Best way to set up your first Homebrew Adventure

[DM4FUN]

I have portrait images for PCs and NPCs. I have hand drawn maps on graph paper but no idea how to populate them with secret doors, traps, bad guys and treasure. I have images of magic items I have notes for all of it.

What I am wondering is this:

How do I get it all prepped in FG in a clear, organized way so I can click a folder of "Session One" that would have all of those sections set up for me (as I currently have them)?

Would I be better off forgetting FG and just play over Discord with voice chat? Paid a lot of money for an Ultimate License and D&D Essentials Bundle, but it is a very difficult program to learn, but to also organize.

Newbie blues I guess, but I sure hope it gets better.

How do you set up secret doors and traps so players do not see them?

Once discovered, how do you open portions of dungeons up?

Can I draw on the fly as they go?

Most of these questions seem to end in roadblocks, so I am not sure what FG does and does very well exactly and what it simply cannot do?

Thanks for your patient and helpful responses, I do appreciate it!

[Nylanfs]

I recommend this thread. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?33538-Adventure-Module-Creation-Best-Practices

[DM4FUN]

Thank you so much! Printing that guide right now.

[Zacchaeus]

FG Classic has very limited drawing tools so you can't really do anything like add bits to a map on the fly.

What you need are two maps of the same area; one for the Dm which shows all of the secret doors and one for the players which doesn't. Traps are created as NPCs and added to an encounter which in turn is linked to a story entry which is then pinned to the area of the map.

What I would recommend, is that you run one of the published adventures such as Lost Mine of Phandelver or the Dragon of Icespire Peak (which is in the store as D&D Essentials). Both of these are written especially for new DMs and contain a lot of helpful guidance. This way you can see how an adventure is put together and you can then replicate that for your own one. Trying to learn FG and how to get everything into it at the same time is a steep hill to climb. Make things easier on yourself and take it a step at a time.

[DM4FUN]

FG Classic has very limited drawing tools so you can't really do anything like add bits to a map on the fly.

What you need are two maps of the same area; one for the Dm which shows all of the secret doors and one for the players which doesn't. Traps are created as NPCs and added to an encounter which in turn is linked to a story entry which is then pinned to the area of the map.

What I would recommend, is that you run one of the published adventures such as Lost Mine of Phandelver or the Dragon of Icespire Peak (which is in the store as D&D Essentials). Both of these are written especially for new DMs and contain a lot of helpful guidance. This way you can see how an adventure is put together and you can then replicate that for your own one. Trying to learn FG and how to get everything into it at the same time is a steep hill to climb. Make things easier on yourself and take it a step at a time.



ok thanks!

[LordEntrails]

So some of this to me is just organization, and some is FG specific. Let me add my thoughtss on each part. Also, other than what has already been suggested, check out this link, it doesn't specifically answer your questions and I can't think of any "how to organize a campaign" posts, but its valuable (also, I don't see organizing a campaign on paper much different than organizing in FG). https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?36014-GM-Advice


I have portrait images for PCs and NPCs. I have hand drawn maps on graph paper but no idea how to populate them with secret doors, traps, bad guys and treasure. I have images of magic items I have notes for all of it.
PC portraits will go in the <fg data>/portraits folder while NPC images will either go in the tokens folder or images for the campaign (depending if you are just using them for tokens or if you want a link to a full image).



How do I get it all prepped in FG in a clear, organized way so I can click a folder of "Session One" that would have all of those sections set up for me (as I currently have them)?
Generally you are going to use Stories as the content holder for all your information and links to things. These can be organized by groups and then are sorted by name. Note that stories are sorted by name, so it is common practice to do things like prefix them with "01" etc. Also note that the next/previous buttons that are automatically linked in the story entries depend upon this sorting. Though you can always link from one entry to another as desired.

I don't suggest you organize by session, but rather by faction/location/organization. You can also create multiple modules, this helps limit the amount of content that is loaded into the lists. If you were completely detailing a world you could do this for each country/region continent, or perhaps by each era in history etc.

But whatever it is, think that you have 3 levels of organization, the module, the group and the actual story entry.

Within each story entry (most simple a room or location) you can then have all sorts of stuff, including linked to other stories, images, parcels, items, encounters, NPCs, quests, etc. I try to keep each story to a reasonable length and put section headers within it. I don't want to have to scroll through too much when the players enter a tavern or shop or room.



Would I be better off forgetting FG and just play over Discord with voice chat? Paid a lot of money for an Ultimate License and D&D Essentials Bundle, but it is a very difficult program to learn, but to also organize.
IMO, no.


How do you set up secret doors and traps so players do not see them?
Two ways;
1) create two map images, one for the players and one for the GM.
2) use one "player" image/map, but them put pin/story links on the map to a story called "Secret Door" or "Pit Trap" etc that links to a story. Only you (by default) can see pins and you can then open the associated story to see what is not shown on the map.


Once discovered, how do you open portions of dungeons up?
Remove the image map or share the map. Depends on how you have setup your map images. Note that you will want to mask a map (in most cases) before sharing it with players.


Can I draw on the fly as they go?
Sort of... painfully... Don't try :)



Most of these questions seem to end in roadblocks, so I am not sure what FG does and does very well exactly and what it simply cannot do?

Thanks for your patient and helpful responses, I do appreciate it!
Have you taken a class at FG College? I highly recommend it :)

See Also;
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Data_Files_Overview

[mattekure]

I did a series of videos going over everything I could think of that a DM needs to know on how to use FG, setup for a game, and adding custom data. See if any of the videos in the series helps out.


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzjJyt4w-pw0EarfeNDY5zjaBmVgwR2cc

[DM4FUN]

Ok, I will go through vids and links and all that but half the time it is going through a whole lot of time to try to find one second of a thing you are seeking.

Why are NPCs & Monsters all in one? There should be a Monsters tab and an NPCs tab.

Same thing with images, all because I have a book loaded in the library, it messes up what I am trying to sort with my own homebrew campaign.

How do I remove a book from the library once I add it? How can these be kept separate from my own campaign to where I introduce them as I wish?

There should be magic items separate from mundane items, etc.

It is all a mish-mash and so hard to organize in a way where elements are easily found.

But, as you all mentioned, study, study, study... this is the same reason I got rid of that ProFantasy mapping tool. It just is not intuitive, nor does it have capabilities I want it to have.

It seems like the motto is to save prep time, but I have to do my own prep time, read material, then study to put it into FG. That is not a time savings by any stretch of the imagination and will not be even if I can manage to learn this program.

I only came here because the ttrpg area is collapsing for me and thought I might be able to keep it alive with my long distance friends via FG.

[mattekure]

As has been suggested earlier in the thread, I highly recommend check out the Fantasy Grounds College. Its a group of fans that teach others how to use Fantasy Grounds and answer questions. There are classes on how to use the interface to DM and create characters, channels on the discord to ask questions and lots of friendly people willing to answer.

https://fantasygroundscollege.net/

[DM4FUN]

As has been suggested earlier in the thread, I highly recommend check out the Fantasy Grounds College. Its a group of fans that teach others how to use Fantasy Grounds and answer questions. There are classes on how to use the interface to DM and create characters, channels on the discord to ask questions and lots of friendly people willing to answer.

https://fantasygroundscollege.net/

Ok tried to enroll. I know my password. But I get this: ERROR: The username or password you entered is incorrect. Lost your password?

It is the same one to login to this forum correct? I have done it multiple times, same error.

Please advise.

[mattekure]

Why are NPCs & Monsters all in one? There should be a Monsters tab and an NPCs tab.
NPC's and Monsters are fundamentally the same thing. Monsters are just a sub-grouping of NPC's. conceptually everything that is "alive" in a campaign that isnt a Player Character, is a Non-Player Character. And all NPC's, including monsters have the same type of information in their stat block. When you load a module in your library, it will add all of the entries in it into a group. At the top of the NPC record window is a group dropdown, so you can restrict it by book. You can also create your own groups for your campaign NPCs and organize them there.

Same thing with images, all because I have a book loaded in the library, it messes up what I am trying to sort with my own homebrew campaign.
As with the NPC's, the images from a loaded module/book are organized in groups. You can create your own groups, or filter the list by the group/module you want to see.

How do I remove a book from the library once I add it? How can these be kept separate from my own campaign to where I introduce them as I wish?
To unload a book, you return to the library. next to the loaded book will be an "Unload" button.

There should be magic items separate from mundane items, etc.
Again, as with NPC records, all Items, whether mundane or magical share the same basic underlying properties. So they are a single record type. Mundane items are normally found in the Players Handbook, Magic items in the DMG. So you can filter the group based on that to restrict what you see.

I only came here because the ttrpg area is collapsing for me and thought I might be able to keep it alive with my long distance friends via FG.
I also came here because FG made it possible to continue playing my favorite RPGs with my friends who are now spread across the world. Take a small bit of time to learn it, and I think you will find that FG is an amazing tool for playing.

[mattekure]

Ok tried to enroll. I know my password. But I get this: ERROR: The username or password you entered is incorrect. Lost your password?

It is the same one to login to this forum correct? I have done it multiple times, same error.

Please advise.

the FGC website is not officially affiliated with Fantasy Grounds or the parent company. Its a group by fans. so the forum password here wont work there. Check out the discord as thats the primary communication channel used for classes and answering questions. The link is right on the front page of the website.

[damned]

Ok, I will go through vids and links and all that but half the time it is going through a whole lot of time to try to find one second of a thing you are seeking.

Why are NPCs & Monsters all in one? There should be a Monsters tab and an NPCs tab.

Same thing with images, all because I have a book loaded in the library, it messes up what I am trying to sort with my own homebrew campaign.

How do I remove a book from the library once I add it? How can these be kept separate from my own campaign to where I introduce them as I wish?

There should be magic items separate from mundane items, etc.

It is all a mish-mash and so hard to organize in a way where elements are easily found.

But, as you all mentioned, study, study, study... this is the same reason I got rid of that ProFantasy mapping tool. It just is not intuitive, nor does it have capabilities I want it to have.

It seems like the motto is to save prep time, but I have to do my own prep time, read material, then study to put it into FG. That is not a time savings by any stretch of the imagination and will not be even if I can manage to learn this program.

I only came here because the ttrpg area is collapsing for me and thought I might be able to keep it alive with my long distance friends via FG.

When you use a new tool sometime you need to adjust your workflow and/or thinking to work with the tool rather than expecting the tool to know how you work.

There are thousands of groups using this tool to run games with people all over the world.

It is possible its not the tool for you but you will likely need to invest some time in learning the tool to know...

[DM4FUN]

Ok, first off, thank you all so very much! Awesome community. Very patient with newbies, which can be tough. So, thank you!

I have had time to go over some of the information and videos and ... WOW! FG really has the capabilities I am looking for but it is definitely going to take more learning and time on my end to master it.

Thanks again all, I truly appreciate your friendly guidance!!!

[JohnD]

I would suggest to not feel like you need to use all the bells and whistles from day 1. Start with basics and add extra stuff as you go.

Start with one story entry to set up your opening scene. Add a few NPCs or an encounter. Figure out how a treasure parcel works. Etc....

[damned]

Same as JohnD says. Dont try to become Master quickly. Its unnecessary.

Learn how to build a PC
Learn how to share maps and story entries including masking and grids for maps and chat bubbles for story
Learn how to do combat including targeting, next turn and running NPCs from the Combat Tracker
Learn how to add a modifier prior to a roll

Leave everything else - especially effects - until you and your group have got things happening pretty smoothly

[Valyar]

Also reading the program’s user manual helps a lot. :)

[DM4FUN]

Yeah I hear you. Takes way more time to try to fight with this thing than to just sit at a table to play. But since I cannot do that, this is the best I have to go on now I guess.

[damned]

Got 30mins?

[LordEntrails]

Don't try to figure out FG without using the resources available. If you like to read, then go for the user manual. If you like videos check out You Tube. If you want demonstrations go to FG College. Everyone learns differently so their are lots of resources. But which ever you use, it will be much much faster than trying to figure it out by poking around.

Once you get the basics down, then you can learn more by poking around. But you have to understand the FG UI approach and how things are done before any or that makes sense. And for most people, FG is too powerful and unique to just make sense the first time you launch it.

[JohnD]

FG is an extremely powerful software application. Any powerful program has a learning curve which requires time, effort and willingness to expend the first two items in this list.