New user questions...

[Moorkh]

Hi
I've just recently decided to purchase FG on a number of recommendations, and now I find I have some noob questions I can't find answered on the FAQ. I've looked at some tutorials and how-tos, but that didn't help. Now I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, so please point me the right way if I am mistaken.

I've started trying to get FG to assist my running Dark Sun campaign (using Pathfinder and some house rules...). Unfortunately, I'm getting stuck in several places.
- I'd like to modify some existing pathfinder rules. However, a red lock prevents me from making any changes. Is there a way around this?
- I tried to add new skills, but they don't show up in character creation. What am I missing?
- I've seen videos where class abilities are directly added to a character when dropping a new class into the character form. This doesn't seem to work in my FG, neither with the PFRPG classes nor with my own. Can that be?
- I can see some subfolders in both images and tokens, but I can not create a new one for my campaign in the former (even though I have an image folder in my campaign folder) and in the latter, my campaign's bag does not show up reliably. How is that done?
- I'd like to link to rule information and images wherever practical (I actually get worse at recalling the rules with every passing year) since avoiding to endlessly leaf through a pile of books and notes is my main draw for moving to a digital assistant in the first place. However, I seem to be limited in that I can only create links in certain text tabs, not in forms like an NPC stat sheet. Also, I can't seem to find a way to directly connect an NPC entry to a token, which would make a lot of sense, allowing me to just drag a token from an open NPC sheet. Are there any workarounds?
- I'd like to keep track of my players' movements on a map. Is there an option to move along a grid and have the program measure out the distance as there is in MapTools?

That's all for the moment. I remain unfazed and am making some progress in moving some Dark Sun stuff into FG, but I fear it might be all for nought if I cannot actually use FG to aid my p&p DMing.
Thank you for any and all pointers.

[Zacchaeus]

Hi moorkh welcome to FG.

1. You can't edit anything that is in a reference section of a module, which I think is what you are talking about. Other stuff such as NPCs, items, etc can first be copied (drag and drop back into the same window). You can Rhenish edit the copy.
2. How are you adding the skills? You can add a new skill in a character sheet, but can't have them persist unless you create an extension to add them more permanently. Unless things are different in Pathfinder - I'm not too familiar with that ruleset.
3. This might not work in PF, the videos may have been for the 5e ruleset which has a lot more automation.
3. You creat new groups in the top half of the image folder window. Right click and add new item and type in a name. You can then drag images from another group into the one you created. Also if you have that group open when you add images it will go in that group. Don't create subfolders in the images folder of your campaign (if I understand what you are saying correctly) this will cause issues with linking if you subsequently move the image.
4. You cab drag images or links to the notes tab of an NPC but not the stat block section. Any are that takes formatted text will take a link. To give an NPC a token open your tokens bag and drag a token to the token space on the NPC. You'll need to unlock the NPC for that to work.
5. Right click on your map and select grid then draw a square on the map to whatever size you want (usually 50px). Now drag the players or monster tokens from the Combat Tracker on to the map. Right click on a token and select lock tokens. You now have control over the player's movement. Players drag their token to move and a line showing distance appears. You can approve the move using the middle mouse button.

You'll find more information on all of this in the Wiki.(click the wiki tab at the top of the forum page.)

Edit. Just read number 3 again. Create a folder called 'tokens' in your campaign folder and drop your tokens into that.

[Moorkh]

Thanks for the quick reply. Gotta have an in-depth look at it tomorrow to see if that gets me where I need to go! :)

[LordEntrails]

Welcome to FG and the Forums Moorkh :)

I don't know the answer to all your questions, but will help as I can.


Hi
I've just recently decided to purchase FG on a number of recommendations, and now I find I have some noob questions I can't find answered on the FAQ. I've looked at some tutorials and how-tos, but that didn't help. Now I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, so please point me the right way if I am mistaken.
The House of Healing is generally for technical problems etc. Not a big deal that you post here. But if you post ruleset specific questions in the thread for the ruleset, you'll get those people who are most familiar with the behavior and capabilities of that ruleset.


I've started trying to get FG to assist my running Dark Sun campaign (using Pathfinder and some house rules...). Unfortunately, I'm getting stuck in several places.
- I'd like to modify some existing pathfinder rules. However, a red lock prevents me from making any changes. Is there a way around this?
80% certain on this: You can't modify the purchased content directly, but you can make a copy of it by dragging it back into it's list and then unlocking an modifying the copy.


- I tried to add new skills, but they don't show up in character creation. What am I missing?
Sorry, don't know this one.


- I've seen videos where class abilities are directly added to a character when dropping a new class into the character form. This doesn't seem to work in my FG, neither with the PFRPG classes nor with my own. Can that be?
This behavior is ruleset specific and may not be fully functional in any given ruleset. Make sure you are looking at videos for PF and not 5E. I'm a 5E guy and this works for 5E, but even then their are some things that only show up in the traits and need to have effects and actions manually created for them.


- I can see some subfolders in both images and tokens, but I can not create a new one for my campaign in the former (even though I have an image folder in my campaign folder) and in the latter, my campaign's bag does not show up reliably. How is that done?
98% on this one; images don't support sub-folders at the o/s level. When you add them to the image folder, they will show up in the group (filter) that is active at the time they are added. They can be moved to a custom group at a later time.

Tokens can (and should) be created as token modules. There is a link to instructions how to do that, but not sure what it is. Note that it is not advised that you create numerous tokens in the /shared folder because these will use up excessive memory (process size).


- I'd like to link to rule information and images wherever practical (I actually get worse at recalling the rules with every passing year) since avoiding to endlessly leaf through a pile of books and notes is my main draw for moving to a digital assistant in the first place. However, I seem to be limited in that I can only create links in certain text tabs, not in forms like an NPC stat sheet. Also, I can't seem to find a way to directly connect an NPC entry to a token, which would make a lot of sense, allowing me to just drag a token from an open NPC sheet. Are there any workarounds?
Not all fields support links. You will only be able to drag FG links to some fields. You can also look up the DOE: OLE Extension for linking to outside sources (urls and such).

NPCs are the master record, they have tokens. Tokens don't link to NPCs. So, on the NPC record you drag the token to the NPC, then when you add the npc to the encounter, you can specify the number/quantity of that NPC, you can also at that point change out tokens for each instance. Then you add the token instance from the encounter to the map, and then when you activate that encounter you use the link to add the encounter to the combat tracker it also add the tokens to the map.

Also, the golden rule of FG, always add PC's and NPCs to the map from the CT, never drag the token for anything on the CT to a map from anything other than the CT (or the automated link which adds it to the CT and map at the same time).


- I'd like to keep track of my players' movements on a map. Is there an option to move along a grid and have the program measure out the distance as there is in MapTools?
First, make sure you add an FG grid to the map. Then check the GM options. There is one to require GM to authorize movement. It then gives you the path and the ability to approve movement. There is also a way to hold CTRL or such when moving a toeken to have it calculate the travel distance etc. But I never use it so not sure the correct method.


That's all for the moment. I remain unfazed and am making some progress in moving some Dark Sun stuff into FG, but I fear it might be all for nought if I cannot actually use FG to aid my p&p DMing.
Thank you for any and all pointers.
Keep going and let us know when you can't find the answer to something :)

[Moorkh]

Wow, great and immensely helpful replies, thanks to both of you!



The House of Healing is generally for technical problems etc. Not a big deal that you post here. But if you post ruleset specific questions in the thread for the ruleset, you'll get those people who are most familiar with the behavior and capabilities of that ruleset.


Thanks, I will try to figure out what fits in which forum, then.



1. You can't edit anything that is in a reference section of a module, which I think is what you are talking about. Other stuff such as NPCs, items, etc can first be copied (drag and drop back into the same window). You can Rhenish edit the copy.
2. How are you adding the skills? You can add a new skill in a character sheet, but can't have them persist unless you create an extension to add them more permanently. Unless things are different in Pathfinder - I'm not too familiar with that ruleset.

80% certain on this: You can't modify the purchased content directly, but you can make a copy of it by dragging it back into it's list and then unlocking an modifying the copy.


Neat. Copying seems helpful. Now I just need to get FG to actually make use of what I copy/edited. What did you mean about persisting? And what is meant by extension? Are those mods to the basic functionalities of FG that can't be changed in the regular GM environment?



3. This might not work in PF, the videos may have been for the 5e ruleset which has a lot more automation.

This behavior is ruleset specific and may not be fully functional in any given ruleset. Make sure you are looking at videos for PF and not 5E. I'm a 5E guy and this works for 5E, but even then their are some things that only show up in the traits and need to have effects and actions manually created for them.


I think this might be missing from the "basic PFRPG rules" FG comes with. I thnik the second tab on the right includes automation information, and that is empty for those classes by default.



3. You creat new groups in the top half of the image folder window. Right click and add new item and type in a name. You can then drag images from another group into the one you created. Also if you have that group open when you add images it will go in that group. Don't create subfolders in the images folder of your campaign (if I understand what you are saying correctly) this will cause issues with linking if you subsequently move the image.
Edit. Just read number 3 again. Create a folder called 'tokens' in your campaign folder and drop your tokens into that.

98% on this one; images don't support sub-folders at the o/s level. When you add them to the image folder, they will show up in the group (filter) that is active at the time they are added. They can be moved to a custom group at a later time.


Got that to working as you described, thanks. Not quite intuitive, and somewhat limited in flexibility, but that should work.



4. You cab drag images or links to the notes tab of an NPC but not the stat block section. Any are that takes formatted text will take a link. To give an NPC a token open your tokens bag and drag a token to the token space on the NPC. You'll need to unlock the NPC for that to work.

Tokens can (and should) be created as token modules. There is a link to instructions how to do that, but not sure what it is. Note that it is not advised that you create numerous tokens in the /shared folder because these will use up excessive memory (process size).
NPCs are the master record, they have tokens. Tokens don't link to NPCs. So, on the NPC record you drag the token to the NPC, then when you add the npc to the encounter, you can specify the number/quantity of that NPC, you can also at that point change out tokens for each instance. Then you add the token instance from the encounter to the map, and then when you activate that encounter you use the link to add the encounter to the combat tracker it also add the tokens to the map.


Got it. I hadn't seen that token space at first.




Not all fields support links. You will only be able to drag FG links to some fields. You can also look up the DOE: OLE Extension for linking to outside sources (urls and such).


That's a real bummer. I was planning on adding as much linked information as possible to all my monsters/npcs/etc. in order to avoid having to lose time looking up how this mechanic or that supernatural ability works. Or is there an alternative way to look these up quickly?



Also, the golden rule of FG, always add PC's and NPCs to the map from the CT, never drag the token for anything on the CT to a map from anything other than the CT (or the automated link which adds it to the CT and map at the same time).


I haven't actually taken a look at all at the combat tracker. I'm going to just use FG as a DM tool for regular p&p sessions, so I was going to let players do combat the old-fashioned way. Is the CT going to be of use there?



5. Right click on your map and select grid then draw a square on the map to whatever size you want (usually 50px). Now drag the players or monster tokens from the Combat Tracker on to the map. Right click on a token and select lock tokens. You now have control over the player's movement. Players drag their token to move and a line showing distance appears. You can approve the move using the middle mouse button.

First, make sure you add an FG grid to the map. Then check the GM options. There is one to require GM to authorize movement. It then gives you the path and the ability to approve movement. There is also a way to hold CTRL or such when moving a toeken to have it calculate the travel distance etc. But I never use it so not sure the correct method.


This worked wonderfully. My maps have just become so much more useful!



You'll find more information on all of this in the Wiki.(click the wiki tab at thtop of the forum page.)

Keep going and let us know when you can't find the answer to something :)

[/QUOTE]

I will check out that wiki and be back with more questions if any turn up, but I think I'm set for the moment. Now I just need to enter every piece of Dark Sun stuff into FG....

[Talyn]

Regarding the PFRPG stuff at least, the ruleset itself received some updates a few months ago for the official DLC release, however the SRD modules have not yet been updated to support the new features. Making a character with the SRD modules will "look" funky on the character sheet because some fields won't be updating as a result of that, but you can simply fill in the fields yourself to finish the character. It's what all the PFRPG players had to do for years before Paizo licensed with FG.