books, which is good for the publishers. I have been emailed by users who have told me that they only allow books in their campaigns which are supported by PCGen. Others have emailed me that they have purchased books because they liked what they saw in them within PCGen.
Publishers face many obstacles in order to generate sales - two of those are making potential customers aware of their products, and customer's resistance to new material based on the learning curve needed to properly use it. PCGen helps alleviate both of those obstacles. The first is addressed by making your product viewable to our user-base. We provide source information so users will know who published each book, how to contact you, and we even provide a link to your website if they right-click on your book within PCGen. When a user looks at a list of races from which they can choose, we make it clear which race came from which book. If they like the name of a race, class, feat, spell, whatever, they can see where it came from and if they want to accurately use it within a game they must go buy the book. PCGen applies all the mechanics - not completely in all cases, but this is constantly being improved - which greatly lowers the learning curve for users in actually using your classes, feats, etc. PCGen indicates if you qualify for a class, and if you advance a level in it, it will roll your hit points, allow you to pick spells and feats and everything else. This way a user can concentrate on what kind of character they want to play without having to figure out all the mechanics behind it. PCGen does not describe the classes, their organization or motivations - PCGen is purposely skimpy on details like this on everything. If the users want that kind of information (and they'll need it to play it - and no DM would allow a character to use options they can't refer to during game play in case there's a question about its rules!) they must get the book.
PCGen is completely free and is written by developers who love gaming. We have a lot of support people who help convert the data files into our file-format. We think we've found a happy medium between being useful to both users and advantageous to publishers.
As I said - our goal is to support all d20 material. We would like to have your permission to include your material within PCGen. If you don't want it in, let us know that as well. If you're uncomfortable with PCGen in anyway - let me know and I'd be happy to discuss with you ways to alleviate your concerns. PCGen is completely free, which means getting all the material to include in PCGen comes out of our own pockets. Many of us are avid gamers, so eventually someone in our group will purchase just about everything so we can start to convert it for inclusion within PCGen. A number of publishers have been kind enough and supportive enough of PCGen to send us copies of their books, which has been very appreciated! In addition to your permission for converting your material, it would be very nice if you could send us a copy. That would greatly speed up the time in which it will make it into a release. We have a lot of people who work on converting materials, and any materials sent to me I would then send to whoever would be available soonest to commence work.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please let me know!
Bryan McRoberts
Original Author, Chief Code Monkey, and Guy In Charge of PCGen
merton_monk@yahoo.com
