Great idea by Sebastian Bergne. Almost as great as the D20 mace.

“The simple addition of dice markings to a six sided pencil makes all the difference. Pencil dice is an essential addition to any brief case, pen cup or pencil case. A little something to help you pass the time, entertain the children or even make decisions.”

(via Nerdcore)

Well I put together a download section to lead you to most of files and documents I reported about on the Earthdawn Blog. Unfortunately I had to remove the “Interviews” section in the header. But the interview category still leads you there. I hope this makes it easier to discover old entries with downloadable content which might be hard to find on the blog.

Last time I wrote about the Earthdawn Character Editor it was in version 0.1 Alpha. Lortas (interview) and his crew recently released version 0.27 Alpha and so we will take a look at the development. Of course I can’t talk about all proceedings comparing v0.1 and v0.27, detailed information awaits you below at the change log listing. So let’s have a look.

Various new disciplines were added

The new designed inventory tab looks great and your custom items can be added with ease. Simply right click and choose “Add new item”

6 sample characters were added, to show you the full potential of the Character Editor.

At the “Experience” tab all the Legend Point you spend will be recorded. Screenshot taken from the sample character Jada Denairastas.

The best feature in my opinion is of course the export function to various PDF sheets. Note: the blank editable Ajfel+Mordom sheet is available here.

The Character Editor is still in development and you can be sure that further updates will be released. Lortas has set up a “What’s happening” page where recent progress information is provided. The so far released versions can be found here, together with a readme file including the current change log.

If you want to support or contribute, programmers with some knowledge in HTML and CSS are welcome. Simply contact Lortas.

MOST IMPORTANT

The upcoming version 0.28 will contain some incompatibilities to older versions. The release of version 0.28 is scheduled for the next weekend. Lortas will release a tutorial to fix those incompatibilities on his HELP FORUM.

And finally here’s the change log of the last two versions:

Change log of version 0.27

• Bugs
• XML encoding for storing character should now be set correct
• Typing error within different discipline config files corrected
• The maximal circle for disciplines is now reduced to 15.
• XML Schema enhanced:
  - select element type for the list of available talent knacks from xs:choise to xs:sequence
  - If the language list of the character is empty default language will be inserted
  - The languages of the character are listed at the Ajfel+Mordom PDF
  - This readme in markdown-syntax added
  - All spells of Cathay Players Guide added
  - New optional rule KARMALEGENDPOINTCOST added
  - The column for LP based raising of attributes is renamed from "circle" to "LP increase"
  - The knack list of the character will now be evaluated and the knack LPs will now be calculated
  - The list for versatility talents will now only show talents until current circle and also list talents multiple time with different limitations
  - Negative values of (calculated) legend points and negative values of starti ranks will now changed to red within the characteristic overview

Change log of version 0.26

• XML Schema enhanced:
     - The element "portrait" has now the attribute "contenttype"
     - New element "language", to tag which language a character can speak or read/write
     - There are talents which must not be learned by versatility. A new talent attribute have to be defined
     - The attributes threads and strain are now strings, forced by the different values defined in the books
• Templates for Portraits enhanced
• Portraits will now also displayed in the html view
• Now, two example characters have their own portraits
• Talents learned by versatility will now get there circle based on the character current circle
• The attribute "bookref" for talents, skills and spells will now be displayed in the Ajfel+Mordom PDF
• Three talents marked as initiative talents
• Talents that are marked as initiative talents will now receive the armour penalty on there final step
• The ranks of talents that are marked as initiative talents, are also displayed in the initiative form field off all PDFs
• GUI: The column for startrank is now in on skills and talents the same
• Forcing, that only talents from circle <2 can have startranks
• New example character Kartesch
• Bookref
     - The bookref for all spells of PG added
     - The bookref for all shaman spells above circle 7 (PC) added
• The warnings of the Java Class ECEWorker can now be send to another PrintStream than System.err
• All talents of Cathay Players Guide added
• Skills of Cathay Players Guide added
• Bugs
     - Calculating SpellLP corrected
     - The form field "brief description" in the Ajfel+Mordom PDF will no be filled
     - The form fields of the Ajfel+Mordom PDF revised

• Secret meeting of Lightbearers
• The Forge is a well designed beast-, spell-, land- and name generator
• For all the statistic freaks out there: Earthdawn dice roll probabilities for the old d20 table
• Where could generators be better found than at the Generator Blog?
• Charge of the Orc brigade – A mass combat system for Earthdawn
• Are you a fan of the George R.R. Martin „A Song of Ice and Fire"-books? Look at the Inn at the crossroads blog, they (Sariann and Chelsea) write about the meals of the books and post recipes of them. HUNGRY!
• Problems to set up a plot? Head to the Big List of RPG Plots
• Layout of an Elementalists grimoire
• The Conjuring Arts Research Center (vimeo). One of the biggest collection of historic books about magic, wizardry and illusions.
• Underwater T’skrang sword