Official DD content

[Glad]

Am I the only one thinking that the official 5E content is missing a lot of features?
I don't try to give free complaints as I know you guys have been working hard on this and it's going in the right direction and maybe I'm just not aware about how to use some features or what is still planned to be added but:
- Complete Core Class Pack: Spell system scaling by slot level I can't find another way than changing manually the effects for each slot level, Many spells/powers effects not coded (barbarian rage? Druids shapes?)

- Adventures (Prince of the Apocalypse): NPC spells slots and effects are not prepared in a specific tab or can only be drag'n drop for some of them. Many tokens with letters...really? maps of some encounters not added if not in the original book.

I know that buying the official content I might should not expect anything else than the pure access to the official texts/images. But still I felt a bit disappointed by the fact that purchasing a copy nor PDF nor real but just the availability of its content through FG, I was expecting better improvements to adapt it to FG and give us some cool additional contents (tokens/maps) in order to make it actually worth paying the same price as the book itself.

[damned]

If you Level up drag the class that you leveled up in back on to the Class field and a fair amount of the leveling will occur for you. You must still check spell slots.

The Wizards are very particular about their artwork and product identity. Adding 3rd party images to their products is not permitted.

In a Fantasy Grounds module you have:
1. All the content that the wizards produced
2. All the additional coding that Fantasy Grounds produced
3. The Wizards get their cut

I dont see anything here that suggests it should be a lower price.

You can easily buy the 5e products only when they are on sale if you are not in a hurry.

Of course value comes in different forms and is measured differently by different people.

[Glad]

Yes, sorry just read about the leveling thanks its a very good thing! I understand your point of course...
I'm sure you got mine as well, the additional coding is a huuuuge save of time. But playing a pathfinder campaign by buying the PDF official version and looking for community great modules = 10EUR. So far for DD5E I'm at 150EUR and I still have the nearly same amount of rework before DMing it.
I'm a huge fan of FG and all the work you've done so far do not misunderstand me, just try to outline that DD official content comes with a very high price for an online, (specifically linked to FG) content, and some additional content/complete coding of all effects would have been a good surprise.

[Zacchaeus]

You'll find a lot of useful information on how to set up the effects for your character here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?27296-Guides-videos-and-other-helpful-information). Not all effects are automatically set up with drag drop. An awful lot is automated for the 5e ruleset however, way more than for any other one. I understand for 3.5 you have to type it all in.

You will find some community drawn maps suitable for use with various official content here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?27298-Extensions-Modules-Pregens-and-other-5E-resources).

All NPC spells should be seen in the NPC sheet and all appropriate actions should appear on the CT. If there are some specific instances where this isn't happening then please report them here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?34656-5e-Bug-Reports-(Continued)) and I'll make sure they get fixed.

In official modules all NPCs come with an officially produced and approved token. If you are seeing a letter that's becasue that is the officially approved token for that particular NPC. Most of the ones with letter tokens are things like commoners and other minor creatures. All of the 'proper' monsters have a token. As damned says module authors can't start adding in content that is not WotC approved. The NPC tokens are produced from artwork supplied by WotC; usually unless the NPC is very important to the story there is no artwork - so you get a letter token. You can of course supply one of your own if you don't like the one that comes with the module.

Preparation for running a module in FG should be way less than the pen and paper version. Not sure where you are getting 150 euros for a module; I'm assuming that you are including other costs in there as well. At any rate remember that a lot of 3.5 is produced under the OGL which the official 5e modules are not, hence the higher price.

[Glad]

Thanks a lot for your answers and advises/links.

[Myrdin Potter]

I do understand what you mean for spell levels, the program does not adjust (mainly cantrips) damage dice as you level. However, once you manually edit it once, you are done until the next level where the damage changes is reached.

[benwest00]

I do not post often and even play on FG less (hard to find a group - mostly I just use FG to read the books), but I do buy all the 5E content that I can. I do have to say that I love the work done by the FG team converting the 5E content to electronic format for easier consumption. I have noticed a few broken links in some of the modules, but it's not much of a problem since the new update. Most of the time, when new updates occur, the issues I found were already patched.

Even with the cost, I believe that the work is worth it, and will continue to get the official 5E content through FG. FG allows for download of official 5E content, no shipping included. Besides, I think Wizards dictate the cost?

[Myrdin Potter]

I do not post often and even play on FG less (hard to find a group - mostly I just use FG to read the books),


Are you having issues finding a group because of work schedule or a non-mainstream time zone? If you want to be a DM, I think there is pretty high demand from players. If you are a player, right after big sales like this weekend is a good time to find a group, and if you are patient, you can usually get into an AL online game.

As IRL, the main shortage is always the DM.

[benwest00]

Are you having issues finding a group because of work schedule or a non-mainstream time zone? If you want to be a DM, I think there is pretty high demand from players. If you are a player, right after big sales like this weekend is a good time to find a group, and if you are patient, you can usually get into an AL online game.

As IRL, the main shortage is always the DM.

It is my work schedule, I work a lot of hours which makes commitments to groups difficult, but hope that soon my work schedule will not be so hectic. I have thought of DM'ing but before I do that (already have the 5E content and license for it), i wanted to be a bit more familiar with how the FG mechanics actually work as well as get back into gaming first.I did get in a game last night, Pathfinder Society adventure (not a 5E one but at least it is something) which was the first game i played online. Playing around with it and videos can only provide so much experience; after last night I would have to say that as a FG player (FGP), I just earned my first EXP point I can finally call myself a FGP Level 1. I do have to say that even with the amount of prep that I had, I still learned a lot from that game and hope to find a 5E game.

In any event, I think this conversation digresses from the posters concerns.

[whiteTiki]

I do not post often and even play on FG less (hard to find a group - mostly I just use FG to read the books), but I do buy all the 5E content that I can. I do have to say that I love the work done by the FG team converting the 5E content to electronic format for easier consumption. I have noticed a few broken links in some of the modules, but it's not much of a problem since the new update. Most of the time, when new updates occur, the issues I found were already patched.

Even with the cost, I believe that the work is worth it, and will continue to get the official 5E content through FG. FG allows for download of official 5E content, no shipping included. Besides, I think Wizards dictate the cost?

Can't agree more with this. I really don't have all the data (what are FG's costs into coding a wizards product and so), but I strongly believe the price is correct and, for the benefits we receive, you name them;

digital version -which I prefer over the printed one-
being able to quickly search, find and organize information since last update
feeling the satisfaction that you are browsing digital content and that content is official
the nice new encounter builder/calculator
plus all the other benefits the software is intended to have when running/playing a campaign
plus any update the software gets is free (for now)


I'm definitely always glad to pay for it.

In the end, I always say this to people who are doubting if FG is worth the money or not:
I have a lot of fantasy grounds official D&D 5th E content and I don't live in a first world country like the people earning in Euros, Pounds or any kind of Dollar; at least in my country (can't say the same about others), Americans USD purchasing power is estimated to be 210% higher than ours, which basically means, if an american has to work lets say, 10 hours to buy the Players Handbook Deluxe from Fantasy Grounds, we have to work 21 hours just to buy that same product and still, I'm perfectly ok with the price I payed for it and really happy with the purchased content even when I know it took me more to get it.

[jajen2003]

If an American has to work let's say, 10 hours to buy the Player's Handbook Deluxe from Fantasy Grounds, we have to work 21 hours just to buy that same product and still, I'm perfectly ok with the price I payed for it and really happy with the purchased content even when I know it took me more to get it.

As an advocate of the devil, your broken neck, doesn't make my broken finger feel any better.

[whiteTiki]

As an advocate of the devil, your broken neck, doesn't make my broken finger feel any better.

1.- I don't know why that made me laugh
2.- I guess in the end, the important thing is that it's worth it.
3.- I just saw an awesome discount: right now the complete bundle is 50% off

[kp9911]

I have a lot of fantasy grounds official D&D 5th E content and I don't live in a first world country like the people earning in Euros, Pounds or any kind of Dollar; at least in my country (can't say the same about others), Americans USD purchasing power is estimated to be 210% higher than ours, which basically means, if an american has to work lets say, 10 hours to buy the Players Handbook Deluxe from Fantasy Grounds, we have to work 21 hours just to buy that same product and still, I'm perfectly ok with the price I payed for it and really happy with the purchased content even when I know it took me more to get it.

Steam has regional pricing, this is the only reason how it made it affordable for my friends and me to chip in and enjoy what FG has to offer. Without regional pricing the cost of the Ultimate License equates to maybe a month or so of rations for a household of 4 people :ninja:

[Talyn]

Price-wise, one important factor with the official 5E content is that Wizards themselves set the price, not SmiteWorks. That was part of the licensing agreement. It's the same on Roll20 and when d20Pro finalizes their licensing agreement, it will be the same there as well.

[whiteTiki]

Steam has regional pricing, this is the only reason how it made it affordable for my friends and me to chip in and enjoy what FG has to offer. Without regional pricing the cost of the Ultimate License equates to maybe a month or so of rations for a household of 4 people :ninja:

Didn't know about the regional pricing. That sounds great!, does it apply for the official 5e content too? (I just completed my bundle with the 50% discount yesterday, but I'm curious).


Price-wise, one important factor with the official 5E content is that Wizards themselves set the price, not SmiteWorks. That was part of the licensing agreement. It's the same on Roll20 and when d20Pro finalizes their licensing agreement, it will be the same there as well.

Yep, I guess then there's no way around it. But anyways, I still think the prices are ok.

[kp9911]

Didn't know about the regional pricing. That sounds great!, does it apply for the official 5e content too? (I just completed my bundle with the 50% discount yesterday, but I'm curious).


It sure is! However this normally does not last since most people use VPN's to get cheaper prices and then the regional pricing is just removed :c (Horde of the Dragon Queen)

https://i.imgur.com/qwOEVxZ.png

[spite]

Yea I am from NZ so everything is a bit better priced in steam (especially with the rapidly increasing USD in relation to us now!)
Thank god, otherwise I'd never be able to afford everything :(

[whiteTiki]

It sure is! However this normally does not last since most people use VPN's to get cheaper prices and then the regional pricing is just removed :c

Impressive!

Now one last question, everything you buy through Steam needs to be accessed/loaded/played through the platform? (I used steam long time ago, have a lost account somewhere but cant recall) or can you uninstall steam and still be able to play/use fantasygrounds?

The whole reason for my question comes from this context:
My own way to reason all this steam/fantasy grounds thing comes from the simple fact that one day I woke up and I realized that I have spent more money on the "Fantasy Grounds Store" than in the "Apple Store" (yep, I'm one of those who has a lot of Apple products) and it came to my mind the idea that if for some reason Apple goes bankrupt (highly improbable), I would lose all the products/apps I bought in their store. Then I thought, well, what about Fantasy Grounds? I have spent about 6 times more money on their store and Fantasy Grounds is not precisely a company whose Annual Revenue is way higher than the entire GDP of countries like Peru, Iraq or Romania. So, what happens with my money if Fantasy Grounds has financial problems in the future? Of course these are things I prefer sometimes not to even think off, but the risk is real and its there. I'm not saying its a high risk, not even close (first the company gets bought by a bigger company than throwing everyone to the streets), but there's still some amount of risk in there.

Finally, I asked the question at the beginning of this post for the same reason. If the only way I have to play FG when purchasing through steam is using steam itself, then I don't want to add more "risk" (another company like steam) to the equation. I don't like that feeling of uncertainty and I definitely don't want to be worrying about the Microsoft vs Steam war and so on above worrying already about FantasyGrounds status against its competitors (Roll20 and D20) and how can that affect my investment on their company. There are also some other questions that follow this one like; Am I spending money on the right ship?, or does any other software looks more promising?

I know it sounds a bit dramatic, but those are the type of things that go into my head when I decide to spend money on some company's store. I recently decided to purchase the complete set bundle (50% off) from Fantasy Grounds store, and the only reason besides price I decided to do it was because I'm seeing good amount of progress being made by the Devs to the software and I feel confident about it. I still am a bit disappointed for the new version of Fantasy Grounds being delayed but I stated that in another post already. I must say I definitely see a good future sticking around with FantasyGrounds specially since I saw the incredible work they did on their last update, I believe is going the right way.

So in the end, I know those steam prices are beautiful, but personally, if it adds more risk to the equation, I feel safer buying directly from Fantasy Grounds.

[LindseyFan]

I am in the US. And I know I am pretty dern pleased with the gaming value I got with someone else's money.

[LindseyFan]

Impressive!

Now one last question, everything you buy through Steam needs to be accessed/loaded/played through the platform? (I used steam long time ago, have a lost account somewhere but cant recall) or can you uninstall steam and still be able to play/use fantasygrounds?

The whole reason for my question comes from this context:
My own way to reason all this steam/fantasy grounds thing comes from the simple fact that one day I woke up and I realized that I have spent more money on the "Fantasy Grounds Store" than in the "Apple Store" (yep, I'm one of those who has a lot of Apple products) and it came to my mind the idea that if for some reason Apple goes bankrupt (highly improbable), I would lose all the products/apps I bought in their store. Then I thought, well, what about Fantasy Grounds? I have spent about 6 times more money on their store and Fantasy Grounds is not precisely a company whose Annual Revenue is way higher than the entire GDP of countries like Peru, Iraq or Romania. So, what happens with my money if Fantasy Grounds has financial problems in the future? Of course these are things I prefer sometimes not to even think off, but the risk is real and its there. I'm not saying its a high risk, not even close (first the company gets bought by a bigger company than throwing everyone to the streets), but there's still some amount of risk in there.

Finally, I asked the question at the beginning of this post for the same reason. If the only way I have to play FG when purchasing through steam is using steam itself, then I don't want to add more "risk" (another company like steam) to the equation. I don't like that feeling of uncertainty and I definitely don't want to be worrying about the Microsoft vs Steam war and so on above worrying already about FantasyGrounds status against its competitors (Roll20 and D20) and how can that affect my investment on their company. There are also some other questions that follow this one like; Am I spending money on the right ship?, or does any other software looks more promising?

I know it sounds a bit dramatic, but those are the type of things that go into my head when I decide to spend money on some company's store. I recently decided to purchase the complete set bundle (50% off) from Fantasy Grounds store, and the only reason besides price I decided to do it was because I'm seeing good amount of progress being made by the Devs to the software and I feel confident about it. I still am a bit disappointed for the new version of Fantasy Grounds being delayed but I stated that in another post already. I must say I definitely see a good future sticking around with FantasyGrounds specially since I saw the incredible work they did on their last update, I believe is going the right way.

So in the end, I know those steam prices are beautiful, but personally, if it adds more risk to the equation, I feel safer buying directly from Fantasy Grounds.

If Steam dies: Your FG runs as normal from the EXE
If SmiteWorks dies: Your FG runs as normal, but no cool forum anymore.

[spite]

Steam is checked when you update your Fantasy Grounds game, and is required to be online when updating to get your steam products.
I imagine if Steam were to go under (highly unlikely) that Smiteworks wouldn't leave their customers high and dry, as they've demonstrated they are happy to help people merge their collections from one platform to the other (steam, to standard store).
Conversely, if Smiteworks were to go under (heaven forbid), I imagine they would not "take everyone with them". I'd imagine if it were to happen, there would be software updates that will allow people to keep functionality of their program at the very least, even if there were no ongoing support.. This is all conjecture though, and I don't see either company failing in the near future. (Or far)

[damned]

Stuff bought on FG website requiresyour FG Updater to log into the FG website for the products to download
Stuff bought on Steam need you to be logged into the Steam client for the products to dowload (I think from the FG website? but I havent confirmed that bit)

You can run stuff that is already downloaded on your computer regardless of whether either site is up if you launch from the files directly.

If you have an Ultimate license, demo clients need to do a license check against the FG servers on connecting.

So if FG went belly up there would be some issues for Demo users and big issues for anyone trying to reinstall

[MadBadHare]

So if FG went belly up.....

HERESY, This man speaks HERESY.. ;)

[whiteTiki]

HERESY, This man speaks HERESY.. ;)

LOL

Interesting topic. didn't know how Steam and Fantasy Grounds worked.
I know its highly unlikely for anything I said before to happen, but I like feeling safe.

Thanks everyone for the info!