D&D Volo's Guide to Monsters is now available!

[ddavison]

I see that these are already flying off the digital shelves.

You guys have no idea how much I am smiling now as I watch you guys race to buy them in the first seconds after I launched it but before I can even announce it. Because I know you are curious, the first three buyers that were ridiculously fast were Chris Jernigan, Ed and then Rob2e. I seriously don't even think I finished pushing the button before you managed to grab them.

[FSHSchmo]

Picked it up and looking at it now! Love the backgrounds

[ddavison]

Carl Pinder worked with me on those and he put together the 3d book one on my request. He does beautiful work and I can't wait to see the stuff he'll be doing once FGU launches.

[spite]

I got the email from steam, must... get... home...

[JohnD]

Would it be possible to get a listing of the new creatures included in this.

[Smoltok]

Hi Doug !

I just saw your last video yesterday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUhYLoo1uoc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUhYLoo1uoc)) and I saw that you have already access to Volo's Guide !

I expect to have it quickly.

Just one question : according to you, is there a value to have tome of beast AND Volo's Guide to Monster ?

[Vackipleur]

Would it be possible to get a listing of the new creatures included in this.

On Enworld: https://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3597-VOLO-S-GUUDE-Around-The-Web-The-Ultimate-Preview-Compilation#.WBuJ-fnhCUk

[Zacchaeus]

On Enworld: https://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3597-VOLO-S-GUUDE-Around-The-Web-The-Ultimate-Preview-Compilation#.WBuJ-fnhCUk

If you add in all the possible variants there's an awful lot more than listed there.

[ddavison]

Hi Doug !

I just saw your last video yesterday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUhYLoo1uoc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUhYLoo1uoc)) and I saw that you have already access to Volo's Guide !

I expect to have it quickly.

Just one question : according to you, is there a value to have tome of beast AND Volo's Guide to Monster ?

Tome of Beasts is unrelated. I just happen to think that is a very good addition to 5E games that welcome third party content.

[Gwydion]

I see that these are already flying off the digital shelves.

You guys have no idea how much I am smiling now as I watch you guys race to buy them in the first seconds after I launched it but before I can even announce it. Because I know you are curious, the first three buyers that were ridiculously fast were Chris Jernigan, Ed and then Rob2e. I seriously don't even think I finished pushing the button before you managed to grab them.

Yep, I was at a CU v UCLA football game and bought on the drive home! However, I was late to the party. I think it was about 12:05/12:10... :)

[SpiritofFire]

$50 is pretty steep. I was hoping it'd be $35.

How does it handle the new fluff text for monsters that were previously covered in the monster manual?

To get the complete text, do I have to look up the entry twice (once for MM text and once for VOLO text) ?

[Zacchaeus]

$50 is pretty steep. I was hoping it'd be $35.

How does it handle the new fluff text for monsters that were previously covered in the monster manual?

To get the complete text, do I have to look up the entry twice (once for MM text and once for VOLO text) ?

The new monsters have their own 'fluff' text once in the body of the reference and also included in the monsters 'Other' tab. Any monsters referenced from the MM are linked to Volo. Most of the monsters in Volo which are variants of those in the MM have their own entry in the Volo NPC list or there is a template from which you can copy/paste the variant abilities into an existing NPC.

[Zerbious]

Yep, I was at a CU v UCLA football game and bought on the drive home! However, I was late to the party. I think it was about 12:05/12:10... :)

I will be much later to the party... seeing that I just upgraded to Ultimate, bought the on-sale SCAG and the SKT module and I DO still enjoy being married to my wife of 18 years, my copy has to wait a bit. :P

[Gwydion]

I will be much later to the party... seeing that I just upgraded to Ultimate, bought the on-sale SCAG and the SKT module and I DO still enjoy being married to my wife of 18 years, my copy has to wait a bit. :P

Well.... Christmas is just around the corner. Just saying.. :)

[ddavison]

If you are a Steam user, please consider tagging the product for us (or any of our products actually) and writing a review to let us know what you think.

Here is Volo's Guide
https://store.steampowered.com/app/549380/

[drakonin]

I picked it up last night and eyeballed it for a good two hours, I really wish the random table stuff worked with more than just Volo's guide but it is really fun to use and I look forward to using it in my custom games.

[spite]

I picked it up last night and eyeballed it for a good two hours, I really wish the random table stuff worked with more than just Volo's guide but it is really fun to use and I look forward to using it in my custom games.

I believe the DMG was re-done to include these new templates

[Zacchaeus]

I picked it up last night and eyeballed it for a good two hours, I really wish the random table stuff worked with more than just Volo's guide but it is really fun to use and I look forward to using it in my custom games.

I'll have a look at SKT and the Book of Lairs in the next few days and update those with random tables and anything else that might enhance them - if that's any good to you :)

[7H3LaughingMan]

Is there any reason why the new races are in both the "DD Volos Guide to Monsters" Module and the "DD Volos Guide to Monsters Players" Module? If I have both of the modules loaded it shows two of each new race.

[Zacchaeus]

Well, if there wasn't a player's guide the players wouldn't be able to use the races and other player related information easily (the DM would need to do it) and the information is in the main module because it's part of the main module. You can use the filter to only show one or the other in the races window if you want to avoid confusion.

[drakonin]

I'll have a look at SKT and the Book of Lairs in the next few days and update those with random tables and anything else that might enhance them - if that's any good to you :)

Thgat is awesome I just picked up:
3rd Nov 2016
1 x Tome of Beasts
1 x Book of Lost Spells (Fifth Edition)
4th Nov 2016
1 x D&D Storm King's Thunder
1 x D&D Sword Volo's Guide to Monsters

No idea how much work this stuff is but Tome of Beasts would be awesome as well.

[Moon Wizard]

The way GM and player modules are split up is pretty common across many of the products (i.e. there is some overlap).

Just open the GM module only, and set the player module to "allow" for players. No need to open it.

Regards,
JPG

[7H3LaughingMan]

The way GM and player modules are split up is pretty common across many of the products (i.e. there is some overlap).

Just open the GM module only, and set the player module to "allow" for players. No need to open it.

Regards,
JPG

How would I deal with links? I created a table for my players so that they will get a random race. I have to open the players module and drag and drop it into the table to make the links, but if I unload the module I can actually view the links now since it's referencing something that isn't there.

[Zacchaeus]

How would I deal with links? I created a table for my players so that they will get a random race. I have to open the players module and drag and drop it into the table to make the links, but if I unload the module I can actually view the links now since it's referencing something that isn't there.

Load up a second instance of FG and test it out. That's what I'd be doing to answer your question but I'm not near my computer to do so.

[7H3LaughingMan]

Load up a second instance of FG and test it out. That's what I'd be doing to answer your question but I'm not near my computer to do so.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. If someone tries to click on a link/reference/shield for a module that isn't loaded it will give an error saying that the module isn't loaded. I can create a table and drag-n-drop a link/reference/shield for a class into the table to link it with one of the table results. This way if someone rolls on the table it will put the shield icon in the chat so they can use that to open up the class that I linked.

Now, the problem with that is that I can't put in a link for the classes in the DM Module because if I do and a player tries to click on the shield icon they get from rolling on the table it will give them the error. So I have to load the player's module and make sure to create the link using that version. Then I have to unload the module but because it's now unloaded I will get the error if I try to click on the shield icon to open the class.

[noxioustaco]

I'm trying to see the actual value in the Random Encounters section.

I open it for say "Beholder Greater Minion Ettins".
I push the button for "Generate Encounter"
And now I have a window that says " Beholder Greater Minion Ettins" and it shows 11 Ettins, CR0, XP 0

How is that even remotely useful, if I now have to stop and figure out how it relates to the party I have and what the difficulty is for 11 Ettins?
Do I need to reduce or increase the number of Ettins?
What is the CR and XP for 11 Ettins for my party level?

Am I missing something? How is this helping speed things up in making a random encounter?
I am expecting it to look at the party or let me input an average level and give me a random encounter based on their level with EASY, MEDIUM, HARD, etc....
Otherwise, all you did was take all the monsters in the book and add random dice rolls to a table.
Now I get to push a button to get another screen for me to calculate and manually modify so I can work with it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate all that you do in this realm to help promote the virtual experience.
I could not play DnD with my long time friends at a distance otherwise.
I own lots of your product and will continue to play.
I just expect a bit more than I can do with some dice and a piece of paper

Please let me know if I am off base here and should just go Narfle the Garthok.

Or am I not using it correctly?

Thanks

[ddavison]

I'm trying to see the actual value in the Random Encounters section.

I open it for say "Beholder Greater Minion Ettins".
I push the button for "Generate Encounter"
And now I have a window that says " Beholder Greater Minion Ettins" and it shows 11 Ettins, CR0, XP 0

How is that even remotely useful, if I now have to stop and figure out how it relates to the party I have and what the difficulty is for 11 Ettins?
Do I need to reduce or increase the number of Ettins?
What is the CR and XP for 11 Ettins for my party level?

Am I missing something? How is this helping speed things up in making a random encounter?


Do you have any custom extensions loaded? It should automatically recalculate the CR and XP.

This feature is in place because there are many examples in official content where the number of creatures appearing is set up to be a random amount of enemies appearing.

[noxioustaco]

See, you DougD are a Mind Flayer in disguise.

I'm sitting here writing this and I send it and then I'm thinking, " self, did you unload all the extensions?"

No ffs I did not. So now they are all unloaded and I get a result back.
Might have something to do with the "encounter difficulty extension"

But now my question is, what is the result based on?
Is it the level of the party in the campaign even though they are not in game and playing?
Or just how it is no matter what?

I don't have anyone loaded and playing and 3 x Barlguras came up as just base CR 10 with XP 5400
That's correct according to DMG
So working as designed I assume.

Thanks for your time,
I'm off to Narfle the Garthok

[damned]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. If someone tries to click on a link/reference/shield for a module that isn't loaded it will give an error saying that the module isn't loaded. I can create a table and drag-n-drop a link/reference/shield for a class into the table to link it with one of the table results. This way if someone rolls on the table it will put the shield icon in the chat so they can use that to open up the class that I linked.

Now, the problem with that is that I can't put in a link for the classes in the DM Module because if I do and a player tries to click on the shield icon they get from rolling on the table it will give them the error. So I have to load the player's module and make sure to create the link using that version. Then I have to unload the module but because it's now unloaded I will get the error if I try to click on the shield icon to open the class.

Skip the "Then I have to unload the module" step?

[JohnD]

Purchased. Looking good so far. Also like the leaps forward in 3.2.

[Zacchaeus]

But now my question is, what is the result based on?
Is it the level of the party in the campaign even though they are not in game and playing?
Or just how it is no matter what?

The CR is just a simple addition based of x number of monsters multiplied by the XP for each. It doesn't take account of difficulty or the level of the party etc since FG cannot know this information. Volo's guide isn't an adventure it is a supplement which is there to help DMs design and build dungeons and campaigns of their own or to supplement published adventures; therefore the DM has to do some work. If you read the entry on Beholders it gives you all sorts of information and the DM can use this to build a Lair for such a beastie. As part of that there is suggested minions and there is a suggested number of these minions. These minions are scattered throughout the dungeon; it isn't saying that all of them are sitting around in one room waiting for the PCs to arrive. So all it's doing is giving you an idea of what might be there. It's up to the DM to decide whether he likes the number rolled and where to put the number of beasties.

As with ANY random number you as the DM can ignore or embrace it. You don't have to slavishly follow what the result is and you don't even have to make the random roll.

[Gwydion]

Just wanted to say I absolutely LOVE the decals for Volo's Guide. They are all so well done. Thanks, Doug!!

[ddavison]

Just wanted to say I absolutely LOVE the decals for Volo's Guide. They are all so well done. Thanks, Doug!!

I agree that Carl Pinder (pindercarl) did a great job on those.

[drakonin]

Decals? You mean the pictures of the monsters? Of do you mean the tokens?

[Gwydion]

Decals? You mean the pictures of the monsters? Of do you mean the tokens?

I mean the backsplash on your fantasy ground desktop. When you launch fg you can load "decals" and then in options you can cycle through them in the Desktop: Decal Image option. The images are awesome!

[bawsr]

Finding a lot of good game ideas in Volo's. A couple of small broken things :) I guess I will post here..

The Fire-Giant Dreadnought image is broken. It looks like it is embedded in the page and when I click the link it shows.. gray screen. I have seen a couple of other minor issues that I probably need to document. :) that way they will get fixed!

[drakonin]

I mean the backsplash on your fantasy ground desktop. When you launch fg you can load "decals" and then in options you can cycle through them in the Desktop: Decal Image option. The images are awesome!

OOO totally missed those, they are indeed awesome.

[Zacchaeus]

Finding a lot of good game ideas in Volo's. A couple of small broken things :) I guess I will post here..

The Fire-Giant Dreadnought image is broken. It looks like it is embedded in the page and when I click the link it shows.. gray screen. I have seen a couple of other minor issues that I probably need to document. :) that way they will get fixed!

There was a problem with image links but this was fixed and updated a couple of hours ago. Run an update and let me know if it's now fixed. It's showing the image ok for me.

[Hendersonman]

There was a problem with image links but this was fixed and updated a couple of hours ago. Run an update and let me know if it's now fixed. It's showing the image ok for me.

Well now I am only seeing one guide instead of 2 separate guides.

[Zacchaeus]

Well now I am only seeing one guide instead of 2 separate guides.

Hi Hendersonman welcome to FG and to the forums.

Sounds like things didn't update properly. Try to update again.

[Hendersonman]

Hi Hendersonman welcome to FG and to the forums.

Sounds like things didn't update properly. Try to update again.

I see what happened, after the update the player module closed again, I had to re open. Thanks for the welcome.

[bawsr]

I did run the update and it did say it was updating Volo's Guide!

Image still isn't showing up for me.. I unloaded volo's (DM) and then reloaded. Still not there.

I don't see the image in the list of images also.

If I go to reference manual, Giants, chapter 3:giants, Fire-Giant Dreadought(Image) I get nothing but gray.
I have only loaded the GM module also. the picture is embedded in the document. I actually did a walkthrough of the images and the image is labeled Fire-Giant in the image list. when I click that link it only pulls up a gray box :)

So the short answer, still not working for me!

[El Condoro]

I had a similar problem with the orc lair map. I had been mucking around trying to copy it, so I blamed myself. Anyway, when I typed in /flushdb in the chat, it fixed the problem.

[Myrdin Potter]

I did run the update and it did say it was updating Volo's Guide!

Image still isn't showing up for me.. I unloaded volo's (DM) and then reloaded. Still not there.

I don't see the image in the list of images also.

If I go to reference manual, Giants, chapter 3:giants, Fire-Giant Dreadought(Image) I get nothing but gray.
I have only loaded the GM module also. the picture is embedded in the document. I actually did a walkthrough of the images and the image is labeled Fire-Giant in the image list. when I click that link it only pulls up a gray box :)

So the short answer, still not working for me!

Try going into the modules screen and right clicking on Volo's and Revert Changes. That worked for me.

[Zacchaeus]

I did run the update and it did say it was updating Volo's Guide!

Image still isn't showing up for me.. I unloaded volo's (DM) and then reloaded. Still not there.

I don't see the image in the list of images also.

If I go to reference manual, Giants, chapter 3:giants, Fire-Giant Dreadought(Image) I get nothing but gray.
I have only loaded the GM module also. the picture is embedded in the document. I actually did a walkthrough of the images and the image is labeled Fire-Giant in the image list. when I click that link it only pulls up a gray box :)

So the short answer, still not working for me!

Did you get this to work?

The image is called Fire-Giant and the link in Chapter 3 is correctly pointing to the image (The fact that it is also embedded doesn't matter - as you found the image exists in the image list as well). As Myrdin says try reverting changes to see if that helps.

[7H3LaughingMan]

Skip the "Then I have to unload the module" step?

If I skip that step then I have the original issue where I have two of each race from Volo's Guide to Monsters in-game. One set from the "Volo's Guide to Monsters" Module and another set from the "Volo's Guide to Monsters Player" Module. I guess I can add it as a wishlist entry to not have the player stuff in the module that should only loaded for the DM. This way the DM can load both of them and players just have to load the player stuff.

[bawsr]

The revert changes now makes the link clickable.

Just to clarify. I had just started reading through the module and certainly didn't make any changes :) (yet)


I assume it was because of the update. Is there a version number on Modules/books? Somewhere we can easily see what version we have?

[Zacchaeus]

The revert changes now makes the link clickable.

Just to clarify. I had just started reading through the module and certainly didn't make any changes :) (yet)


I assume it was because of the update. Is there a version number on Modules/books? Somewhere we can easily see what version we have?

Not really. I've started putting a version number in the 'Using this module in Fantasy Grounds' Page in the Preface. The problem with the images was just an oversight which was corrected very quickly and since I didn't actually make any changes to the module it's still showing v1.0