New User: Building a campaign

[SLB]

Hi all,

I've recently purchased FG as our gaming group has been unable to play due to distance. So I'm reviving one of my campaigns through the use of this tool, which is fantastic! However, the large amount of information available (from multiple sources) has left me a little bewildered.

So after about a month of lurking I've gathered some information but I need to know a little more to be comfortable starting my campaign prep.

1) I'll be running a 3.5 D&D campaign and my understanding is that my best bet is to use the d20_JPG ruleset until the new release of the 3.5 ruleset is available.

2) Xorn's tutorials were very helpful - my understanding from these is that if I wish to create a campaign my best choice would be to ensure that my campaign is virtually empty. Then, I should create modules to contain my adventures.
Would this then also apply to any campaign information? For example, would I create a module for one of my kingdoms and include all the major NPCs, maps, tokens required, items etc in that module and only load it when the PCs are in that kingdom?

3) Am I correct in assuming that I can load more than one module at once?

Thanks for all your help with this, the community appears to be very active and helpful. I'm considering documenting the process I am going through to create a bit of a "newbie" guide for old fogies like myself - if something like this exists please point me at it!

[EugeneZ]

So after about a month of lurking I've gathered some information but I need to know a little more to be comfortable starting my campaign prep.

Welcome!


1) I'll be running a 3.5 D&D campaign and my understanding is that my best bet is to use the d20_JPG ruleset until the new release of the 3.5 ruleset is available.

That's right.


2) Xorn's tutorials were very helpful - my understanding from these is that if I wish to create a campaign my best choice would be to ensure that my campaign is virtually empty. Then, I should create modules to contain my adventures.
Would this then also apply to any campaign information? For example, would I create a module for one of my kingdoms and include all the major NPCs, maps, tokens required, items etc in that module and only load it when the PCs are in that kingdom?

It really depends on your own comfort level with modules and your understanding of your own campaign. I think I would generally recommend you DO NOT go through the trouble of creating a module for aspects of your campaign that have a large amount of permenance, like long-time NPCs, and locations your characters will often be returning to and interacting with.

In reality, I believe that many of the reasons Xorn cited for preferring modules aren't really all that relevant any more. Personally, for custom-made campaigns, I prefer to not bother with modules, since there is little benefit and a lot of hassle. There used to be a number of bugs related to not using modules but I believe most of the major ones have been cleared up.

Still, you may experience problems once your campaign file starts to grow very large. Myself, personally, I prefer to go through and clean up stuff I don't use any more. But many people choose to make modules of that sort of stuff.


3) Am I correct in assuming that I can load more than one module at once?

Yep.


Thanks for all your help with this, the community appears to be very active and helpful. I'm considering documenting the process I am going through to create a bit of a "newbie" guide for old fogies like myself - if something like this exists please point me at it!

User documentation is always welcome around here.

[Tenian]

I disagree with EugeneZ. I recommend creating everything in modules. This drastically reduces the size of the campaign.

I actually created modules for the key locations. I can close and reopen them as needed. This also keeps them out of my way when I am running a session. If I need a particular NPC or map, I know which module it is in.

Then again I like things organized.

[Phystus]

I'm with Tenian. I've got each adventure setting in its own module, each town has its own. I've even created modules for big campaign events like weddings and audiences with the King. I've also made a module of generic terrain encounter maps I'm likely to re-use.

It keeps the clutter down during a session, but everything is available quickly if I need it.

I suppose it's up to you, but as time goes on I'm repeatedly grateful I went with this approach almost from the start.

~P

[drahkar]

I agree with Tenian and Phystus. From a purely organizational point of view modules are a far better way to handle campaigns and story/plotline data.

[GunnarGreybeard]

I'm really just getting started with FGII but my plans are to organize my small adventures into chapters and use those "chapters" as modules. That way I can keep all the information pertaining to those chapters together in a single location and hopefully reduce my file sizes to be transferred. At least that is my intent. :D

[sarya]

Hey there guys!

Just a quick query - so if I want to run D&D 3.5 - I can't use the 3.5E ruleset that comes with the ultimate copy?

Do I need to buy/download another ruleset?

Let me know :)

thanks!

[Oberoten]

The basic 3.5 ruleset is horribly bugged. I'd recomend the free JPG 3.5 version which is free to download from the Wiki.

https://oberoten.dyndns.org/fgwiki/index.php/D%26D_3.5E

- Obe

[sarya]

Unfortunately the link to download on that site isn't working. Any others?

Also -Just to confirm - I take that ruleset, install it. Then run it alongside D20? so when I create a campaign, I select d20?

Let me know :)

[sarya]

Anyone know the answer to this? Where can I get the latest D20 set? My players are starting tonight and I just need the ruleset ready! Please help if you can :) Thanks

[Zeus]

The links are dead because they point to the old FourUglyMonsters site. The new site is now up but I'm not sure they are hosting files any longer, I think its just a forum now.

I would upload a copy but unfortunately cannot find one myself! I could have sworn I downloaded a copy a while back but for the life of me cannot locate it now. I'll keep looking and if I find one, I'll PM you.

In the meantime I would send a PM to moon_wizard, as the author of the d20_JPG ruleset he may be able to provide another link.

[sarya]

So, just to confirm -

the D20 ruleset that can be downloaded from the Downloads section on this website, is not the one to use for 3.5?

Is there some reason I should be using Moon_wizards?

I'll send him a PM and hopefully get a copy either way. Do I then create a D20 campaign, or a D3.5E campaign but use his books?

Let me know :)

[tdewitt274]

The d20_JPG has the most features, and from what I've heard, is the most stable.

As far as the books, I believe that you need to purchase those in the store. I don't remember if there was some basic functionality in the rulesets. However, they're not that expensive.

[Calavingian]

Hello guys. I'm completly lost. I'm trying to create a 4e campaign but my campaign library is completely empty of any rulebooks such as the Monster Manuals, Item sets etc that I saw on Xorne's tutorials.

I've looked and looked and cant find any instructions on how to/where to acquire the library books. Either Im completely thick and missing something obvious or Im completely thick and misunderstanding the forum posts.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

[Xorn]

Note that library modules are something you have to create yourself. Tenian has done some amazing work on a parser to assist you in building those library modules, but that's still how it works.

The 4E character sheet works fine without those library modules; you can just type in the powers yourself, etc. I'm trying to get acclimated to the changes in the 4E ruleset myself to update some of my videos.

Before the parser and library modules, I would literally add NPCs to my "Monster Manual" adventure module as I needed them, and it got to where it had quite a few entries over time. I think it helped me get a better understanding of the formatting for different fields, too.

For the original question:
I too keep my campaign folder pretty sparce. It will inevitably contain shared tokens that we use every game, possibly overland maps that will be used all the time, as well as notes pages like my Adventure Record, AFK map, stuff like that.

Then I use adventure modules for anything directly involved with the... well... adventure. After the players have thrwarted the brazen seige of the town of Silverton by sorcerer-driven kobolds, they will likely never go there again (most of it burned down, after all), so I don't need it cluttering up my campaign folder. If for some reason they DO decide to Speak With Dead on poor Lord Derek, who refused to heed their warnings about the kobolds four levels ago, I just open the module to have a refresher on Lord Derek.

[Calavingian]

Thanks Xorne.

Much appreciated. I look forward to your next batch of tutorials :) The first one's were enormously helpful.

P.S One last thing. This site and it's community is enormously helpful, but with there being such a great deal of user-generated material, I`m suffering badly from information overload. I dont suppose anyone could point me towards Tenian's Parser?

[Calavingian]

Aha. Found the parser. For the benefit of anyone else who might be looking, here it is:

https://oberoten.dyndns.org/fgwiki/index.php/4EParser