The Game Calendar

[LordEntrails]

IMO,
- the dashboard GMT issue is annoying, but really shouldn't be that big of a deal. You know its in GMT, so just look for games that match your GMT availability. That said, it should be fixable and I hope it gets fixed.
- The redundant name problem, this is up to the GM to fix by using an intelligent name. Being able to display by name or game owner would be nice, but you will never get people to perfectly conform. Most won't read the suggestions for naming (or anything else) and others will feel they know better and will do it there own way regardless.
- link to the game's forum page. best suggestion is to add a specific field for this, but again, people will do what they want and often they will not fill this out.

And, as long as the ratio of players to GMs remains so high, players will ALWAYS be "unserved". That's why, imo, the better effort than improving the calendar is increasing the number of GMs. Until GMs actually start having trouble getting players, then the system is working well enough to get the job done.

[jmucchiello]

Well the cost to become a GM is a bit prohibitive. You need to buy the standard license at a minimum. And for 5e, the Player's Handbook is so much better than the SRD that comes with FG. But, I didn't pay $50 for the physical Player's Handbook. Buying the "data" for $50 feels like highway robbery.

But I admit I'm a cheapskate. Even if money wasn't an issue, the learning curve for FG itself is also rather high and who has the time to learn all that and make up a campaign at the same time. And no, I'm not interested in running a module. I haven't run store bought module since the early 80s. Why would I start now?

I don't think the time or the money issue is as easy to fix as the calendar. So complaining about the calendar will more likely get something accomplished.

[LordEntrails]

But changes to the calender will not change the fundamental root cause or help alter it in any way; player to GM ratio.

If you don't want to pay list price for the books, then buy them when they are on sale, like they just were. Or spend absolutely no money and use Par5E to put in your own copy. Lots of people already have done that.

[jmucchiello]

I was just joking about the money to spend. And unfortunately I missed the last sale as I was still trialing FG at the time. No idea what "Par5E" means. I've only used the 5eSRD that comes with FG.

But I have missed out on several games that did not go through the calendar because either I or the DM did not understand how to use the calendar correctly. Fixing the calendar CAN help. It's not going to solve the ratio issue. But for noobs, it might help the getting one's feet wet issue. If I had not be off from work the end of December I would never have found a game and I'd never have purchased the standard edition. because I only bought it after getting into some games. Getting noobs into games drives sales, I think.

And none of that gets new GMs since the learning curve hump from playing to running a game in FG is pretty vast.

[ddavison]

It is definitely on the list of items to fix or replace. Thanks for sharing your feedback.

[damned]

I dont think the learning curve to DM on FG is that much bigger than learning to use the software as a player. Of course time blurs all things... and Im still learning...

[LordEntrails]

I was just joking about the money to spend. And unfortunately I missed the last sale as I was still trialing FG at the time. No idea what "Par5E" means. I've only used the 5eSRD that comes with FG.
...

Par5E is a tool for entering bulk text into FG format for 5E D&D. More info here; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...hp?27297-Par5e

[jmucchiello]

Par5E is a tool for entering bulk text into FG format for 5E D&D. More info here; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...hp?27297-Par5e

That is very cool. But how would anyone know about the tool unless they would complaining on this thread? How many other cool tools are out there that are impossible to find?

[Blackfoot]

That is very cool. But how would anyone know about the tool ... How many other cool tools are out there ... ?

Look in the forums for your specific ruleset, or in the Workshop forum. There are lots of good things in both places, usually attached to stickied threads to make them easier to find.

[Cailore]

That is very cool. But how would anyone know about the tool unless they would complaining on this thread? How many other cool tools are out there that are impossible to find?

Looking through the forums can get you a lot of great things, as Blackfoot said. But I agree with you, the whole hunting for good stuff seems to be a bunch of work when using the forums and the wikis for my game systems don't seem to be updated often.

Maybe we need some kind of asset clearinghouse database where people who develop assets can register their material and others can get links to it and rate the material to filter out the crap. Of course, maybe one already exists, but I just haven't found the link to it yet