Thursday, May 5, 2011

Two Questions for Gamers


First, do any of my readers know of good downloadable character generators for Pathfinder or D20 Modern? Coming up with stat blocks, checking the math over and over, and keeping track of skill points is my least favorite part of designing for D20 based systems. Does anybody know of a good character generator for either of the systems that I can purchase? I'd love to just be able to plug in my numbers, assign some stats and import the results.

Second, since I use alot of stock illos in my releases, I've become more aware of stock illustrations used in other works. Whether I'm reading an article in Newsweek and realizing I've seen that illustration before, or looking through some of my favorite big name RPG releases, I feel like I can spot stock art better.

I've loved RIFTS since I started gaming- it was my intro the hobby. Today, I was flipping through the core book at the breakfast table and I noticed something. First, some of the art in the original corebook didn't really seem to fit. (Especially the picture of the "cyberknight and his D-bee companion" and English druidess color plates... .those I can tell were just left over from a Palladium Fantasy RPG product and reused. There's nothing high-tech or Rifts specific in either illo, they're just pure fantasy illos. Pretty pagefillers, but that add nothing to the look and feel of the world). Second, Larry MacDougall's artwork is excellent, but again, fairly generic. His stuff illustrates a decent near-future post-apoc setting, but there's nothing specifically Rifts about it, no magic, no d-bees, no trace of the Coalition's unique visual style, nothing. Just cool looking guys and girls with guns. Some of it (especially MacDougall's awesome powered armor images, of which I can't find copies of anywhere on line) even resembles the very, very short lived Captain Power tv series.

My question: was MacDougall's art commissioned specifically for the game? Or is this older and awesome B&W artwork available as stock art somewhere? Because if it is, I want to use it for Otherverse America!

Oh, and one final note. I realized I should of cleared this up a long time ago. Despite the level to which Rifts has influenced me, I didn't name the Coalition for Life (usually referred to as the CFL or Lifer nation) in my setting after their Coalition States. Instead, the CFL got its name from the real world anti-abortion political organization/lobbying PAC called the American Coalition of Life Activists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Coalition_of_Life_Activists

Anyway, Blessed Be, and enjoy Thor tomorrow.
CHRIS

2 comments:

Mister O said...

Too your first question: YES! Lone Wolf Development has a program called Hero Lab which is just the thing I think you are looking for. It supports Pathfinder along with multiple other game systems including Mutants and Masterminds [2e/3e], WoD, Savage Worlds, Cortex).

I've been using it for M&M characters for years and it is a very good program.

Find it here:
http://www.wolflair.com/index.php?context=hero_lab

Chris A. Field said...

Thanks, I'll give it a try and see how it works.