Difference between players on demo and lite licenses

[RyanRMC]

I have a question for the community at large, and I apologize if this is answered in an FAQ and I overlooked it.

A group of online friends and myself have decided to make an attempt at a game of DnD, and after some researched settled on FGII as the play environment. As I will be running the games (at least initially) I picked up the first license, and opted for the Ultimate. It made sense as we are still unsure yet how many people will be able to really commit, and didn't want to buy a bunch of user licenses that went unused.

If things works out and we stick with it, the other members of my group would of course like to pick up a license for themselves as well. The question for us would be which one? We would be hesitant to pick up player 'lite' licenses if down the line one of these other players wanted to run a game, and the lite went to rot so they would get a standard license instead.

So after all this rambling, my real question is: are the players in my game going to be hindered by playing on a demo version of the game? Will there be features or options required or helpful for play that they are restricted from accessing?

If not, we would just as soon have the players use demo versions for the time being, they buy the standard full licenses as they decide they want to try running a game.

Thanks for any help! More questions will be coming, I'm sure.

[unerwünscht]

Welcome to the community. With your ultimate license your players will not need to purchase anything else. I would suggest you find someone in the community that can give you a short walk through of the application however. I am more than willing to do this if we can find a time when our schedules sync up.

[Griogre]

In answer to your main question, in normal use the unregistered licenses should be fine. Basically, as long as you have your server up and they can connect then they are the same as the lites. The differences appear to be when the players are off line as far as pre-making characters, ect.

However in your situation be aware that as soon as someone else wants to run - everyone but you are going to have to update your licences unless he also gets an ultimate license.

This is why from a pure cost stand point in a group with multiple DMs its usually better to get several full licenses and lites for with the bundle discount. It's usually cheaper than one ultimate license up until the group size gets up to six or seven depending on the mix of fulls and lites.

Since you already have an ultimate license, I would personally go with having everyone use unlicensed clients until you get a good read on who wants to play and DM. Then when the next person wants to DM have everyone go in and get a bundle of lites for players and fulls for all the perspective DMs. You don't have to perfect with this, lites can also be updated to fulls, just like fulls can be updated to ultimate - though this is apparently a manual process that Smiteworks has to go through.

Edit: Out typed by unerwünscht...

[Blahness98]

If you have an Ultimate license, your players will need to install the unregistered client not the demo.

One hinderance is your players inability to create a character locally. And that really isn't that big of a deal since a you can just leave the server running for them to create to their hearts content or they can send you a character sheet.

Another issue comes into play when one of your players buys a Full license. Anyone that has not purchased a lite license will be unable to play. Your group will just have to decide who will be a GM later and who will just want to play and plan accordingly. Just try to get all the licenses at once so you can get the group discount.

Aside from that, the unregistered version of FG functions in a similar fashion to the lite license

-Edit- Also out typed by the two above..

[RyanRMC]

Thanks for the answers.

At what point down the line someone else wants to DM, it should not be an issue for some more licences to get picked up. (They will probably just grab them all at once). I was more worried about the short term, when someone may jump in to see if they like it, then find they don't or don't have time.

I will spend some time digging around in the program and watching the videos, and try to work out as much of the ins-and-outs as possible. With a few small sessions under my belt I will probably check back with more questions.

Thanks again.

[Griogre]

Like unerwünscht suggested just sitting in on a game or having someone give you a walk through will be helpful after you get a chance to go through the videos. Most GM's don't mind observers.

[JohnD]

RyanRMC, if you want a short demo or to observe a game, feel free to PM me.

Also, welcome to FG... I feel confident saying you've made the right choice!

[Blackfoot]

I'll give you my view on it... I went with a Full license for myself as the cost of Lite licenses is really cheap and any player can upgrade one of those to a Full license any time if they want to run a game. If you run on Ultimate, you are laying out the initial cash for everyone, and they have no commitment to the game. If you have a lot of potential GMs... when one of them steps up.. they either have to upgrade to Ultimate (instead of Full) or everyone has to pick up a Lite at that point.
With an Ultimate YOU are very flexible and can work with many players outside your group...
If you are only looking to play within your group? They should step up and help you out with the cost by buying their own Lite licenses so you can run Full... I recommend buying all the licenses together as a bundle.. you will all save a bit that way as well.

[bennis1980]

RyanRMC,

I'm assuming (hoping) by your name you are planning to run a rolemaster game? It would be nice to see another one on offer on the gamecalendar

[JohnD]

RyanRMC,

I'm assuming (hoping) by your name you are planning to run a rolemaster game? It would be nice to see another one on offer on the gamecalendar
Amen to that! :)

[RyanRMC]

Sorry to disappoint. The RMC part is for the gaming community I am a part of. I was originally planning on 4E, but after losing my **** with WotC and their shifting support for the system, I am switching over to Pathfinder.

[bennis1980]

Ah, you can always give rolemester a try for your namesake ;)

[RyanRMC]

Give me a few weeks to get the hang of Pathfinder, then we can talk ;) Right now putting all the pieces of running a game together is like solving a Rubik's Cube.

[bennis1980]

You know the easy way to solve a Rubik's Cube though: peal off all the stickers!

(Of course I must tell you - there is no easy peal-the-stickers method for prepping your campaign on fantasy grounds I'm afraid - just the support of the kindly people on this great forum)

[JohnD]

Yeah - if something is confusing you don't hesitate to ask questions.

[Trenloe]

Give me a few weeks to get the hang of Pathfinder, then we can talk ;) Right now putting all the pieces of running a game together is like solving a Rubik's Cube.
If you've not found them already, some of the videos in the "downloads" section (link at the top if this page) help - especially Zorn's "Campaign Entry Basics" in the archived video section (further down the page in the right hand column).