Pathfinder Is Coming To REALMWORKS

Realmworks is a campaign management software product from the same company which produces the popular Hero Lab character management software. They've just secured a license with Paizo to support the Pathfinder RPG via the software. This means that all the Pathfinder books, adventure paths, modules, etc., will be available via Realmworks' content market from early next year.

Lone Wolf (the developers) are best known for Hero Lab, a character creation app and manager for computers and tablets. It supports a lot of games, including Pathfinder - I just finished playing through Paizo's Kingmaker adventure path using it. It certainly speeds up high level 3.x play. Realmworks is perhaps not so well known, but it's been around a while - it was successfully Kickstarted back in 2013.

What this is really about, though, is the new Content Market. "Debuting early 2016, the Realm Works Content Market will launch with adventures, settings, and source material from popular publishers like Paizo, Green Ronin Publishing, Kobold Press, Frog God Games, Engine Publishing, Hammerdog Games, and Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Highlights include Rise of the Runelords, Pirate’s Guide to Freeport, and Razor Coast."

Campaign management software seems to be on the rise right now. Obviously there are many online web-based solutions (like City of Brass, Obsidian Portal, and EN World's Groups) which handle various things to different degrees - scheduling, reference, storing setting information, campaign journals, images, maps, and so on. There are also Virtual Table Tops which overlap with this category, handling some of the same workload (Fantasy Grounds and Roll20 are the two big ones, but there are others). And there's Trapdoor Technologies Playbook for PRD, which includes the Pathfinder Reference Document and character creation. So there's lots of competition in the marketplace for this sort of thing, which can only be good for us consumers.

Lone Wolf will be releasing weekly previews and information. There's an overview of the software in the video below (this is from 2013, so long before this new Pathfinder license).

[video=youtube;9vHw6m35pBI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vHw6m35pBI[/video]​

 

[dpmcalister]

I'm still waiting for them to actually finish the product I backed! 30 months on from when it was meant to be finished and we still don't have the web interface but that hasn't stopped them starting the clock on the cloud service!

 

[Arius]

I'm super stoked about this, it will save a ton of data entry and prep work.
[MENTION=4302]dpmcalister[/MENTION] - When did they start the clock on the cloud service, I didn't see anything about that in the recent announcement?

 

[dpmcalister]

They started it in November[1] last year! They then realised, in May[2] this year, that they didn't have everything ready so they suspended the expiration "until some point after the Content Market launch" promising at least one month's notice when that suspension ends. It works well I suppose if you've got the 6 months cloud service - as you've received at least another 6 months free, but not so much for those of us who backed at the 15 month level!

[1] https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-streamlined-rpg-campaign-tools/posts/1056928
[2] https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-streamlined-rpg-campaign-tools/posts/1217142

 

[LWDLiz]

When did they start the clock on the cloud service, I didn't see anything about that in the recent announcement?

The cloud service clock started when Player Edition released, as cloud service is required for players to view content in their (separate) version of Realm Works. However, when we realized that Content Market was going to take longer than we had originally anticipated, we suspended the clock. Here's the key bit of information from that announcement:

For thousands of users, the free six months of cloud service is currently set to expire on May, 17th, and the majority of those users will be faced with choosing to continue their service before being able to leverage published material through the Content Market. With this in mind, we’ve chosen to suspend the expiration and allow cloud service to continue for all users. All users with cloud service, regardless of purchase date, will continue to receive cloud service until some point after the Content Market launch. Users will have the opportunity to see what’s possible with the Content Market and cloud service combined. Since the exact timing for this remains fluid, we’ll provide users with at least one month’s notice before the extra free cloud service concludes.​

 

[LWDLiz]

I'm still waiting for them to actually finish the product I backed! 30 months on from when it was meant to be finished and we still don't have the web interface but that hasn't stopped them starting the clock on the cloud service!

I'm not sure what you mean by "we still don't have the web interface but that hasn't stopped them starting the clock on the cloud service"?

During the Kickstarter, the benefits of cloud service was always presented in terms of Player Edition and the Content Market. In fact, the web interface was never in the immediate release plan for Realm Works. Here's a section from the Kickstarter FAQ entry: "Over time, we'll be replicating all the functionality of the client application onto the server through a web-based interface. The net result will be duplicate functionality with both a purely online interface and the client application, catering appropriately to anyone in any environment. At some point, the sands will have shifted enough that we leave the client application behind entirely."

The Content Market (and backer rewards) are the final remaining pieces from the Kickstarter. That said, initial web-access is currently our priority following the initial launch of the Content Market.

 

[Ashran]

Yeah, okay for pathfinder, it's a good news

Now a even better news would be to have a 5th edition similar deal.

 

[Random Bystander]

Yeah, okay for pathfinder, it's a good news

Now a even better news would be to have a 5th edition similar deal.

If WotC opened all of their editions' contents to sale on Hero Lab/related software, there would likely be a buying frenzy. The ability to make a character for any edition using electronic software? Legally? That would be something I'd be willing to spend money on.

 

[dpmcalister]

I'm not sure what you mean by "we still don't have the web interface but that hasn't stopped them starting the clock on the cloud service"?

I mean the same as my unanswered question from the May update. You shouldn't have started the cloud service clock until the product was finished.

I backed the early release version but found very quickly that, without the web interface, it was useless to me. I was happy to wait for that but starting the cloud service clock before the final product is ready is wrong in my opinion.

If I could ask for a refund I would happily take it and never touch Realm Works again!

 

[LWDLiz]

If WotC opened all of their editions' contents to sale on Hero Lab/related software, there would likely be a buying frenzy. The ability to make a character for any edition using electronic software? Legally? That would be something I'd be willing to spend money on.

We would love to support D&D in both Hero Lab and Realm Works! On the Hero Lab side, we're planning to support 5E if/when they release an OGL.