Is fog of war a thing in Fantasy Grounds?

[seycyrus]

Ok, trying really hard to not derail this thread, but ... In a recent thread (I THOUGHT it was this one), someone threw down a one-liner that pretty much said "For a good example of manual map revealing, watch this" and included a link. It was a link to some recorded game sessions. I can't seem to find the post or the link, can anyone else help me?

Oh and just to emphasize again, You can have two instances of FG open at once, a GM AND a player instance, on the same computer, no problem whatsoever.

[Falantrius]

Hello Falantrius,

I wanted to respond to these two quotes just for clarity and to possibly help you accomplish your goals for gameplay. First, and I'm mainly pointing this out for clarity of those who find this thread later, There shouldn't be a big difference in pricing buying the Ultimate license or buying the Lite -> Full license and then upgrading with a Full -> Ultimate license. Although things have changed regarding pricing recently to try and simplify the pricing structure while adding the subscription options. I believe it's still roughly a $5 difference ($40 + $115 = $155 vs $150).

>>Falantrius>> The reason I said this was when I went to purchase it said "Ultimate License - $149" and "Ultimate License Upgrade - $115" - that's on the store page. The $40 price - I thought was for a client. I didn't see anything that listed "Lite" or "Full" on the store page. What you say makes sense - but what is on the store is what confused me.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "updating their characters" as you then mentioned leveling up separately

>Falantrius>> Updating means the players buy things, use charges, potions, etc and update the character with those changes. Leveling happens about once a month in my game and the characters will level up - add spells, hp, etc. then buy equipment and make adjustments. To load the players correctly in FG, each time I do an import - I have to redo updates that don't import from PCGEN. For example, all the Oracle spells are not loading - Clerics, mages, etc seem fine but the Oracle isn't. So I have to add all the spells in and then update all dmg, effects, etc for the character. Other characters that DO load the spells, end up wiping out the changes I made last time and I have to redo those as well. Its just a hassle that I wish I could find a simpler solution. Ive had some DMs tell me here that load once - then don't reload - just manually make all the changes on the new sheet. My players like time to think about what they are going to purchase - so they do alot of that out of game and over email - for me to approve. Which is probably the direction I'm going to go - but it would be nice if it was easier.

I would like to learn more about stores and parcels - that sounds interesting.

For leveling up, it's something that (in my games) tends to be somewhat less frequent.

>> Falantrius >> Mine is similar - we don't even track XP - they level up at story points in the game. This dissuades characters from grinding for XP also. The goal is to have fun - not try to race to next level. Early on - they level more but later on after 9th - it could be 3-4 sessions before the next level.

Lastly, I'd like to chime in on your current use case. If you are meeting face to face, you might be better served by utilizing your software a little differently. You may wish to run a normal local setup for Fantasy Ground (1x GM and 1x PC instance) just to manage the story elements (handouts, images, your notes, NPC dialog, etc.) and use physical battle maps and POG's along with HeroLab to manage combat, inventory, leveling, etc. I know that may seem like I'm saying "Hey, just don't use the $150 software you bought" but I'm not. I'm saying the way you are wanting to use the software is not really what it's designed for and resultantly it's not the softwares strength. With that in mind Fantasy Grounds would still be very useful in preparing and managing the story. So basically with your setup, you'd have one of the monitors private for the GM Fantasy Grounds session, the second horizontal monitor viewable by the players with the PC instance of Fantasy Grounds, and then the vertical monitor have Hero Lab open with the party's portfolio. Hero Lab has a reasonable encounter builder and from what I can tell a decent combat tracker (although I've never actually used it in a campaign because we just did combat by hand using Hero Lab as a digital character sheet, which it does extremely well). Anyway, try it out and see if it works better for you, then run a campaign remotely (since everyone can connect to your game for free) and I think you'll grow to appreciate how much easier Fantasy Grounds makes GMing.

>> Falantrius >> Just to be clear also - I understand - however, as a DM, I am more happy with one stop shopping - a solution that meets 90+% of the players needs - both remote play, VTT, etc. FG provides the tools and the users decide how to use it. I'm sure people would have loved us to say VISTA works as designed - you're not using it right - its not designed to do that. - believe me doesn't fly - Low and behold Windows 7 fixed most of those customer complaints and then MS gets more to do. Its an evolution

For FG, I know its not the plan but I'm saying not only do I HOPE people change their minds but know how much better it would be for everyone if it supported:
1) Undocking windows
2) Better cut and paste
3) Better resizing of windows (you cant resize smaller than width of design or tabs - for example, my character selection screen has two char in it but it wont let me resize the bottom up to them. Its like it designed for 6 minimum and you cant make the window smaller. Let it go smaller - use scroll bars, etc.
4) Work out a license with Pathfinder so they can provide you the data files every 6 months from them - OR Contact a group (which I know how to do) and pay them to create solid Library files for all the pathfinder content - use what has been created as a starting point. Then list those files for sale along with the D&D files in the STORE. Then setup a deal for regular updates every 3-4 months.
5) Look into dynamic lighting and 3D TOKENS on the map.
6) Work with someone like PCGEN to integrate it better with FG - and if not integrate it - just buy it out and add it directly into FGs as part of the product and skip all this XML importing.

You have a great product and I'd like to see it squash all the other products out there - do what everything else can do so there will be no need for Hero Lab, PCGEN, or any other solution - FG does it all.
Dream big and rule the world - (maniacal laughter here) - just my thoughts.

Good Luck and have fun,
-PopinFRESH

Comments inline above - thanks for the well thought out feedback.

[PopinFRESH]

For FG, I know its not the plan but I'm saying not only do I HOPE people change their minds but know how much better it would be for everyone if it supported:
1) Undocking windows
2) Better cut and paste
3) Better resizing of windows (you cant resize smaller than width of design or tabs - for example, my character selection screen has two char in it but it wont let me resize the bottom up to them. Its like it designed for 6 minimum and you cant make the window smaller. Let it go smaller - use scroll bars, etc.
4) Work out a license with Pathfinder so they can provide you the data files every 6 months from them - OR Contact a group (which I know how to do) and pay them to create solid Library files for all the pathfinder content - use what has been created as a starting point. Then list those files for sale along with the D&D files in the STORE. Then setup a deal for regular updates every 3-4 months.
5) Look into dynamic lighting and 3D TOKENS on the map.
6) Work with someone like PCGEN to integrate it better with FG - and if not integrate it - just buy it out and add it directly into FGs as part of the product and skip all this XML importing.

1 - 3) As previously note by Doug these types of things are things that will likely happen after the move to Unity.
4) I don't think the mechanics thing is really a licensing issue and as Doug also mentioned previously that most of those things are available already from the link he provided (included here again). I think UC are the only things not there? https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...ist-of-Modules
5) again, this is the threads topic and has already said it's something that is at the top of the list for after the move to Unity.
6) Thats not really how things work in the real world. SmiteWorks doesn't control those other parties so while SmiteWorks may be willing to work on better integration to Fantasy Grounds (i.e. something like plugin support as I mentioned before) it's upto Lone Wolf if they want to do that or not for Hero Lab (same for the creators of PCGen). As for "just buy it out" again, it's up to that other entity if they are willing to sell. Thats also assuming that SmiteWorks has the money to invest in buying another company like that. It's not as simple as you seem to think it is.

Regardless, lets try to keep the thread more on the topic (which pretty much has been answered?) and stick to discussions about how to use the masking system currently with the knowledge that SmiteWorks is well aware of the desire for dynamic lighting and it's something that is on the table for after the move to Unity.

Kind Regards,
-PopinFRESH

[seycyrus]

1 - 3) ...and stick to discussions about how to use the masking system currently with the ...
Kind Regards,
-PopinFRESH

Someone in one of these threads posted a link with the comment (paraphrased), "Here are some good examples of revealing the map during play sessions."

Does anyone recall the link, or who made the comment?

[Callum]

One thing that's worth thinking about when putting characters into FG is whether to apply their long-term effects (such as from magic items) to their character sheets or to the Combat Tracker. The advantage of the former is that the character sheets will look more like the paper versions. The advantage of the latter is that FG will do a lot of the calculations for you, and take account of bonus types when stacking them. For that reason, I prefer the latter method. Here's a partial screen shot from my high-level 3.5E campaign, as an example:
Attachment 9821

[yeknom]

Oh I think money always helps. The model where you sell a one time license in a niche market means you are gonna run out of money somewhere!
This will be possible in the Unity Engine and probably there will be an upgrade fee to go to FG 4 when it arrives.

FG Con 6 – April 17-19th 2015 - register at www.fg-con.com for all the latest info.

Out of curiosity is there any idea of what that upgrade fee will be? Also will players who do not have FG 4 be able to connect to GM's who do?

[yeknom]

Out of curiosity is there any idea of what that upgrade fee will be? Also will players who do not have FG 4 be able to connect to GM's who do?

Same question.

[Trenloe]

Upgrade costs have been mentioned but not set. Some info here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...hase-questions But, nothing set in stone as yet.

FG 3 users will not be able to connect to the GM running in FGU and vice versa. The big reason for the move to Unity is to change the underlying architecture, the two versions won't be compatible.

However, one of the top goals in the FGU migration is that current material (campaigns, PCs, modules, etc.) will work in FGU - so you won't lose your purchased DLC, community content or years worth of gaming data (campaigns, PCs, etc.).

[yeknom]

Thanks Trenloe!