Newbish questions

[Doc Sportello]

Hi all,

I've spent several hours playing around with the Fantasy Grounds demo today, I've read most of the links in the documentation, and I've watched a couple of sample games, including two or three parts of a Lets Play of the beginner box of D&D 5e. I'm really impressed with the software! But I have some questions before I take the plunge.

1. When I "mask" a map in GM mode, the masked portion is still slightly visible to me. Is it completely invisible to the players? I assume so -- that way the DM knows what to unmask next.

2. Along the same lines: must the GM refresh the "sync with players" button after every change in masking, to ensure that players are seeing the unmasked portions of the map?

3. Is the software invariably played with voice? I don't mind voicing, but sometimes I need to be quiet at home, and sometimes I just don't feel like wearing a headset. The program has robust chat features, but my impression is that everyone uses it in conjunction with voice.

4. Is "hosting" the game as a DM a technical challenge for someone who dislikes messing with his router settings, as I do?

5. In the included partial adventure (from D&D 4e, I think?), I tried to drag encounters to the party sheet to indicate that they'd finished them, but I couldn't do this. In fact, I couldn't figure out how to award party members with XP, or to indicate that they'd finished quests. For that matter, I had trouble adding stuff to inventory, too. The docs sent me to links about editing lists, but I had trouble understanding these instructions. Did I mess something up, or maybe the partial adventure just doesn't support awarding XP/quest completion?

6. Is there a shortage of DMs? Is it hard to find a game to join? I'm more interested in DMing than playing, but I'm not sure about DMing if I've never played a game using the software. (And my DMing experience in face-to-face games is limited to running games with my kids, who are easier to order around than adults!)

7. Maybe the biggest question: what if I rather like the theater of the mind, which is somewhat more emphasized in D&D 5e and in Star Wars Edge of the Empire, the two games I'm most interested in. Would FG pull me in the wrong direction? I see there's a budding ruleset for EoTE; does it support range bands, or does it use a grid?

Sorry to ask so many questions. Thanks in advance.

[Trenloe]

Hi there and welcome.

One thing you'll find really useful when you're getting to know FG as a GM is to start another instance of FG on the same computer and connect as a player with a hostname of localhost - this will allow you to see what the players will see.

1) Yes, it is completely masked to the players.

2) You don't need to synch after you do anything in the map - change the mask, add/remove tokens, do a drawing, etc..

3) Most people who are active on this forum game with voice, there's some people who prefer text chat for the reasons you give and for more immersion. The main reasons people use voice are: it's much easier on the GM - they don't need to prep as much as they can communicate verbally; games run quicker; there's a more social aspect (if that's what you want); people who are slow at typing aren't excluded or feel they're falling behind; it's easier to fix technical/rules issues via voice than by typing. There are some people who play using text and FG is very feature rich in supporting this.

4) It depends... If your router support UPnP then it should just work. If not, give damned a PM... :)

5) I've just checked in the demo 4E campaign and you can drag encounters to the "Encounters" section of the XP tab in the party sheet. Then right click on them and select "Award XP". The problem is that these encounters don't have XP entered - so they're all worth 0xp, so change that before adding to the party sheet. Remember that right-clicking will often give you options you're not aware of! :)

6) GMs are always at a premium. It's usually pretty easy for them to find a bunch of players and then they'll go off playing and the forums won't hear from them again until they need to replenish an AWOL player. You should be able to join a game and observe, most GMs are fine with that, or keep an eye out for one off games to get an idea of how FG can be used.

7) Use FG however you want. There really isn't any automation built into range bands/distances/grids on any of the rulesets - the grids will help you measure distances for movement and ranged attacks and will obviously show you where people can move for the more tactically oriented RPGs. But, use it how you wish. The EotE ruleset doesn't have anything particular in it regarding the EotE rangebands - use maps/images how you wish. You might want to put a grid on just to get a rough idea of distance, but the ruleset doesn't use it for anything.

[Nylanfs]

Yes it is completely invisible to the players You can test this by running an additional session of FG and logging into localhost instead of an alias or IP address

2) It's instantaneous, as shown in line above this one

3) It depends on how your group wants to do it.

4) Possibly, but we are all REALLY helpful in the "Healing" section to help you get setup.

5) I don't use the 4E set so somebody else will have to answer

6) Just like in the real world there are always shortages of DM's, but since it's worldwide you can usually find a game to play in. Checkout the Guild forums, the Steam Looking for Group forums, and the Society of Extraordinary Gamers website

7) You don't have to use a map at all, just the combat tracker, or just the party sheets. Or just freeform and use the Story notes to keep track of how the game is progressing.

ninja'd by Trenloe :(

[Doc Sportello]

Thanks for the very helpful replies. I figured out why I was having trouble dragging encounters to the XP tab of the character sheet: I had typed something in the bottom-most field, and that was preventing me from adding anything. Once I deleted my typing, I was able to drag encounters in. Yes, I had to edit the encounters to provide XP; not a big deal. I was also able to award XP to the whole party; very nice.

I had more trouble, however, awarding XP from completed encounters to just one party member. Sometimes when I right-click and choose "award one", the party sheet doesn't update to reflect this XP gain for either party member. Sometimes it chooses the leftmost party member. Sometimes it awards XP to BOTH party members. Maybe it's better to award XP manually directly on each character's sheet?

Interesting that there are some text-based games using this software. I do like the immersion of text only, even if it's somewhat slower -- it's certainly a lot faster than "play by forum" games. When I play WoW or other RPGs online, I usually dislike voice-chat. I like to think I'm adventuring with a dwarf or elf, not another guy like me. :)

Would you say the userbase for FG is more committed to games, less likely to bail on a game, than on other platforms like Roll20? My guess is yes: if you're going to invest in FG, you're all in. For me, the fee for FG is almost a selling point! It suggests I'm buying into a system with other gamers who really want to play.

I guess if I want to check out the Edge of the Empire ruleset, I'll have to buy the full license, yes? I'll see if I can find a Lets Play with EoTE and Fantasy Grounds.

Thanks again for your replies, and if you have further comments, please feel free to chime in!

[Trenloe]

Awarding XP via the party sheet should divide it among all of the PCs who are currently in the party sheet. "Award one" just means award the encounter you've right clicked on, it doesn't mean award it to just one PC, "Award all" means award all encounters that haven't been awarded before. The "Aw?" check box indicates if the XP for the encounter has already been awarded. If you want to award XP to individual PC or on a different ratio then you will need to do this manually.

You will still find the odd "flaky" player here, but in general the FG community does tend to be more reliable than others. I think some of that does have to do with the cost of the software...

You can check out the EotE ruleset with a demo license - you just can't save anything in your campaign. Download the EotE ruleset, install it in your <fg app data>\rulesets folder and use "Create Demo Campaign" to create a campaign using the ruleset. You'll have to do this every time as it won't save anything to do with the campaign while running in demo mode.

[Doc Sportello]

Ah, thanks for the clarification on XP awards. Thanks also for the info on EotE. I'll give it a try tomorrow.

[damned]

Heh! Trenloe is the author of the EoTE ruleset conversion :)

Some extra info:
2. Usually you will Sync the map when you want to make sure all the players are looking at the right part of the map.
3. I think that maybe 10-20% of players use text/type chat and do so for immersion, for noise, for preference.
4. Hey Trenloe! Sometimes the port forwarding can be a challenge - many times it is completely pain free but sometimes it aint... Im happy to help if it doesnt work for you and you arent confident of making changes yourself.
6. Its always easier to be a player, the world needs more GMs but maybe we dont deserve them.... :)

[Doc Sportello]

Thanks for the further information, damned.

I did try out the EotE ruleset. Seems very nice. The chat commands seemed a little different from the default settings. I kinda prefer the "story" text style from the version I saw demo'ing one of the D&D sample modules (I think it was a 4e module), which had a pretty little border or something around the story text. In EoTE, story text is just boldfaced black, unless I missed something. I suppose that might fit the sci-fi setting better. Also, I couldn't figure out how to make the GM speak as an NPC, whereas I was able to do this in the D&D module.

Also, when I started my demo campaign, I tested my connection with your servers and got a nice reassuring green "success." I also tested the "find yourself" link and it said the port you use is not blocked. Does all that mean I have the technical capability to host/GM a game? I have a reasonably fast FIOS wired connection, and the manual for my router (Actiontec MI424-WR Rev C) says it supports uPnP, but it's admittedly a somewhat out-of-date router. I just haven't had a need to call my ISP to upgrade it because it works fine, and I don't want to fix it if it's not broken. (Incidentally, the router also provides wireless connectivity for our iPads and such around the house.)

Should I be nervous about opening up a port like this? Are there any security risks? Chances are, I'd be hosting a game with forum members here, as my friends by and large are too busy. What if one of my players turns out to be a hacker who is Chaotic Evil?

[damned]

if the green Success comes up dont change anything manually - your current settings are good.
there is no known instance of someone being hacked via FG but that is not to say it could never happen...
the port is only open and listening when you have FG running in Load or Start campaign mode.
Chaos and Evil run rampant around these parts but I think thats probably safer than the Lawful Evil types you find elsewhere :)

[Trenloe]

Also, when I started my demo campaign, I tested my connection with your servers and got a nice reassuring green "success." I also tested the "find yourself" link and it said the port you use is not blocked. Does all that mean I have the technical capability to host/GM a game?
Yes, this means you can host a game.


Should I be nervous about opening up a port like this? Are there any security risks? Chances are, I'd be hosting a game with forum members here, as my friends by and large are too busy. What if one of my players turns out to be a hacker who is Chaotic Evil?
The risk is very low - it's a proprietary port for a proprietary application and it's only accessible when FG is running. The FG devs have been very careful in restricting base operating system access through the FG app, so you're pretty safe.

And a CL 20 lightning bolt will sort your chaotic evil players out. ;)

[Doc Sportello]

Thanks for the reassurances! OK, I'll make sure my virtual table has a hotkey for a CL 20 lightning bolt. :) Although I suppose a "hot" key should use a firebolt spell. (Har har!)

Hey, that reminds me: is there a hotkey for the "rearrange dice" function? Can I assign one? I use it a lot to clear off the dice.

[Griogre]

There is not currently a hot key for "rearrange dice". Are you familiar with right mouse button dragging through the right click radial menus in FG? It is very fast to use the radial menus once you use that.

[Doc Sportello]

Thanks for the tip; that will help. In general, I prefer hotkeys where possible, as lots of mousing makes my hand hurt. But it's not a big deal.

Thanks again.