Umm Newbie Questions

[Nybbles]

Hey there :)

I have a few teeny tiny questions about Fantasy Grounds, I don't actualy have a copy of it available, but if I like what I hear (and so far I do after some snooping about) I will definately invest in a copy. So any feedback would be most helpful.

1 ... Is this little gem Mac Os X compatible? If not will there be a Mac Os X compatible version available some time?

2 ... Does Fantasy Grounds basically work like MSN, Yahoo or AIM chat programs where you log in, see who's online, what chat rooms/games are open and what not? Or is it some completely different species of chat software?

3 ... I've figured out so far that Fantasy Grounds works for d20, not particularly a huge fan of d20 (although Iron Kingdoms is a cool setting), so what other rpg systems can it be used for?

4 ... Is it compatible with other online chat/rpg type gizmos, just incase someone you want to game with doesn't have it, but they do have some other online chat/rpg type gizmos

Thanks in advance for any help or advice that can be shed into my little dark corner of the world on this Fantasy Grounds stuff.

Cheers!

[SalmonElla]

2) It is a direct connect P2P kind of software. You will need to know the ip or passphrase to get to a game.
3) Any system with a little bit of work. The base setup is d20 compatable but it is changeable if you know any xml ( honestly the xml in FG is pretty standard fare and is easy to work with)
4) not so much. The allure of FG is that it has the ability to share images / battlemats as well as chat, roll dice etc...

[richvalle]

Welcome.

1. No, but maybe in the future.

2. The DM is the Server side and each other player connects to him. Arraingments for the game are made out side FG via email or a website.

3. Not inherently. Some people have made rulesets for other game systems (I saw screen shots of Starwars, an oriental one, 1st Ed Dnd). There has been inqurys about making a Gurps ruleset and others. It gets a little tricky as some of the rulesets are not shareable so if you made it you could not share it with others. Weither you like d20 or not you gotta like that its open.

4. No. Only FG connects with FG. Some folks use other programs WITH FG such as yahoo chat or voice software to talk outside of FG.

Hope that helps.

rv

[Alkaven]

1. Fantasy Grounds was made with a low-level language (like C++) in order to accomodate their graphic quality efficiently, so you can currently only run it in Windows. Smite Works (to my knowledge) hasn't announced yet that there will be a Mac OS X version or whether there is one in the making or not.

4. Fortunately, Fantasy Grounds works great in a windowed mode (which is by default I believe). Which means you can run applications such as yahoo or MSN Messenger outside of it if you wanted.

One of the really nice features on the side I'd like to mention is that it's not completely automated like PCGen. So you can pretty much play ANY ruleset you like using their tools available.

[richvalle]

We are currently in the works of adding more features in the software. After that we will consider using some resources on porting to OS X and Linux. No timeline has been set for this yet, but it won't happen before spring 2005.

I guess Dupre knew what he was talking about when he gave that date.

:)

rv