Hey guys, quick question

[Tidalwave0089]

So about a week or so ago I bought Fantasy Grounds and supposedly 4E is one of the rule sets it's supposed to come with by default, however I can't help but notice that unlike 3.5E and even the M&M3 I bought to add to it, it doesn't seem to have any reference/library files. No player or GM handbook, no spell or item book. Nothing at all like what 3.5E comes default with. Is this intentional or am I somehow bugged?

[damned]

Intentional.
4E comes with lots of automation and support for the bells and whistles but the Wizards wont license their content to anyone.
Under copyright law the game mechanics cannot be copyrighted (?) but the content (spells, monsters, etc) can be.
There are some very funky tools out there that will allow you (with a little patience) to use your DDI account to scrape all the content into the right format for use.

Look at these threads:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?17022-Guide-Using-the-4E-Parser-to-create-a-Module
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?18123-Project-Par5e
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?17485-4E-Item-Parser
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?18839-4e-Parser-Items-not-Scraping

[damned]

In the meantime - and I dont know your timezone - but fancy a little 3.5E gaming? We have 3 Oriental Adventures themed sessions running at FG Con 4 (https://www.fg-con.com/events) that need 1-4 extra players. You can play in one or all sessions.

https://www.fg-con.com/events/the-massacre-of-kakunodate-part-13/



You are all Ronin.

Regardless of whether you were a Samurai, a Ninja, or a Monk, you have been labelled by the people as a Ronin and your deaths are commanded by High Ecclesiarch. Set in the nation of Preseria (a fantasy analogue of feudal Japan) where the ‘old ways’ had persisted for centuries, only to fall prey to a new, progressive movement known as the Ecclesiarchy. With their powerful evangelism and tempting lifestyle they have raised the masses that were once satisfied with their simple lives against their former lords and created civil war.

This war tore across Preseria and culminated in the capture and execution of the King and his Lords. The leader of the Ecclesiarchy adopted the rule of the nation and cast all ties to the old ways as sinful and decadent, demanding that the death of the old ways are the only way to secure a rich and prosperous future. The Ninja were hunted, those who survived forced from their hidden lairs with weapons of fire and thunder.

The Samurai were marched to the city and town squares, where they faced an honour less death at the hands of the common warriors and their alien ‘guns’. The monks fought for their monasteries with the fierce yet harmonious fighting for which they were renown, but even their temple fortresses were burnt to ash. The survivors of the old ways gathered in the wilderness, casting aside their former hatreds for the sakes of survival, but even then they were chased and hounded. You are one of these survivors, no matter your former profession you have been disgraced and named Ronin by the Common Army.

Though your death seems inevitable there is hope, for the Samurai training grounds still stand. A huge fortress town that is defensible, has supplies enough for an extended siege, and has offered invitations to the survivors of the old ways. This haven is called Kakunodate

- This game will be run using D&D 3.5
- Characters will be provided and will be at level 10
- This game will be combat heavy but there will be plenty of opportunity for role-playing.
- This game is set to run for 3 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) with a session for each day, listed as different events.
- Up to 6 player slots available.

If you can’t make all 3 games that’s fine as there are literally hundreds of potential characters in the survivors heading towards the objective.

[Tidalwave0089]

That sounds fun and you've been very helpful since I joined this site so I hope you won't be offended but I'm going to have to decline. I love 3.5, but honestly I'm still a major noob to understanding any games rules, which I'm ashamed to say, due to a combination of learning disability and being a Kinesthetic learner of sorts (I can't read and learn things well on my own, I need to be explained and shown then given the chance repeat the process in order to grasp something, which makes learning games of this nature a huge challenge for me but makes videos like Oz's tutorials on using this program such wonderful things) so I would only slow ya'll down. Plus I'm currently trying to understand and put together a game of M&M.

[damned]

sent you a PM.

[damned]

between my working on understanding M&M mostly alone and my search for material to use in FG's (like free maps of either modern settings or even an empty interior I could build in which is not going well) I kind of have my plate full trying to prepare for my own game, also I'm on the East coast of America so you might be right about time zone issues, I just don't think I have time to play.
Time is something none of us can create! Without labouring the point though - you might learn more in a game session - but that is entirely up to you. Plenty of people here will help you learn :)


As for your paragraph I suppose there's no harm in posting so other new players can see, and though I am slowly learning this program, I actually meant the RULES of games is the difficulty I have. So I'd be difficult for me to even get involved due to slow learning of character building and combat rules, rather than the use of FG (so far my greatest difficult with that has been either fiddling with the map system and some rule sets lack of either updated content *M&M3 is a paid product but isn't even supported by staff to the point that it functions on par with build 3.0.3 of FG (read as missing functions)
Some history.
FG1 had a handful of rulesets and they were all forked off one or another other rulesets and had to be maintained seperately.
FG2 added lots and lots of features but this ruleset trend continued and many rulesets lagged behind and other new rulesets were created.
FG3 biggest change was implementing CoreRPG which contained a lot of the functionality of 3.5e/PF which was the most heavily developed ruleset, but not all features/functionality as much was not generic enough to be included in every ruleset. A small number of rulesets got updated at that time to be built on CoreRPG so any new development on CoreRPG (at least every 6 weeks at the moment a new update comes out) flows thru to rulesets built on this. This included 4E, CoC (although this is still pretty basic from hat I can remember) and (yay for me) Castles&Crusades and (stil in Dev) Numera and 5e. M&M3 got released somewhere in amongst that and I cant remember if it is built on CoreRPG or not. Additionally I think its very different to DnD? Anyways - it can take hundreds of hours to build a full featured ruleset and content. M&M3 hasnt had a great uptake and I think dev has cut his losses which is unfortunate but understandable. (the great thing to that is - the dev has moved on to developing a ruleset builder - which while it wont build automation will help you build all the XML that drves all the graphics and this will drive ruleset development - especially in conjunction with CoreRPG). Another *big* ruleset here (with lots of community dev support) is Savage Worlds and they are currently working thru all the updates needed to port it back in on top of CoreRPG as that is definitely the way to go for the future.


rather than a complaint about missing book info* or lack of actual content at all *I read what you said about why stuff like a manual is missing for 4E, but then why did 3.5E come default with a handbook, spell book, magic items book, monster manual, and even a campaign to play through, both products are Wizards so really it doesn't add up for me and leaves the content lacking rather than adding to the experience and understanding. I can't denie though that as an online map and icon tabletop it's going to improve game-play greatly.
Wizards back with D&D3 released it and 3.5 under the Open Gaming License (OGL) meaning they kept all rights to teh work but you could freely distribute it (with some qualifications) meaning that content can be distributed as part of a ruleset on this tabletop. awesome - yes. but then we get spoilt thinking why can we have all these other funky rulesets too :(

I hope that helps. And i hope that most of what I have said is actually correct....



Hey Tidalwave - played DnD before? The rest will follow. Honestly - playing a session or two like this you wont slow anyone down - dont know where to click you just say so and everyone will help. As a GM I sometimes stop and ask my players stuff - at least twice a session. Con games are not serious and competitive - they are an opportunity to learn and to try new stuff - honestly. I went to a RL con last week (my 3rd one ever) and I played a Cthulhu game in a homebrew world and then I played some Musketeers using Honor and Intrigue. Completely different to the Castles&Crusades I play here. I asked *lots* of questions and never felt stupid asking one of them. You will learn FG fastest by playing it.