Looking to Buy FG, Have Questions!

[Arangarx]

First of all, a great big thanks to anyone for their help. I'm currently trying to find answers to these on my own and will continue to do so, but in the meantime any answers would be greatly appreciated. Links to answers are also awesome :)

Background on our group: We are a small group of 1 GM and 3-4 players (usually 3). We play DnD 4E every week and have a DDI subscription. We are currently looking for a solution that will allow us to play DnD 4e face to face but with a virtual table top (so I can do all the setup before hand and we can just play when we sit to play). We have already developed our own web application for managing encounters but if possible would like one app that can do it all.

For all questions I'd like to know if either: A) Can the product do this out of the box or with an existing mod/plug-in, etc. B) If not, can we make the product do this without a ridiculous amount of effort. We are willing to do some programming/rule-set creation if it will require less work than us programming the software ourselves.

1) Can FG track an entire 4E encounter with all necessary mechanics. Status effects, buffs, damage over time, power regeneration, whose turn is it, delayed characters, etc.

2) Is/can this encounter tracking be integrated directly with playing on the maps, i.e does it already or can it track things like zones (and their effects on characters), range, line of sight, fog of war, etc.

3) Using the parser to pull in DDI information (and apparently there are programs to grab characters as well?), is it possible in conjunction with 1 and 2 to actually even use or track powers in FG, i.e. has the ability been used, making sure it's used properly, etc?

4) Using a combination of DDI and the parser is it possible to also track monsters and their abilities, regens, resistances, powers etc? This is effectively something I meant under 1 and 2 as well, but would like to clarify as its own question.

5) How many licenses do we need to have one GM and one computer/monitor for all the players (not everyone has laptops so we wish to share one screen for all of them).

Basically, with the what there is currently combined with some effort on our own can we run an entire gaming session out of this software.

I will post more questions if I can think of them, and again a great big thanks for any help!

[Griogre]

In answer to you general question: "Can you use FG to play in a face to face with the prep work done ahead of time?" - Yes you can. However, the devil is in the details and there are a few things you should know generally. First FG was designed to *simulate* the table top environment. It does so very well, but for your purposes it might do so *too* well because it sounds like you are looking for something close to a fully automated game. Games around a face to face table are, by definition, not automated. Still FG *is* a computer app and the things it automates might be enough for your purposes.

1) Yes it can do this. However it is the Players and DM's responsibility to drop the various effects and powers so they work. With a DDI account and using the 4E parser these effects are available on the characters main and mini sheets for the player. The are available for the DM from monster personality sheets and the combat tracker once a NPC has been added as well. These effects must be drag and dropped or double click applied to targeted PC/NPCs/Monsters. Just attacking will not start a chain of events that applies damage and effects. Force movement is not at all automated. The player has to indicate with audio, text or using the built in pointer map tool where the monster should end up and the DM has to move monsters since players are not allowed to move hostile map tokens in 4E.

2) In FG the combat tracker is the glue that ties characters, monsters, maps, tokens and effects together. It allows you to drop effects on tokens targeted on the map and do damage to them. All combat resolution generally flows through the DM's combat tracker. Players see a censored view of this tracker and could use their copy in combat, but for players its usually easier to use map targeting.

FGs maps are based on the battlemap of a face to face game. As battlemaps don't do LOS or lighting neither does the FG map. FG does have a map mask that allows the DM to reveal parts of maps as the party explores (and rehide areas if the DM wishes). FG has two types of maps - free hand where you draw on the map and image maps where you take a graphic and use it as a map. It is only the image maps that have a mask as it is assumed if you are drawing free hand you won't draw things you don't want revealed. There is no automation of zones on the map though zone effects can be applied like any other effect but the map has no collision detection. Zones and area effects can be shown why the use of map pointers which come in both line and square versions as well as several other shapes not used in 4E. When it is the turn of a creature with an aura if you mouse over creature's aura listing on the combat tracker the aura area will be show only to the DM on the map.

3) Yes but DDI data is not always very consistent and the now Character Builder is an online tool there may be more problems with the converter. Because of the inconsistencies and because character entry is usually rare I think its faster to just use the Character Builder Character Sheet as a reference to build the character from scratch in FG. Particularly for low level characters it would usually be much faster to put in the stats and drag and drop in the powers, feats, etc, than massaging the exported XML to get it to work.

As far as displaying if a power has been used by a PC there are manual check boxes a player would check off as he uses the power. After the DM triggers a short rest encounter powers are unchecked automatically and after an extended rest daily powers are unchecked as well as daily items.

4) Yes, dropping a monster on the combat tracker from a library parsed from DDI would set up the things you mentioned: regen, resistances, etc. As you use powers on the combat tracker for monsters they are marked used. If they are rechargeable then at the start of the turn FG rolls to see if they recharge.

5) It depends on how adverse to cost and hot seating your group is. In theory you could just get one copy of the Full version of FG if you had two screens available. You would start a second instance of FG connect it to the server and turn that screen around for the players to see while the DM just worked on the full server. The disadvantage of this is the DM would have to do all attacks for both players and monsters and move all the tokens on the map.

A better option would be to get a Full and a Lite version and have the DM run the full and put the lite another computer the player's all shared. The players would hotseat when it was their turn. I've heard of groups doing this for face to face games similar to what you want to do or if they want to use an overhead projector to display the map on a wall or table.

The last option would be to get a Full for the DM and lites for everyone else with a computer. If you had a larger group the Ultimate version might be better but your group is so small the full and lites would be cheaper.

Make sure you look at Xorn's series of 4E video tutorials to get a better idea of what I am saying and come back with other questions. The videos are in the site's download section, top right column here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/downloads/

[Zeus]

Welcome aboard. I've tried my best to answer your questions below. I would strongly recommend that you watch some of the tutorial videos from Xorne, they use the 4E ruleset and will provide a comprehensive overview of how to setup and how play works.

Revised Video Tutorials (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12665&highlight=video+tutorial)


1) Can FG track an entire 4E encounter with all necessary mechanics. Status effects, buffs, damage over time, power regeneration, whose turn is it, delayed characters, etc.


Yes (for most of what you are asking, out of the box). The FGII 4E ruleset implements a Combat Tracker window that can be opened and viewed by both players and the DM. The CT contains an entry for each PC in the party and any NPC as part of the encounter being played, each PC/NPC entry contains reference information that is linked to either the PC's character sheet or in the case of NPCs, there respective stat blocks. Thus to create new entries the DM just simply drags in a PC, NPC or an Encounter onto the CT window. It is the DM therefore that controls any changes to the CT however players can still interact with their version of the CT to target/untarget/attack/apply damage/apply effects to NPCs. The DM and players use the CT to track initiative order, current health status and conditions and effects that have been applied (note Players generally only see a subset of the information presented to the DM on the host version of the CT).


2) Is/can this encounter tracking be integrated directly with playing on the maps, i.e does it already or can it track things like zones (and their effects on characters), range, line of sight, fog of war, etc.

Yes/No. At present the 4E ruleset allows for each (N)PC to have a token associated. Tokens can be dragged from the CT entries to a map and are used to track movement and position. The CT and the map/tokens are thereafter effectively linked, thus Players and the DM can interact with tokens in much the same way that they can through the CT i.e. target/untarget actions as well as drag/drop of attack/damage die and effects/conditions. Hovering the pointer over a NPC where the NPC has an Aura will highlight the zone of the aura enabling easy identification of anyone falling foul to its effects. Reach can also be visualised by again hovering the pointer over a CT linked token. The DM can add a mask to the map which can slowly be revealed to effectively limit the view of the map for the players however no dynamic fog of war or line of sight tool is currently implemented. Instead FGII allows the DM and players to draw pointers, which can be effectively used to determine LoS. In addition many players also use tokens to denote zone effects like blast or burst based attacks.

Note: the ruleset implements the 4E rules framework only, it does not include ruleset reference text, npc or other gameplay content. For this you need to prepare modules of the content using either the FGII interface directly or Tenian's parser tool. Aside from stock letter tokens that are bundled with FGII, you will also need to prepare your own tokens/or buy a ready made module pack (see the store).


3) Using the parser to pull in DDI information (and apparently there are programs to grab characters as well?), is it possible in conjunction with 1 and 2 to actually even use or track powers in FG, i.e. has the ability been used, making sure it's used properly, etc?

Yes. Out of the box. PC powers can be parsed into a module e.g. PHB. Powers are dragged onto PC character sheets on a dedicated tab called Powers. The Powers tab lists out the at-will, encounter, daily, item and special conditional type powers the PC has in his/her arsenal. The tab can be put into a couple of different modes: Preparation and Combat being the most pertinent. Preparation allows you to adjust the number of times a power can be used in a give day, encounter etc. Whilst Combat will track usage such that when a Power is used, if for example the power was a daily one, it is marked as used and temporarily hidden from view until a rest is performed/or the PC sheet adjusted manually.

And yes, there are quite a few tools available for supporting FGII and 4E including a Character Builder PC import tool (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11239&highlight=character+builder), module production tool(s) (see my sig for some complimentary tools to the Parser) as well as various community extensions (see my sig for a Partysheet, Personalities, Tables and Treasure Parcels extension, also search the forums for 4E Additional Wounds, 4E Lore and 4E Languages extensions.


4) Using a combination of DDI and the parser is it possible to also track monsters and their abilities, regens, resistances, powers etc? This is effectively something I meant under 1 and 2 as well, but would like to clarify as its own question.

Yes. Out of the box. Again NPCs in the CT will be tracked for effects. Resistances will be accounted for (when required) when damage is applied.


5) How many licenses do we need to have one GM and one computer/monitor for all the players (not everyone has laptops so we wish to share one screen for all of them).

You would need one Full license (to host the campaign) for the DM. However if you want to limit your players view of the maps and CT, not to mention hide any Story or Encounter information from them that the DM's screen will show, you will require one additional Lite license and a 2nd laptop/PC and screen.

The Players use the 2nd system and share the mouse when its their respective turn whilst the DM uses the 1st system. Thus you will mimic the real world table scenario whereby the DM is (often) hidden behind his/her screens.


Basically, with the what there is currently combined with some effort on our own can we run an entire gaming session out of this software.

Absolutely yes. I have been as have many others now for some time :)


I will post more questions if I can think of them, and again a great big thanks for any help!

Feel free, you will find the community here is very helpful and generally always willing to lend a helping hand.

[Zeus]

Oops took a while to compose my response and in the meantime Griogre was faster !!!

[Arangarx]

Thank you, both!!! Your information was very helpful :)

I think we plan on getting the software now. All that is left for us to decide is whether to get a full and lite or get the ultimate (so we can play online as well with bigger groups).

[Arangarx]

So we decided that we want to go with one full license and lites for each player, however one hang-up occurred to us. Would we each be able to install to two different computers with one key each? The reason I ask is that we'd like to be able to install to one set of computers for our face to face games if we can scrounge up enough spare computers/laptops and we'd like to play on an entirely different set of computers for when we can't get together to play live (on our nice pc's at home).

Is this going to be possible?

[Griogre]

The short answer is yes, as long as you don't run two computers with the same license key:

Can I run the software on two computers with one license, e.g. at work and at home?

The EULA states that you have a license to use one copy of the software on any one system and that the license is not transferable to any other system. In other words you are not allowed to install the software on several computers. The software itself cannot tell what computer it is running on and as long as no two players in a game are using the same license, the software will assume the above to be true.

[Arangarx]

DrZeuss

If you read this, do you make your maps using dungeon designer 3 or have you done those solely with campaign cartographer 3? Also, Do you feel they are worth the purchase price as opposed to using something free like MapTools?

Thanks!

[Fot5]

Ah, didn't know you posted here as well.

See my response in the Tavern. Pretty much says what Griogre says.

[Zeus]

DrZeuss

If you read this, do you make your maps using dungeon designer 3 or have you done those solely with campaign cartographer 3? Also, Do you feel they are worth the purchase price as opposed to using something free like MapTools?

Thanks!

Photoshop, each and every time. :)

Whilst I do own CC3, DD3 and CD3 as well as quite a few of the 'other' tools from ProFantasy, I have yet to put them to any serious use. The exception being CD3 which I have used to mock up some city maps. As the ProFantasy tools are vector based and the engine, CAD based, I found the interface to be none to intuitive (I am used to Raster based tools). I also dislike the colour palettes used by the ProFantasy tools, the colours are too harsh with little or no scope to re-tone easily.

Having said that, many other community members here do use them and swear by them, so its probably more me and my personal tastes than it is the tools themselves.

Regarding their value and worth, I would say yes, as long as your willing to put in the time at the beginning to learn them. Also, before you commit to a purchase, contact ProFantasy and request an evaluation copy or 30 day trial.

[Arangarx]

Thanks a bunch, DrZeuss :) An evaluation copy would probably be the way to go.

Also, I will probably be contacting you in the near future for help with your tools. I'm not really sure about what the exact purpose of each one is, but maybe it will become more apparent as I learn FGII itself.

[Dickie]

I hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread, but I had some questions in addition to yours and thought I'd post them here.


Is there a demo version that has any 4e stuff in it?
Is there some way to set up quests and mark them as active or completed?
Notes looks like it can store some of this stuff, but I'd like to make my own section just for quests. I'd really like a table where I could maybe put level, reward, description and status (active/completed) and filter the list to hide completed items.
Is there some way I can make a check-box list for the players to see objectives they've completed?
I'd like to tie this to a story element. For instance, the PCs could be in a dungeon where they have to close the Demon Gate of Inexplicable Evil and rescue the prisoners in the basement. It'd be nice to have a little check-box list with those two items in it that I can tick off as they're completed.


Basically, I just want an easy way to make sure we're on the same page every time we play, and I'd prefer to not have to use another tool to hold all my campaign information. I'm guessing there are no flowchart capabilities in this program.

[Leonal]

I hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread, but I had some questions in addition to yours and thought I'd post them here.


Is there a demo version that has any 4e stuff in it?
Is there some way to set up quests and mark them as active or completed?
Notes looks like it can store some of this stuff, but I'd like to make my own section just for quests. I'd really like a table where I could maybe put level, reward, description and status (active/completed) and filter the list to hide completed items.
Is there some way I can make a check-box list for the players to see objectives they've completed?
I'd like to tie this to a story element. For instance, the PCs could be in a dungeon where they have to close the Demon Gate of Inexplicable Evil and rescue the prisoners in the basement. It'd be nice to have a little check-box list with those two items in it that I can tick off as they're completed.


Basically, I just want an easy way to make sure we're on the same page every time we play, and I'd prefer to not have to use another tool to hold all my campaign information. I'm guessing there are no flowchart capabilities in this program.

1. Not presently, but I believe the demo will be updated at some point.
2. I'm sure you could create an extension that allows this, but I'm not aware of one. For 4E I'd check out Dr Zeuss' Party Sheet and other extensions. Personally I'd just use a story sheet to simulate this, but haven't found it necessary to keep things like this within FG (I prefer using a combination of MS OneNote, Google Docs and to some extent EpicWords.com).
3. See 2.