New, Lost, and Afraid

[C8kiemonstr]

I am extremely new to FG. I spent a large amount of money on this, and am hoping to not have wasted my money. I have loved playing D&D locally but honestly, the people to play with are extremely limited and I rarely get a good serious campaign out of it... I don't know how to join a game, I don't know how to create characters, and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing... Save my ship. please.

[Moon Wizard]

Welcome to the forums!

Here are a few resources you can use to get started.

* Click the Load Campaign option in the launcher, select the 5E Sample Campaign, and click the Start button. Once inside, click on Story, then "00 Welcome to Fantasy Grounds". This will walk you through many parts of the interface.

* Check out the user manual linked from the front page of the web site under Help.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/filelibrary/FantasyGroundsUserManual.pdf

* Check out the wiki, especially the User Guides section.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

* Check out some of the great instructional videos on Youtube made by members of our community. Many are linked in the wiki.

* Post your interest in which games you want to run/play, and time zones you are available in the LFG forum. And, make sure to peruse the recent game announcement both in the LFG forum and in the Game Calendar (linked in the web site menu). Also, if you're planning to GM, also post what kind of license you bought (Standard/Ultimate), so players know what they'll need.

* Feel free to post any questions you have on the forums. The community here is amazing, and they usually beat me to answer most questions.

Regards,
JPG

P.S. Surprised I didn't get ninja posted by one of them.

[Maspalio]

Hello c8kiemonstr, welcome aboard. I'd say you're one step away from a gamev : you still have to install a communication software like teamspeak or ventrilo (both are free), and then apply to a game. You can ask here or browse a specific website : as an example, i livevin france, so we usually sets gmt+1 games there. Have fun !

[GunnarGreybeard]

Welcome to FG C8kiemonstr.

Most of the GM's here are newbie friendly and will help walk you through the stuff you might need assistance with. Just check the calendar and the LFG - Looking for Group threads looking for games that you might like to be involved in and then post your interest. Most might be full but you can get on the wait list or be able to sit in and watch a session to see how they work, although each GM may run their games differently.

[dulux-oz]

Hi C8, and Welcome! to the Community,

Echoing what Moon Wizard said: If you haven't done so already, let me encourage you to take a look at some of the great Tutorial Videos available on the Fantasy Grounds Wiki (and on YouTube). Damn's are good, as are Xorn's, and people seem to like mine as well (mine are also available from the links in my sig, below).

Start with the ones on the CoreRPG, because the CoreRPG forms the foundation of just about all the RPGs we play with Fantasy Grounds - so by learning how to use FG with the CoreRPG you'll learn about 80% of what you'll need to know to play any RPG with Fantasy Grounds. Once you've gone through the CoreRPG Videos you can then go on to Videos about your chosen RPG.

When you get familiar with the basic Fantasy Grounds product the next step is to check out some of the Extensions (Plug-Ins) for FG, such as the DOE: Sound, DOE: Locations, DOE: Weather and DOE: Organisations Extensions (to name a but a few).

And for the record, you don't need a VoIP client like Teamspeak, but you'll find a lot of games use something like that, so It'd be helpful - but don't worry too much about that now :)

And keep on asking questions - we're a pretty friendly lot here, and we love answering questions.

Cheers

[Ken L]

For some reason I was expecting a naked and afraid reference.

[JohnD]

Don't forget "I need an adult!"

[vodokar]

Welcome C8kiemonstr. So good to meet you. Don't be shy. Everyone here wants to help. It sometimes takes a little patience to get into a game. However, don't worry that you are new. Most DM's are very newbie friendly and will kindly and gladly show you the ropes. The best thing to do, aside from what has already been said, is to simply keep an eye out for looking for player announcements and an eye on the game calendar. Just jump right in. Doesn't even matter what particular game it is, 5e, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, DCC, whatever, just jump in and learn something and have fun.

[gaara6666]

Same. I am in a skull and shackles sunday game and if people ask us in advance we will happily let people listen in

[C8kiemonstr]

Thank you all for the welcomes, and a huge thank you for all of you that have put together tutorial videos. I've been watching them all.

[Nyghtmare]

If you have any specific questions, ask away... people here are always willing to help or, at the very least, point you in the right direction (linking to forum threads, for example).

And, like everyone else has said, welcome to FG. I came here from Roll20 and never went back, once I saw how amazing this software was and how it automated so much that it made it so easy on me as a DM. :)

[dulux-oz]

I came here from Roll20 and never went back, once I saw how amazing this software was and how it automated so much that it made it so easy on me as a DM. :)

Nah, go back every now and then and rub their noses in it!

Just joking :p We're better than that over here at FG-land - plus we don't need to rub their noses in it! :)

[Emiz]

Welcome to the forums!

Here are a few resources you can use to get started.

* Click the Load Campaign option in the launcher, select the 5E Sample Campaign, and click the Start button. Once inside, click on Story, then "00 Welcome to Fantasy Grounds". This will walk you through many parts of the interface.

* Check out the user manual linked from the front page of the web site under Help.

* Check out the wiki, especially the User Guides section.

* Check out some of the great instructional videos on Youtube made by members of our community. Many are linked in the wiki.

* Post your interest in which games you want to run/play, and time zones you are available in the LFG forum. And, make sure to peruse the recent game announcement both in the LFG forum and in the Game Calendar (linked in the web site menu). Also, if you're planning to GM, also post what kind of license you bought (Standard/Ultimate), so players know what they'll need.

* Feel free to post any questions you have on the forums. The community here is amazing, and they usually beat me to answer most questions.

Regards,
JPG

P.S. Surprised I didn't get ninja posted by one of them.

Thanks for this! I am in the same situation as OP... I just bought the Fantasy Grounds 5e full kit after spending some time researching, and I'm finding the learning curve quite challenging. I didn't know about this sample campaign! I will also look for a session that I can listen in on. I'm familiar with vent and TS from the good 'ol days of gamingt. Having a webcam isn't necessary, right? I don't have one.

[dulux-oz]

Hi Emiz, and Welcome! to the Community,

No, you don't need a webcam - you really don't even ned VoIP as you can play just via the FG Chatbox, but most people prefer a VoIP solution.

The one thing I recommend for the steep learning curve is - watch some Tutorial Vids - see my previous post (#5) in this thread.

Have fun

Cheers

[Emiz]

Hi Emiz, and Welcome! to the Community,

No, you don't need a webcam - you really don't even ned VoIP as you can play just via the FG Chatbox, but most people prefer a VoIP solution.

The one thing I recommend for the steep learning curve is - watch some Tutorial Vids - see my previous post (#5) in this thread.

Have fun

Cheers

Thanks! Looking forward to participating in the community regularly.

[Nyghtmare]

Nah, go back every now and then and rub their noses in it!

Just joking :p We're better than that over here at FG-land - plus we don't need to rub their noses in it! :)
As tempting as that sounds, I prefer to just continue to enjoy this software and let the Roll20'ers enjoy the limited capabilities of their free software — Fantasy Grounds just proves that you get what you pay for. :)

[Raxxillion]

No, you don't need a webcam - you really don't even ned VoIP as you can play just via the FG Chatbox, but most people prefer a VoIP solution.


Hello! (As I lurk about...) Would it be easy for DM to find players interested in a chat only game? From past experiences on ancient platforms, chat creates a wonderful role-playing atmosphere. Friends, that I have tried this with on those ancient platforms, open up even more than at the table sometimes. I would love to run 5e in that manner, but wonder if I will have a challenge finding a group or not.

P.S. D-OZ, I love your vids!

[GunnarGreybeard]

Raxxillion, I've run and participated in several text only games. You will probably find that filling your game with players is more dependent on game times rather than whether you are using Text or Voice.

[Raxxillion]

Raxxillion, I've run and participated in several text only games. You will probably find that filling your game with players is more dependent on game times rather than whether you are using Text or Voice.

Thanks so much for letting me know that this is a possibility. I have a ridiculously flexible job, so time (for me) is never the issue. I will lurk a bit more before casting out some suggested times. Thanks again!

[dulux-oz]

As Gunnar said - you'll find its more about the times then whether its voice or text.

And as a GM you should never have trouble filling up a game - there's always way more players avalaible than there are GM's to run games for them :)

And I'm glad you like the vids - subscribe, support and enjoy :p