What do I need to buy?

[fgeheim]

The world of electronic RPG tools is still very nebulous to me...I'm fairly sure I understand D&D Beyond and want nothing to do with it, so am checking out what else is available.

I watched an example video of Fantasy Grounds and it looks like a nice program...but want to be sure what it actually consists of.

I basically require tokens to be able to accurately portray encounters. But am confused about Licensing and Addons.

I already have many of these Addons as real books and like it that way. Are they required in the same way that they are in D&D Beyond - i.e. that rules and options found in the books are some how required to be able to use them in the program?

[dulux-oz]

Hi fgeheim. and Welcome! to the Community,

Fantasy Grounds (FG) can seem a bit confusing at first, but let me see if I can put it this way: If you think of things like a Video Game System (eg XBox, PS4, etc) then FG is the actual console, and we load up a given Ruleset (Game CD) when we want to play a given Role-Playing Game (RPG). FG comes with the Rulesets for quite a few games (D&D 3rd Ed, 4th Ed, 5th, Pathfinder, etc) and others are available either for purchase (eg Call of Cthulu) or free as a Community Developed Ruleset.

When you play an RPG (on FG or otherwise) you need the actual rules, etc. In the real world these are the hardcopy Rulebooks (or even pdfs), while in the FG world these are Modules. You don't NEED to buy any Modules, as you can enter this info in manually, but the Modules do make things easier.

Finally, there are various "Plug Ins" (known as Extensions) that add more/different features to a given Ruleset (or several Rulesets, if the Extension is written that way). An example is my own DOE: Weather Extension, which adds in a weather system to all the "standard" Rulesets available.

On a related note: If you haven't done so already, let me encourage you 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

[fgeheim]

So if I want to play 5e D&D then I HAVE to buy the PHB and DMG 'modules', even though I already own them? And this means that I CAN'T just use the tokens and maps that I want, and the license for the software?

Thanks for the links but I really don't want to have to wade through a lot of videos just to be able to know the answer to my question. :)

[dulux-oz]

So if I want to play 5e D&D then I HAVE to buy the PHB and DMG 'modules', even though I already own them? And this means that I CAN'T just use the tokens and maps that I want, and the license for the software?

Thanks for the links but I really don't want to have to wade through a lot of videos just to be able to know the answer to my question. :)

No, you don't HAVE to buy them - just enter the info in manually. You can buy them if you want, and they'll save you a heap of time, but your don't HAVE to buy them. :)

[Trenloe]

...just use the tokens and maps that I want, and the license for the software?
If you're just using tokens and maps (either purchased or added yourself) then you don't need any of the 5E DLC, just the license for the GM and any players who might be joining the session to view the maps/tokens. Just load up the token and map graphics into Fantasy Grounds and use them as a battlemap.

[Talyn]

Welcome to the forums!

Also FG comes with the 5E SRD by default, so that content (some classes, races, gear, spells, etc.) is already available and ready to play, just not the whole Player's Handbook. (Just the content that Wizards put into the SRD.) You can enter all the data yourself; several people have done that. It's a matter of spending a little money ($30 full price for PHB, and it goes on sale roughly every 5 weeks-ish) or a lot of time doing it for free. Plus all the rollable tables, and other FG-specific features are already done and ready to roll (pun intended) with the official DLC.

Entering the data yourself can be a rewarding experience, if you're into that sort of thing, and it will certainly get you familiar with where FG stores the various bits of data and you'll be able to zip around pretty quickly, but it's tedious af -- there's just no getting around that one. :)

[LordEntrails]

Both the standard and ultimate licenses come with both the 5E SRD and 5E Basic Rules. Anything else from the PHB or DMG you can enter manually if you want.

You may want to Check out the FG College (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?40020-Join-Fantasy-Grounds-College-Learn-Fantasy-Grounds-learn-D-amp-D-and-then-play!). They are a bunch of friendly folks who can walk you through a demo and show you how things work.

[damned]

The SRD contains a couple of hundred pages of source/reference material and is included for free. The equivalent books contain 2-3x as much info but certainly the SRD (or the Basic rules) provide plenty to get you started.
And yes - if you want the PHB in FG you have to buy it in FG.
If you just want a single class in FG you can buy that single class or you can enter it in manually.

There are lots of variables at play so its hard to answer your question fully without knowing more.

[midas]

Thanks for the links but I really don't want to have to wade through a lot of videos just to be able to know the answer to my question. :)

We tend to give the links just as more info to help you use the product in case you decide to jump into the FG waters. And welcome to the forums!

[Zacchaeus]

You may find this summery (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?32987-What-do-I-need-to-play-5e) useful. (Yes I know it is a link but it does answer all of your questions and also some more that you haven't thought of yet).

[Ector]

Hello, I have the same question so I've guessed that I don't need another thread - and many new users will have the same questions.
I don't play 5E at all. Currently I prefer Pathfinder and Mongoose Traveller. I've got a hoard of rulebooks for both systems. And a month ago I've bought an Ultimate license of Fantasy Grounds.
What do I see? I have only Pathfinder Core Rulebook included, and have to purchase all the other rulebooks/adventures separately. That's a LOT of money. Why does a module adaptation for FG cost almost the same as the printed book? Adaptation is a work, of course, but it still isn't creation, right? And you don't have to pay for printing the books.
As for Traveller, the situation is even worse, as only the Core Rulebook is available (for a price), there are no essential books like High Guard, Central Supply Catalog etc. What to do?

[Fear Grounds]

Why does a module adaptation for FG cost almost the same as the printed book?

Earlier in this thread it was mentioned, to think of Fantasy Grounds as a video game system(Xbox, PlayStation,Switch). Once you get the system, then you have access to all the content available to purchase(game disks). All of the included SRDs that come with the FG purchase, are essentially demo versions of games to try out. These SRDs are all the information that the original publisher has said, can be legally shared without infringing upon their intellectual property licenses.

To expand a little more on that. Let's say, I bought Resident Evil to play on Xbox, but all my friends are playing it on PlayStation. In order to play with my friends, I need to purchase the same game for PlayStation(at full price). Sadly, when we purchase a game once, it does not mean that we can use that game with whichever game systems we want, only the specific game system we purchased it for.

Pathfinder/Starfinder are produced by Paizo. Paizo allows you to link your Paizo and Fantasy Grounds accounts together. When you do this, anything you have purchased from Paizo, results in a discount of the same amount toward it's purchase in Fantasy Grounds. To my knowledge, Paizo is the only game producer that is offering such a deal. Wizards of the Coast(Hazbro) is not allowing cross platform sharing of D&D content, look at Dndbeyond.


As for Traveller, the situation is even worse, as only the Core Rulebook is available (for a price), there are no essential books like High Guard, Central Supply Catalog etc. What to do?

My RPG of choice, would be Vampire the Masquerade, of which there is no SRD for. So I purchased the ruleset. Now I have access to the entire ruleset in the core manual. As this is the only V5 "module" available for purchase, anything outside of the core book, I manually enter, using the core book as a guide. Vampire is produced by Modiphius, and they are generous enough to give you a free PDF of any physical book that you purchase. With the PDF versions of all the physical books I own, it is basically just copying and pasting all of the additional information into Fantasy Grounds. In the short time I have been using Fantasy Grounds, I have already added additional content from three different sourcebooks for Vampire the Masquerade.

I hope that my explanation helps.

[JohnD]

Hello, I have the same question so I've guessed that I don't need another thread - and many new users will have the same questions.
I don't play 5E at all. Currently I prefer Pathfinder and Mongoose Traveller. I've got a hoard of rulebooks for both systems. And a month ago I've bought an Ultimate license of Fantasy Grounds.
What do I see? I have only Pathfinder Core Rulebook included, and have to purchase all the other rulebooks/adventures separately. That's a LOT of money. Why does a module adaptation for FG cost almost the same as the printed book? Adaptation is a work, of course, but it still isn't creation, right? And you don't have to pay for printing the books.
As for Traveller, the situation is even worse, as only the Core Rulebook is available (for a price), there are no essential books like High Guard, Central Supply Catalog etc. What to do?

Entering a book into FG can easily take upwards of several hundred hours. You can do that yourself for yourself for free. Or you can pay to not have to do that.

There's also Smiteworks that probably wants to stay in business and pay employees, and the actual IP holders that need to make a profit out of the equation. Not to mention the actual person who does the work... who by the way is usually getting a few pennies an hour and no that is not an exageration.

[Moon Wizard]

Also, please note that you don't have to enter the entire book to play, if you want to do it yourself. You can always manually enter information on character sheets and NPC sheets as you need it. Before FG was able to get publishers to agree to produce content on FG, I used to play by just entering maps, boxed text, NPCs and Items. There's no need to enter all the reference material, just what you need.

Regards,
JPG

[Ector]

Pathfinder/Starfinder are produced by Paizo. Paizo allows you to link your Paizo and Fantasy Grounds accounts together. When you do this, anything you have purchased from Paizo, results in a discount of the same amount toward it's purchase in Fantasy Grounds. To my knowledge, Paizo is the only game producer that is offering such a deal. Thanks a lot, I've never heard about that and will definitely explore this option.

[Ector]

Also, please note that you don't have to enter the entire book to play, if you want to do it yourself. You can always manually enter information on character sheets and NPC sheets as you need it. Before FG was able to get publishers to agree to produce content on FG, I used to play by just entering maps, boxed text, NPCs and Items. There's no need to enter all the reference material, just what you need.
That's really great.
How about the copyright issues then? Do I have the right to distribute the "manually entered information" from the rulebooks among my players? Among any players? That would completely solve the problem for the community I guess :)

[Fear Grounds]

That's really great.
How about the copyright issues then? Do I have the right to distribute the "manually entered information" from the rulebooks among my players? Among any players? That would completely solve the problem for the community I guess :)

Among your players should not be an issue, as that would still fall under the personal use catagory, providing you are not charging them money for said information.

To distribute the information to "Other players" would require an agreement from the owner of the copyright though. There are several individuals here that are working on various rulesets, and some may be able to help with what you are working on. Including how to get permission to share copyright protected content.

[damned]

Among your players should not be an issue, as that would still fall under the personal use catagory, providing you are not charging them money for said information.

To distribute the information to "Other players" would require an agreement from the owner of the copyright though. There are several individuals here that are working on various rulesets, and some may be able to help with what you are working on. Including how to get permission to share copyright protected content.

No - you cannot share a module file with anyone if it contains copyright material. Sharing it within the game, where the access to it ends when the game table is closed is ok.

[Fear Grounds]

No - you cannot share a module file with anyone if it contains copyright material. Sharing it within the game, where the access to it ends when the game table is closed is ok.

I should have been clearer there. Thank you, for the assist.