FG Usage With In Person Games?

[QueueAK]

I've been away from D&D for a while, played 5E gathered a few of the books. I'm looking to DM for some friends and I had it in the back of my mind for a long time to build a gaming table with an LCD centered in it. DMing would give me the reason to finally build one.

Now that 5E is SRD I'm looking at software options. FG seems to be the software which has the most content and yet manages to be lower priced on official content as well.

I envision using FG to control the maps, fog of war, player minis, and monster tokens. Pretty much the rest I want to leave to pen and paper. Is this feasible or should I go fully electronic if I use FG?

Campaigns digital or hard copy?

[Trenloe]

Welcome to the forums.

Quite a few people use FG exactly like that. Including me.

Some photos and an extension to help with sizing maps here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?33834-Map-resize-to-TV-resolution-for-Face-To-Face-games

Further discussion here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?25600-Using-FG-at-the-tabletop

[QueueAK]

I saw that "at the table" thread but it seems to be mostly before the 5E content was integrated. The map resize extension looks great and I'd definitely use it

Would anything be gained or lost by doing the digital campaign content? If I buy Volo's for instance, can it be read just like the hard copy as well as searched and indexed electronically?

I watched the video for Lost Mines of Phandelver and it seems that it is the starter set in its entirety. Am I right in assuming that the books are completely recreated and enhanced with the digital module?

I've got a start on hard copy books right now: PHB, DMG, MM. I was pondering buying Volo's, Xanathar's, and the Sword Coast Guide, but would I need to bother if I bought them electronically?

I'm trying to see how deep this rabbit hole goes and which hole I should shovel the money into. Thanks for putting up with the newb questions, I just wasn't finding complete answers with searches.

[LordEntrails]

Yes, the books are digitally recreated in full. Everything that is in a 5E print product is in FG in at least one way, many are even enhanced with FG such as through the use of map pins/links, Story Templates, and the Item Forge.

Their is no PDF version in FG, but all of the recent 5E items and all the reference (i.e. non-adventure) products have what is called the Reference Manual. It is a digital book type format that can be read like a book (it's how I read them) and can be searched. Unfortunately, their is no built in book mark function, but work arounds exist.

For reference, everything I own in 5E I only own in FG. And I'm quite happy with that.

[JohnD]

For reference, everything I own in 5E I only own in FG. And I'm quite happy with that.

Same here.

[TMO]

I saw that "at the table" thread but it seems to be mostly before the 5E content was integrated. The map resize extension looks great and I'd definitely use it

Would anything be gained or lost by doing the digital campaign content? If I buy Volo's for instance, can it be read just like the hard copy as well as searched and indexed electronically?

I watched the video for Lost Mines of Phandelver and it seems that it is the starter set in its entirety. Am I right in assuming that the books are completely recreated and enhanced with the digital module?

I've got a start on hard copy books right now: PHB, DMG, MM. I was pondering buying Volo's, Xanathar's, and the Sword Coast Guide, but would I need to bother if I bought them electronically?

I'm trying to see how deep this rabbit hole goes and which hole I should shovel the money into. Thanks for putting up with the newb questions, I just wasn't finding complete answers with searches.

I concur with LordEntrails regarding his explanation of what you get with the FG ports of each D&D module. As he well put, for all intents and purposes you get everything in the FG versions as you would in the hard copies.

Unlike my esteemed colleagues, however, I own everything in both FG and hard copy. Perhaps it's my age (50), but I simply can't navigate the digital content with the same ease I can with the hard copies. I don't think it is simply a matter of digital versus hard copy (I read and work with eBooks all the time) but it's that these digital assets are disassembled for game play purposes. Also, one must always run FG to get access to them. This means they are not as portable as I would like. BTW, this is not a dig against FG. I'm just pointing out why I have not been able to cope with FG content only. I'm the poor unfortunate sap who has purchased two of everything (sometimes 3 since I got the limited editions Volo's and Xanathar's in additional to the regular publications). :p

[Trenloe]

I don't think it is simply a matter of digital versus hard copy (I read and work with eBooks all the time) but it's that these digital assets are disassembled for game play purposes.
With the recent 5E releases (and a lot of other recent releases/updates) the FG product contains a library "Reference Manual" that is essentially the base product recreated within FG with similar formatting. This allows a read-through similar to having the actual base product. Yes, on top of that the product is also disassembled into the FG components (maps/images, items, NPCs, tables, etc.) needed to run the product in FG.

For example, see the 4th screenshot which shows the "Reference" window here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/product.xcp?id=WOTC5EPHBDELUXE

And screenshots 1,2 & 5 here - the right hand window shows an example of the formatted reference manual: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/product.xcp?id=WOTC5EVGM


Also, one must always run FG to get access to them.
Yep, that's the main issue a lot of people have with the reference manual.

[QueueAK]

I've been looking at the prices and while the full bundle is spendy it's a lot cheaper than the books or the digital content individually. What's the opinion on bundle vs individual purchases? Does the complete bundle via Steam get upgraded with new books as it comes out or do they need to be purchased later?

[JohnD]

I've been looking at the prices and while the full bundle is spendy it's a lot cheaper than the books or the digital content individually. What's the opinion on bundle vs individual purchases? Does the complete bundle via Steam get upgraded with new books as it comes out or do they need to be purchased later?

Yes if you have the bundle you get the preferential pricing on all subsequent books.

Edit; as long as when you buy them you are again completing the bundle.

[damned]

I've been looking at the prices and while the full bundle is spendy it's a lot cheaper than the books or the digital content individually. What's the opinion on bundle vs individual purchases? Does the complete bundle via Steam get upgraded with new books as it comes out or do they need to be purchased later?

I was quite surprised at how many people go the Complete the Bundle route.
It seems to be quite popular.
I myself stick to the books Im using.
Buying the bundle does give you a significant additional saving.
The content is regularly updated - by this stage most of the updates are now just typo fixes etc and adding in official errata.

[LordEntrails]

Just in case it wasn't clear, the bundle price is for what's available now. When new products comes out you will have to buy them all to keep getting the bundle pricing.


You can also get the bundle at a later date, and just buy those things you don't already have, effectively getting 25% off the price of the items remaining to complete your bundle.

[QueueAK]

Just in case it wasn't clear, the bundle price is for what's available now. When new products comes out you will have to buy them all to keep getting the bundle pricing.


You can also get the bundle at a later date, and just buy those things you don't already have, effectively getting 25% off the price of the items remaining to complete your bundle.

Great, that's what I was hoping for. I doubted that additional books would be added in free, but at bundle discount prices that is great.