Lone Wolf Prepping to bring D&D 5th Edition to HEROLAB!

Lone Wolf Development, the makers of the popular Hero Lab character generation software which already covers a wide range of games, has just announced that it is already preparing its software for D&D 5th Edition. While no license exists, their statement (below) indicates that they are fully expecting one and that they are confident enough that they have already started work.

[lq]Proceeding under the assumption that a license will allow us to support D&D 5th Edition, we’ve been making significant preparations within our products.[/lq]

Since the release of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition this past summer, users have been asking if we will be supporting this new edition in our products. To clear up any speculation, we wanted to clarify our official position.

Supporting D&D 5th Edition will require a license of some sort from Wizards of the Coast. While we haven’t signed a license at this time, indications are that Wizards of the Coast will soon release an “open” (OGL or SRD) license for D&D 5th Edition, just like they did a decade ago for D&D 3rd edition. An open license like this would allow other publishers to use selected content from the new edition in their products. If that occurs, we will fully support D&D 5th Edition within both Hero Lab and Realm Works, to the extent that any license allows.

How likely is it that Wizards of the Coast will release an OGL or SRD license for D&D 5th Edition? No formal announcement has been made. However, multiple public statements from members of the D&D design team have indicated plans for portions of D&D 5th Edition to be made available under the OGL in some form.

Proceeding under the assumption that a license will allow us to support D&D 5th Edition, we’ve been making significant preparations within our products. If an OGL license is announced, we’ll be as ready as possible to get the OGL content to our users. Obviously, it will take some time after any formal announcement to finish up our work and make sure everything we have is in compliance with any license, but we’ll be working as quickly as possible to get everything into our users’ hands.

When we have more information about 5th Edition support, we’ll let you know!
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[Hollow Man]

Yeah, that's what I'd seen too.

But it does seem kind of a waste. If they're as far along as they claim, then they have a product basically ready to go for 5E. The Kickstarter was to fund conversion to Pathfinder. At this point it's pretty clear that Pathfinder fans--who already have quite good tools--aren't about to throw half a million at an unproven newcomer, so that's off the table, but surely they could just finish up what they've got and release it for the system it was designed for, and it wouldn't cost nearly so much money.

Hey, I've been trying to figure out for two weeks why they didn't set a small goal for the stuff that's pretty much done, and make stretch goals for the other platforms and modules, but I didn't get too much more than, "We thought of that, but we felt releasing the system in its entirety was important because that's what makes Morningstar what it is." And I think they may have compared it to releasing a jet with only one engine, or something. Forgive me if I'm remembering wrong, but it was a weak analogy anyway.

-HM

 

[turkeygiant]

Is this any different than the Trap Door people saying they would support 5e in the event of a 5E srd release? I mean, it's great they plan to, but unless Hasbro actually releases it, it doesn't really matter.

I mean really, given how big D&D is, I imagine every multi-rpg software program will support 5e if the srd is released.

I think one thing to consider is that Lonewolf already had a stable relationship with WotC from their 4e support. I would guess that they probably have some insider information which they are dancing around in this announcement. I don't think they would start developing this 5e creator without some sort of confidence that they will be supported either by a OGL or as the official character manager.

The difference I'm noticing between this announcement and Morningstar's comments on 5e integration is that Morningstar is non-committal with comments like; "maybe", "we'll see", "it depends on the OGL" while Lonewolf is just going for it.

 

[Agamon]

Regarding HeroLab being expensive, that depends how you use it. If you want to buy all of the official Pathfinder material for it, yeah, it sure can be. But using the content editor isn't that difficult once you mess around with it for a bit. I'm using it for my Savage Worlds game, which didn't cost me anything (I already had HL with a PF license). If support isn't official, then I doubt access to the 5e database will be able to be sold (aside from initial purchase of the HL software, of course).

Anyway, I recently went all in with LW, taking a closer look at Realms Works and jumping on board, ironically, thanks to the C:MS thread. So this is good news for my 5e game.

 

[Warunsun]

I have HeroLab which I bought initially for Savage Worlds and the Editor. I have used it some for Savage Worlds and D&D Fourth Edition but not tons. I would buy the 5E add-on for sure however.

 

[aramis erak]

I suspect that Trapdoor didn't expect the pushback from their snarking, nor the loss of trust from having the license deal ended.

 

[Dausuul]

I suspect that Trapdoor didn't expect the pushback from their snarking, nor the loss of trust from having the license deal ended.

Both of those have certainly hurt them, but I really don't think they ever had a prayer of raising $425K for a Pathfinder conversion. It's an enormous ask for a company without a track record in the industry and without anything to offer by way of a working demo. (The interface video hardly qualifies.) If there weren't any existing e-tools for Pathfinder, then maybe they could have done it, but the fact is most of their potential market has already invested elsewhere.

Back to HeroLabs, though... sounds like they're pretty convinced about a 5E OGL. That's excellent news. What I wonder is what will be covered. Obviously the Basic Rules will be; but that would hardly be enough to make HeroLabs viable. Nobody needs a character builder to make Basic PCs. Does this mean the Player's Handbook will be included as well?

 

[Queer Venger]

Awesome, they should be given the license, Im sure they will deliver quality.

 

[BrockBallingdark]

My credit card is ready once 5E is good to go for Herolab. It's not expensive unless you want every Pathfinder book, I don't. This would be so awesome as I have Herolab and Realmworks already.

 

[DLIMedia]

"Proceeding under the assumption that a license will allow us to support D&D 5th Edition..."

And they think this is actually a good idea? I hope they're right, but given WotC's recent history I seriously doubt it.

I have to remind everyone about the 4E GSL: while some would argue how comprehensive the license was, the license explicitly banned software of any kind. Of course, that was at the time that WotC was looking to profit on the software through DDI, but in light of the DungeonScape debacle who knows what they may have planned on that front.


It's been a while since I even look at Hero Lab. Is it more than just a character generator?

 

[Birmy]

The Lone Wolf guys do good work, so I can only view this as a good thing.