Uses for Fantasy Grounds

[bullywug]

Hello Everyone,
I purchased a copy of Fantasy Grounds (from Steam). It's a nice looking app but I'm having trouble figuring out what it's useful for. Here's my scenario:

• I have a group of 5 players who meet weekly to play face to face.
• We use a Lenovo Horizon 27" tabletop PC for our battlemaps
  
• I previously used Roll20 and Opera for maps
  
• I am currently using Maptools
  
• I use a laptop to GM and the players use the tabletop pc.
• I use 4eTurnTracker for initiative tracking and conditions
• I use Softrope for music and sound effects
• I use Realm Works for planning (previously used OneNote and Masterplan)

So my question is, what part of the equation is Fantasy Grounds good for? From what I can tell it's mapping feature is very rudimentary and would not meet our needs for playing. So is it for story design like Realm Works, because what I've been able to figure out in Fantasy Grounds is again, very rudimentary in comparison to the product I'm using. I know this sounds kind of critical and that's not how its intended. I own this software and I'm just trying to find a niche for it in my gaming.
Thanks for your feedback,

Charles

[Trenloe]

Fantasy Grounds is a Virtual Table Top (VTT) - hence it is designed to replace the tabletop, primarily where people are playing over the internet by providing what you'd normally have at a pen-n-paper RPG session: dice, maps, handouts, limited fog-of-war, character sheets, NPC statistics, items, party tracking (XP, loot, equipment), etc., etc.. Some people use it for face-to-face gaming for the combat tracker (initiative, conditions, HP tracking, NPC statblocks, NPC rolling), sharing handouts (images) and map/token placement, tracking of PC and party resources, campaign information (in the form of linked story entries) and other areas. I would hazard a guess that the people who use it for face-to-face games probably used it for virtual games first, got used to what FG can do and then decided to use it in their face-to-face games knowing what it can and can't do.

FG can replace Maptools (I moved to FG from Maptools a few years ago) - but if you're looking for dynamic fog-of-war and lighting effects then that is not currently available in Fantasy Grounds. FG currently replicates more of a face-to-face gaming environment, where the GM reveals the map as the players move around. You can also make tokens visible/invisible to hide sneaky monsters from the players.

So, with your setup you could use your laptop as the GM instance of FG (using your full license) and the players would connect using the tabletop PC. FG will switch into "demo" mode as you're connecting a free license to a GM license, but you will still be able to game and save data, you just won't be able to connect a second player instance to the GM. You'd then be able to share maps, handouts, story entries, etc. to the desktop PC; bring up the combat tracker and use this for initiative, conditions, effects, HP tracking, etc.. Make NPC rolls from the NPC statblocks and track what the NPCs are doing. You can use tokens on the maps to show where everyone is, and lock the players movement of their tokens if you desire. You can use the manual fog-of-war (mask) functionality to show/hide areas of the map, and toggle NPC token visibility if needed. Depending on which ruleset you're using, you'd be able to share spell and item data with the players.

FG isn't a map making application, you'd need to create/download maps outside of FG and import them into your campaign (a very quick and simple process).

I don't know what system you're interested in, but FG comes with 2 example campaigns "A Tale of Dinor" for the 3.5e (99% similar to Pathfinder) and 4e ruleset. It also comes with a free 3.5e/PF scenario module called Well met in Kith'takharos. These campaigns and example module will give you an idea of what data can be stored in Fantasy Grounds and you can play around with the data etc..

But, in the end, FG was designed as a "virtual" tabletop. It has some great features to make the GMs life easier and simulates a lot of face-to-face round the table play. If you're sitting round a table, then some of that feature set is no longer relevant.

[bullywug]

Thank you so much for the thorough explanation. Fantasy Grounds is very appealing but it sounds like it's not really right for us. I use vision blocking to allow me to lay out all the tokens and not have to worry about remembering to reveal them at the right time. Its a shame Fantasy Grounds lacks this feature. I'll keep an eye out and if vision blocking ever gets introduced I'll give it another look.

[Griogre]

Bullywug, in addition to what Trenloe said FG's strength as a VTT is its character sheets and their integration with the combat tracker and tokens on the map. Unfortunately, with your setup your characters would likely be using "real" character sheets. It's for the rolling off of and managing the character sheet and making attacks from the character sheet to tokens on the map image where FG shines.

MapTool is a very good "map-centric" VTT and as you are primarily using it for mapping, it would shine in that role. VTT's are integrators, one program for your RPGing online. You are using specialized programs for each of your needs (which makes sense you your situation) - but in the area where FG really shines you are probably still using physical character sheets so character sheet integration into your other programs is not even something you worry about.

[Valarian]

Fantasy Grounds concentrates on the character sheet and the story, rather than the map. Maptools and Roll20 are really map centric VTTs. As Trenloe says above, Fantasy Grounds would work with your RealmWorks, replacing either Roll20 or MapTools. Realmworks for campaign planning and world building. Fantasy Grounds to plan and run your sessions and story. There's far more in the way of character sheet and combat aids (encounter/combat tracker) in Fantasy Grounds than the competition, but you trade off in map functionality.

[bullywug]

Thanks guys. It seems like every strength Fantasy Grounds has would get in the way with the way we play. LOL.
I really appreciate your feedback.

[ddavison]

bullywug, you can pre-place all the tokens on a map in advance when you prep your game. When the players move to that part of the map, you click on the link that shows you the GM notes, any surprises in store and the tokens pre-placed in their starting location. With a click of the button from your encounter, it will place them all, mark them as invisible and roll the initiative for the NPCs and place them in the combat tracker. You can then use the distance measuring features and line of sight marking, area of effects, etc.



Aside from that, you can create the campaign outline and what is in each room of a dungeon or overland map and then drag those story entries (complete with NPC links, items, etc.) to the map when you hold down CTRL. Whenever your hold down CTRL, you will then see hotkeys for everything.

What game system do you play, again? Depending on the system, there are often a ton more features that are incorporated. Since you use 4ETurnTracker, it sounds like you are playing D&D 4E. You should check out the conditions and effects tracking and how those are integrated in with the system. You can target groups of NPCs or players and then launch a spell or effect against the whole group to have it auto-calculate the hit or miss against the appropriate defense, roll half-damage if appropriate, update the total HP so you have it available as a GM at a glance and then auto-apply the effects. The beauty of FG, in my opinion, is how it incorporates all the different systems into one complete system instead of having to maintain and duplicate the data across multiple systems.