Selecting a character

When you log into the GM's host for the first time each session, you will be presented with the character selection window automatically.

Also, you can follow these steps to control more than one character per session.

Open the character selection window by clicking on the "Characters" button on the tabletop.

Double click the desired character. OR Double-click the Create New Character entry.

You will take control of the character, and the character's portrait will appear in the Character Portraits section of the FG desktop.

Viewing a character

Locate the portrait of one of your owned characters. You cannot view the character sheets belonging to other players.

Click on the portrait to open the corresponding character sheet. OR If you are running more than one character, double-click on the portrait.

Click on the portrait to open the corresponding character sheet.

Go to the Using the 4E Character Sheet section to learn more on interacting with the character sheet.

Changing character color

Each character has a color based on which certain game elements can be associated with the character. The color visible as a spot on the character portrait is used for dice, pointers, and targeting indicators. When you change the color using the steps below, you will change the color for the active character only.

Open the color selector by clicking on the "Colors" button on the tabletop.

Click the red, green and blue spheres to change the hue; click a smaller spehere to adjust the color more subtly. Click on the white and black spheres to change the white/black-level of the dice.

Select the sphere containing the letter T to toggle the color of text on the dice between black and white.

Close the color selector by clicking the color selector button again or from the radial menu.

Releasing a character

You can only perform this operation on your own characters.

Locate the portrait of the character to release, and invoke its radial menu using the right mouse button.

Select "Release" in the menu.

The character will be released, and can be re-acquired later from the character selection window.

Activating a character

By default, your active character name will be used when chatting or making generic dice rolls, to indicate which character is chatting or rolling dice. If you are only using one character, then that character is always active.

You can only perform this operation on your own characters.

Locate the portrait of the character to activate.

Left click on the portrait.

The character will be activated, and all further chat and die rolls will be labeled to this character's name.

- OR -

Locate the portrait of the character to activate, and invoke its radial menu using the right mouse button.

Select "Activate" in the menu.

The character will be activated, and all further chat and die rolls will be labeled to this character's name.

- OR -

Select the character sheet for the character to activate.

Navigate to the Main tab.

Click on the speech bubble in the upper right corner.

The character will be activated, and all further chat and die rolls will be labeled to this character's name.

Selecting a portrait

Open the portrait selection sheet by clicking the "Portraits" button on the tabletop.

Double click on a portrait to select it.

The portrait will be set for the active character, and delivered to other users for display on their desktop.

Adding new portraits

Portraits can only be added from the client which owns a character. To make changes to portraits as a GM, start a second instance of FG and log in as your player to set the portrait for a character.

Open the application data folder (a shortcut can be found in the FG start menu group).

Navigate to the "portraits" folder.

Place your portrait image files in this folder. The recommended image formats are GIF, JPG and PNG. It is recommended the size of the image be no more than 100 pixels in either dimension. Square shaped images are recommended to prevent distortion of proportions.

Switch back to FG.

If the portrait selection sheet is open, close the sheet.

Open the portrait selection sheet by clicking the "Portraits" button on the tabletop.

The new portrait(s) can now be selected.