Not Everyone Speaks English
Some players may not speak English or may be more comfortable with another language. Luckily, the Chummer community has lent their time to translating both
the application and its data into French, German, and Japanese. The download file includes everything for English, French, German, and Japanese, and the translation files are
updated on a regular basis as Chummer evolves and includes more data.
XML Data
All of Chummer's data comes from XML files. It also includes support for adding your own data by creating custom XML data files that follow the exact same
structure, making adding your custom content simple. The Chummer Wiki includes detailed information for each XML data file and XSD files you can use for
reference.
XSL Character Sheets
Chummer comes with a couple of character sheets modeled after the standard Shadowrun 4th Edition one, but some players or Game Masters may prefer to make
their own. Chummer uses XSLT for all of its character sheets to make creating your own sheets easy. The printout window includes a Save as XML button to dump out
printout XML so you can see the XML structure as needed.
Optional Rules and House Rules
Chummer includes support for a number of optional rules from the books. Does your game use Armor Degradation, More Lethal Gameplay, or limiting an Active Skill
to 20 dice? Turn the optional rules on and off as needed for your game. Do you use house rules like ignoring Armor Encumbrance altogether, allowing free Contacts,
or applying Essence loss only to MAG/RES maximum? Those are covered, too!
Maybe you use a different amount of BP or Karma for Attributes or Skills? Pop open the Options window and change them to suit your need.
If you play in multiple games, chances are one game uses a few different rules than another. Chummer lets you save each set of options in Settings files and
tie a Setting to each character.
Support for PACKS Kits
The PACKS Kits introduced in the Runner's Toolkit are neat and can be incredibly handy for Game Masters if they want to quickly slap together a character, so
Chummer includes support for PACKS Kits. It also allows you to create your own PACKS Kits from characters. Find that you really like a the character's Attribute
and Active Skill combinations for a certain archetype that you'd like to save for later? Open the Create PACKS Kit window and create your own PACKS Kit with
those items with a few clicks so you can use them whenever you like!
Spirits, Mutants, and Dragons, Oh My!
Not everything in the Shadowrun world is metahuman, so why should your character generator limit you to only metahumans? Chummer has full support for
Spirits, Sprites, and Critters of every variety! GMs can easily build up a Critter in minutes, tweak their Attributes, Qualities, Skills, Critter Powers, and
everything else, just like any other character.
Shadowrunning is a Career
Your character doesn't stop growing and changing once you're done creating them, so Chummer lets you maintain your character throughout their career.
Once in Career Mode, you can track your Karma and Nuyen, improve your Attributes and Skills by spending Karma, track wounds and Condition Monitor penalties
for both yourself and your Vehicles, even the number of rounds of each type you have remaining in each of your guns. Your focus should be on playing and
enjoying your game, not on juggling numbers.
Continuous Development
While I may be just one guy working on this, Chummer is updated on a regular basis to fix bugs and add in new features suggested by the community.
If you've found a bug you'd like to report or have an idea to suggest, head on over to the
Chummer thread on the Dumpshock forums and post it there!
(Reporting everything in one place makes things easier!)
Online Character Repository
Don't feel like making a contact, enemy, or critter, or just want to see what other people have created? Check out Omae, Chummer's online character
repository! This is where Chummer users can post their creations for others to put to use. Posting a character on Omae requires you to create an Omae account
so it can identify who uploaded the file and is allowed to upload new revisions of the character, and so others can see who created it. Don't worry, I don't do
anything with the information - it's really just there to make sure nobody else overwrites or deletes your work.
What Doesn't It Include?
Chummer does not include the full descriptions or rules for individual items. Instead, it gives page reference numbers. The idea is to supplement the books
and PDFs you already own, not replace the need for purchasing them. We all love the game and want to see it flourish.
System Requirements
Chummer's only system requirement is that you have Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
installed.
Chummer does not need to be installed. Just download the zip file, unzip it to wherever you'd like, and start creating!