I purchased a GM License but I can't seem to do anything.

[Gregory Kisinger]

Hello~
I recently purchased a GM license ($39) and started off selecting to create a 5E campaign.
My buttons on the right side are subdued coloring--shouldn't they be colored?
My library just gives me access to some FG battlemaps, a calendar and some critical hit charts-shouldn't I be getting lots of information like monster manuals and other goodies?
I try to drag a map onto my maps/images screen-nothing happens-shouldn't I be able to save that map and then use it on my bigger board screen?
I seem to have a few animal tokens--shouldn't I have hundreds of character tokens are something like that?
Just curious of why I just see "bare-bones" screens here?
Am I missing something here?
Greg

[Zacchaeus]

Gregory welcome to Fantasy Grounds and to the Community.

Although Fantasy Grounds comes with the knowledge of the 5e rules built in it doesn't come with the Monster Manual, Players handbook or any other modules. Those will have to be purchased separately if you desire them. The library is therefore showing you the correct items that would be expected if you start a 5e campaign without having anything other than the base Fantasy Grounds. The same goes for tokens, some token modules come with FG but not anything related to any products such as the Monster Manual. You can get your hands on some basic 5e stuff here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?21835-D-amp-D-Basic-Rules-PDF-Parser) and I'd also recommend the starter module the Lost Mines of Phandelver if you want to see what FG can do for you and your players.

Not sure about your map problem. You can drag a map from another folder directly into the map and images window, and then if you click on it the map will open in Fantasy Grounds. Can you give us a bit more info in what you are trying to do, where you are dragging the map from/to etc.

[Gregory Kisinger]

Thanks for the advice.
I tried my map thing again and apparently it works like I thought it should. I just dragged a file in one of my hard drive folders over to the image/map screen and it seemed to work now. I must have missed something before.
So once I place my map I wanted to populate it with npcs/monsters so what do I need to do that? I already have all of the hard cover books for 5E (PHB, MM, DM Guide). Is there any way that I can add npcs and monsters to my map or do I have to purchase something?
Also my buttons aren't colored. When I watch the videos it appears that the buttons are colored of the person that I'm watching on the video. Should the buttons just remain brown colored or be colored red and blue, etc?
I can't seem to create a character either. Do I need to purchase something to be able to do that?
Thanks for your help.
Greg
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update: I found out how to "create" a monster/npc by going through the NPC tab and selecting the + button.
I also found out how to create a character by going through the PC button and hitting on the + button.

[jshauber]

Hi Gregory and welcome to FG.

Due to the licensing agreement between WotC and Smiteworks (FG), you have to also buy the digital copies that work in FG from the store.

If you really want to scan in your books you can run the 5e parser found here...https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?18123-Project-Par5e

Really up to you as to what your time is worth. I also own all the books, but gladly plunked down the money again to get the material in FG to make life REALLY easy and simple as a GM.

If you have any questions or want to do some one-one training so you can ask questions directly while being in FG, let me know and we can work out a time when you are ready.

[Zacchaeus]

The colours you have is the standard interface. What colours you get depends on the products that you have purchased but any that are available to you will appear as options when you start a campaign. (Click Load Campaign or Create new and in the bottom of the screen you will see a list of possible extensions). If you then go into the options screen you can change the look to one of the options you loaded.

You can create characters. monsters etc but without the PHB or MM you'll have to do that manually. There are many video tutorials (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-POluSDHAc) on this and other 5e subjects (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php?title=Videos) and there's also the wiki (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/User_Guides).

To Add an NPC or PC to a map, first drag it onto the Combat Tracker and then onto the map. See also these videos (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-pNvUFwsrAHTtuQna02FEA).

[Gregory Kisinger]

Thank you Zacchaeus and jshauber for your time and advice. I think that I have enough to go on for now--enough to go and fiddle with and just do some hands on. I think that I just need to spend some time doing some of your suggestions and more video watching. If I have any more questions I'll reach out.
Thanks again...
Greg

[damned]

Hola Gregory Kisinger - this is a very good tool to run too - it will give you a little more to work with -
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?21835-D-amp-D-Basic-Rules-PDF-Parser

This will import about 200monsters (without tokens) and 200 Spells.
It wont import any Character Classes but it is a good start.

The $3 Basic Rules (from the Store) is another really good way to get access to some 5e content. Limited to 4 classes, 4 races and (the same as above) 200 spells and monsters it is still very useful.