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  1. #11
    You can buy the hard copy and put all the information into FG yourself - but it will take quite a lot of time. If you have plenty of time available for preparation outside of actual play time, you may prefer to do that - it can help to get you familiar with the material, and you can also make adjustments and personalise it, if you want to. I've been doing it that way for years, mainly because the adventures I wanted to run weren't available to buy pre-prepared in FG. However, I was able to scan the original materials in, and (later on) buy pdfs of them. I think it's very unlikely that you'll find versions of the D&D 5E maps available to use in that way. If I was starting a new campaign now, I would be inclined to buy the FG version of the adventures.

  2. #12
    Zacchaeus's Avatar
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    You'll find some additional maps for Storm Kings Thunder here.

    Just to reinforce what has been said above all of the maps that are in the hard back copy of the adventure are included in the digital module with the considerable advantage that all encounters have been pre-placed on the map and all of the maps have player versions which do not show room numbers, secret doors, traps etc and DM versions which do.
    If there is something that you would like to see in Fantasy Grounds that isn't currently part of the software or if there is something you think would improve a ruleset then add your idea here https://www.fantasygrounds.com/featu...rerequests.php

  3. #13

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    Since you are just getting started, if you go to Pathfinder instead of WOTC, you will get free copies of the PDF, which you can then print if you think you must.

    However, as these posts have said, but I don't think is really that obvious, no matter what you buy for digital version, it will only contain what is in the book. The part that maybe isn't obvious is that you are not going to find ANYTHING (at least PF or D&D 5e) that has EVERYTHING you need. You are going to do a little map mining because for some reason, the publishers always seem to leave out some of the encounter maps in the book, and they are therefore not in the digital version either.

    The WOTC stuff is great, but since you are new to the game, you won't know the background of why people should avoid WOTC. After creating the industry-reshaping open gaming license, WOTC prohibited the distribution digitally of their 3rd and 3.5 edition when they went to 4e. I had spent over $1000 on PDFs of their stuff, and when my hard disk crashed (I know, I should have had a backup), I had no legal way to re-download all the material I had purchased. Not only that, but they then issued legal threats to the entire publishing community that they had to stop selling materials that advertised 3rd and 3.5 edition compatibility (in fairness, some of these publishers reprinted them as "D20" or "OGL", but reprinting is a huge expense). They gave them a few months to sell their stock. The digital outlets like RPGNow and DriveThruRPG had to stop selling the digital versions (and took down all their PDFs of 3 and 3.5 materials, which is why I could not re-download my legally purchased materials). WOTC did this (I believe) so as not to threaten their D&D live program they invested a huge amount of money into. Not only that, they dumbed-down 4e to be more video-game-like and make it easier to program. That program colossally failed, and WOTC eventually abandoned their lousy 4th edition to return more to the roots of D&D with 5e.

    There 3rd and 3.5 edition materials are now available again, which is actually pretty awesome because they are very PF-compatible. But you still cannot get PDFs of their 5e material!

    Now, would WOTC do something unethical like that again? I hope they learned their lesson, but you never know.

    In fairness, SW only got their PF license to distribute official materials once their own attempt to build PF on-line (well, actually it was a licensed third party) was officially declared dead. The difference is that Paizo allowed people to collectively build the Pathfinder Society materials and share them legally.

    I am not trying to start an edition flame war. I have scanned 5e. It looks very good, but I believe people should think twice before pouring money into a company that did what WOTC did with 4e.
    Last edited by Bidmaron; December 3rd, 2017 at 12:41.

  4. #14
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    And you have painted a very one sided picture of a situation coloured very heavily by your own personal circumstance.

    At the end of the day Pathfinder would not have existed if the Wizards didnt create a free SRD and OGL for D&D.
    At the end of the day if you had bought physical books and had a fire and lost your books no one would have replaced them for you. As much as it sucked to lose your digital copies it was not someone elses responsibility to keep them safe for you. I somehow missed the ethical violation that happened here?

    Not only did the Wizards enable Pathfinder to exist they have released 5e with a new SRD and OGL allowing more collaborative and competitive products to exist. In fact - even more is possible under 5e than was possible under the 3.0/3.5e ecosystem.

  5. #15

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    damned, you are right about PF, but you are painting one-sided picture as well. Paizo had a legal license for Dragon and Dungeon magazines. As part of the legal deal that let WOTC shut those publications down so as not to threaten D&D Beyond, they allowed Paizo to spin-off Pathfinder from their 3.5 edition. I am not privy to the terms of that deal, but that is what happened. Paizo had a legal license that WOTC could not shut down without some kind of mutual compromise.

    As to what is unethical, I agree that my failure to make a backup is my own fault. However, a standard in the digital market has been that you can always go back and download materials you have purchased. In fact, you can do it with materials that are no longer even sold! In my opinion, that is unethical (and, let's face it, unethical is always a matter of opinion).

    Furthermore, I believe it was unethical to pull the rug out from under the industry that depended upon 3.5 e with very little warning.

    damned, you are a treasure to the community, and I am not trying to pick a fight with you. I just think people should have a chance to know what kind of company they are pouring their hard-earned money into. What I stated were facts. Yes, it was one-sided: that was my entire point. I did acknowledge that the 5e materials were very good. Heck, I'd still be with WOTC myself if they hadn't pulled their 4e abortion.

    Oh, and I did admit that Paizo did a slightly similar thing with not issuing their license to SW until they finally buried their own attempt to take PF online. So it wasn't entirely one-sided.

  6. #16
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    This is kind of dragging the OP's quest for information off the rails.
    Last edited by JohnD; December 3rd, 2017 at 13:16.
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  7. #17

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    His question has been answered. I am supplying additional information that he might be interested in before he pours an investment into the company, especially when there is an alternative.

  8. #18
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    I've got no problem with investing in 5E, in fact it's my preferred system at the moment. Like John D, I only buy the FG versions of things and though the Reference Manuals are not as natural to read as a printed book, they are completely useable and easy to read.

    As for PF vs 5E. They are very different systems. They play differently and the comparisons above are emotionally based and have little to nothing to do with playing the games. I actually do not enjoy 3.5 or PF.

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  9. #19
    I appreciate everyone's information and suggestions. I think what I will do is purchase the digital version of campaigns we are going to play with my online group and I'll start collecting some of the campaign books for my group who I will be playing with at my home. I was trying to see if there was a way to just buy paper copies and use them in Fantasy Grounds without loads of DM prep to setup each individual encounter and create my own versions of maps etc. I will just have some campaigns I'll purchase for online play and some for in person play. I've got quite a nice board game table my friend built for me last year when we were playing " Descent 2e ". Really looking forward to adding to my table top collection !
    -The boy who lived.

  10. #20

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    Have a blast, Harry. You are in the right place with FG!

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