Fantasy Grounds 5e

[bullywug]

If I understand what's going on right now correctly, Wizards has decided to give Fantasy Grounds an exclusive license for the 5e content meaning if I want to use digital tools for my 5e characters or games this is my only real option.
After discussing the slow decay of the 4e game community with my group and the very painful process of finding our two newest members (it took about a month whereas it used to take a week or two) I decided to begin prepping for the eventual time when we would have no option but to move on to 5e.
I thought that I should make myself familiar with Fantasy Grounds by recreating our existing 4e adventure in Fantasy Grounds. I went with this approach because I know 4e and I thought I could learn the software that way. Unfortunately at every turn I've found myself banging my head against a wall. I feel like I'm trying to use a hammer to screw in a screw. I've had great help from this community every time I've asked and I've got to say that I feel the community is the only positive part of this whole experience.
Coming from Roll20 and Masterplan Fantasy Grounds feels like a clumsy antique. So, before I lay down the $100 + dollars to purchase the D&D 5e modules from Fantasy Grounds I want to know if my experiences are going to continue to be this bad or if the 5e modules make significant improvements on the existing Fantasy Grounds software.
I guess what I'm really saying is my experience thus far has been that Fantasy Grounds for 4e is an unusable mess. I've seem people say why on the forums. I don't really hold anything against whoever makes Fantasy Grounds. Don't really care. I just need to know before I plop that big a hunk of change down on a product what kind of experience I should expect given my background with DDI, Masterplan, and Roll20.
Thank you so much.

[Zacchaeus]

Well, I haven't used Masterplan (don't even know what that is tbh) or Roll20 and whilst I subscribed to DDI when I was running 4e Paper and pen it doesn't have an impact on 5e. Also I have only ever played 5e with Fantasy Grounds. So I can't compare any of these things and give you a comparative type of answer.

However what I can say is that 5e runs extremely well on Fantasy Grounds and I would very much commend it to you. However I don't know what you are looking for out of Fantasy Grounds and as I say I can't compare 4e with 5e for you and ultimately even though I like it you might not because you might be looking for something that FG might not be able to do.

I think your answer is to have a look at the Lost Mines of Phandelver module. It was designed to run straight out of the box and contains everything you need to play including pregenerated characters. You don't need the PHB or the Monster Manual in order to run it. Playing this will give you a good idea if 5e on Fantasy Grounds lives up to your expectations and will allow you to make a more informed decision as to whether you want to invest some more.

Another suggestion is to join a game at the forthcoming FGCon (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?94-FG-Con-%96-Fantasy-Grounds-Virtual-Convention) and you will be able to see how things work without spending anything at all.

[bullywug]

Thanks Zacchaeus. I actually have the PHB and the DMG and I'm well into the rules by now. The game and its rules aren't what concerns me. I should have been more specific. The tools I mentioned because they streamline the game making both preparation and game play go much MUCH faster than without. I'm concerned that given my experience so far using Fantasy Grounds to run a game will cause my game preparation time to skyrocket and the bizarre interface will cause delays during gameplay.
I guess I'm looking for reassurance from someone who has used those tools (they're actually all very popular 4e tools) to create and manage adventures that the Fantasy Grounds provide me with similar functionality and experience. My feeling at this point is that tools like Fantasy Grounds and Hero Lab (a product from a different company) are for people who think differently than I do. Every time I try to use them I waste huge amounts of time fighting the system. My hope is that the 5e modules turn Fantasy Grounds from just another frustrating "system agnostic" tool to a refined D&D 5e tool.

[midas]

I've found 4e in FG to be oustanding. The main issue I've seen on the forums have been people having issues parsing 4e content from their DDI accounts (a function that isn't technically a Fantasy Grounds function, but a separate tool). Personally I didn't run into any issues (or if I did they were minor enough that I don't remember them--I know that I started parsing within minutes of loading the tool on my machine). However the primary benefit is FG tracking all that 4e minutiae for effects, powers, etc. I know one of the users on here (Dave from tabletopping.net/the tabletopgaming youtube channel) could really speak more about it as he went from running a 4e Orcus campaign on Roll20 for a long time, then started converting it to 5e for Fantasy Grounds this past summer and decided to switch gears and just run it as 4e again due to how much easier FG made running 4e games.

[bullywug]

Thanks Warrior. I think that's exactly what I was looking for.

[Zacchaeus]

Hmm, ok.

First of all the modules don't change Fantasy Grounds in any way. What the module gives you is the same as it would give you if you were running a Paper & Pen game - convenience. The paper versions of the modules have been converted to run using the Fantasy Grounds tool. So descriptive text has been boxed so you can read aloud or drop it into chat for the players to read; encounters have been pre-prepared and a click will add the monsters to the Combat Tracker and the map (if there is one); treasure parcels have been generated and are ready to simply drag and drop into the party sheet; tables for random encounters have been created and are ready to roll; all of the text, encounters, treasures, maps and NPCs are all linked to the correct place in the adventure and are ready for you to click on.

When NPC's are dropped onto the Combat Tracker all of their attack and damage stats 'parse' so that the DM can drag the attacks/damage from the Combat Tracker onto the target. If the NPC has resistances or immunities that will be taken care of automatically when damage is computed. If the NPC's have spells or special abilities MOST of those will also be placed on the Combat Tracker in such a way that the DM can use the attacks, force saving throws and drop effects onto the target such as poisoning, incapacitated, etc. Such keywords are recognised by Fantasy Grounds and so if something on the PC or NPC would give advantage or some other penalty or bonus Fantasy Grounds will do it automatically. Characters can be created by dragging and dropping class, background and race onto the character sheet - BUT the character sheet is not a fully fledged creation tool such as HeroLab and so SOME manual intervention is necessary. The list of good stuff goes on and on.

Now, no matter whether you use the modules or create your own you will HAVE to become familiar with the software and how it works. I'm assuming that whatever you have used before also required that you learn how it worked, I can't imagine that Roll20 just worked when you loaded it up. I presume you must have had to do stuff to make it work and you presumably had to understand what it was doing.

There is a learning curve with Fantasy Grounds, but there is a lot of documentation to help you and particularly there are many videos too. You should have a look here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Videos).

[bullywug]

@Zacchaeus - I appreciate your feedback and your love of Fantasy Grounds shows. What I'm expressing is my experiences with Fantasy Grounds and other software in order to get a better idea of if Fantasy Grounds is going to work well with my DM style. Some pieces of software have a very low learning curve, some have a high learning curve. Some pieces of software's learning curve stem from a massive number of features (say Photoshop) while other learning curve stem from an unconventional design interface, like Fantasy Grounds. It's a design choice but it is frustrating to have to spend large amounts of time figuring out simple tasks that most software packages have standardized on to make them simpler to pick up. I hope that better explains what I was trying to communicate. If you don't agree with me, it's not a big surprise. Once you learn a product it tends to be easy to forget how difficult it is for someone who is just picking it up.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback and stuff to think about. Looks like 4e is dying anyway. I can't get the scrapper to work and I see other people saying the same (some problem with DDI). So time to hit the books and pick up 5e. For now I'll probably go with pen and paper until I get the game down. Fantasy Grounds would just add an unnecessary level of complexity to the game at this point. Too bad.

[JohnD]

Find someone with an Ultimate license and ask to observe a game session or a personal demo. Not sure what led to all your angst, but I've never even looked at 4e, so I may be (thankfully) missing something.

Any program is going to have a learning curve, you can push through it... most can.

[Zacchaeus]

Can you give us an example of where you are having a problem? And where there is an unconventional interface? And a task that all other software has simplified? And we can see if we can help you; it's possible that you are just missing something that is obvious to us that have used FG for a while and forgotten that we had to learn it too :)

Sorry, I don't have a lot of knowledge of any other VTT, hence possibly my confusion.

[bullywug]

@JohnD - Thanks, I may do that. Don't judge 4e too harshly. It ain't perfect but with the tools I've used over the years it's been the easiest to DM version of D&D I've ever played.

@Zacchaeus - Thanks for trying to help. I had used the scrapper to create a 4e Module. It was great. Had all the content that I could drag to the character sheets. Problem is, when I did the scrape I got an error at the end. It seemed to work but it's really looking like there are some problems with it. What's worse, I can't do it again. 4e Parser fails as soon as it starts downloading. I checked the forum and it looks like its a recent bug with DDI. Oh well.
In regard to the unconventional interface question, I realized that it's not something I need help with and I'm afraid if I start sharing my opinions farther that I'll upset someone. This is a forum for a product that a lot of people love so I'll leave this particular topic alone.
So here's the programs I depend on and what I like about them.
Masterplan
Plot points - basically amount to a section of an adventure, say an encounter or a story part
Sub plot - say the players arrive in a town and there are things that happen in a sequence after the story element about entering town. There could be a story, a skill challenge or an encounter for the players as the enter the town, perhaps to get through the gate. Then the subplots that follow involve fighting their way into town, rescuing the baron, and being rewarded at the tavern.
Flowchart view - shows the story elements and allows you to connect them in a linear flow so when DMing I can glance at the screen and see what branching elements come off of this particular encounter.
HTML Formatting - This allows me to have a good deal of control over the appearance of text in the tool. So if I have read aloud text I can set an HTML tag for maroon italics and looks like it should. As far as I've seen in Fantasy Grounds I can set the text as italic but I don't see any way to change the color. The problem is the read aloud text disappears into the page and is much less clear (meaning more difficult to jump to).
Balanced combat - I can enter the combat encounters into Masterplan and then if the number in the party or the level of the party change I can very easily adjust the combat to maintain the appropriate difficulty and XP.
Skill Challenges - I can go through and create skill challenges ahead of the game. When I run the skill challenge I have it in front of me and I can click on succeed or fail on each part. The software keeps track of failure or success.
Treasure balancing - Design treasure parcels ahead of the game and assign them to certain encounters. When the encounters are over I can assign the treasure and give it to specific players. The system makes sure I'm giving out the appropriate amount for the adventure. It can also auto generate the treasure for an adventure from a preentered library of items. I've done this before when dealing with the treasure parcel system. Cuts down on prep time.
Traps and Hazards - I can create traps and hazards within the system and integrate them into encounters.
p.s. - This software had a significant learning curve and I nearly walked away from it a couple of times.

Okay I'll move on to roll20.net
Very easy to use - You launch Roll20 and you get a blank screen with a grid. You grab the map image from your desktop and drag it onto the browser window and it uploads. Adjust the grid the the appropriate size for the image and you're done.
Vision Blocking - I can create dynamic lighting effects and walls simply by clicking on the "vision layer", clicking on the line tool and drawing the walls in. When done I can just change back to another layer. Any token can emit light so if I want a torch I just add a torch from their massive free image library and click "has light" and "all players see light".
Enforced movement - I've had a player in the past who loved to run through closed doors while the rest of the party was in combat. In Roll20 I can enforce movement so tokens can't pass through the vision blocking walls. Both of these features are easy to turn off temporarily or permanently
Endlessly customizable through Javascript - You can do incredible things with Javascript by adding the scripts to your adventure. I currently have scripts that handle hitpoints/temp hitpoints, monster and character attacks/powers, trap detection (if a player steps on a trapped square it alerts me), I can import characters and monster from ddi, and also a script to monitor statuses and effects on player characters.

Neither of those are perfect solutions but they're where I'm coming from and I love the features of both products. It makes my life very easy and allows me to concentrate on story telling rather than game mechanics. I have a feeling at least of few of these features don't exist in Fantasy Grounds at all (like vision blocking) but I'm interested to hear your feedback.

[Zacchaeus]

@JohnD - Thanks, I may do that. Don't judge 4e too harshly. It ain't perfect but with the tools I've used over the years it's been the easiest to DM version of D&D I've ever played.

@Zacchaeus - Thanks for trying to help. I had used the scrapper to create a 4e Module. It was great. Had all the content that I could drag to the character sheets. Problem is, when I did the scrape I got an error at the end. It seemed to work but it's really looking like there are some problems with it. What's worse, I can't do it again. 4e Parser fails as soon as it starts downloading. I checked the forum and it looks like its a recent bug with DDI. Oh well.
In regard to the unconventional interface question, I realized that it's not something I need help with and I'm afraid if I start sharing my opinions farther that I'll upset someone. This is a forum for a product that a lot of people love so I'll leave this particular topic alone.


I'm not familiar with this so maybe someone else can help you there.



So here's the programs I depend on and what I like about them.
Masterplan
Plot points - basically amount to a section of an adventure, say an encounter or a story part
Sub plot - say the players arrive in a town and there are things that happen in a sequence after the story element about entering town. There could be a story, a skill challenge or an encounter for the players as the enter the town, perhaps to get through the gate. Then the subplots that follow involve fighting their way into town, rescuing the baron, and being rewarded at the tavern.
Flowchart view - shows the story elements and allows you to connect them in a linear flow so when DMing I can glance at the screen and see what branching elements come off of this particular encounter.
HTML Formatting - This allows me to have a good deal of control over the appearance of text in the tool. So if I have read aloud text I can set an HTML tag for maroon italics and looks like it should. As far as I've seen in Fantasy Grounds I can set the text as italic but I don't see any way to change the color. The problem is the read aloud text disappears into the page and is much less clear (meaning more difficult to jump to).
Balanced combat - I can enter the combat encounters into Masterplan and then if the number in the party or the level of the party change I can very easily adjust the combat to maintain the appropriate difficulty and XP.
Skill Challenges - I can go through and create skill challenges ahead of the game. When I run the skill challenge I have it in front of me and I can click on succeed or fail on each part. The software keeps track of failure or success.
Treasure balancing - Design treasure parcels ahead of the game and assign them to certain encounters. When the encounters are over I can assign the treasure and give it to specific players. The system makes sure I'm giving out the appropriate amount for the adventure. It can also auto generate the treasure for an adventure from a preentered library of items. I've done this before when dealing with the treasure parcel system. Cuts down on prep time.
Traps and Hazards - I can create traps and hazards within the system and integrate them into encounters.
p.s. - This software had a significant learning curve and I nearly walked away from it a couple of times.


When you create a story you can right click over the text and a context menu will appear which will allow you to format text. You can create 'boxed' paragraphs which would be your read aloud text. A boxed text paragraph can also be given a 'voice' i.e. an NPC by right clicking again and selecting 'Assign Speaker'. Voiced or unvoiced box text can then be dragged to the chat window or the little ballon can be clicked to send it to chat. Text can be bolded or italicised (CTRL+B, CTRL+I) but not coloured (unless someone has written an extension that I don't know about).

You can also create 'links'. As this suggests this is a small icon which when clicked on takes you somewhere else; it can be an encounter, treasure parcel, story entry, table, map, image or note, or an NPC or anything else that exists either in the campaign or in an open module. You could create a module of random encounter tables for example and link these to your campaign.

You can use these links to create an index, plots points, sub plots or a flow chart or anything you want really.

The Campaign which you create is stored in XML format which you can play with if you want; but there isn'y any need to get into that unless you really want to. I've never needed to go into such dark arts, but many in the community revel in it :)

When you create an encounter the XP and CR are calculated for you using the little circly arrow thingies next to the CR and XP boxes. If you need to change the encounter you can reclick these and the CR and XP will be refreshed.

To create a treasure parcel click 'items' and then treasure parcel. Drag entries into the spaces, enter coins etc and then link the parcel to a story entry. We are hopeful of more functionality in this area when the DMG comes out in due course.

You create traps as NPC, and operate them from the Combat Tracker in the normal way.

5e doesn't use skill challenges but they would be easy enough to draw up using text entries, tables and links if you wanted them.



Okay I'll move on to roll20.net
Very easy to use - You launch Roll20 and you get a blank screen with a grid. You grab the map image from your desktop and drag it onto the browser window and it uploads. Adjust the grid the the appropriate size for the image and you're done.
Vision Blocking - I can create dynamic lighting effects and walls simply by clicking on the "vision layer", clicking on the line tool and drawing the walls in. When done I can just change back to another layer. Any token can emit light so if I want a torch I just add a torch from their massive free image library and click "has light" and "all players see light".
Enforced movement - I've had a player in the past who loved to run through closed doors while the rest of the party was in combat. In Roll20 I can enforce movement so tokens can't pass through the vision blocking walls. Both of these features are easy to turn off temporarily or permanently
Endlessly customizable through Javascript - You can do incredible things with Javascript by adding the scripts to your adventure. I currently have scripts that handle hitpoints/temp hitpoints, monster and character attacks/powers, trap detection (if a player steps on a trapped square it alerts me), I can import characters and monster from ddi, and also a script to monitor statuses and effects on player characters.

Neither of those are perfect solutions but they're where I'm coming from and I love the features of both products. It makes my life very easy and allows me to concentrate on story telling rather than game mechanics. I have a feeling at least of few of these features don't exist in Fantasy Grounds at all (like vision blocking) but I'm interested to hear your feedback.

FG uses maps which have already been drawn; you don't need to draw anything. If you are using purchased modules then virtually all of the battlemaps you will need are in there and if they aren't there is likely to be someone who has made maps to fill in any gaps. Maps are simply dragged into the images tab and can then be linked to story entries, populated with encounters etc. You can also use pins placed on the map to mark encounters and click on those to bring up story entries, encounters etc.

One of the most sought after features is dynamic lighting which at the moment FG doesn't do. It uses a much less resource intensive system of masking maps which the DM can then reveal or re-cover as needed. This feature may appear in a future release. Opinion is divided on whether dynamic lighting is really that brilliant from what I read.

You enforce movement by right clicking a token on the map and selecting 'lock tokens'. All player movement is then under the DM's control.

You don't need scripting in FG; all of the things you mention are done by the software. FG Handles hit points, temporary hit points, monster and PC attacks and damage. One of the most powerful features is effects. All of the standard 5e effects are built into the ruleset and recognised by FG. So if a player or NPC is Restrained for example FG knows that attack rolls against it have advantage, and that the player's rolls have disatvantage and that there is disatvantage on DEX saving throws. In addition to the built in effects players and DMs can create their own. This is usually where the learning curve comes in, but there is now a great deal of information on these in the Wiki and if you get stuck someone on here will have an answer in fairly short order.

As you say no one VTT is perfect for everybody; for those that have used other products there will no doubt be features that FG doesn't have that they would like to see. However, again from what I read, rather than experience, FG is the best of it's kind on the market at the moment. Or maybe I'm just seeing it all through rose tinted glasses :)

Anyway I hope this helps and you stick it out; it is worth it.

[bullywug]

@Zacchaeus - Thank you for all the info. I managed to get the scraper to start downloading again so here's hoping it works this time. Maybe just a hiccup with ddi. Anyway, I'll give it another go after the download is complete. Thanks again.

[damned]

bullywug it does sound like you and the software are on different pages right now!
The interface is quirky. It is different. Once you accept that it does work differently it does become quite easy to use - at least that is how I found it.
Some items are clickable to roll, some are draggable to roll, some are draggable to move/copy items, sometimes a right click and explore the radial menu that is displayed.

from your post #10 it looks like campaign management is one of teh things you are looking for.
FG is not directly a campaign builder/manager but it does do this. I find that using maps and pins on maps is very good for dealing with a number of your challenges. I love pins on maps and the visual representation of how and where different elements occur/fit. Low production quality, good content short video on pins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-PqBEJ8BRM
If you arent using encounters learn them - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx7CtPsdNbA you can easily increase (its easier to decrease) the number or power of combatants from here.
I made these videos a while ago but you might find some other useful bits in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on-pnFSMKz0

There are features in roll20 that arent in FG like dynamic light. No suggestions there.
You can drag images into FG - into the images dialogue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WoIFsYRFbE put a grid on them so FG knows scale and distance.
You can lock token movement but you cant trigger on squares.

Hope that helps with some of your questions.

[Wolfheart]

Now, no matter whether you use the modules or create your own you will HAVE to become familiar with the software and how it works. I'm assuming that whatever you have used before also required that you learn how it worked, I can't imagine that Roll20 just worked when you loaded it up.


Roll20 is so simple that you can indeed start playing right away. That simplicity means that there is much less automation, which is FG's prime feature, but it also means that Roll20 by its ease of use draws in more players (speculation on my part - I don't know how many active players FG has); its simplicity in terms of design also means that by default it is easier to run a wider variety of games in the R20 engine, at the expense of properties that support specific systems; if you play D&D 5ed, FG will suit your needs in ways Roll20 can't hope to achieve, *if* you feel you need to have the PC calculate stuff. I haven't tried 5e in Roll20, but in FG it worked very well as it should.

My suggestion is to try a few games 5e first in Roll20 (for free) and if you feel there's too much book-keeping in R20, go for more automation and FG.

[bullywug]

Hello all,
Thanks for all the helpful feedback. I'm putting the finishing touches on the adventure (yes, I finally got one entered with you help). Now the question is will this all work with my groups play style. I'll keep you posted.

[ddavison]

Hello bullywug, it sounds like you would benefit from working through some of the videos on campaign management that we have on our wiki and running through the same exercise on Fantasy Grounds while you watch the video. Getting a pre-built module like the Lost Mine of Phandelver or the newer Rage of Demons: Out of the Abyss will also give you a very clear idea of how an adventure module can be organized to make running the game sessions very easy.

I would recommend the tutorial series and the campaign management features, as well as checking out the 5E specific videos:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Videos

[bullywug]

Hi everyone,
So I've done a play test and unfortunately Fantasy Grounds just doesn't meet my needs. Oddly enough the two biggest problems are two I didn't really expect. First is campaign organization. Trying to use Fantasy Grounds built in "Story" tool is insufficient. With other software like Masterplan and Realm Works plot points display the flow and content of the story allowing the DM to quickly glance at the screen and see where the story is going, where it's been, and what paths are available. Fantasy Grounds does not display story elements in useful manor. All entries are organized alphabetically and are not rearrangeable without adding numbers or letters to the front of the title making it more difficult to find what I'm looking for. The story elements are not connected and so if the story is non linear then the entire progression becomes confusing and prone to errors.
The second big issue is the complexity but not for me as DM. I put in my hours (probably around 50+) but my players are not going to be willing to do that. They want to come over and play without having to learn a complex software package. I know my players and I can promise you that they simply wont use it.
I know some people here have said how powerful and great Fantasy Grounds is but here's the thing - you may love it but it is convoluted, antiquated, and in desperate need of a complete overhaul. It is restrictive in how information is entered and yet at the same time it's complicated and lacking in important features which are standard on other products that cost less. I'm really not wanting to come across as badmouthing the product. Like I said, it has a great community and that can count for a lot but I also don't think its fair to the users of Fantasy Grounds, who have paid hundred of dollars to use the product, to pretend that the software is good. I can totally believe that at one point it was amazing, probably not even that long ago. But it has fallen far behind the competition and yet its price remains a premium.
@Ddavison - Thank you very much for your reply. It's great to see you take an active interest in your users. I would like to say that your website is desperately in need of some love. The advice I'm offering now is based off my training as a Enterprise Mobile & Web Developer. Your site is difficulty to look at. What I mean by that is look at your home page. This is your first impression to prospective clients. The name of your company is quite small and is very similar in color to the background image making it difficult to read and your logo features nowhere in the banner. you have a horizontal menu located beneath the banner but the text color is not shared with any other element on the page making it look artificial and tacked on. When I hover over the "Game Calendar" option on the menu the entire menu "pops" or shifts a little making it look very amateur. Moving down the page, content is on a plain white background making it difficult to focus on an individual element. The text in the centre blends into the content on the right. The text in the "Features" subheader is so small I didn't even notice there was text there at all at first. It might actually be smaller than the text beneath it. Formatting is inconsistent. Welcome has a bar beneath it, while features has a bar above it. Some links are yellow, some links are brown, and some links are orange. It looks like there are at least three different fonts being used on that single page. Graphic elements lay flat on the page. Your web store also could use some love.
Hopefully you understand that I'm not being hyper critical but pointing out areas that offer opportunity for improvement. If any of this offends you please feel free to delete my post. Happy gaming to you all and have a great weekend!

[ddavison]

I'm sorry to hear that it didn't fulfill your needs. Software is often times a personal taste and it is always great when the user interface matches the set of assumptions that you bring with you when you start. It sounds like FG doesn't line up with your assumptions on how things should be organized for you and your group of players.

Even though it didn't work out, we appreciate you sharing your feedback with us. All the best.

-Doug

[bullywug]

Thanks Doug,
I really do appreciate all the support the community gave me to help through the learning process.

[cychow]

Hi Bullywug,

I just recently started to use Fantasy Grounds a month ago but have already ran a few 5e adventures, one 3.5e and two pathfinder adventures with it. I haven't done any 4e with it. I've used Masterplan and that was my go-to organizing software for a while (I had to jerry rig it for pathfinder). I've use roll20 for a couple of days and just couldn't stand the interface.

That said, I found Fantasy Grounds frustrating at first but once you get used to it, it'll go by pretty smooth. So as a tool for preparing games it works well once you figure out the workarounds of wanting to go beyond some of the features. The UI takes a little getting used to as the strange way you navigate with the pop up bubbles is a bit obnoxious. The documentation is pretty lacking but the community in the forums here will usually get you all the answers you need and they are very friendly and helpful.

I still do miss Masterplan basically for the great things it has to organize your adventures. Too bad it's become vaporware. The good news about it is the combat tracker works almost the same as it is here on Fantasy Grounds. A little better I would say. The map and movement is just as good as Masterplan as well and I believe isn't that far off from roll20. The UI for prepping adventure though is not as easy as Masterplan however but again, use it enough and it'll go by quick.

Hope that helps.

Chung

[damned]

Nice to meet you cychow!

[cychow]

Hello Damned!