Essential Assets and Resources?

[Yehudah]

(If this belongs in customer support feel free to move it.) Apologies ahead of time for poor grammar structure. This was written as It came to me rather than making it attempt to flow.

My potential budget is extremely small, so I need to know what I should know about essential assets I need to run a 5e campaign (designed myself).

I have the Ultimate License and Player's Handbook. I'm guessing it's required for me to buy the MM and DM guide. (I actually have these assets in DnD Beyond so I'm hoping not). I do not know what I need for proper automation.

Are there any assets outside of those manuals I should get?

A rough idea of the setting is generally not aesthetically that similar, unfortunately, to Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, etc. Roughly speaking, 400-800s AD, but fantasy. Late antiquity / early middle ages. It would have dinosaurs/dinosaur-like fauna, along with “giants” of the Biblical variety (see Goliath), dwarves who are more like Neanderthals (they actually would get an intelligence BONUS. They are tinkerers.), an empire which is based off of the Byzantines, many mountains, rivers, and topographical features which facilitate a large number of kingdoms, city-states, and polities. The setting is a fictionalized Mediterranean, possibly with time travel back into an ancient era roughly 2000-600 BC aesthetically where there was lost technology imparted by divine beings which the heroes may be collecting to triumph back in the current era.
Most likely I’m going to simply hollow out everything and just use the setting. I would just use the forgotten realms fauna, and maybe take full plate armor stats and just change the look to something like extremely heavy multilayered lamellar+chainmail.
These are just some ideas of how to make the campaign work without having to literally rewrite D&D because there’s no way I can do that. Things are subject to change.

I wanted to put out this information here so anyone who has suggestions for what I need to buy, and please keep in mind, I am nearly always broke, and I have money to spare only on occasion and not enormous amounts of it.

[Trenloe]

This thread might help: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?32987-What-do-I-need-to-play-5e

[Yehudah]

Okay so based on that thread it's essential for me to get those manuals.
I assume I cannot import pdfs into FG?
@Trenloe

[Trenloe]

The main thing to look at is "What comes with the license?" - this mentions the SRD and D&D Basic rules modules that come with the license. Open those up and see what's there - especially in terms of monsters. Is this enough for you?

And, remember, as you own the MM and DMG elsewhere, you can always enter details from those manually into FG. OK, you may not get all of the automation the others provide (and don't think that FG official products give you 100% automation - nothing in FG has automation for every eventuality). If you're looking to minimize expenditure using the included libraries and entering other stuff manually is the least cost option.

EDIT: and you don't *need* everything in FG. Run with it - just like you would at the table, roll the dice, make calls on the fly - you don't need everything in FG in order for you to play with your group.

[Yehudah]

I'll purchase the MM and DMG as soon as possible.

[Trenloe]

Okay so based on that thread it's essential for me to get those manuals.
I don't think it's "essential" - as you can enter the data manually. It'll save you time having the MM and DMG, but as you've mentioned you're concerned about expenditure, so it's really down to how much is your time worth to you?


I assume I cannot import pdfs into FG?
@Trenloe
Not automatically, but you can do it via copy/paste for the records you want in FG.

[Yehudah]

I don't think it's "essential" - as you can enter the data manually. It'll save you time having the MM and DMG, but as you've mentioned you're concerned about expenditure, so it's really down to how much is your time worth to you?


Not automatically, but you can do it via copy/paste for the records you want in FG.

I've NEVER done this before and am only beginning to learn how the 5e rules work. 99% of my experience with D&D is Baldur's Gate 1/2E, and NWN 3E. I haven't played table top since middle school, and that was 3e. Some other more ancient AD&D computer games as well.

I need all of the assistance I can get. So I will when I as soon as I can.

[Yehudah]

Okay, what about aesthetic stuff?

Maps, Art, Avatars, sets of player and npc icons... anythign at all? I don't even fully understand the store GUI yet.

[Trenloe]

Maps, Art, Avatars, sets of player and npc icons... anythign at all? I don't even fully understand the store GUI yet.
Depends what you're looking for.

None of that stuff is "essential", unless you're looking for a very specific map/token that is already on the store, or running a pre-made adventure.

My advice would be don't buy stuff just for the sake of buying it. Wait until you know you need something specific then go looking. You'll also find many, many map/image resources on the Internet - and you can import maps and tokens into FG. Just try to keep maps/images to 2048x2048 pixels and less than 1MB in file size. Tokens are usually good at 100x100 for medium creatures.

Start by looking for maps and tokens in the Armory sub-forum: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?44-Armory-(campaigns-modules-rulesets-maps-and-tokens)

[Yehudah]

Depends what you're looking for.

None of that stuff is "essential", unless you're looking for a very specific map/token that is already on the store, or running a pre-made adventure.

My advice would be don't buy stuff just for the sake of buying it. Wait until you know you need something specific then go looking. You'll also find many, many map/image resources on the Internet - and you can import maps and tokens into FG. Just try to keep maps/images to 2048x2048 pixels and less than 1MB in file size. Tokens are usually good at 100x100 for medium creatures.

Start by looking for maps and tokens in the Armory sub-forum: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?44-Armory-(campaigns-modules-rulesets-maps-and-tokens)

I mean "essential" subjectively from the experience of veterans of Fantasy Grounds, VTT, Table Top, and Table Top gaming in general!

[Trenloe]

As a reminder to everyone on these forums:

We do not condone or support copyright violations or piracy of any kind - whether for free or not.

Please do not approach people privately to obtain copyright protected material.

@FG Community: If someone approaches you in this vein please report their PM/post (there's a little report "!" icon in the reply to a PM window) to moderators. Thanks.

[Yehudah]

Sorry I was not advocating piracy!

[LordEntrails]

Don't buy anything else. At least not yet. All of the additional purchases are niceties. They save you time, lots and lots of time, but they don't do anything you can't do with time and patience. Play and use what you have, then as you start to get more and more into FG you will want those other things. Besides, maybe your players will gift you something like MTof or Volos so you have more ready to go NPCs. Or because they want to use one of the races or classes etc.

Now, I personally have the essentials bundle and consider everything in it except for SCAG as being very valuable. Not convinced either way on SCAG yet. I also own various modules, most of which I've used or plan to use shortly.

[Yehudah]

Don't buy anything else. At least not yet. All of the additional purchases are niceties. They save you time, lots and lots of time, but they don't do anything you can't do with time and patience. Play and use what you have, then as you start to get more and more into FG you will want those other things. Besides, maybe your players will gift you something like MTof or Volos so you have more ready to go NPCs. Or because they want to use one of the races or classes etc.

Now, I personally have the essentials bundle and consider everything in it except for SCAG as being very valuable. Not convinced either way on SCAG yet. I also own various modules, most of which I've used or plan to use shortly.

Advice is much appreciated. I don't mean to sound lazy, but I prefer to make things as easy on myself as possible up front. I am heavily busy with many things, all at once. Much of what i'm doing is designed to stave off despair and anxiety. I recently beat Baldur's Gate the computer game for the first time in my life. I loved every minute of it. I have not really had much table top but I've always wanted to play it. The cheapest way for me to enjoy D&D is to get heavily discounted old computer games on occasion. (if someone has advice on how to not get massacred in Ravenloft Stone Prophet I would appreciate that lol!) If I did not keep myself very busy, I would sink into extreme, almost unbearable depression.

Table Top has always been prohibitively expensive, and this is the first time i've spent some months trying to find the cheapest possible ways to play it. But I also lack skill, (and unfortunately, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed) and probably would not have the patience to input lots of numbers and calculate things on my own. I actualy did design, back in middle school, and yes I know, I'm 3 decades old now, very simple rule systems because I did not have the funds back then to buy rulebooks either. I suspect they were really awful and imbalanced! Were I able to work, I would be perusing multiple hobbies. Very many people today complain about getting too few hours, small hourly wages, or too many hours! A """"dead end minimum wage part time job""" would be a blessing I wish I had. I've never been good with rules, but when I was a child, I used to write my own stories by pretending with my friend to go on epic adventures. I have made a new home on this forum in part because any dignity I once had is probably long gone.
I have to count my blessings every day. I am lucky to be alive due to my compromised immune system problems.
I want to, and plan on, supporting Smiteworks.

[LordEntrails]

Make sure you check out FG College, fantasygroundscollege.net They will help you get up to speed fast with FG and have lots of resources.

[damned]

Have you looked at the Monsters and Items etc that are included in the Basic Rules (included) and SRD (included)?
As others have suggested if money is tight you have the most important pieces - the license and the players handbook.
You will know when you need/want more material.

[Yehudah]

Have you looked at the Monsters and Items etc that are included in the Basic Rules (included) and SRD (included)?
As others have suggested if money is tight you have the most important pieces - the license and the players handbook.
You will know when you need/want more material.
been on and off the wiki today.

[Yehudah]

Make sure you check out FG College, fantasygroundscollege.net They will help you get up to speed fast with FG and have lots of resources.

gonna check it out!

[damned]

been on and off the wiki today.

Actually activate and open the modules in FG and see what is in them.

[Yehudah]

Actually activate and open the modules in FG and see what is in them.

Alright. Hang on. I'm listneing to a livestream and looking for open source artwork. I'll do that in the near future.

[Yehudah]

Well I'm goofing off with the GUI. I found where npc stats are.

[Yehudah]

Alright thanks a friend throwing me a few bucks, I've bought the MM and DMG. I also got the Unearthed Arcana, but it doesn't seem to give me the option of opening it when starting a new test campaign instance. If it's just some kind of system document though, that would make sense. Don't know.

[JohnD]

Time and effort vs money. Your choice.

[damned]

Alright thanks a friend throwing me a few bucks, I've bought the MM and DMG. I also got the Unearthed Arcana, but it doesn't seem to give me the option of opening it when starting a new test campaign instance. If it's just some kind of system document though, that would make sense. Don't know.

You are going to need to spend some time on learning the UI.

Go into Library >> Modules and activate the UA (and PHB and MM and DMG) there.