Requesting a spot of advice

[Dram]

Hello! I'm new to Fantasy Grounds and these here forums. I'm looking for a little bit of purchasing advice. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

The setup;

I have a group that I've been playing with for years. We've finally hit the point where enough of us have split town that we're going digital. We like to play 5e and we tend to rotate DM's.

We're financially stable, but we want to keep costs to a minimum.

The question;

With an ultimate license and the three core books, is it possible to rotate DM's? Can you share the books if you purchase multiple standard licenses? How would you, the fantasy grounds aficionados, tackle this problem?

Thank you for your time and I look forward to being a part of the team!

.

[dulux-oz]

Hi Dram, and Welcome! to the Community,

Your best bet in your situation would be for each of the GMs to take a Standard License (or monthly Subscription). That will allow each of you to GM for the others as and when each desires too.

As far as the books are concerned, what I'd do is have each person who wanted a copy purchase one - but then again I love FG and want to support SmiteWorks :)

You don't need the 3 core books to play - you can enter the info in manually. But if you did want them them no, you can't share them among the GMs but a GM can share a Module with the connected players (while they are connected) - so this might be the way to go for you guys.

Finally, if you haven't done so already, let me encourage you and the rest of your group 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 a Shameless™ Self Plug).

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

Cheers

[Zacchaeus]

Hi Dram welcome to FG and to the Community

Short answer is no, you can't share copyright material. The DM (and only the DM) can share things like the Player's Handbook once players connect to his game. This makes the PHB available to players so they can create characters etc. So if you have rotating DMs then each of you will need the PHB. One method which has been considered by other groups in your situation is to take out an Ultimate Subscription for $10 per month. So Player A who's turn it is to DM takes out a subscription; DMs his game for a couple of months and then cancels the subscription. Player B then takes out a subscription etc. Each Player will still need their own copy of the PHB but everyone will only ever need demo licenses to connect to the one with the license. Note that you won't be able to access your own copies of the PHB whilst you do not have the Ultimate subscription.

If all of you have the Standard license then obviously you can all connect to each other all of the time and you will also be able to fully access your own copies of the PHB all of the time too.

Some further information here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?32987-What-do-I-need-to-play-5e).

[Dram]

Wow, if the breath and quickness of these responses is indicative of the community around here, I may have just found a new home!

Thank you for your advice. Me and mine will have plenty to mull over.

[dulux-oz]

Wow, if the breath and quickness of these responses is indicative of the community around here, I may have just found a new home!

Thank you for your advice. Me and mine will have plenty to mull over.

This Community is unlike ANY other that I've ever been apart of or heard of - it's one of the strengths on FG.

And you're welcome :)

[Nickademus]

You don't need the 3 core books to play - you can enter the info in manually. But if you did want them them no, you can't share them among the GMs but a GM can share a Module with the connected players (while they are connected) - so this might be the way to go for you guys.This. The rulebook modules are nice, but if they are creating a problem with the way you guys play, don't worry about them. Some extra typing is less of a headache (and free).


Finally, if you haven't done so already, let me encourage you and the rest of your group 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).Wait, since when did Dulux start expressing humility? Where is Dulux-Oz and what have you done with him!? I was... expecting... a shameless plug *sniff*

[dulux-oz]

Wait, since when did Dulux start expressing humility? Where is Dulux-Oz and what have you done with him!? I was... expecting... a shameless plug *sniff*

That's been my standard line for almost 2 years - I've got those paragraphs typed up and saved in a file on my HDD and I simply copy and paste them when I need too.

Where you been at, Nick?

And I've always been humble. I'm so humble I'm actually the best at being humble. Its one of my many, many excellent and exceptional qualities. I'm so humble I make Ghandi appear like Hulk Hogan.

And that, my friend, is a Shameless(™) Self-Plug!

[NotRussellCrowe]

Hi, Dram.

I don't see this mentioned elsewhere but a license of Fantasy Grounds comes with the D&D 5e SRD and Basic Rules. All the drag-and-drop functionality of the PHB is included with these but the content, descriptions of monsters and magic items, and pictures are limited. So there is only maybe a few feats and backgrounds as opposed to everything that is included in the PHB for example, but it's enough to get going. You can always manually add in the missing bits like Nickademus suggested and still make use of drag-and-drop (just make sure you word it the same way). This would get you started and may even be enough for some players, depending on what they want to roll/role with. The DM is able to share these with players just like they would share the PHB. You can always check out the Basic Rules on the WotC site, and the SRD can be found by searching Google so you can see ahead of time what you would be missing.

Also, if you are running the WotC-published adventures then they all come with all monster stats and usually pictures and necessary write ups, meaning it's a self-contained purchase, you don't need anything else to run it. However, adventures like Curse of Strahd do reference madness rules/tables in the DMG which I don't believe are in the SRD, but you can ignore things like that, type it in manually if you own the physical book, or ignore it to begin with. The choice is yours! Unfortunately I don't have much experience with third-party adventures to know if they follow the same standard.

For licenses, I believe Steam sells a 4-for-3 bundle of the Standard License.

Anyways, welcome to the forums and don't be afraid to ask a question, there are lots around here who are happy to help out and make sure you have a great game.

Happy gaming!

[Nylanfs]

One option might be the license 4-pack on Steam. One person gets it, gifts the 3 extra to others, all the players chip in for the total amount. The problem becomes if your group total is less than or greater than 8 ppl.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/252690/Fantasy_Grounds/

[Trenloe]

@Dram In case you have't spotted it - the Standard license ("full" license to us old timers) is currently available on sale - $29.95 per license. Great time to get those licenses! :)

[Dram]

@Dram In case you have't spotted it - the Standard license ("full" license to us old timers) is currently available on sale - $29.95 per license. Great time to get those licenses! :)

I did see that. I admit, it may be instrumental to our purchasing decision!

[JohnD]

Do it.

You won't be sorry.