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DeLeon
November 22nd, 2011, 21:57
I'm considering buying this software, but first I want to see how many Pathfinder players are using this product, since it is a substantial investment.

So, how many of you are there? Is it hard to join a game? How long does it take to find players for a game? Etc.

VenomousFiligree
November 22nd, 2011, 22:39
What timezone would you like to play in? There are far more US evening timezone players than anywhere else (that I have seen).

Trenloe
November 22nd, 2011, 22:39
There's a growing number of us around - including a new (and expanding) group running Pathfinder Society games - see the Yahoo group at this link. (https://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/fg2pfs/)

There are games each week - it's just a case of signing up. Some, but not that many, of the GMs have a Fantasy Grounds Ultimate licence, so you don't need to purchase a licence. However, these are few and you'll probably want to get at least a lite licence to play regularly.

There are also a few of us working on library and adventure modules - playing and running Pathfinder is much easier and richer thanks to these efforts. The ruleset that comes with Fantasy Grounds (3.5E/Pathfinder) is also a great aid in playing Pathfinder - it automates a lot of the book keeping work and makes conditions and effects easy to handle (and not forget).

I recommend it whole-heartedly. I run a regular Carrion Crown campaign for my friends scattered around the globe and it's been a great success - thanks to Fantasy Grounds and the work of the FG community.

DeLeon
November 22nd, 2011, 22:42
I live in California, so I would be online primarily PST evenings and weekends.

wbcreighton
November 23rd, 2011, 01:38
I
How long does it take to find players for a game? Etc.

It doesn't usually take long to find players for a game. If you are a GM then it will be easy. It usually takes a little longer for a player to find a group. With the new yahoogroup for PF society games it shouldn't take long to be able to jump into a game session. ( Time measured in days as opposed to hours )

There are definitely less of us PST zone players, but the weekend should be your answer.

Now with the PF ruleset being supported in the latest release of FG2, I think the number of PF players and games is really going to grow. I have seen a lot more PF activity on the forums since it was released.

Dershem
November 23rd, 2011, 02:11
I have an ultimate license if you shoot me a Pm, I can set up So you can see what the player side is like at least!

madman
November 23rd, 2011, 02:12
Well let me see here.

4 trips to Micky D's 40.00 (gone in just a couple minutes)
a couple of good books 50.00(done reading in a couple weeks)
an XBOX game 60.00 (again a couple weeks to beat it, if that)

Fantasy Grounds 40.00 (gaming with friends for years to come)

I have to go with Fantasy Grounds(6 months of gaming once a week, that's like 1.67 for hours of good fun)each week.

Madman AKA Chris (Lifetime geek)

P.S. Do it man you wont regret it!


I have an ultimate license if you shoot me a Pm, I can set up So you can see what the player side is like at least! " Talysian (member.php?u=14017) " Nice job my man.

Leonal
November 23rd, 2011, 13:26
Well let me see here.

4 trips to Micky D's 40.00 (gone in just a couple minutes)
a couple of good books 50.00(done reading in a couple weeks)
an XBOX game 60.00 (again a couple weeks to beat it, if that)

Fantasy Grounds 40.00 (gaming with friends for years to come)

I have to go with Fantasy Grounds(6 months of gaming once a week, that's like 1.67 for hours of good fun)each week.

Madman AKA Chris (Lifetime geek)

P.S. Do it man you wont regret it!

Nice job my man.

+1 (and more words to fill out the post)

Dracones
November 23rd, 2011, 15:43
I'm considering buying this software, but first I want to see how many Pathfinder players are using this product, since it is a substantial investment.

So, how many of you are there? Is it hard to join a game? How long does it take to find players for a game? Etc.

If you're running a Pathfinder game as a GM, your game slots will likely fill up in less than a day :)

As a player it isn't that hard to find Pathfinder games. There's the pathfinder society for FG2 which is very active.

The biggest problem, and this probably applies to any VTT, is finding reliable players. The faceless nature of VTT sort of makes it so people are more likely to flake out on you than they would if everything was done in person. The current GM of a game I'm playing is handling this pretty well by first running a "one off" module to get together a solid group of players before starting in on the adventure path he really wants to run. I think that's probably a good way to handle things.

FG itself has pretty good support for Pathfinder. The ruleset works really well, there's a solid bestiary, Herolabs will export to it so character imports are a breeze. It's lacking Paizo backing though, but they've been holding off backing any VTT at the moment.

Griogre
November 23rd, 2011, 20:45
By the way you don't have to take anyone's word on how hard it is to fill a game. Go to the guild house forum and go back a month or so of posts to get a feel for how many games are starting of the type you want to run and how fast they filled up.

That said there are always more players than GM's and you can always find players for any reasonably popular RPG pretty quick.

Edit: Evil typo.... :p

Dershem
November 23rd, 2011, 20:46
It's fairly easy to find players, especially if you have flexible times. Though I will say you probably hit the slow time of year.

Griogre
November 23rd, 2011, 20:53
Sigh, yes more players than GMs - thanks. Fixed the prior post.

DeLeon
November 24th, 2011, 06:59
I'm actually interested in GM'ing, but I don't want to invest money if there won't be many players. It sounds like there are plenty of players though. How easy is it to customize maps?

Trenloe
November 24th, 2011, 07:21
I'm actually interested in GM'ing, but I don't want to invest money if there won't be many players. It sounds like there are plenty of players though. How easy is it to customize maps?

Maps are simply JPG or PNG images - so you can customise the images to your hearts content. There are some great tools to do maps if you're not too good on image programs - the easiest I find to use is Pyro's web based map tool. (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14877)

Also, with Dr Zeuss's multi-layer image extension converted to the 3.5E/Pathfinder ruleset (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15647), you can customise base maps by adding extra tokens (images) on the base/middle layer of the map. View Dr Zeuss's video (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showpost.php?p=114668&postcount=62) to see how it can be used.

Of course, there are also many, many sources for free (or very inexpensive) maps out there...