Tempted to buy

[TFWoods3]

I downloaded the FG2 demo and I am very impressed with what I have seen so far and I am tempted to buy it. However, I am hesitant at this point and here is why:

The included rules set seems to be in transition. I'm guessing it is D20 at the moment but will soon be 3.5E? I basically want to feel confident that if I purchase the software I will either have a solid, ready to run 3.5E set or a solid 4thE rules set. Either would be fine but I want to go with what is completely developed and ready to go. My fear is I will end up downloading some half finished or buggy user made stuff and I will only get frustrated in the end.

Can anyone give me confidence that I will be able to run a 3.5E game with no problems if I download what I saw on FGWiki? Or should I wait for FG2 to include the 3.5E?

Also can anyone tell me what is the most rounded out and complete rules set available out there?


Just so you know, if I am convinced to buy it I will be getting at least two others to buy it as well.

Please tell me the good and the bad,

Thank!

[Sigurd]

My guess is that the future of FG is more generalized rulesets and a ruleset creation toolkit that lets players roll their own support for their own games. Dont wait for an official 3.5 ruleset unless WOTC changes its licensing policy. I would expect that the FGWiki ruleset will serve you very well for 3.5.

The application is the best I've seen. I don't hesitate to recommend it.


There are things I'd like improved but its still the best way to play table top games with friends in different cities.


Sigurd

[Griogre]

First, you should continue to ask questions until you feel you know what you are getting into.

Next on the 3.5 front. The d20 ruleset was never = D&D 3.5 and it never will be. It was very, very close though - short about 6 monsters in the MM and they took the name of the mages off the spells. WotC has just about canceled the 3.5 d20 logo so it can be only used with 4E. WotC can't cancel the 3.5 SRD however.

FG use to come with the d20 ruleset. However, as you noticed because WotC is about to cancel the d20 license which that ruleset used, Smiteworks came up with a 3.5 extention to the Foundation ruleset that uses the SRD. The problem is the Foundation ruleset had some problems with the combat tracker. These problems have been fixed in the beta 2.4 build. That build is suppose to go live, barring them finding any more bugs, next week. When that happens you will have a functional and working ruleset that you can use to run D&D 3.5.

Meanwhile the old d20 ruleset is still available in the download section of this site and it is functional if not elaborate.

There is also a fan made ruleset, the d20_JPG ruleset available which has the most features for running 3.5 games.

Likewise there is a 4E fanmade ruleset that is available for those who wish to play 4E.

There are a couple of basic things you need to know about D&D. The licensing of 3.0 & 3.5 allowed most things in the PH and MM to freely used in rulesets. Note that none of the splat books or other books were generally available. The 4E license is much more restrictive (probably because of WotC's plans for DDI). It is illegal to distribute or use anything other than the names of various things. It is however legal to convert something you own to another format - as long as it is for personal use, but laws vary from country to country.

If you have more questions then just ask.

[TFWoods3]

Thanks for the information guys. After viewing Xorn's tutorial videos last night I am even more convinced FG2 can cover most of the things I will need. I was really impressed with the token and map tools and features. And the great thing is each feature is fairly simple to learn.

[Zeus]

Thanks for the information guys. After viewing Xorn's tutorial videos last night I am even more convinced FG2 can cover most of the things I will need. I was really impressed with the token and map tools and features. And the great thing is each feature is fairly simple to learn.

I have only just invested in a Full copy of FG2 and I can say that inside 3 weeks I have gotten to grips with the software and have parsed several of the rulebooks for 4e to provide a complete D&D 4e experience. The foundation ruleset is good but I luv moon_wizard's 4E_JPG ruleset, some of the features really round off the VTT experience.

I have to say that its the best purchasing decision I have made in quite a while, my only gripe is that the documentation could be improved. I work in the IT industry and so it wasn't too difficult for me to figure out the in's and out's however to the average layman though it may prove to be a slightly steeper learning curve.

However in every other aspect (performance, cost, intuitiveness of the GUI, feature support and gameplay) I believe its 2nd to none.

Best of luck and if you need any assistance I am sure many other users like myself will be more than happy to point you in the right direction.