RPGXplorer?

[Old One]

Anyone have any insight into the upcoming RPGxplorer utility www.rpgxplorer.com?

Thanks in advance!

~ OO

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Bad link, Old One, btw. Looks like you included the punctuation.


Lot's of questions, few answers.

So long as no one can re-distribute non-OGL data, it's an uphill battle. I don't have the time or energy to code data sets for all my stuff. At a few bucks a pop, it's just easier to buy the official stuff from CMP.

A good editor will help, but it's non-trivial to write a dataset editor that can accomodate all the wierd ass stuff you can do with the non-core D20 products. (MDTs, VP/WP variants, etc)

The screen shots look pretty, but I've been in the IT field for too long to trust a screenshot.

 

[reveal]

I think it's stupid that they've had ads in the last 3 months of Dragon and you can't even download a demo.

 

[JimAde]

The screen shots look pretty, but I've been in the IT field for too long to trust a screenshot.

I'm actually working on a screen mock-up right now that has no code behind it. Never trust a programmer who's in a hurry!

 

[Mercule]

I think it's stupid that they've had ads in the last 3 months of Dragon and you can't even download a demo.

They've got screenshots, which is still better than the new toy from CMP (forget the name). I agree, though, that I'd like to see a demo, even if it's totally gimped.

What's being shown looks pretty sweet, though. I showed the add to my group, and every person in it said, basically, "If someone actually puts out an easy to use, totally customizable (rules-wise) game tool, I'll buy it." You have to understand that my group is cheap, too.

Three things I'm hoping: Most importantly, I hope this thing will handle variant rules, like from Unearthed Arcana, especially spell points, armor as DR, a heavily modified class defense, buying off ECL, and bloodlines. Being able to relatively easily input things like the Warlock are a must, too. I don't care if I have to add the changes myself. I just want the ability to do so.

The second thing is that I hope we aren't locked into the large icon view that is shown on the screenshots and that they seem to be hyping. IMO, this is a value-subtracted feature. I don't like large icons in any application and use hacks to reduce them. When I'm doing things like adding armor, spells, and feats to my character or viewing the character, I absolutely, positively want to be able to see columns of data. Period. I will not buy this product if I cannot turn off the large icons.

The final thing is a nice, printable character sheet. We use paper at the table. HeroForge has a great character sheet (as in, it is the standard by which other print-outs shall be judged, in my group), and I hope the RPGXplorer has a similar one. Things like the skills running off the bottom of the page in some of PCGen's sheets are just not acceptable. PCGen has enough functionality that the sheets balance it out at the price (free), but I would not pay $5 for a product that didn't come with better sheets, out of the box. This is actually one of the major things that has kept PCGen as an option of last resort for my group -- put all the bells you want into data entry/storage you want, the value of the tool is ultimately determined by how well you can access that data when you need it.

Harsh criticism? Maybe. I'm just tired of not having any worthwhile tools out there to help me. I actually do appreciate the huge amount of work the various workers have put into the free products out there. I'm at the point, though, where I want (almost need) a commercial quality character/campaign tool. If someone actually put out something of sufficient quality and utility, I would happily drop $100 for it.

So, consider this an open and honest statement of need from a customer who is guaranteed to be making the ultimate decision about which tool will be used by a half-dozen people.

RPGXplorer looks like it could fit the bill. I certainly hope it does. I'd like to see a demo of this and screenshots/demo for RPGT so that I could make a more educated guess on how to spend my time now (should I continue plugging in data for PCGen?).

 

[reveal]

From their forum:

Yes, the trial version will be fully functional version of RPGxplorer limited to 14 days.

The trial version will release on the same day as the full version of RPGxplorer releases.

Wow. They seriously believe people to preorder this and pay $24 after seeing screenshots. Otherwise, you pay the full $30. That's just idiotic. :\

 

[Mercule]

Wow. They seriously believe people to preorder this and pay $24 after seeing screenshots. Otherwise, you pay the full $30. That's just idiotic. :\

Quite. Fortunately, I think $30 is a fair price for a decent character tool (I'd pay more for a campaign tool). Based on the quality of other for-pay tools I've seen, I don't think $24 is a reasonable gamble on anything new. It's like a 4:1 bet where both the odds and the payout are stacked in the house's favor.

 

[WingOver]

I've decided to wait for the demo before ordering. If it can do what they claim, then I have no problem missing out on the preorder discount and paying the full $30. Better that than wasting $24 on dud software.

Personally I think their business strategy is fine. It's not like they're forcing you to preorder, and I appreciate seeing the ads, screenshots and sneak peeks. Now if they hit their July release, I'll really be impressed.

 

[reveal]

Personally I think their business strategy is fine. It's not like they're forcing you to preorder, and I appreciate seeing the ads, screenshots and sneak peeks. Now if they hit their July release, I'll really be impressed.

While they're not forcing me to buy anything, they are forcing me to take their word on a product to save 20% of the cost of the product. That's a large discount. It's the same principle as saying in order to get a car for a discount, you have to purchase it based solely upon pictures of what it looks like and the manufacturer saying "It's really cool!" :\

 

[LeifVignirsson]

Eh, I had to do the pre-sell $24 buy in because that is the way I roll. I think that even half of what they say it can do would be better than e-Tools, in my opinion... I never really did get behind e-Tools, it seemed a bit too clunky and whatnot for my tastes. I guess I was spoiled with the Master Tools demo disc, go figure. Once July 1 comes around and I DON'T have my software OR a semi-decent program, I will let you all know... heh...