Jul 9
how to run #dnd character builder on mac, linux and ipad
As a Mac user for nearly two years now I had been "clean" of using Windows for some time when I started getting back in to Dungeons and Dragons. The latest version of D&D is good fun and Wizards have provided a character builder application to speed up the process of trawling through all their material to build your ultimate hero character.
http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/characterbuilder
However, it only runs on Windows and explicitly does not support Linux or Mac, and I've tried most things including Wine and Mono. So I installed an old copy of Windows XP in to a Virtual Box and that does the job... but wasn't really the answer to my problem. I simply don't want Windows on my Mac. Also, I would like to be able to use the character builder on my iPad.
The solution came to me in a dream ... well not really, but the answer to use some kind of hosted Windows service.
I decided to try with Amazon AWS ( http://aws.amazon.com/ ) which lets you create "virtual computers" on the internet (commonly known as a VM, Virtual Machine or VPS, Virtual Private Server).
It's pretty straight forward to get going so long as you're not a complete computer novice. I simply span up a Windows 2008 Basic Server, connected, downloaded and installed Character Builder, signed in to get the full version and now I can access it via my Mac, Linux and even my iPad!
Of course there is a cost, but the advantage of using Amazon AWS is that you only get charged for the disk space and processing power you use. When I'm not using the Character Builder, I simply shutdown the instance. I'm estimating this should cost me around £3/$5 per month to run character builder in this way, but will definitely keep the community posted about that.
