Is it reasonable to create Dungeon World characters, fronts, etc. in Hero Lab?

Question

I use Hero Lab extensively for my Pathfinder characters and really enjoy how easy it makes creating complex characters and experimenting with different character builds. Dungeon World is pretty light on the rules and characters don't get too complex, but I would like to have one place I go when I pull up any character for any game.

I am considering diving into the editor for Hero Lab and creating everything necessary to support Dungeon World character creation in Hero Lab. I don't have much experience beyond adding one or two custom items for my Pathfinder characters and don't know what to expect for the amount of time that would be required to invest in developing this tool.

How much time should I expect to take to build a Dungeon World module using the Authoring Kit in Hero Lab?

Answer 1

There isn't such thing as "complex character builds" in Dungeon World. So, probably it will not take long compared to other systems, in that it will be quick discounting the time it takes to learn how in the first place (which would be the same whatever system you were aiming at).

But, there's not much point in doing it. Herolab doesn't really offer any functionality that's useful in Dungeon World, since characters consist almost entirely of a sheet with tick marks for the chosen options. There's no move synergy to experiment with, no math that a computer is better at, no time-consuming creation process, no giant library of options. Everything is on one sheet (two, if you're a spellcaster), and creation is the matter of a few minutes before the game starts. You could probably make a few hundred Dungeon World characters in the time it takes to create the Herolab files.

Which is not to say that you shouldn't, if you very much want to have all your RPG characters filed away in a common place, that being Herolab. If you were already familiar with the internals, it would probably be worth it. It would probably also be worth it if you think implementing it is an interesting project in and of itself, worth the time simply for the experience of doing it. If none of those apply though, you may want to reconsider.