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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 2009344" data-attributes="member: 2013">E-Tools is the "trimmed-down" version of Master Tools, a demo of which was included on a CD with the Player's Handbook.  It has been subjected to some rather savage reviews, so let's see if it deserves such.First Impressions: E-Tools' list of "cut features" almost seems to equal its list of "included features."  That's never a good thing when trying to deliver to your customers.  The installation went smoothly (a plus) but the actual program runs horribly slowly (granted, I run it on a 300 MHz box, but as this is not calling any graphical routines it should move *much* faster than it does).  I opened the program up and immediately tried mucking around with stuff.  The online documentation saves trees (Which I like) but is somewhat sparse (which I didn't).  As a tech-savvy user, I figured most stuff out really quickly, but it bothered me that many things were rather unintuitive.Function Breakdown:1.) Character Generator - I waited two years for THIS?!?  This is no great upgrade over the Demo software that came with my Player's Handbook two years ago.  The only added functionality is the ability to choose the DMG's NPC classes and Prestige Classes (a total of 10 new classes) and the ability to choose any race from the core books (including the MM).  What a disappointment.  Yes, I knew that this was in the specs for E-Tools, and that it had been considerably limited, but this is ridiculous.  The character sheets are now printed to HTML (a plus) rather than straight to the printer - a nice touch - but there is no compelling reason to recommend this portion of the product over the Character Generator Demo CD to a player unless he has a character with levels in one of the DMG's prestige classes (DMs may find it handy).2.) Monster Generator - This allows you to create and advance Monsters from the monster manual (advance them by Hit Dice).  Since monsters obey well-documented rules during advancement (check the first 10 pages or so of the Monster Manual) this is something of a nice time-saver for DMs who don't want to do the work themselves.  But again, that's it.  I myself was able to create a spreadsheet to do this for me in about an hour after I got my hands on the Monster Manual two years ago.  I didn't get all of the math exactly right, but it was darn close.  It's not hard to program advancement routines.  The only difference between this and my spreadsheet is that it preloads your monster's base stats rather than requiring you to enter them yourself.  Zero points for that (see below under the "database" entry).  This is the type of product that SHOULD have been included with the Monster Manual, just as the Character Generator Demo was with the Player's Handbook.  I have seen other free stuff out there to help you with monster advancement, too.  Oh, and did I mention the glaring omission of templates?  There are no templates and you do not have the ability to add a template to a creature within the confines of E-Tools.  That in and of itself is a HUGE black mark against a commercial product.3.) Treasure Generator - I have to compare this to Jamis Buck's generators.  Jamis' are more customizable and generate stuff with just as much precision.  And they are free.  And they are almost two years old.  This also gets a resounding, "what in the heck took so long?" from me.  This SHOULD have been included with the DMG on a CD, just as the Character Generator Demo came with the Player's Handbook.  Ugh.4.) Table Generator - This is, in my mind, the biggest disappointment of the product, in that it offers so many possibilities and delivers so little.  This is where you can essentially program your own tables into the program for anything you can imagine.  You can use this to create tables of Monsters, Characters, Treasures, other tables, or text.  Yet no sample or default tables (such as the ubiquitous Wandering Monster tables) are included.  The interface is awkward at best and it takes a horribly long time to set up a table.  In theory, this is the portion of the program that allows you to spontaneously generate adventures and campaigns.  In reality, it winds up falling flat on its face - it would take you five tiems as long to set up the necessary tables to do this as it would to just do it by hand - even using E-Tools' monster and treasure generators.  I can't stress how bad it is that they expect you to build from the ground up. I understand that every campaign is different, but give us the Greyhawk defaults and let us play around and go from there.  Yuk.5.) Random Character Generator - This would have been a great addition and even takes the step of linking to the Character Editor after you're done, importing the randomly-generated character.  Then it falls flat on its face by not allowing you do edit its randomly-generated choices.  Stupid.  This makes it no more useful than Jamis Buck's excellent generators.  Less so, in some respects - at least with Jamis' generators you can configure the output.6.) Monster Creator - Bulky and awkward, but a nice touch for those who don't want to do the math of creature creation.  But again, I had a spreadsheet to do this for me (it wasn't quite right, but I wasn't being paid to get it right) two years ago.  This portion of the product is nice, but it is YEARS too late.  You still can't create templates, either, to my great frustration.7.) Treasure Creator - I guess this saves you time in that you don't have to punch through the DMG and then type stuff into your word processor.  Instead you click a bunch of options for your stuff and then wait for five minutes while it formats it for you.  Again, a resounding cry of USELESS rings through my brain.8.) Table Creator - As discussed in #4 above, this is a clunky, ill-documented, and generally hard to use.  It holds great potential but the promise is lost in horrific execution.There are a few other goodies in here as well - such as graphics for representing mosnters and characters - but they add little to the program.  The one truly useful item is the Access Database with all the lovely goodies inside it - but that only helps people who already HAVE Microsoft Access (I doubt anyone else wants to shell out $300 to buy it).  However, the inclusion of an Access Database after two years of waiting gets zero positive points.  Let me tell you what it represents.  It represents a weeks' worth of data entry by a motivated data entry temp who gets paid about $10 an hour (double that amount of time for an unmotivated temp).  To say it is unimpressive is a horrible understatement.  It's well-built and great for those who have Access, but let's be honest - for someone who knows what they're doing (like a software company) it should take about a day to develop and two weeks to fill with data.  What the heck were they doing for the next 100 weeks?  Once you have that implemented, I can't think that writing a front-end program that does simple mathematical calculations is that hard.PRESENTATION: Simple and streamlined - it's just a CD in a sleeve on the shelf of the local store.  Good in that it saves trees, bad in that it gives you NO idea what you are - or aren't - getting.  On your computer, it's rather ugly - the main screen looks like a splash screen and the icons are less than intuitive (to say the least).Conclusion: I waited two years and spent $30 for THIS?!?  I knew what I was getting in terms of functionality, but I expected it to be better-developed given the pricetag and the amount of development time.  I am not unconvinced that I could not have done better with an Access-driven interface.  The database is a nice touch, but I could have pooled my $30 with a couple friends and gotten one by hiring a data entry temp and/or doing it myself.  It's slow, poorly executed, lacking some very important functionality, and lacking in examples for the portions where it could really shine.  I can't stress my disappointment with this product given the development time and cost - there are numerous free products out there that have been out for a year or more now that do everything E-Tools does, and do it better.  Ugh.  "Appalling" is not nearly a strong enough term for my reaction to this product.  "Gosh-awful" and "a product that my goldfish will find just as useful as I will" come to mind.  This product has been savaged in reviews and it fully deserves it.  Yes, it is a useful tool.  But it is not nearly as useful as other, free tools that have been around much longer.  Blech.  I find nothing about this product that would cause me to recommend it at its price.  I would only recommend it if you can find it in a bargain bin for $5.  Maybe not even then.  I had high hopes for this product and it fell flat on its face.  WotC's sudden unfriendliness to competitors also bothers me (it looks like they're trying to create an E-Tools monopoly not by creating a good - or even passable - product, but by litigating the heck out of everyone else), but that's another rant entirely.--The SigilAugust 20, 2002</blockquote>

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