How does fantasy grounds compare to roll20?

[Skillkoil]

Nice to see a friendly discussion about the relevant merits of both VTT's I think its interesting that Smiteworks allows this discussion while it would be quickly stamped on the Roll20 forums

As dulux-oz was saying. When you can shine the light on something and it still stands up to the scrutiny. Probably means there is something worthwhile there. When you are running for the light switch each time to hide your flaws. It is noticed!

[Ken L]

TBF, in the early days of Roll20 when it was starting to get popular, a bunch of people used their general discussions forum to advertise their own and other platforms. Think about "the commons" where people spout out about all the RPG deals except for other VTT platforms and RPG kick starters. Roll20 eventually just banned all non roll20 discussion.

[GavinRuneblade]

TBF, in the early days of Roll20 when it was starting to get popular, a bunch of people used their general discussions forum to advertise their own and other platforms. Think about "the commons" where people spout out about all the RPG deals except for other VTT platforms and RPG kick starters. Roll20 eventually just banned all non roll20 discussion.

I remember trying to get help and having more people say "try this other product" than "here's how to get Roll20 to do what you want". Honestly, I don't blame them for the reaction.

[Ram Tyr]

It is one thing to ban advertisements for a competitor... it is another thing to ban comparisons to the competition.

It is telling when the latter (comparisons to the competition) is deemed to be the former (an advertisement for the competition) and are treated the same.

[epithet]

Having now used both, I am of the opinion that Roll20 cannot really deal with comparisons to Fantasy Grounds -- it's not a fair fight. Even in its current state, FG blows Roll20 away because it is an integrated system, whereas Roll20 is much more a collection of somewhat related elements.

I suspected before, but now I am convinced: the only reason Roll20 is even a contender is because it is possible to try it out for free, including running a campaign. I know, I know... to get any of the "cool stuff" you have to pay as much or more than you do for FG, but you can get that first taste for free, and I think that draws initial interest.

[Andraax]

"Come here, little girl, I have some free candy for you..."

[Skillkoil]

Having now used both, I am of the opinion that Roll20 cannot really deal with comparisons to Fantasy Grounds -- it's not a fair fight. Even in its current state, FG blows Roll20 away because it is an integrated system, whereas Roll20 is much more a collection of somewhat related elements.

I suspected before, but now I am convinced: the only reason Roll20 is even a contender is because it is possible to try it out for free, including running a campaign. I know, I know... to get any of the "cool stuff" you have to pay as much or more than you do for FG, but you can get that first taste for free, and I think that draws initial interest.

This is the conclusion that most people come to after spending any time with FG after coming from roll20. It's a pretty wrapper but not much substance to what is inside.

[epithet]

This is the conclusion that most people come to after spending any time with FG after coming from roll20. It's a pretty wrapper but not much substance to what is inside.

Roll20 handles maps really well. You can make the grid invisible, and it can draw a hex map that isn't jagged and hideous. Getting your map sized correctly is intuitive. Dynamic lighting is pretty cool.

I also like the fact that you can put an area, or "aura," around a token. It's great for things like spirit guardians.

And... that's about it. Everything else I've done with Roll20 has made me appreciate Fantasy Grounds more than I did before.

[Valyar]

Roll20 has much better drawing and map tools, but I hope this will be over soon. They didn't do any progress since I started using the platform and for one year they didn't fix a simple bug I reported (and I know the fix...). I have no idea why people pay for this level of support and support developers that deliver nothing in return. Only gimmicks.

[shadzar]

I suspected before, but now I am convinced: the only reason Roll20 is even a contender is because it is possible to try it out for free, including running a campaign.

it really is, and that is what will keep it with more users than FG in the long run. FG you can have 2 computers in a f2f game one as DM and one as "players. and that is the only way to play without paying for anything to test it out. you can't save progress in a game with FG without paying, you really can't test drive it. as much a it costs for books on both to be able to incorporate into the VTT, or adventures to rn run with them, the program with the lowest entry cost will often be the survivor.

Also roll20 has another advantage. it is VERY easy to put things in the roll20 marketplace as opposed to trying to get something in the FG store or on Steam for FG due to excruciatingly restrictive trademark protection policy.

pretty sure you can advertise a roll20 marketplace product or any other product on KS without getting the project insta-banned/flagged/copyright claim/etc for using the term Roll20 in your project.

FG is the T$R era of content control, while roll20 is the 3e OGL era of acceptance of content creators.

*now this comes from info given by people who have things on roll20 marketplace for tilesets and tried looking at the FG method of getting things like tiles and assets into FG for use, and said that FG was either too confusing, too complicated, too restrictive, or just not large enough audience. i have nothing for sell on either place, a s neither supports a game i would play.


neither are easy to get "adventures" onto. you pretty much have to be WotC or pay either company to put your adventure on their system if you want it to be shareable outside of your own account. and roll20 is more intuitive for designing a custom adventure than FG in the first place.