Review of Automated Character Generator

I run a Rolemaster game, and, although I love the system and it's flexibility, creating characters is like pulling teeth. It takes close to an hour for one of my players, to make a level 1 character, and gaining a level takes them at least 20 minutes. Because of this, I was overjoyed to find this piece of software at http://www.corleone.com/acg.

I downloaded the shareware copy, unziped it, and forty minutes later I had created three mid-level NPC's. This program takes all the mind numbing labor out of creating Rolemaster characters, as it enters the skill costs, stat bonuses, profession bonus, and all those little bits which always take forever to put in. While I still can't create a character in under 5 minutes the way the web site says, this program has more than quadrupled the speed at which I can make characters. Better yet, gaining levels only takes a minute or two.

The program also prints out character sheets. Twenty-nine bucks may seem like a lot for a simple program, but anyone who plays Rolemaster should just think about how much time they would save. They give a 31 day free trial use period with the shareware, and I can tell you that after only about a week I am hooked. I have only a few gripes.

First of all, it seems to me that it should have a better system of handling hobby ranks, and the help files it provides should be accessable from inside the program instead of making you go to windows explorer or something, but these are small and don't change the positive tone of my evaluation much.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)