Metacreator and Savage Worlds

I purchased Savage Worlds recently and quite like the look of it. More information can be found here.

The Savage Worlds Game System

Essentially it a a universal rules system for RPGs. Looks pretty good and I intend to test it with a bunch of total newbies in a week or two.

The problem is that I have been out of the way of running RPGs for almost fifteen odd years. I am pretty rusty and the Savage Worlds system while fairly simple is new to me.

I have a few plot ideas but thought it would be handy if I could find something to make my life a bit easier, especially with making up some pre-generated  characters. Using the power of Google™ I discovered Metacreator.

Metacreator

Put the spark of life into your characters with Metacreator, the customizable application for creating roleplaying game characters. The website was pretty stark and not very welcoming but as I had seen the software recommended in a forum somewhere and had some credit in my Paypal account I thought I would try it. The download link came through in seconds and the software seems to be working fine on my Windows 7 box. Running under Wine on Linux did not seem to be so successful. Also seems to work well on my Windows XP netbook.

Here is my brief introduction to Metacreator. Which will also serve as my learning experience for using Windows Live Writer.



The initial screen is barren.



Luckily the floating help window is excellent. If you select help and game system tutorial it will give you step by step instructions, floating always visible.



The system seems geared up for a generic fantasy type character but I suspect some of the choices have no actual effect on the character.

 

I am just going to follow the guided tour and try to create a basic fantasy fighter type character.



Select the rule set.



Select your race. I presume it is possible to add your own if you have a particular world you wish to create.



Select your basic attributes by clicking on the up and down arrows. The attribute points used are automatically updated.



Selecting skills for me was a matter of right clicking on the skill box and selecting select skill and then adding some dice to it. Metacreator seems to sort out the points for you automatically.



Selecting the info button about almost anything will give you info, funnily enough, in the help window.



From adding Edges I seem to have gone over my points I am going to have to select some hindrances.





I need to select quite a few hindrances to even up my points. Metacreator stopped me a few times when I tried to select something I did not have the prerequisites for.

Next stuff. Select Data then Gear from the Menu.



I select some stuff. Then :-



Finishing up.



Following the instructions. Select Data then Finalize character. Not much seems t0 happen.

How does it look? Selecting Print Preview through Template gives me :-



Looks pretty good. I did add a text note to detail my Delusional beliefs and my Enemy but neither seem to have been printed on the character sheet so I should probably have read the instructions and added them elsewhere to make them visible.

Pretty happy though for a first attempt. It all seemed to flow fairly well and there are a plethora of options as yet untouched.

Metacreator seems to be flexible and also has the ability to create NPCs and all sorts of other Savage World related things. The software is a bit clunky but seems designed to be useful rather than pretty.

If there are any drastic errors please leave a comment.

So far Windows Live Writer is a joy to use. Will see how well it works when I try to publish this post.

D.