Advice on buying FG please

[Lyvean]

Hello to all. :)

I am pretty sure this has been covered before but I can't locate any concrete or complete information. We are a group that plays face to face and we don't mean to change that. As a DM, though, I am in need of saving time on creating, locating and generally setting up information for our sessions. I would like to buy FG and the 5th edition modules to help me automate the bases of our adventures, having information at my fingertips, rules and maps, but still keep playing on the table, probably with a grid and miniatures.

Is FG useful for a DM who wants to track everything as automated as possible, so he has room for improvisation, but not playing online? Will I be able to create my stories and keep tabs on them like masteplan? Is it worth spending the money if I don't play online but only use FG as resource management, making encounters fast and easily trackable, etc?

Thanks in advance for the replies.

[Targas]

I've heard of some using FG to maintain their chars and automate rolling. I have never tried it and would say it depends on your setting.
Classical pen and paper would you require to lay out maps, roll dice physically, move around miniatures, keep track of records, ..
If only used by GM, you can use it to track progress, record logs, create stories, easy link them together, but I wonder if this would be faster then flipping pages if you know each page by heart and have bookmarks.

Usually players would like to roll themselves. Although you can do 'just the DM/GM' part with FG, abit more manual work is required to enter values your player rolls. It will improve spread of treasure, experience points, link lots of story entries, rules, monster stats, and there are lots of mods e.g. to keep track of store supply/prices/weather and such.

You see, I can't give you the final answer. You can try out by yourself, as you have a free trial period and see, if FG without supplement material would suit your play style. There are good videos on youtube showing how FG works, and for myself I certainly wouldn't like to play without it.
You could even use a beamer prompting maps, showing monsters, synchronizing PC adventure sheets, to a wall for quick and easy support (or you turn your laptop around, although maps could look tiny).

Anyway I wish you much fun in testing...

[Lyvean]

Thank you for the reply. I have no problem doing some manual work or have the players roll their dices and keep the program as a DM only program. Would I be able to project maps and other specific info I want to the players? I would also like to have them create, maintain and print their character sheets in FG (planning to buy the Ultimate version). What I think I am asking is if it is worth the money if I am not playing online. Have a program where I can use to track everything and easy resolve encounters or build them, create custom story entries in between the official ones is what I really need. Are any of the above possible?

Also, the demo version. I am not sure how useful it is with no actual modules to run. Doesn't it only allow one PC? Or have I mixed up my information?

[Mortar]

You are correct on the demo version, you can only connect to one player. However, you can do a 30 day free trial of the Ultimate version through the FG store here on the site. You can check it out, if it doesn't do what you want (I think it will) then cancel and you aren't out any money.

As for using it to project images and maps to your players this (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?23127-Using-Fantasy-Grounds-with-a-projector-for-home-games&highlight=projector) thread will at least give you some ideas of the possibilities.

[Zacchaeus]

You might find this (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?25600-Using-FG-at-the-tabletop) thread useful.

[Targas]

Thank you for the reply. I have no problem doing some manual work or have the players roll their dices and keep the program as a DM only program. Would I be able to project maps and other specific info I want to the players? I would also like to have them create, maintain and print their character sheets in FG (planning to buy the Ultimate version). What I think I am asking is if it is worth the money if I am not playing online. Have a program where I can use to track everything and easy resolve encounters or build them, create custom story entries in between the official ones is what I really need. Are any of the above possible?

Also, the demo version. I am not sure how useful it is with no actual modules to run. Doesn't it only allow one PC? Or have I mixed up my information?

You might find the link below interesting on which FG license covers what functionality:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?24492-New-Fantasy-Ground-user-What-do-I-need-to-pay-D-amp-D-5e/page6

That would mean, you can run two demo instances of FG under special circumstance on the same machine, as specified in the link above.
If you are technically adept, you can run one instance with the player version on the beamer and another DM instance on the laptop.
Therefore you can share only the player view, e.g. not automatically revealing the whole map, but only parts of it to the players.

There is a character sheet printer functionality, albeit a basic one using the SW here:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?27390-Universal-Character-Sheet-Printer-for-FG

...and yes, you can track everything. Even a 'chatlog.html' log will be available and could be modified/shared later.
Yes, you can automate fights abit faster, but you'd miss the players automated part, if they roll dice physically.
You can as well create own adventures, story links or add them to existing stories. So all Yes.
However, you should check yourself if it suits you.

I love the videos explaining FG below. For me, those are the best. Give it a try:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl3na57GrzE&list=PLePiBJtKmjLn5IzhpakEcVqAHoYfezZbe&index=2

Have fun...

[Lyvean]

Thanks everyone for all the replies, very useful. Just a clarification, though, Targas. When you say I would miss the "automated dice roll from the players" you make it sound bad, when for me actual physical rolling of the dice is much more fun. Do you per chance mean that I can't just simply enter the player's rolls to FG and have the system calculate everything based on my input rolls?

Also, something else I would like to clear. If I buy the Ultimate version can the players log in to it independently from their home networks and just see the "player's edition" with the modules installed, like for example the 5th edition character module so they can tweak and fix their characters sheets or have access to story and events of the campaign that I have allowed them to see?

edit: can you easily find in the program rules from the player's handbook and the DM guide for quick references?

I am sorry for all the questions but I either can't figure it out or the information on the site here is not clear at all on these things.

[Mortar]

If you the Ultimate Edition, then your players need to have at least the demo version. They will be able to a locally saved version of their character (not sure about the demo version here, they might need to get a full licence). The only they can see any of the books/rules is if they join your game. If they want off line access, then they would need to purchase a copy for themselves.

[Zacchaeus]

Players can view their characters when not connected to the DM in 'Manage Characters' but won't be able to edit them. If they have a full license AND they have the PHB then they can do whatever they want to their characters when not joined to the DM. Story entries and other information shared by the DM can only be seen by the players when connected to the DM.

You can search the PHB and DMG etc but because of the architecture of FG it's not brilliant. For example you can't open the PHB and search for a particular spell. You would have to open the PHB then open spells and then search. In other words you would need to know where a subject was in order to open that section before doing the search. Furthermore you can't search for something and have it bring up a list of pages where that subject might be mentioned. So it's not like searching say a pdf or a word document.

There is an extension which will allow you to manually enter a roll (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?28235-manual-entry-dice-dialog-box-possible&p=252683&viewfull=1#post252683) made by a player and have it do stuff.

[Targas]

Thanks everyone for all the replies, very useful. Just a clarification, though, Targas. When you say I would miss the "automated dice roll from the players" you make it sound bad, when for me actual physical rolling of the dice is much more fun. Do you per chance mean that I can't just simply enter the player's rolls to FG and have the system calculate everything based on my input rolls?

Somehow. Well, if a player character rolls for a hit, if the player is using FG, the system will recognize at which value, considering all bonus/minus points an attack would succeed. Doing it manually, would require the players to determine all bonus/minus points by themselves. How should the system know otherwise ? When the player hits and damage is calculated, using FG the system checks all conditions (e.g. prone), resistances/immunities by itself and then applies the correct amount of damage with the rolled dice.
How should this been done manually ? Of course you can always enter direct damage value, but all calculation on how much damage applies needs then to be considered by the play themselves, if they don't use the FG SW.
On the other hand, if you as DM use the SW, and won't roll physical dice, but just click the automatism would work on the DM side.
You should really try this out. The SRD rules come free with the full FG license and above. Using the 30 day trail, you can try it out for yourself.

All character sheets are saved on the DM side. Players connecting can edit their chars.
searching is partially working. Like within 'google' you'll get x references based on your search, but you need to go the correct area to search for.

[snotling]

We use it on one of our games this way. All of us to have it installed and it works pretty good. It is really nice that all of us can see the maps and the position of the characters (we are playing pathfinder) on our screens. We do have one in the group that does not like to use the tool to roll dice (which I totally respect) so the DM has to enter the damage and such by hand.

Most of the time it goes pretty good. The thought was that this would help with the DM track the combats better and keep him organized. It does that pretty well. With lots of creatures, he does not loose them anymore (drat!) Though I will admit sometimes combat is slow. This leads to folks wonder to the internet until their turn. This is not a FG issue by itself.

Overall, I am impressed with what FG can do. It does dictate that the DM puts in a ton of effort upfront and it shows when it is done right.

[ddavison]

I use it in this capacity more-so than I run online, simply because I already have strong local groups of players that I play with. When I create adventures, I do everything within FG as well, instead of using notebooks and index cards. For me, the software replaces most of the extra gaming aids that I used to buy as a DM to help manage and run the campaign. If you decide to start displaying things on a second monitor, attached TV or projector, you have any more options and will find that you spend far less time drawing out maps or laying out tiles to try to match what is in a printed module. If you do that, you will probably find that your game runs much smoother.

Also, spend some time with the Party Sheet. You can put in character sheets (or even just placeholders) for each of your players and use it to help divide out XP and coinage treasure. Items can be tracked in the Party Inventory without requiring a player to take on the roll of "Inventory Clerk" in the games. Each of those steps wastes valuable time that can be used to further the story instead.

[damned]

Overall, I am impressed with what FG can do. It does dictate that the DM puts in a ton of effort upfront and it shows when it is done right.

As your familiarity increases you might find that you can get away with far *less* prep than pen and paper method... :)

[LordEntrails]

As your familiarity increases you might find that you can get away with far *less* prep than pen and paper method... :)

damned is right on this. I've had a few nights when I didn't have time to prep beforehand. I did already have a map, but I didn't have any story or encounters already setup. Grabbing a couple of monsters out of the MM and dropping them into the combat tracker and then placing them on the map only took a few moments longer and I don't know if the players ever noticed I was winging it. Treasure was equally as easy with the DMG.