Some questions before I dive in.

[villadelfia]

I just started my trial of the ultimate license to check FG out, and I am fairly impressed with how it works. It only took me a few hours to learn the interface. I'm mostly interested because WotC has decided to partner with you for 5e support, not because of any other merits the program has.

I have a few questions before I dive in for my 5e campaigns in reverse order of importance:

1. If I own an ultimate license and the entire collection of 5e material, if I mark them as player-loadable, will my players be able to load and use my modules, even if they do not own them themselves, even if they are using the demo license?
2. Is there an intuitive way to drag player tokens (which I make round) instead of player portraits (which are forced to have a square border) onto the map without having to drag from the combat tracker or from the character sheet?
3. I can open an image on player's screens, but can I do this with other things? In particular I would like to be able to open the combat tracker and party tracker on all screens.
4. Is there some sort of polygon reveal tool for the mask layer? The wiki says something about snapping to horizontal/vertical, but that doesn't seem to work for me. I find the default square too restrictive, but the freehand too sloppy.
5. Are there plans to add dynamic lightning? The lack of this feature is a huge gaping hole in the otherwise impressive feature list.

I would also like to know how often FG is updated, and how often significant things are added, from an outsider's perspective it still looks like the program it was 5 years ago to me, which is kind of worrying. However I had the same feeling upon using Hero Lab for the first time, and they constantly update and add significant new stuff.

EDIT: One more thing: Sometimes the list of shared things does not seem to propagate to the players correctly. For example, sometimes the combat tracker shows as empty for the players and I need to remove and re-add the PC's for them to show up again. What causes this?

[Zacchaeus]

Hi villadelfia welcome to Fantasy Grounds and to the Community.

1. The short answer is yes, any module you own (Reference book or adventure) can be shared with the players. However you should only share the Players Handbook with them which will allow them to create characters and read the rules. You shouldn't share the Dungeon Master's Guide or the Monster Manual or any adventures since obviously, as players, that' not material that they should be privvy to. Also if you do share everything then you'll likely crash Fantasy Grounds.

2. Tokens are placed on the character sheet from the tokens button down the bottom left of the bar to the right. (If you give the player a portrait first then the token will default to the portrait as well but you can override this). Most tokens I think are round; I don't know of any square ones. You drop the token on the small round token space at the top right of the player sheet. In order for Fantasy Grounds to properly handle combat the player must be dragged onto the Combat Tracker and from there onto the map. If you don't do it this way then combat won't automate.

3. The Combat tracker and Party Sheet are visible to GMs and players by clicking on the appropriate icons on the top right menu (the players need to open it from their own screen). The players view and GM's view of both of these are different and can depend on the settings that the DM has chosen.

4. No, there is freehand and a rectangle reveal.

5. Not in the current version; the architecture won't handle it. However FG is being ported into the Unity engine and lighting is certainly one thing we all expect will become a feature once that happens although not necessarily right off the bat.

Updates are regular and significant; new and innovative coding is coming in all the time as well as bug fixes to modules (manuals, adventures etc). The next update is expected soon and will bring more innovation.

You will find details of how to load up a sample campaign here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?28150-New-5E-Sample-Campaign-Tutorial-Available) and also follow these links to see some further details on the Party Sheet (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Party_Sheet), Combat Tracker (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Combat_Tracker) and options (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/5E_Options).

[villadelfia]

Thanks for the reply.

1. That's about what I was expecting, I would of course only share the SCAG and PHB with the players, but I justed wanted to know if I could do it.
2. Good to know, the program allows you to drag from anything to anything else, and sometimes it's not obvious if you're "dragging it wrong".
3. Pity, I was hoping I could make it pop open, because I just know that I'm going to have to wait 10 minutes for them to remember which button to click, I'll see if I can mod the wallpaper to have a short tutorial on it, like the FATE system's does.
4. That's unfortunate, I guess I'll break out the drawing tablet for unmasking, that way I can actually do a nice reveal.
5. Interesting to see how that will go.

Some more questions about proper usage:

1. Is there a "proper" way of adding an additional combatant to an encounter while running it? Sometimes an extra unforseen enemy needs to be added. How I do it right now is I drag a monster token from the npc list onto the map and the combat tracker, and roll initiative, and then after the combat is done I add it to the encounter and update XP before I award it.
2. How do you handle random encounters with variable amounts of monsters like 1d6 goblins? I'm thinking of making a random encounter table with each encounter prepared with the maximum amount, and then before running it ctrl-scrolling to get the actual amount, but this destroys the encounter for if it happens to get rolled again later on.
3. Where can I find the Elemental Evil Player's Companion?

[Zacchaeus]

Your answers are as follows.

I think you'll find that the players will have the Combat Tracker and Party Sheet open 24/7 since those are essential tools for the smooth running of the software, so I wouldn't sweat it; they'll get it after the first session or two.

1. You can add additional NPCs in the middle of a battle but you must drag then from the NPC list onto the Combat Tracker and then onto the map otherwise you won't make the correct links. Adding it to the encounter and updating the xp is the way to go for awarding the xp.
2. Prepare the encounter with the maximum number of possible npcs and then remove however many is needed before placing the encounter on the tracker and/or map. You can make a copy of the original encounter by dragging the icon in the Encounters window and dropping it back down in the same window. Then use the copy before you do any alterations and the original will still be intact.
3. You can get it in the Store (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/?search=elemental+evil). It also comes free with the Princes of the Apocalypse adventure.

[damned]

It is almost guaranteed that the players will have varying sized screens compared to the GM. The players will have their own ideas about what is useful to them and useful to have open.
I never have the party sheet open for example.

If you have a prepped encounter you can increase the number before adding it to the CT - it wont put the extras on the map because it doesnt know where you want them - but they will be on the CT.
You can drag the link icon to the right of the NPC in the CT to make a copy of it.
You can drag them in from NPCs or from the MM
You can add another encounter while the current one is in play

Ive had FG for about 5 years and I think Ive counted 29 version upgrades in that time.
Certainly there have been 24 updates since v3 was released.

The product does soooo much more than it used to. However the engine is still the same engine and has limitations. It is not multithreaded (which is why FG wont implement Dynamic Lighting because it will cause delays to other events) and has an older graphics and networking engine. It is 32bit app and so has memory limitations inherent in that.

The masking and drawing likewise will not be improved upon in any significant way under this game engine. The resources spent on that task would delay the release of the next version. The features that will become available post the new game engine are pretty amazing. Some real 3d effects and dynamic 3d environment building are actual possibilities.

[Zacchaeus]

You can drag the link icon to the right of the NPC in the CT to make a copy of it.

My, top down token disliking Aussie friend is right; I keep forgetting about this one. So you could prepare the encounter with just one NPC and then once it's on the CT you can add more.