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ianmward
October 7th, 2014, 22:21
I heard recently that one if the most common reasons that roll20 is more popular than FG was that FG is mistakenly thought to only support D&D type games. Well, interestingly, it appears these are the games most popular on roll20...
I found this article listing the percentage of games and players play which systems. Interesting...

https://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2014/10/07/95435/

damned
October 7th, 2014, 22:49
D&D, PathFinder, D&D and... D&D rounding out the top 4.
Still leaves about nearly half the market to all the other games...
Oh hang on there are a few more D&Ds in there.

ianmward
October 7th, 2014, 23:29
About 60% D&D type games, then if we include other supported games: SW, CoC, Fate, SW (various), Numenera... we cover the vast majority of the games.
I think we need better support for these games (documentation etc.) and better documentation for how to support other games (CoreRPG window class and template documentation).
Then we should make it more obvious on the web page.

Interestingly, I was talking to an old mate in the UK recently and he said he was running D&D on roll20, when I mentioned FG, he took a look at the web site and said:
"Looks like it's Windows only, making it completely useless. Also no mention of video chat. Roll20 is web based and multiplatform, with integrated video chat. "

I set him straight but that was his initial impression...

damned
October 8th, 2014, 01:16
Slowly, slowly trying to get the word out there - but there is a lot o misconception out there and the roll20 guys are much better than we are at spruiking the platform. i posted to one guy yesterday who wanted to try and play 5e over roll20 cos his group has all moved apart. hed never heard of fantasy grounds and the next poster sair roll20 is better for 5e - FG doesnt really support it!

Mask_of_winter
October 8th, 2014, 01:32
Same here, running demos on google + and what not. There has been podcasts about it too. Doug is working on a new landing page which should help.

I can only speak for what goes on Google+ and Facebook because I don't spend time on other rpg forums besides this one, but besides Damian, Doug and Keith Hershey jr nobody is spreading the Fantasy Grounds gospel out there or promoting FG Con. It's unfortunate that people have the wrong information concerning FG and I don't want to have another discussion about why not more people use Fantasy Grounds.

What we need is more people running demos and showing off what FG can do. Ian is busy building rulesets and his contributions are legendary but if we want FG to grow, people aren't going to come to us, we have to go to them.

Grimaxe
October 8th, 2014, 02:24
I heard recently that one if the most common reasons that roll20 is more popular than FG was that FG is mistakenly thought to only support D&D type games. Well, interestingly, it appears these are the games most popular on roll20...
I found this article listing the percentage of games and players play which systems. Interesting...

https://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2014/10/07/95435/

I think the main reason for roll20 being more popular would have more to do with its accessibility and simplicity. The fact that you don't have to install anything and can just plop open a browser is pretty huge, however it's also a big downside for certain types of games (like, say running a really big dungeon map was causing the game to lag like all hell and crash my browser last time I played with them before I got FG). I'll wager a guess that most dnd/pf games use smaller combat maps though, so this winds up being a non factor for the majority.

It's also really easy to pickup and learn because of its ambiguity, which is at the same time a downside because it's ment to be one open ended client you can run any game system on without any special rules, so you wind up having to do alot of work by hand (depending on how much automation you wanna build in to make the games flow better). Personally at first glance there was alot I found enjoyable, and from the player perspective it's definitely nice.

The website is also flashy and bright, so it appeals to the younger generation, price point was also better before FG offered it's own sub model.

However for running games, FG is leaps and bounds better then roll20 for a multitude of reasons but ill only list a few.

1.) Pre-built rule sets and content within the client help make building & running games much more smooth and enjoyable imo.
2.) The map utility might of been lacking in the past, but its great in its current state. I'll take an adventure and build story entries with encounter links for each room in a dungeon or spots on a map, cut down on screen clutter and keeps everything easily accessible.
3.) Creating characters / npcs and the like is much less of a chore in FG then roll20
4.) Overall organization, superior in every aspect.

Like I said though, I went to roll20 first because of price, I didn't have the money and there was no sub option for FG at the time, I was able to get someone to split the difference with me for xmas to purchase the FG ultimate license however after purchasing the GM client to look at it, and I've go no regrets and never looked back. I can only assume more people will probably go with the subscription over the ultimate license (which, despite the apparent high cost is a steal if you plan to use FG for an extended period of time), but hopefully FG will get enough extra revenue from the sub option to expand its operations and develop into an even more powerful and amazing tool for running pnp games over the web.

My only real disappointment with FG is not having any official rulesets for white wolf/onyx path game systems (because the official ones tend to be more complete then player made stuff), though I can understand why they haven't got around to it either since it's not the most popular stuff. Personally I know id gobble up any good stuff they put out for it in a heartbeat though :D