Some Questions Before I Buy

[Abandoned Arts]

So I am thinking about purchasing a Fantasy Grounds four-pack through Steam, but it's a pretty big purchase and I have some questions before I buy, just to make sure that the software does the things that I think that it does. Some questions:

1.) Can I upload maps to the software, or am I limited to maps that are included (and/or created within the software) (and/or sold as DLC)?

2.) Same for icons. Can I upload images to the software to use them as in-game icons?

3.) I want to use the software to play (among other things) Pathfinder. Does the basic software include Pathfinder-specific character sheets?

4.) Assuming that the answer to #3 is "yes," will I have trouble including archetypes, feats, spells, and so on from non-core sources, like the Occult Adventures sourcebook? Does the software include the ability to write "custom" content, if I want to copy/paste text from an unsupported sourcebook? If I do include "custom" content, can I actually "teach" the software what it does?

5.) Can one (non-GM) player run multiple PCs?

6.) Can PCs interact with the map directly? For example, can they move their own tokens around, set their own AoEs? Or does the GM control the map exclusively?

7.) All in all, does Fantasy Grounds have a $120 advantage over Roll20?

Thanks in advance, forums!

[JohnD]

1. Yes.

2. Yes.

3. Yes. Plus a whole whack of OGL content as I understand it.

4. No. Just enter your data on the player sheets as needed and away you go. You can make your own custom data content, if you know how.

5. Yes.

6. Yes. Players can do all that although there are times where the DM might restrict this to stop everyone from traipsing all over the place (like trying to herd cats).

7. A $120 advantage?! You're understating it by a factor of at least 50 as far as I'm concerned.

Welcome - you are on the cusp of making a very good choice for the future of your gaming hobby here. Take the plunge!

[Trenloe]

Welcome!

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Yes It includes the whole framework to play Pathfinder and the community has released a bunch of OGL library content, find some of that here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?16074-List-of-Modules
4) You can absolutely add custom content to your character sheets etc.. Cut/paste the required info in, setup the actions/effects you need, etc..
5) Yes.
6) The players can move their PCs around on the map, draw AoEs, etc.. The GM can lock token movement if they wish, the GM will then see the movement lines showing where the player wishes the PC to move and the GM can accept/reject if they wish.
7) I think so, definitely. Some people don't, each to their own. A lot of the arguments are free (with Roll20 really isn't if you want to do anything in anger) vs paid - if you're OK with paying for something that has had a lot of hard development work (and continues to have a lot of development) then I don't think you'll be disappointed with your purchase. For me, as a GM, it has so much more functionality that allows me and my group to play, and allows me to GM much more easily.

Oh, and the community is very helpful, which a lot of people report as a big bonus.

[Zacchaeus]

Hi Abandoned Arts welcome to the Community.
your answers are as follows.
1. Yes you can import any maps you like in .jpg format.
2. You can make your own tokens and import those. You can't make them in FG but again you can make them in any of various art packages and import and use them.
3. Someone else will answer this one since I don't know the intricacies of Pathfinder.
4. Ther's an awful lot of 3.5 stuff available under the OGL. But I don't know whether the one you mention is. FG does allow you to create a wide variety of custom content You cab copy/paste in stuff and there are tools for creating stuff too. Whether it can do all you want is difficult to say since it depends on what you want to do. Nothing is impossible but some things might be harder to achieve than others.
5. Yes. There is no limit to the number of characters a player can play.
6. Yes players control their own movement and combat etc. The DM can intervene/approve moves etc. There are various options which allow players more or less control.
7. Obviously the answer here will be yes but elsewhere it could be no.
It would be a good idea for you to watch some of the videos. I'd link them but I'm not on a proper computer so it's not possible. Click on the wiki link above and you should find them.
Also if you are going to be the only GM consider subscribing for an Ultimate license. Players can join your game with only the demo license and the subscription is only 10 dollars or so per month and the first month is free. If you don't like it you can cancel before the month is up and it will have cost you nothing.
Also check out the stickies in the 3.5 forum for more information.

[Zacchaeus]

Gah. Ninja'd. Too slow with just one finger on a tiny keyboard. ;)

[LordEntrails]

Gah. Ninja'd. Too slow with just one finger on a tiny keyboard. ;)
John and Trenloe waited 27 minutes for you. But then they finally had to just jump in and answer the questions :)

AA, #7 is (to me) the big one. The same question I had a year and a half ago when I did my research and made my decision. Obviously I'm here and not elsewhere. I don't regret it at all. Dozens of us could go into why. But rather than flood you with opinions and our experiences, I'll let you ask any other questions you might.

Hope to see you around :)

[damned]

We know which of you types/thinks fastest if nothing else...

One more point for the OP - you can download the demo and test out all the pathfinder material for free :)

[leozelig]

If you are playing Pathfinder (relatively large player base), I think the license is definitely worth the money. If you compare the free version of Roll20 to FG, it's no contest. I have put more miles on my FG license than probably any other other entertainment purchase I have made over the years.

[Zacchaeus]

We know which of you types/thinks fastest if nothing else...

It's also 4am here so my thinking time is somewhat impaired :D

[Abandoned Arts]

Well, that's all my boxes checked, then. Sounds like FG does everything I wanted it to do.

Thanks for the quick overnight replies, folks!

To Steam!

[Ken L]

Just be aware that FG has a high difficulty curve. Having come from roll20 where it was more 'user friendly', it's a different experience.

Suffice to say, start simple by just using the character sheets and rolling the dice plainly. Figuring out how the auto-combat works, using the actions tab etc. Then eventually you can work your way up to adding effects and figuring that complex system and adding modules. To finally editing and customizing the ruleset and appearance to suit your game.

Regarding your $120 dollar advantage. I paid more than $200 as a 'pro' subscriber to get access to API scripts and all the things they advertised. I ended up having to write my own scripts to aid in my games as it's mainly pretty bare and I did know I'd be buying a box of legos to work with. Their API system however is buggy so my legos were deformed in places with little movement to fix them, and what really hurt was that I was leasing the ability to run my own scripts. If I stopped by sub, all that work I'd put into customizing my own game would be gone, and I've actually walked away from a lot of custom javascript based add ons I made myself (importers/graphical inventory (drop/buy/sell/don/take menu based) etc...).

FG's 'Ultimate' License is akin to purchasing 4 rulebooks for 4 players. I wish there was a way to purchase guest slots, but that's another story. All your content is on your computer, and you can back it up however. Anything you write custom, be it a flashy customized UI and character sheet, to new custom combat rules to tweak the auto-combat system; is local. If FG suddenly went under tomorrow, your players can still connect to you directly by IP address and you still own all your content.

For me honestly, it was more control of my content. In Roll20 I owned nothing, as I rented space, and as in real life, renting is cheaper than buying. If it went down, or 200k other people wanted to run same day I did, then I effectively would lose everything, or in the latter case have to cancel my game. Now renting has its advantages as you have no roots, so if you're traveling a lot where you can't port-forward then it's a breeze to continue/host from anywhere. When you want to establish roots though, FG has more bells and whistles; but prepared to rip up some flooring and change the wallpaper as you see fit.

[damned]

As Ken L says there is a learning curve.
Learn how the tokens interact with the combat tracker and the map first - that really causes a lot of frustration!
The ultra condensed version is - drag characters (from their portraits) and NPCs to the Combat Tracker. Drag them from the Combat Tracker to the Map. Any other way and the magic just doesnt happen.

[Nilram the Grey]

Pay attention to what Damned just told you. I have been teaching my group and not adding NPC/PC's to the combat tracker first and then from the combat tracker to the map is the most common error. I sometimes make that mistake when I'm in a hurry. If you find targeting, attacks, damage, etc don't work right that is almost certainly the cause.

I wish the developers would fix it so adding to the map automatically adds to the combat tracker, but in the case of things like furniture tokens you'd then have to remove them from the combat tracker. That could be addressed by having different classes of tokens, but that is even more development work. They have to draw the line somewhere and they are currently working on other worthy enhancements.

I find making new portraits, tokens, modules, etc really easy. There is a slight hassle cutting and pasting for a Mac, but if you read the threads here and add a small free app to our system it works fine with one extra click.

The hard part is editing the ruleset to add your own home rules. The API isn't well documented in my opinion, so you have to sort of learn by trial and error most of the time. Also strangely it is hard to change simple things like fonts, font sizes, and skins. Those these two areas need serious addressing and the learning curve for almost everything you would likely want to do would be very small.

The only other serious negative versus most other VTTs is lack of dynamic FOW or lighting. Different people have different opinions regarding that feature. Some feel it is important and others hate it. I'd love to see it be part of FG, but then I survive fine without it.

My group likes FG enough that they no longer want to play any other way even when playing face to face. I think that is a testament to the product.

[CrawlingChaox]

The ultra condensed version is - drag characters (from their portraits) and NPCs to the Combat Tracker. Drag them from the Combat Tracker to the Map. Any other way and the magic just doesnt happen.
I wish I'd read this before I started using the software! But eventually I got there.

[damned]

Pay attention to what Damned just told you. I have been teaching my group and not adding NPC/PC's to the combat tracker first and then from the combat tracker to the map is the most common error. I sometimes make that mistake when I'm in a hurry. If you find targeting, attacks, damage, etc don't work right that is almost certainly the cause.

I wish the developers would fix it so adding to the map automatically adds to the combat tracker, but in the case of things like furniture tokens you'd then have to remove them from the combat tracker. That could be addressed by having different classes of tokens, but that is even more development work. They have to draw the line somewhere and they are currently working on other worthy enhancements.

I find making new portraits, tokens, modules, etc really easy. There is a slight hassle cutting and pasting for a Mac, but if you read the threads here and add a small free app to our system it works fine with one extra click.

The hard part is editing the ruleset to add your own home rules. The API isn't well documented in my opinion, so you have to sort of learn by trial and error most of the time. Also strangely it is hard to change simple things like fonts, font sizes, and skins. Those these two areas need serious addressing and the learning curve for almost everything you would likely want to do would be very small.

The only other serious negative versus most other VTTs is lack of dynamic FOW or lighting. Different people have different opinions regarding that feature. Some feel it is important and others hate it. I'd love to see it be part of FG, but then I survive fine without it.

My group likes FG enough that they no longer want to play any other way even when playing face to face. I think that is a testament to the product.

Editing a ruleset is hard. he API is documented but you have to be a programmer to understand it. And there are oodles of examples available as you can crack open any of the available rulesets. Changing fonts and skins is very easy.

[Nilram the Grey]

Damned,

We'll have to agree to disagree. I am a very experienced programmer and FG's API is very poorly documented. It's basically a trial and error situation and looking at code examples to figure things out. I have yet to see anything that defines how the ruleset interfaces to the fixed code.

Things like fonts and skins should be in the settings and not require extensions to change. I've read the long back and forth on what it takes to change them in FG. I haven't actually tried, but it should just be a couple mouse clicks and it isn't.

Don't get me wrong, I like FG and have been investing time and money into it. It still has flaws it really shouldn't have given its maturity.

[Artaron]

Welcome to Fantasy Grounds Abandoned Arts.
You'll see after playing on FG it's hard to go back to anything else. Just makes everything smoother.
Have fun !