A new guy with a few qestions

[BigSanta]

Hello all I was looking into buying into this program and had a couple quick questions. 1. Is this program only for online gaming or can it be used as a virtual table top? my friends and I play in the same room just don't like to use pen maps and figures. 2. Can you play on other computers i. e. I was hoping that I could build the maps on my comp then transfer via usb to my buddies comp that is connected to a big projector. Thanks for any info on these questions.

[Dershem]

I'm probably going to take a lot of crap for what I'm going to say, if you are only looking to use maps and a projector, your best bet is maptool & tokentool.

If you are looking to play online and have a automated, user friendly, table top feel session use fantasy grounds. You can use it for a VTT, but Honestly if you are just going to be using maps and computer mini's map tools does this much better.

[VenomousFiligree]

BigSanta, yes it can be used as a Virtual Tabletop as well as online gaming, it *is* a virtual tabletop :)

However, it would be good to know what exactly you want from your VT: campaign management, character sheets, preloaded adventures, maps and minis...?

And yes you can transfer campaign data between computers that have a Full License installed.

[Moon Wizard]

FG can use any image file for maps/tokens. Images for maps/handouts can be dropped any time, even during the game session. Images for tokens need to be placed in the correct folder prior to starting FG.

For using in face-to-face games, I have heard of a couple different use cases:

* GM campaign management only

* Dual screen with GM info on one screen and player info on another screen (combat tracker, handouts, etc.) You could also use this model to display via projector onto a wall or tabletop.

* Everyone has a laptop (or 2-3 players per laptop), and everyone takes there turn completely within FG.

Personally, I run most of my games online; but every year, I run a live session for our group, and I use the same FG session in the dual screen setup I mentioned above.

Regards,
JPG

[Dakadin]

I can vouch for JPG's last bullet item. It works great for my group.

MapTool is great if you want to build maps on the fly but if you have them ahead of time then Fantasy Grounds is your best option in my opinion. There are just so many useful features that can help a campaign to run more smoothly.

[Moon Wizard]

And more to come... New version in alpha in the Laboratory.

Cheers,
JPG

[Veilheim]

Along these lines I guess I have one question... I'm wanting to have the output of the player screen in the dual screen mode do a "full screen map" like Maptools does. Is that something FG can do?

[Griogre]

Yes, you can do this. You can start a second player instance of FG on the second monitor and just drag the image open all across the second monitor. It may not look very good if the picture size varies a lot from the screen size though. I think you can try this in the demo.

Be aware that MapTool is "Mapcentric" (hence the name) - FG is more "Charactersheetcentic" though you can share images. Thus if the map is the main focal point for your game then MapTool might be a better choice. If you games are more about things related to the character sheet, then FG is better. All of the major VTT do many of the same things but most emphasize different things. So while all the major VTTs have dice rolling, typed chat, image/map sharing with token movement on the image, plus character data storage, they are all stronger or weaker in different areas. The VTT you should use is the one that matches your groups playing style the best.