Idea for an update: Please give feedback

[Voldran]

Let me first say that I LOVE FGII! :D Having said that here's what I love about it:

TOTAL AND COMPLETE CONTROL OF EVERYTHING!!! From the ability to not only create and edit my campaigns, putting in campaign and encounter maps to organize and be able to track combat and players, logging full sessions action for action, and everything else you NEED to make an online game of DnD 4E or Shadowrun 4E as smooth as you could ever ask for! I love it! But here's the thing that SUCKS :mad: : I have all these great tools at my disposal and a slew of great campaigns at my fingertips, but I have an at-home gaming group and there is no way that I can see to use all these tools for a home game.

So I propose that SmiteWorks create an update to allow for my players to create an OFFLINE version of FGII that can allow a DM to do FULL home game management. Character Creation, Importing from DnDI, Combat Tracking, Campaign Management all of it! Use the format for FGII and take it offline for home games.

What do you think? Let me know if there are programs already able to do this, and if so where to get them. Also, if you have had similar desires to see this be developed.

[phantomwhale]

Out of interest, which tools would you see yourself using in a face-to-face game ?

I always though the combat tracker would be good - but then much of it's power is also around being able to drag and drop effects onto characters. But in a tabletop game, those characters will be on paper sheets, so you'll have two copies of each character... unless all your players bring laptops too, but then I personally suspect so much technology would diminish the face-to-face RPG experience !

[Moon Wizard]

I have actually used FG for several face-to-face 4E games. I used it primarily for combat tracker and effect tracking (plus saves).

I've also seen people use various VTTs in face-to-face games to show the tactical map on a projection screen, and pass the mouse around to allow each person to move their token on the map. Essentially, they are only using as a battle mat.

The main challenge in using VTTs for a face-to-face game is that everyone needs their "character sheet" in order to track wounds, mark off powers, etc. Without a dedicated screen for each player, there is not really enough real estate to have every character sheet on the screen at once. Except for the character sheet, battle mat and tracker, most of the rest of the VTT experience is GM tools, automation and bonus features.

I'm not sure that I am understanding what you are asking for specifically. Maybe you could provide more detail on what you are trying to do?

You could still use the current FG version as a GM screen to track GM campaign information at a live game, and even share a screen to provide a shared combat tracker.

Regards,
JPG

[Dakadin]

We now have almost a computer per player and I've actually found the FG enhances the face to face RPG experience. It handles many of the little details that would normally slow down the game and doesn't interfere with the actual role playing and player interactions.

When we first started, there were 2-3 people to a computer. It was difficult when 3 people were using one computer and doable when it was 2 people. Once you can get to at least 1 computer per 2 PCs, I definitely recommend it.

At this point, I wouldn't want to go back to role playing without using FG. :)

[Nilliom]

I use FG in face to face game, we have 2 laptops and the player look at what I give them, roll dices, etc... On my laptop I run the game, do the combat, etc...

[Voldran]

Here's my dilemma. I have the only laptop among my gaming group, but I have a TV that I use to show the maps and artwork. My players like having their record sheets in front of them, but I also like having their record sheets available to me so that I can update on the fly for treasure parcels and other goodies, but I can't have the combat tracker run the combat for PCs and NPCs properly from using only the GM mode. By making the PCs able to interact from one laptop it would help a lot.

[Moon Wizard]

To have the players interact with the VT during the game to do more than just move their token on a map, you almost need to have 2 computers at the table. Essentially, you need one keyboard/screen for the GM and one keyboard/screen for the players. I'm not sure you can get around that requirement with any technical solution.

You can partially do this by running a dual screen setup on your laptop, start a second instance of FG on the second screen (visible to the players), then display the images, maps and combat tracker on the shared screen. The players won't be able to interact, but they will only be able to view player information (i.e. shared by the GM).

Regards,
JPG

[phantomwhale]

We now have almost a computer per player and I've actually found the FG enhances the face to face RPG experience. It handles many of the little details that would normally slow down the game and doesn't interfere with the actual role playing and player interactions.

I changed to Savage Worlds for pretty much this reason :D

[Dakadin]

I actually ran a Savage Worlds campaign when I first started using FG. It was my first time using it and you are right a lot of those little details are much easier in Savage Worlds.

The only issue I had with it probably had to do with the fact that we were doing a Necessary Evil campaign. Basically figuring out the wounds could be a bit of a chore since the characters were doing more than the normal damage. Is there an automated way to do it in the ruleset?

We stopped using Savage Worlds after the 2.8 update since I was having problems with it crashing for awhile. So we switched to 4E for a bit. Now we are playing Rolemaster since that is the main reason I switch from MapTools to FG. I've been very happy that I made the change to FG. :D