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bobndiller
October 5th, 2005, 12:19
Hello. I just discovered this software from a link in the DDO community. I haven't bought it yet but it looks promising. My only concern is that it would be hard to find a group, or that groups would tend to fall apart easily (random people that you don't really know just stop showing up). What has been everybody's experience? I dont have any RL friends who play so I would be relying almost entirely on this community. I know this is the LFG forum but I figured those would be the best people to ask this question.

Ram Tyr
October 5th, 2005, 13:03
First, check out the
Review (https://www.rpgnow.com/product_reviews_info.php?cid=80673&reviews_id=10064&).

For Fantasy Grounds here is how it has worked for me.

Find a group of people that were interested in playing D&D and weren't able to game in face to face games, or wanted to supplement their face to face games. We agreed on a regular gaming schedule to ensure that we weren't wasting our time. One of us obviously volunteered to DM. Then we looked at all our options. We decided on FG as the best option for us. We liked the tools, we liked the one time fee (not ongoing monthly fee), and we liked the support that FG appeared to be getting from the developers. Paying the modest fee also ensured a modicum of committment from each player. We only lost one person after everyone made the purchase.

We bought the software and spent a few weeks learning it. Then, the DM set the date for our first session...and history was made!

I use the FG forums to find additional games. I'm in a couple of FG campaigns at the moment. Also, check the community links at the FG website.

Most of our group actually bought the Full version I think only two people, including the person that dropped out, bought the lite version. This is great because my second campaign was actually the same group of people, only someone else DMing on a different day of the week.

I suggest grabbing a friend and downloading the demo to test it out.

Later.
Ramza

Alkaven
October 5th, 2005, 14:52
I first tested the demo with my girlfriend for a couple days beore considering it. The price was too much for me and her to afford for the both of us. (That comes to $80, and we know anyone else we know we want to play with won't settle for the lite version). However, the fact remains, you get what you pay for, even if it's alot more than it's worth. The application is very nice. Runs very smoothly, and you can have a very decent game in it.

In my opinion, there are not enough players here. There are indeed more players than DMs, and odds are good DMs play as well, but it took an entire month before I finally got my game going.

I would suggest you try out the demo for a couple days, if you like it, go for it.

kalmarjan
October 5th, 2005, 15:47
Well, for players and DMs alike, it can be daunting to find a game.

My experience went thus far:

I am DMing RTTTOEE. I have a user group, with about 60 people as members. I am lucky enough to have 5 "core" players right now. That tells you something. 55 people who attended one or more sessions have dropped out. On my part, it is just a matter of believability. My game is always open, and I take all comers. One time I had 10 people playing. Thing is, experience wise, it kinda all balances out.

So, be patient, keep looking, and you will find something. There is always my game if you don't mind playing on saturdays.

Just check out my WWW link

Cheers,

Sandeman

Alkaven
October 5th, 2005, 15:59
Well, for players and DMs alike, it can be daunting to find a game.

My experience went thus far:

I am DMing RTTTOEE. I have a user group, with about 60 people as members. I am lucky enough to have 5 "core" players right now. That tells you something. 55 people who attended one or more sessions have dropped out. On my part, it is just a matter of believability. My game is always open, and I take all comers. One time I had 10 people playing. Thing is, experience wise, it kinda all balances out.

So, be patient, keep looking, and you will find something. There is always my game if you don't mind playing on saturdays.

Just check out my WWW link

Cheers,

Sandeman

Holy friggen moly! 55 people bailing... Are you serious? Man, this is why I don't run campaigns anymore, but Fifty-five? I've never seen a number that huge yet.

Kalmarjan makes a good point though. While there are lots and lots of players out there, only a hand full will stay true to the game. So while only one DM may have one vision, only a portion of those hundred players out there will have the same vision.

In that sense, it is harder for a player to find a game than it is for a DM. DM's got the pool of players to pick from, while the player doesn't have quite the same size pool of DMs.

SalmonElla
October 5th, 2005, 17:54
/mindless babble on
I am currently running star wars and here is my experience:
I purchased FG full version after I messed with the demo for about a day. After looking for a game for a while ~2 weeks and not finding one that ran during the day or started after midnight I decided to try running star wars. Perhaps star wars is not that attractive to most people but I was only able to get 1 person from the boards here to join in. I twisted some arms at work to get the rest of the players.

Star wars is not the flavor of the month anymore, like Eberron, and so I will not get hte Eberron response. I think that there may not be enough players to support the frustrated 'want to be a player' people that instead move to running a game.
/mindless babble off
--SE

TruthRevisited
October 5th, 2005, 18:52
/mindless babble on
I am currently running star wars and here is my experience:
I purchased FG full version after I messed with the demo for about a day. After looking for a game for a while ~2 weeks and not finding one that ran during the day or started after midnight I decided to try running star wars. Perhaps star wars is not that attractive to most people but I was only able to get 1 person from the boards here to join in. I twisted some arms at work to get the rest of the players.

Star wars is not the flavor of the month anymore, like Eberron, and so I will not get hte Eberron response. I think that there may not be enough players to support the frustrated 'want to be a player' people that instead move to running a game.
/mindless babble off
--SE

As a player in this particular game, I have to say that I am having a wonderful time.

I can see where one might get sort of frustrated about finding a game. I advertised a game, and got no response... nothing at all. Thats ok, Salmon here has decided to play, and several people from another game I play have also decided to join. Sometimes, you just have to get out there and recruit. My advice, stay the course, and dont get discouraged. Afterall, things worth doing are rarely easy to accomplish. If a spot opens up in my game, I will definatly send ya an invite.

Of course, if you are wanting to try it out, and would like a one shot, let me know. I am sure I can put something together for ya.

Cheers.
TR

kalmarjan
October 5th, 2005, 19:44
Holy friggen moly! 55 people bailing... Are you serious? Man, this is why I don't run campaigns anymore, but Fifty-five? I've never seen a number that huge yet.


Keep in mind that I have been running this campaign since the beginning of February. :)

It is not so much about vision, or conflict, some people just like to hang out for a session or two, and move on. That's the unfortunate reality of online gaming. :(

I am happy that I have my core players, as it is far easier to cater to their needs in the game, as any good DM is to do.

As for PNP gaming, over the years, the biggest group I ever DM'd was 18 players large... (I was playing in a local gaming store, so go figure...) People drop out, get new hobbies, or whatever the reason is. But the game rolls on. The online experience exaggerates this, that's all.

Cheers,

Sandeman

Snikle
October 5th, 2005, 19:46
While I am not, nor have I hard any trouble getting people to purchase and play in my game using FG. I have been contacted in the last month or so by around 5 peopel I have played with preivously and when I mentioned FG and that it was what I was using, all were scared off. Personally I think this is silly thinking, I mean heck the lite version costs less than me taking the family to McDonald's for dinner! But I guess some people are just cheap. LOL

Alkaven
October 5th, 2005, 21:45
Yah, but at least each person gets to eat at that McDonalds for $5. Try taking out four people to play some FG together. That won't cost you less.

I 'usually' aim for core players to start because although the casual gamer just wants to try it out for a short bit, I put alot of work into my adventure designs... Kinda a shame for all those maps and sketches and background and lore entries to go to waste, dontcha think?

What I like to do (as some of you might have noticed in my Broken Mountains post) is translate most of the logs from the game into an actual story, following a simple diagram of course. And since I like being constructive, I build it like I would a program. I do a rough diagram of all the events, and then put each part together then combine them into a chapter.

I treat each stand-alone adventure like a novel kinda. Obviously I can't publish it or anything, but it's fun to tie each player to the grand timeline of the world. And after each adventure, their story is told and carried down to the many generations that follow.

Now if you wanna just... run through a linear story and build a character up to level 20 and fight a big monsterous demon at the end.... Guess I can't really can't help yah. But I do feature some really fun battles. Like fighting two or three hundred enemies.

LeapOfFaith82
October 6th, 2005, 06:59
In my opinion, there are not enough players here. There are indeed more players than DMs, and odds are good DMs play as well, but it took an entire month before I finally got my game going.

I would suggest you try out the demo for a couple days, if you like it, go for it.

Well I hate to say this but bad mouthing the program such as saying its not worth the cash isnt going to help build a bigger player base :( . Second the demo is weak compared to the full version since your very limited to player base since demo's can ony connect to other demo's. :?

Bobndiller all I can say is spread the word but you need to play FG first to see if you like it. I spend $55-60 on a video game that I mostly finish in 5-10hrs. So $35 for software that allows me to play pen and paper with anyone anywhere is worth it for me. I was hesitant at first with it but when I got it I saw its true worth and thats the player base. In order for me to get more out of it I need to spread the word. Tell others on MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, Everquest, and Neverwinter Nights persistant world modules. Usually people there also play D&D and would be interested in the program. One time fee under $40 and unlimited pen and paper play with people all over the world.

Although in return for me spreading the word I expect Smite Works to generously offer more content as free downloads later on. But for them to do so they need a larger player base (although I think more content will induce more purchases :D ). So if you wish D/L the demo but its no where the same as the real game. Most people I know play 2+ games a week on different days, including myself, which was almost impossible when playing pen and paper with others face to face. Post your games on the Forum with enough info to get peoples interest.

Hopefully this helped you in some way.

bobndiller
October 6th, 2005, 12:13
Thx for all the input! At the very least you all prove the community is active and friendly. It seems like most ppl are playing with a few existing friends and then a few they pick up online. In the end I think you're right LeapofFaith- I spend $50 everytime I want to try out a video game I may or may not like so I guess there's no difference here. WotC is really pushing Eberron now. Virtually all the new content they produce is set there. So I figure I need to get familiar with it. I bought the 4 novels that are out and the campaign setting, and now I want to adventure there. So as soon as I can find an Eberron campaign to join, I'll give it a go.

Alkaven
October 6th, 2005, 18:47
Well I hate to say this but bad mouthing the program such as saying its not worth the cash isnt going to help build a bigger player base :( . Second the demo is weak compared to the full version since your very limited to player base since demo's can ony connect to other demo's. :?


Well, it is a demo. Just ask a friend to download it an test it out. That's what I did. We were very pleased with it's performance. It ran fast, not alot of it as automated (a good thing) so we could play by almost any ruleset. The demo showed us practically everything you WILL get from the full version, plus more features.

While it may seem like I'm "bad-mouthing" the application, I'm being honest and unbaised about it, and backing up everything I say with a reason. Everyone should be entitled to their opinion and it's very rude to denounce someone of that as alot of people have done in their replies to my posts.

$60 for a game that has been professionally made using masses of content such as textures, sound effects, music, gameplay mechanics, story-boarding, graphic mechanics, illustrations, and so forth is a fair comparison to an application that has at most three of those design features? I don't think so. Odds are good, if someone buys a copy of that game I was apart of making, I'm going to walk away with 20 cents of that copy. The Smite Works team is not that big, and the application is not even near half as large as a full-blown game's scope.

LeapOfFaith82
October 6th, 2005, 19:49
Well im not denouncing your opinion or anything, everyone has a right to their own opinion. However FG relies heavily on the community. IMO paying a one time fee of $35 to play pen and paper world wide is worth it as I stated before. Although I see the community can spit out tons of custom tokens and such in a very little time I am still wondering what Smite Works has planned in for the future of FG.

LeapOfFaith82
October 6th, 2005, 19:56
Thx for all the input! At the very least you all prove the community is active and friendly. It seems like most ppl are playing with a few existing friends and then a few they pick up online. In the end I think you're right LeapofFaith- I spend $50 everytime I want to try out a video game I may or may not like so I guess there's no difference here. WotC is really pushing Eberron now. Virtually all the new content they produce is set there. So I figure I need to get familiar with it. I bought the 4 novels that are out and the campaign setting, and now I want to adventure there. So as soon as I can find an Eberron campaign to join, I'll give it a go.

Lol Bob, I hate eberron for various reasons. I stick with the "old school" kind of worlds. And believe me there are alot of other games available then Eberron, sometimes what you have to do is reply to older posts or even give the poster a pm. You'd be surprised how many times the poster will reply a spot opened or s/he will put you on a waiting list for a spot. And I'm very happy I could help abit. Perhaps we will see eachother in a game soon. :)

Razaan
October 7th, 2005, 00:16
agreed on the old post responses :D

I posted for a Planescape campaign a while back, and I still get a PM out of the blue every 2 weeks or so. And so far, we've been able to weave folks in and out.

Aladane
October 7th, 2005, 01:12
WotC is really pushing Eberron now. Virtually all the new content they produce is set there. So I figure I need to get familiar with it. I bought the 4 novels that are out and the campaign setting, and now I want to adventure there.

What is the name of these 4 books?

Thx in advance

LeapOfFaith82
October 7th, 2005, 01:14
agreed on the old post responses :D

I posted for a Planescape campaign a while back, and I still get a PM out of the blue every 2 weeks or so. And so far, we've been able to weave folks in and out.

:lol: Yeah thats how I got into alot of the games im playing. I scroll even the older posts and reply or PM the poster. Seems to me alot of DMs and such give up when a post isnt replied to after a few weeks but will still want to run the game they originally posted.

bobndiller
October 7th, 2005, 02:19
The Eberron novels so far are:

The Crimson Talisman (The War-Torn Book 1) - Adrian Cole
Marked for Death (The Lost Mark Book 1) - Matt Forbeck
The Binding Stone (The Dragon Below Book 1) - Don Bassingthwaite
The City of Towers (The Dreaming Dark Book 1) - Keith Baker

Only the first book is out in each series atm but they are all scheduled to release additional books staggered about every 3-6 months. City of Towers is supposed to be really good. I guess it should be seeing as how Keith Baker is one of the people who created Eberron. I normally play Forgotton Realms but I'm pretty jazzed about this new setting. At first it seemed too "flashy" but now I've really warmed up to it. I like how its a mish-mash of everything (cyber-punk, high fantasy, occult, medieval, prehistoric). It seems like you could do virtually anything in this world. At first that sounded way too hodge-podge but having read the campaign setting and two novels now, I see that it somehow holds itself together well. I really look forward to exploring it myself in a game setting.

Aladane
October 7th, 2005, 03:28
Thank you for the book list