How do you copy Notes from one campaign to another?

[Minty23185Fresh]

If I add some notes to one campaign and would like to use them in another, is there an easy way to do so?

I started two instances of Fantasy Grounds and tried to drag a link from one to the other - it didn't work.

Module export would work, I suppose, if I move the Note from Notes to Story. Or I could copy a portion of the db.xml from one campaign to the other (yuck!).

Is the simple solution eluding me?

[LordEntrails]

Copy / paste the text of each note? Otherwise xml. Notes are not designed to be moved between campaign :O

[damned]

Minty just do it in the xml.
And stop using notes!

[Andraax]

Notes are for players, so they are normally limited to one campaign.

[Minty23185Fresh]

@damed and Andraax
My mind is not a sponge anymore, it’s more like a sieve. I use Notes for quick vectors (links) to say, something like, the descriptions of the schools of magic. I can’t keep that in my head. Ya can’t just put a pin on a map or a link in the story for something like that. Players like to use detect magic at the most interesting times.

[JohnQPublic]

Agreeing with the others saying 'xml'. Use Notepad++ or somesuch and copy the entire section. Works with calendar and party inventory too.

[Trenloe]

Ya can’t just put ... a link in the story for something like that.
I'm confused by this statement... You absolutely can put a link in a story.

A "Notes" entry uses the FG formattedtext control for the data it contains. So does the story entry. They're actually pretty much exactly the same in terms of links and data you can store in them. The main difference being that story entries are designed for GMs and can be managed in groups and exported into a module.

[Andraax]

@damed and Andraax
My mind is not a sponge anymore, it’s more like a sieve. I use Notes for quick vectors (links) to say, something like, the descriptions of the schools of magic. I can’t keep that in my head. Ya can’t just put a pin on a map or a link in the story for something like that. Players like to use detect magic at the most interesting times.

So, what's wrong with putting that info into a story entry?

[damned]

Hey Minty - totally agree - need extra notes etc - just put them in a Story entry rather than a Notes entry. Otherwise continue as usual.

[Zacchaeus]

Create a story called DMs Crib sheet or some such. Pin all the things you think you might want to reference (like the index at the end of the PHB which does exactly this) and then pin the story entry to one of your quick slots.

[ScottFromPortland]

Trying to port some key Notes from my Book 1 Campaign, into my new Book 2 Campaign.
I can't open 2 instances of FG at once to copy/paste them across.
Do I have to open Book 1, make a bunch of text files & lose all formatting when I paste those text files into Book 2 as Notes? Or is there a better way?
I see cryptic references above to using .XML files to accomplish this. I'm so tired of researching FG threads hunting for how to do things. *sigh* But can someone give me a link so I can put in a some frustrating time figuring out how to export Book 1 > Notes to .XML, then import those .XML into Book 2 > Notes?

Sure do hate hunting internet forums to figure out how to do things in FG. 'Specially when the forum conversations are outdated due to version upgrades.
Very dissatisfied with FG's approach on "How To..." do almost anything: "Scour the internet for hours. Sometimes it works."

[damned]

Hi Scott.

Notes are not recommended for GM use. They are meant to be a Player resource. Notes do NOT export.
Story records export. Please use Story records for this going forward and you can simply export the records and load them into your next campaign, below are links on Exporting and building modules:

https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/996644347/Building+Modules+-+Overview
https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/2032304129/Reference+Manual+Builder

If you want to copy the notes from the database directly close all instances of FG.

Open your FG Data folder (icon on the FG splash screen, top left) and then go to campaigns and your campaign folder.
Make a backup copy of db.xml and then open the original in a text editor

Locate the notes section. It looks like this:

<notes>
<id-00001>
<name type="string">My Note</name>
<text type="formattedtext">
<p />
</text>
<id-00002>
<name type="string">Another Note</name>
<text type="formattedtext">
<p />
</text>
</id-00002>
</notes>


If your new/target campaign has no notes then do the same thing with your target campaign (backup db.xml and then edit the original) and paste the whole notes section in. If some notes already exist you will need to give them unique ids (tag at start and end of each note).

Save the target db.xml and load that campaign up.

Again - dont use Notes in future.

Good luck.

[Zarestia]

I can't open 2 instances of FG at once to copy/paste them across.
You can with FGU, but you lose formatting while copying to another instance. Do you use FGC? I don't know if that works there.

Otherwise, open the db.xml of your book 1 campaign with a text editor, notepad++ is free and works good with xml files.
Then search for the notes section and copy everything from <notes> to </notes>:
https://i.imgur.com/9rILaBW.png

Then open the db.xml of your book 2 campaign and paste them in the same place.
Do all this while Fantasy Grounds is closed.

Edit: Or see what damned wrote a second after me :D

[LordEntrails]

Trying to port some key Notes from my Book 1 Campaign, into my new Book 2 Campaign.
I can't open 2 instances of FG at once to copy/paste them across.
Why not? Are you getting errors? On Windows you can right click on the task bar and simple start a second instance. On Macs you have to change a setting to allow multiple instances of the same program. It's a Mac thing. Sorry, but I don't know more than that :(


Do I have to open Book 1, make a bunch of text files & lose all formatting when I paste those text files into Book 2 as Notes? Or is there a better way? You can do that, but you shouldn't have to. Open a second instance of FG.


I see cryptic references above to using .XML files to accomplish this. I'm so tired of researching FG threads hunting for how to do things. *sigh* But can someone give me a link so I can put in a some frustrating time figuring out how to export Book 1 > Notes to .XML, then import those .XML into Book 2 > Notes?
Yes you can do it that way. But if you are not comfortable editing xml files and understanding how not to corrupt them etc, I would not recommend that approach.


Sure do hate hunting internet forums to figure out how to do things in FG. 'Specially when the forum conversations are outdated due to version upgrades.
Very dissatisfied with FG's approach on "How To..." do almost anything: "Scour the internet for hours. Sometimes it works."
The Help Manual and Wiki are kept pretty much up to date (they may lag a short time given how things are constantly being updated, but they do get updated regularly.). See the Help link at the top of the forums.

[Zacchaeus]

Another way to do it is copy the text from notes and paste into story or reference manual entries (text formatting will be retained) and then export those pages to a module.

You could also copy the db.xml file from the campaign your notes are in into another campaign (overwriting the db.xml file in that campaign. Open up the second campaign and delete everything in it (except the notes of course).

As others have said though, going forward don’t use notes for anything you want to export. Use story or reference entries.

[ScottFromPortland]

> "Don't use Notes."
What a lousy solution to the difficulty of exporting Notes. :( Very typical of this program and this community, though. Yuck.

I use Notes so that Players can access them. Various journals, diaries, and in-character notes with images attached. Doing that with Story entries doesn't allow me to share it with them, and it doesn't allow them to pull up the various Notes at their convenience. Notes work perfectly, so I use them. Even though the prevailing opinion seems to be that they're not super-useful for DMs, I find them to be super useful, and I use them a lot. "Don't do that anymore" is a lame solution and I reject it.
Unless there's a way to use Stories that way?... but then I'd have my Player-materials mixed in with my DM-materials, which are already complex 'cause they have to have a numeric prefix or they'll be a scattered mess. So, no... Player handouts as Story would suck. Player handouts as Notes works great, until I have to bring them across to another module.
Any other proposed solutions for Journals, Diaries, Session Logs, and In-Character notes with links to images, maps, and other Notes? If I don't use Notes for these purposes going forward, what might I use instead?

> You can with FGU (open multiple FG instances)
Perhaps you can, but I cannot.
I use FGU.
"Cloud server already exists for your Fantasy Grounds account. Unable to start server."

> Otherwise, open the db.xml of your book 1 campaign with a text editor, notepad++ is free and works good with xml files. Then search for the notes section and copy everything from <notes> to </notes>
Thank you. This is a super clunky solution, but it keeps the FG devs from having to lift a finger, and that seems to be the established protocol here for reasons that baffle me.
"Our program sucks, but helpful users and devs have come up with lots of band-aids and workarounds that you can track down if you expend enough effort."
Grade-A usability, nice work, Fantasy Grounds. ;) Not what I'd expect from a fiendishly expensive application. But it's what's reliably delivered here. It astounds me how many people accept this.

*sigh* I opened the db.xml of my Book 1 campaign. There are hundreds of mentions of "notes" in the file. I have copious notes on a great many things in the campaign, the PCs, the NPCs, etc.
Ok, let's look for <notes> and </notes>... there we go.
*sigh* Ok, that lets me copy the entire Notes from Book 2 and overwrite the Notes in Book 1 that I've already set up. I only need about a dozen of the ~50 notes from Book 1. Most of them are Session Logs that oughtta stay in Book 1.
So, chopping up the stuff between <notes> and </notes> is one error-prone and time-consuming semi-solution. Yuck.

> You can do that, but you shouldn't have to. Open a second instance of FG.
Perhaps you missed the part where I said I couldn't do that?... or perhaps I'm unable to figure out how to do that, which amounts to the same thing.
If it's more complex than just starting another instance of FG, I eagerly await more frustrating time spent figuring out how to get that to work.

> But if you are not comfortable editing xml files and understanding how not to corrupt them etc, I would not recommend that approach.
I've put in a lot of time in career with complex xml editing. I'm not excited to dive into it here.
It's a complex approach if I've gotta isolate and probably re-number the Notes that I wish to bring across. They're scattered amongst the notes that ought to remain in Book 1.
I know, I know. "Just don't use Notes." Some of Fantasy Grounds' ineptitudes are best "solved" by simply not using them. Others are "solved" with clunky and error-prone workarounds. Rarely is an elegant, actual solution found. Doesn't sound like there's one here. "Don't use it" or "spend a bunch of time parsing xml segments." Yay.

> Another way to do it is copy the text from notes and paste into story or reference manual entries (text formatting will be retained) and then export those pages to a module.
How clunky this sounds, but it makes sense.
Now I get to struggle through forums to try to figure out the up-to-date way to accomplish the above. There's no way I'm gonna get this new Campaign playable by tomorrow, even though I've spent all day on it already.
I really hate Fantasy Grounds every time I try to do something I've not spent a lot of time doing already.

Can someone point me toward whatever thread(s) tell how to export my newly-created Story pages from the Book 1 module to the Book 2 module?

> You could also copy the db.xml file from the campaign your notes are in into another campaign (overwriting the db.xml file in that campaign. Open up the second campaign and delete everything in it (except the notes of course).
This doesn't sound like it will let me pull 1/3 of the Notes forward into Book 2, either.

> As others have said though, going forward don’t use notes for anything you want to export. Use story or reference entries.
It's amazing that the primary "solution" offered is "Just don't use Notes, in case they carry between modules."
No more journals, no more Player handouts of information they can update and reference as needed? No more lists of links to maps & graphics & Session Log Notes, that Players can read, edit, and even create by themselves?
Notes work very well for all of this.
Just sacrifice the functionality 'cause it's designed to be thrown away between modules? Delightfully elegant solution, sure to be a hit with everyone who's found Notes to be useful.
This platform sucks, painfully. :(

[ScottFromPortland]

As I'm getting into parsing through this XML, it looks like a lot of this isn't gonna work in Book 2:

<h>The Dungeons Beneath Castle Hydell</h>
<linklist>
<link class="imagewindow" recordname="image.id-00046" public="true">*Map : 130 <b>Hydell Courtyard Player Map</b></link>
<link class="imagewindow" recordname="image.id-00045" public="true">*Map: 130 <b>Hydell Courtyard Ground Player Map</b></link>
<link class="imagewindow" recordname="image.id-00060" public="true">*Map - <b>Hydell Player Map </b>Fragment from plundered Miners Guild office</link>
<link class="imagewindow" recordname="image.id-00048" public="true">*Map: 131 <b>Hydell Level 1 Map</b></link>
<link class="imagewindow" recordname="image.id-00067" public="true">*Map: 132 <b>Hydell Level 2 Map</b></link>
<link class="" recordname="" />
</linklist>

So it looks like all of my Players' complex notes and journals and stuff simply aren't going to work anymore, and I shouldn't use Notes anymore, and FG simply utterly fails to support complex notes and journals across modules.
Please advise if I'm mistaken and all of this isn't lost. Or even if it is, but there's a way to implement it going forward that won't be lost between Book 2 and Book 3.

[damned]

Notes are intentionally designed not to Export.
Its easy enough to code it but they are not meant to be used for what you are using them for.
They are meant as a Player tool.
Players should use Notes.
But there is very little reason for players to take their notes from one campaign into another.

There is nothing that you as a GM cant do with Stories that you can do with GM created Notes.
If a player creates a Note they can edit it and you can too.
But only if a player creates it.

Create a Group in Stories called
99. Player Handouts
and create the "notes" in there. share them to players individually or globally.

If you want an easy way to fix your notes challenge.
Copy the Notes data from Source campaign as described above.
Paste it into a new blank notepad file.

Do a find/replace on the whole page
find: id-
replace: id-1

then copy it all - except for the start and end notes tags
and paste it before the closing notes tag (</notes>) in your target file

The error message you are getting on Instance 2 is pretty self explanatory. Change the 2nd campaign to LAN while you are just copying data, set it back to Cloud before your next game session.

What is Book 1 and what is Book 2? Is it the same party continuing on to new Adventures? If so just load the new adventure module in the same campaign. Nothing to transfer. If it is a different group or a different adventure and you are wanting to transfer data between the campaigns you should probably do things this way: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?33538-Adventure-Module-Creation-Best-Practices

You might find Player Agency useful

[damned]

As I'm getting into parsing through this XML, it looks like a lot of this isn't gonna work in Book 2:

<h>The Dungeons Beneath Castle Hydell</h>
<linklist>
<link class="imagewindow" recordname="image.id-00046" public="true">*Map : 130 <b>Hydell Courtyard Player Map</b></link>
<link class="imagewindow" recordname="image.id-00045" public="true">*Map: 130 <b>Hydell Courtyard Ground Player Map</b></link>
<link class="imagewindow" recordname="image.id-00060" public="true">*Map - <b>Hydell Player Map </b>Fragment from plundered Miners Guild office</link>
<link class="imagewindow" recordname="image.id-00048" public="true">*Map: 131 <b>Hydell Level 1 Map</b></link>
<link class="imagewindow" recordname="image.id-00067" public="true">*Map: 132 <b>Hydell Level 2 Map</b></link>
<link class="" recordname="" />
</linklist>

So it looks like all of my Players' complex notes and journals and stuff simply aren't going to work anymore, and I shouldn't use Notes anymore, and FG simply utterly fails to support complex notes and journals across modules.
Please advise if I'm mistaken and all of this isn't lost. Or even if it is, but there's a way to implement it going forward that won't be lost between Book 2 and Book 3.


Those are links to image resources in another adventure module.
Why do you need to carry these to a new campaign?

Notes are for players.
You shouldnt use Notes for anything you want to keep.
Players should use notes.

[LordEntrails]

Everything you can do with a Note, you can do with a story, including sharing with players. Plus Stories can be exported into modules, Notes can not. Also, to keep your Player facing Stories separate from your DM Stories, put them into different Groups. Stories have groups, Notes do not.

Notes are designed to be created by players in a specific campaign. Stories are designed to be created by GMs and shared with players as needed, as well as being portable to other campaigns through the use of module export. And importantly, Stories have groups/categories. (See link in my sig at Adventure Module Creation for ideas about "Development" campaigns).

You don't have to use either tool (Notes & Stories) as designed, but they have the capabilities they do because of what they are designed to do. Using a feature in a way not designed is fine, but should come as no surprise when it doesn't work well for an unintended solution.

When you try to open a second instance of FG, if you want it to be another host/GM instance, then you have to select LAN and not Cloud. It is true you can only have one Cloud instance, but you can have as many local instances as you desire.

So, I would recommend using one of the following two options:

Option 1:
Start your FG campaign Game #1
Start a second instance of FG Game #2, and select LAN for Server Type
Copy the text of the notes from Game #1 to Game #2

Option 2:
Start your FG campaign Game #1
Copy all the desired Notes into Stories. Put the stories into Groups by the Story group Pull down and click the green Add Category button, give it a name (Player Stories)
Type '/export' in the chat window
Drag the story entries that you want to export into the export window
Give the module a name and other required fields
(Note, if you chose the Player Module option, players can load the entire module per the steps below)
Export
Exit your campaign
Start Game #2
Select Library > Modules >Activation
Load your new module
Share the desired stories

[ScottFromPortland]

> But there is very little reason for players to take their notes from one campaign into another.
Did you not notice the reasons I listed? Perhaps you discounted them?

> There is nothing that you as a GM cant do with Stories that you can do with GM created Notes.
I'm excited to hear that there's nothing as I as a GM can't do with Stories that I can do with GM created Notes! Please explain how to accomplish the following tasks, that I currently use Notes for:

How can I make Story lists of links that the Players can access to find maps and other graphics?
How can I make Story items for Session Logs that Players can look back over to see what happened in previous Sessions? (It isn't important for this category to export across modules.)
How can I make Story items for common tables and procedures that the Players and I can reference when we need refreshers on 5th edition's rules for Lockpicking, Traps, Illusions, etc.
How can I make Story items with in-character journal entries, sketchbooks, and other handouts for Players to keep and reference at their convenience?
How can I make Story items with Magic Item Wishlists & Group Treasure for all Players to access at their convenience?

I can clearly see how to use Story items for Future Session Notes, and Past Story Background archive, which I've been storing as Notes.
If Stories can really work for all of the above, then I'm happy to be mistaken about how Notes & Stories work, and I'll put in time transferring my Notes to Stories. Sounds clunky and time-consuming, but that's par for the course with this Application.
And Stories will transfer links to graphics (mostly maps) when I import them into the next module in the campaign, correct?

> If you want an easy way to fix your notes challenge.
> Copy the Notes data from Source campaign as described above.
> Paste it into a new blank notepad file.
> Do a find/replace on the whole page
> find: id-
> replace: id-1
> then copy it all - except for the start and end notes tags and paste it before the closing notes tag (</notes>) in your target file
Perhaps I didn't make it clear that I have about a dozen Notes that I need to export, out of the ~50 Notes that are mostly Session Logs, and can stay in Book 1.
These dozen key Notes are scattered all throughout the xml, apparently in the order they were created. Something as simple as a Find/Replace doesn't work.
I spent the last hour and a half scanning through the ~50 notes in Story 1's xml, renumbering them, and pasting them into Story 2's xml. It doesn't seem to have broken it... yay!

I've found this to be the usual solution to FG challenges: spend frustrating time tracking out how, then spend hours rebuilding the wheel, hoping not to break anything. Why is this the solution?... 'cause FG has zero interest in elegant solutions, they'd much rather the user do all the work to offset the application's handicaps.
Yuck.
This program would suck even if it <i>wasn't</i> the most expensive application on the market for online gaming.

> The error message you are getting on Instance 2 is pretty self explanatory.
I respectfully disagree, but <irony> it sure does feel awesome to be told I'm an idiot if I don't know how to muck with</irony> LAN & Cloud ... files? Folders? I've no idea.
> Change the 2nd campaign to LAN while you are just copying data, set it back to Cloud before your next game session.
<irony>Sounds simple, and safe... like I'm unlikely to destroy my past 18 months of campaign building doing this when I have no idea what you're talking about.</irony>
I'm sure there's a help forum entry out there that tells me how to do this. I'll hesitantly ask for a link to that, in case it helps me to open 2 instances of FGU. That would be super useful while moving from Book 1 of the enormous module, to Book 2 of the enormous module.

> What is Book 1 and what is Book 2?
The 1st-edition module Egg of the Phoenix is huge, and it's separated into 3 Books. I've played through it probably half a dozen times in the ~30 years since it released, and it's one of my favorite modules. I know it well, so I figured it would be a good choice to import into FGU.
Oh, how I rue that decision. :(
> Is it the same party continuing on to new Adventures?
Yup!
> If so just load the new adventure module in the same campaign. Nothing to transfer.
Each Book is huge. I've got pages and pages of Story items, NPCs, graphics, etc. already cluttering up my Book 1 module. It's getting to be way too much overhead work keeping it all straight. Much easier to bring across the current party and their assorted diaries & journals & sketchbooks & notes.
At least, that was the theory. Maybe it's better to just not have epic campaigns 'cause Fantasy Grounds doesn't really support that.

> If it is a different group or a different adventure and you are wanting to transfer data between the campaigns you should probably do things this way: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...Best-Practices
Nope, it's not. Same group, Book 2 (out of 3) of the same campaign. And thank heavens! I do not have the emotional energy to dive into yet another clunky FG forum thread. FG's forums are driving me nuts just doing the absolute minimum I can get away with to keep my game running.

> You might find <b>Player Agency</b> useful
What a confusing and unclear piece of advice.
Do I need to mention that I have no idea what this refers to?

> Those are links to image resources in another adventure module.
Nope! Those are links to image resources in the module the Notes are located in.
> Why do you need to carry these to a new campaign?
Because Book 1 of the current campaign has been running for almost 2 years, and it's chock-full of way too much stuff to keep slogging through with all the material in there we've already played through.
Perhaps I'll want to run through it again with another group, though, and I put thousands of hours into it, so I'll keep it around in Book 1.
All I need to bring into Book 2 is the elements common between the beginning and middle sections of the enormous total module. Perhaps epic campaigns are a new idea... I'm a big fan of them, though. Been running massive campaigns for 40 years now, and I sometimes think it was actually easier before computers. :)
> Notes are for players.
Weird that they work so well for DMs to use for Players. Perhaps I can figure out how to get Stories to fill that same purpose.
> You shouldn't use Notes for anything you want to keep.
What a weird feature to provide, then. There was probably a "These don't really work long-tiem but you won't discover that until you've put a lot of work into them" disclaimer, but I must've missed it.
> Players should use notes.
If only these types of simplistic answers added up to any kind of useful solution, I'd be set! All these hours spent struggling for answers wouldn't feel like such a frustrating waste of time due to FG's original incompetence and ongoing laziness.

[ScottFromPortland]

> Option 1:
> Start your FG campaign Game #1
> Start a second instance of FG Game #2, and select LAN for Server Type
> Copy the text of the notes from Game #1 to Game #2
Woot! This worked! Does this mean I'm opening it on my own computer, locally, instead of over the internet? If so, that makes sense.

Thank you! I wish I'd had this solution suggested and detailed prior to wading through various well-intentioned but misguided efforts, and a bunch of nasty xml cutting/pasting/renumbering.
I feel like you've helped me concisely before, as well. Thank you very much!
Fantasy Ground still blows goats... but having the ability to run two instances at once will make it much less painful going from Book 1 into Book 2.

Thank you! :)

[Andraax]

How can I make Story lists of links that the Players can access to find maps and other graphics?
How can I make Story items for Session Logs that Players can look back over to see what happened in previous Sessions? (It isn't important for this category to export across modules.)
How can I make Story items for common tables and procedures that the Players and I can reference when we need refreshers on 5th edition's rules for Lockpicking, Traps, Illusions, etc.
How can I make Story items with in-character journal entries, sketchbooks, and other handouts for Players to keep and reference at their convenience?
How can I make Story items with Magic Item Wishlists & Group Treasure for all Players to access at their convenience?


You can link anything to a story entry by dragging and dropping the item into the story entry. Below is a screenshot showing a story entry with links to an image, a parcel, a rulebook entry, and a spell entry. Any of these can be clicked on to go directly to whatever you're looking for. Story entries can be linked to other story entries. Story entries can be grouped into arbitrary groups (you can make as many groups as you want and name them anything that you want). The only thing that you cannot do is make a story entry that the players can edit, though you can share them with individual players or make them available to everyone. For player notes and journal entries (that players can edit) - that's what the Notes are for, and those are rarely moved from campaign to campaign. For group treasure, I use the group inventory on the Party Sheet, and a player can create a wishlist and share it with other players under Notes.

Oh, and also players can drag and drop reference links into their character sheets, plus drag and drop those links onto their toolbar at the bottom of the screen (there are a total of 96 slots on the toolbar).

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.silent-tower.org/images/Screenshot+2023-01-03+013726.jpg

[Andraax]

Fantasy Ground still blows goats...

As Damned said - it works much more smoothly when you use the features as intended.

[Andraax]

> What is Book 1 and what is Book 2?
The 1st-edition module Egg of the Phoenix is huge, and it's separated into 3 Books. I've played through it probably half a dozen times in the ~30 years since it released, and it's one of my favorite modules. I know it well, so I figured it would be a good choice to import into FGU.
Oh, how I rue that decision. :(
> Is it the same party continuing on to new Adventures?
Yup!
> If so just load the new adventure module in the same campaign. Nothing to transfer.
Each Book is huge. I've got pages and pages of Story items, NPCs, graphics, etc. already cluttering up my Book 1 module. It's getting to be way too much overhead work keeping it all straight. Much easier to bring across the current party and their assorted diaries & journals & sketchbooks & notes.
At least, that was the theory. Maybe it's better to just not have epic campaigns 'cause Fantasy Grounds doesn't really support that.


Create a module for your first adventure, export that then load it into your player campaign. You can be working on your next adventure in another module, and when you're ready to run that adventure, export it, and open it in the player campaign. When you close the first adventure, all of it's entries disappear from the player campaign (therefore they no longer "clutter up" your campaign). Then you can be working on your third adventure, etc. If you have stuff that is common to all of your adventures, put those in another module that is always open. When I'm working on a campaign, I usually create a "world" module (always loaded into the campaign), a series of "regional" modules (loaded / unloaded as players move around), a module with any custom magic items / custom monsters / etc (again, always loaded), and module for each "chapter" of the campaign (only loaded while the players are actually playing in that adventure). The character sheets, notes, party sheet, etc are part of the player campaign and never need to be moved. This also facilitates running multiple parties through the same adventures using the same world - one campaign for each party, and load / unload the modules as needed in the other campaign.

Edit: And as a BTW, when you do this (putting adventures / chapters into their own modules) you automatically get groups in the images / stories / NPCs / etc based on module. All of the story entries for a module are automatically grouped together, as are items, images, etc. This also helps with the "clutter".

[Andraax]

Looking over my copy of Egg of the Phoenix I would create one module for each chapter. Book 1 for example, has 6 chapters, so I would create one for each of those. There is some stuff that is universal to the campaign (the Empyrea map for example) and I would put that into a world module that is always open in the player campaign. Also, if you decide to move onto another campaign, you can just close all the modules for the Egg of the Phoenix and open the modules that you need for the new campaign. This way, the player sheets / items / etc would not need to be "moved".

[Andraax]

I did a quick "skeleton" setup of the first chapter (not complete, but it should give you the idea). First, you create the player campaign. This will house all of the players assets (character sheets, notes, current inventory, etc). Then, after creating the module, you open that module up in the player campaign:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.silent-tower.org/images/ModuleLoad.jpg

Now, in the campaign, you see the following groups with the story entries and images:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.silent-tower.org/images/CampaignView.jpg

You'll also notice that I created "pins" on the image - these link directly to the story entries that describe the location, so I only have to click on the pin and the linked story entry opens automatically.

When I'm done with this chapter, I just need to close the module, then open the module for chapter 2 and I'm ready to play that part. All of the entries for chapter 1 just disappear when the module is closed, thereby eliminating the "clutter". Since the character sheets, player notes, etc are all part of the campaign, they hang around without having to move them manually between campaigns.

Actually, scanning through the rest of the first book, it looks like Nimbortan is visited several times, so I would probably create a "Nimbortan" module that I load / unload as players enter / leave the town. Also, one of the interesting things about this approach to running your games is that you can make changes / updates to the stuff in a module. For example, maybe one of the building burned down during play, you can note that by marking the map and editing the story entry for that location. When you open that module in this campaign, you see your changes. If, however, you're using that module with another group of players, when you open the same module in a different player campaign, it reverts back to the original entries (and you can make *different* sets of updates in that campaign that are only seen in that campaign).

[Trenloe]

I don't think this has been mentioned - sorry if it has, I've only briefly read through some of the large posts above.

Quickest way to move Notes entries to Story entries is to open the Notes list and the Story list and then drag each note from the Notes list to the Story list - copies of the Notes entries will be created in the Story list. Then you can edit as needed and export the stories for use in other campaigns.

[LordEntrails]

I think all your latest set of questions has been answered, if we missed something, please let us know.

As you noted, the forum is not the best place to search for answers (though it is a good one, but as you noted you have to make sure the answer is current.) As suggested previously, the wiki is kept up to date and is the first place I suggest people search for answers. For reference, here are wiki pages related to what you have been struggling with.

FGU Quick-Start for GMs/DMs: Part 1 - Preparing An Adventure - Fantasy Grounds Customer Portal - Confluence (atlassian.net) (https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/2017230849/FGU+Quick-Start+for+GMs+DMs+Part+1+-+Preparing+An+Adventure#Start-With-A-Story)
Managing Campaign Data - Stories, Tables, Categories, ... - Fantasy Grounds Customer Portal - Confluence (atlassian.net) (https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/996640928/Managing+Campaign+Data+-+Stories+Tables+Categories+...#Groups)
Managing Campaign Data - Stories, Tables, Categories, ... - Fantasy Grounds Customer Portal - Confluence (atlassian.net) (https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/996640928/Managing+Campaign+Data+-+Stories+Tables+Categories+...#Notes)
Using the Library and Activating Modules - Fantasy Grounds Customer Portal - Confluence (atlassian.net) (https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/996640899/Using+the+Library+and+Activating+Modules#Module-Export)
Reference Manual Builder - Fantasy Grounds Customer Portal - Confluence (atlassian.net) (https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/2032304129/Reference+Manual+Builder)
How to Open Multiple Instances of Fantasy Grounds Unity - Fantasy Grounds Customer Portal - Confluence (atlassian.net) (https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/2072641544/How+to+Open+Multiple+Instances+of+Fantasy+Grounds+ Unity) (Note, this does not mention the caveat about additional instances needing to use LAN server type. I've submitted a ticket requesting it be updated.)

And if you like video learning, there is a great outline of a series here: "How Do I ??? In Fantasy Grounds Unity" by Zacchaeus - Fantasy Grounds Customer Portal - Confluence (atlassian.net) (https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/1056145596/How+Do+I+In+Fantasy+Grounds+Unity+by+Zacchaeus)

[LordEntrails]

Here's one I don't think got answered:


Because Book 1 of the current campaign has been running for almost 2 years, and it's chock-full of way too much stuff to keep slogging through with all the material in there we've already played through.
Perhaps I'll want to run through it again with another group, though, and I put thousands of hours into it, so I'll keep it around in Book 1.
All I need to bring into Book 2 is the elements common between the beginning and middle sections of the enormous total module. Perhaps epic campaigns are a new idea... I'm a big fan of them, though. Been running massive campaigns for 40 years now, and I sometimes think it was actually easier before computers. :)
So I know this doesn't help you now, but this might help for future campaigns. My current campaign has been going for over 4 years now, and how I manage all that content is by putting all the stuff I create into modules. I create the content is a Development Campaign (DC) (see link in my signature about Adventure Modules) and export to modules. This way I can load and unload various modules as my campaign develops. For instance, I created a develmonet campaign (and module) for character creation and player facing back info (and exported it as a player module so the players can load it). Then when the party was in the Undermountain, I had a devl campaign I created for the Undermountain (actually, one for each level). And then I loaded the Dragon Heist module, but I also had a DC for homebrew stuff (adventure remix, more info on running Trollskull as a business, extra maps, etc). Then we moved into adventures in Leilon so I had a DC with additional info for that area, maps etc. And from their I knew I was going to expand upon the BBEG Ebondeath so I have a special DC jsut for info on him. And the party starting going totally into homebrew by this time, so I created DCs for major story arcs and/or regions (i.e. the BBEG's wife escaped from Dragon Heist and setup a new base to try to kill the players from, etc). But then when our time in Leilon was done (or Dragon Heist, etc), I simple unloaded the whole module from the play campaign. I can easily load it if I need it again, or load it in a new campaign if I want to re-use it.

This isn't a perfect system, because some of the stuff I create in one DC we might decide we want going forward (like the table I created that determines the income from their business) So I had to copy that to the actual campaign. And I found that some spells and magic items I created in one DC I needed to keep, so I copied them from the DC to the player facing DC and updated that module so the players would always have the new spells and magic items they discovered.

Also be aware, what I've done before when I was not using this system, was to copy the entire campaign directory and then delete our the stuff I don't want. Sometimes it's easier to delete out than it is to copy.

[Minty23185Fresh]

@ScottFromPortland
I feel your pain. I understand your frustration with wanting to do something that seems so simple, yet is impossible to accomplish (easily).

And all you're getting in the above posts is work arounds. Solutions, but not the solution you (or I) want.

I too have some Notes that belong in <notes>, not in <story>, not anywhere else, but in <notes>.
(Anecdotally, one does not drink Guiness from a champaign flute. It belongs in a Guiness pint glass! Not a flute , not a goblet, not a tumbler, not a snifter!)

So I'll give you my work around.

I like to run whole seasons of Adventurers League modules. And I run each module in its own campaign. This means 10 to 16 or more campaigns with a set of Notes common to each.

What I do is create a template campaign with my Notes in it. Then when I get ready to run the next AP module in the series I copy my template (using Windows Explorer) from "template" to "Module X", and go from there. BTW, this has the additional advantage of being able to preset all the Options I like, and all the Hot Keys I want. As well as maybe a Map or two (e.g. a big map of the Moonsea region).

I hope this helps.

[Trenloe]

I too have some Notes that belong in <notes>, not in <story>, not anywhere else, but in <notes>.
(Anecdotally, one does not drink Guiness from a champaign flute. It belongs in a Guiness pint glass! Not a flute , not a goblet, not a tumbler, not a snifter!)
Your anecdote suggests that flutes, goblets, tumblers and snifters have different style and capacity to a pint glass - which, if we're talking about drinking glasses, they do; but if we're talking about comparing notes to story entries, they don't - they have exactly the same style and capacity of each other, the difference being that notes are designed to be a player side campaign specific place for players to make "notes" and share them with other players if they desire, they specifically don't have GM functionality of grouping and the ability to export. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but your issue appears to stem from the name of "Notes" - because even though you now know that these are designed to be "player notes" and can't be exported from one campaign to another (unless you do it manually), you still seem to want to use them as GM "notes". It's just a name.

The people who have responded in this thread aren't giving "work arounds" - they're providing guidance based off the FG design around story/notes, and also helping by detailing options regarding how to move GM data from notes to story entries to allow that to be more easily used in other campaigns. From a GM perspective Story entries do everything that Notes do, and they have the additional functionality of being able to be exported into a module to be used in other campaigns and also have the nice group functionality; they're just not called "Notes"- but that doesn't prevent a GM from putting their "notes" there - which is what they should do if they ever want to move those notes to another campaign or have the folder like group functionality.

[Minty23185Fresh]

I stand corrected.

I was attempting to lighten the conversation a bit.

But battle lines seem to be drawn.

And over something so trivial. Bah!!!

[Trenloe]

I stand corrected.

I was attempting to lighten the conversation a bit.

But battle lines seem to be drawn.

And over something so trivial. Bah!!!
Battle lines aren't being drawn. Discussions are being had about what the FG functionality is and how to use FG with the least issues in the long run. My main issue is with the wording of some of these posts and if new users, or users unfamiliar with the FG notes/story functionality, see this and think "Why is something so simple impossible to accomplish (easily)? Why are there only work arounds?" Sorry I'm taking liberty with your post - but this is pretty much what you wrote.

Yes, it should be trivial and has been blown beyond proportion in this thread (in my opinion). Especially when it really just seems to stem from the use of a specific five letter word...

[SilentRuin]

I take the "good enough" approach and have equipped effects extension just supply me an import/export notes into xml with the understanding if I ever do it from "not the same campaign" and have notes already defined I risk having the index goes nuts. But its "good enough". Anyone could put that in an extension for themselves - or copy that part out of my paid one and toss out a freeby doing that - its trivially simple to do. But risky. And as we all know...

EXTENSION = RISK!!!!

[Andraax]

I take the "good enough" approach and have equipped effects extension just supply me an import/export notes into xml with the understanding if I ever do it from "not the same campaign" and have notes already defined I risk having the index goes nuts. But its "good enough". Anyone could put that in an extension for themselves - or copy that part out of my paid one and toss out a freeby doing that - its trivially simple to do. But risky. And as we all know...

EXTENSION = RISK!!!!

Still the easiest solution is for the GM to put all their notes into story entries and leave the Notes section to the players.

[SilentRuin]

Still the easiest solution is for the GM to put all their notes into story entries and leave the Notes section to the players.

I have enough trouble weeding through story entries - I prefer them separate as they are different. For me. Fewer more clear - here is knowledge point you need! House rules are in my public notes for sure.

[Andraax]

I have enough trouble weeding through story entries - I prefer them separate as they are different. For me.

That's why I like the automatic grouping of story entries that is part of using modules.

[Minty23185Fresh]

I have enough trouble weeding through story entries - I prefer them separate as they are different. For me. Fewer more clear - here is knowledge point you need! House rules are in my public notes for sure.

Bingo!
Load a module like (5E) Princes of the Apocolypse with Players Handbook, Monster Manual and who knows what other character option modules, and ‘no one got time’ to go wading through that. Even with a “My Notes” category. When I need the Note I want it now, and so Notes. It’s a preference thing.

[Andraax]

Bingo!
Load a module like (5E) Princes of the Apocolypse with Players Handbook, Monster Manual and who knows what other character option modules, and ‘no one got time’ to go wading through that. Even with a “My Notes” category. When I need the Note I want it now, and so Notes. It’s a preference thing.

Hence, grouping. And if you create your stuff with modules, the grouping is automatic. You select the group with your module name, and you only see story entries from that module. If you want your own notes section, create a story group called "Notes" and put your stuff there. Whenever you need to get to your notes, select the Notes group, and you see only your notes. I don't see why this is a difficult concept.

[Minty23185Fresh]

Hence, grouping. And if you create your stuff with modules, the grouping is automatic. You select the group with your module name, and you only see story entries from that module. If you want your own notes section, create a story group called "Notes" and put your stuff there. Whenever you need to get to your notes, select the Notes group, and you see only your notes. I don't see why this is a difficult concept.

Duh! Pit trap!
The technical term for “grouping” is “category”.
Read the post.

Seems like some are digressing to brow-beating.

[Andraax]

Duh! Pit trap!
The technical term for “grouping” is “category”.
Read the post.

Seems like some are digressing to brow-beating.

It's labelled with "Group" in the story window. Calling it "Category" will send people on a search for something labelled "Category", and they won't find it.

[LordEntrails]

Yes, but grouping doesn't put a nice quick button on the right side menu. And group selected links to stories can't be added to the hot keys. But, current functionality is consistent, and only a few more clicks away. I learned long ago, don't fight the software UI, learn to use it as it was designed, even if that is not your desired workflow (Not just FG, but all applications.).

[Andraax]

Yes, but grouping doesn't put a nice quick button on the right side menu. And group selected links to stories can't be added to the hot keys. But, current functionality is consistent, and only a few more clicks away. I learned long ago, don't fight the software UI, learn to use it as it was designed, even if that is not your desired workflow (Not just FG, but all applications.).

If you use the "nice quick button" on the right with notes, then you have to sort through all your player's notes as well as your own, with no ability to create groups on that window. Also, story entries can be linked to the hot key. You can always create a story entry with links to all your notes in it, then drop that on a hot key.

[Minty23185Fresh]

Yes, but grouping doesn't put a nice quick button on the right side menu. And group selected links to stories can't be added to the hot keys. But, current functionality is consistent, and only a few more clicks away. I learned long ago, don't fight the software UI, learn to use it as it was designed, even if that is not your desired workflow (Not just FG, but all applications.).

Exactly why I abandoned this thread, shortly after starting it two years ago. I was quite succinctly told not to do it. But I ignored all the advice and started down the path of evil, using the tools the way I wanted to. And didn’t look back, until now. Weird. I’m still going to walk the walk of peril.

[Minty23185Fresh]

…. Also, story entries can be linked to the hot key. You can always create a story entry with links to all your notes in it, then drop that on a hot key.

Whoa! That right there might be a game changer! Thanks Andraax.

[LordEntrails]

There is a feature request for Note folders: Idea Informer » Feedback 2.0 (https://fgapp.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=135357)
If interested, someone can create one for adding the ability to export Notes as well.

[Andraax]

You can use the tool in any way you want. However, if you don't use it the way it's designed to be used, you will always have problems. I mean, you can use a hammer to drive screws, but it's not the best way.

[Nylanfs]

Zacchaeus made a video for the Notes vs Story. :) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSphKbVEeeU)

[WinterSoldier7]

Yup, I've been using Notes wrong all this time.

But then, my players don't take notes so I had to use it for something!

[ScottFromPortland]

> Create a module for your first adventure, export that then load it into your player campaign. You can be working on your next adventure in another module, and when you're ready to run that adventure, export it, and open it in the player campaign. When you close the first adventure, all of it's entries disappear from the player campaign (therefore they no longer "clutter up" your campaign). Then you can be working on your third adventure, etc. If you have stuff that is common to all of your adventures, put those in another module that is always open.
This sounds useful. But I do not know what the difference is in FGU's module, adventure, and campaign.
I created something (one of these 3, I assume... I thought it was a module) when I started the Egg of the Phoenix. Over the course of playing it during the last year and a half I've created the first Book of the EotP module. So... "create a module for your first adventure" doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

> And as a BTW, when you do this (putting adventures / chapters into their own modules) you automatically get groups in the images / stories / NPCs / etc based on module. All of the story entries for a module are automatically grouped together, as are items, images, etc. This also helps with the "clutter".
Again, I don't know the terminology, though I'm surely familiar with at least some of these concepts from using FGU.

> Looking over my copy of Egg of the Phoenix I would create one module for each chapter.
If a module is the thing that I load into the cloud, and Players log into, then this is too small an amount. I frequently look over previous chapters, or look ahead to future chapters. It makes more sense to me to break it into the 3 Books that the EotP module has broken it into.
But it kinda sounds like maybe a module isn't what I'm thinking it is... it sounds like a campaign, maybe?

Andraax > ... you see the following groups with the story entries and images:
Yup, that looks pretty much exactly like what I did for Book 1. And yup, I used linked pins.
But I don't think I have used a "module" in FGU.

> For reference, here are wiki pages related to what you have been struggling with.
I've referenced most of those in the past, yes. I've not used the Library or Modules, I don't believe. Or the Reference Manual, I don't believe. Someone gave me concise directions for opening multiple instances of FGU, including the caveat about switching to LAN. That's been super useful.
I went through Zacchaeus's video tutorials back when I was diving into FGU, back when I still thought it might be worth the outrageous price it costs. (It absolutely isn't worth it, not by a long shot.) But the tutorials were super helpful.

LordEntrails > I create the content is a Development Campaign (DC) (see link in my signature about Adventure Modules)
I don't know what any of this means.
I'm ever-so-exhausted with trying to research how to do things in FGU. I've spent so many frustrating hours stumbling around looking for solutions... I very much appreciate clear & concise suggestions. But "Go look at this discussion" or "track down a link in my signature" sounds super unappealing.
The rest of your suggestions relied heavily upon a bunch of stuff I'm not at all familiar with, so it didn't make much sense. :( I appreciate the effort to help me out, and I feel bad that I'm unable to understand what you were suggesting.

> I feel your pain. I understand your frustration with wanting to do something that seems so simple, yet is impossible to accomplish (easily).
> And all you're getting in the above posts is work arounds. Solutions, but not the solution you (or I) want.
Aw, thanks, Minty. :) It's good to know that other people have experiences similar to mine with FG.
FG's "solutions" are most often workarounds. At this point I expect that, but it's still super frustrating. 'Specially when they charge an arm and a leg for such a disappointing product.
> What I do is create a template campaign with my Notes in it. Then when I get ready to run the next AP module in the series I copy my template (using Windows Explorer) from "template" to "Module X", and go from there. BTW, this has the additional advantage of being able to preset all the Options I like, and all the Hot Keys I want. As well as maybe a Map or two (e.g. a big map of the Moonsea region).
It sounds like you're copying a directory on your local machine as a template for the next portion. And, yeah, this sounds like it would've been a great workaround (if I'd been able to figure out how to implement it... I can certainly copy a directory with Windows Explorer, but pointing FGU at it is probably its own specific little task.)
When I move from Book 2 to Book 3, in a year or two, I'll probably try to figure out how to do it in the way you suggested above. That makes a lot more sense than trying to bring various parts across.
Thanks!

> The people who have responded in this thread aren't giving "work arounds"
They *absolutely* are.
And, I appreciate their suggestions. But pretending that they're not work-arounds seems silly.

> "Why is something so simple impossible to accomplish (easily)? Why are there only work arounds?"
I suppose FG want to hide from new users how much headache they're signing up for, until after they've paid an arm and a leg for it.
Feels like it lacks integrity, though.
I'm glad that people warned me what a nightmare FG was back when I was investigating it. If it had been presented as a user-friendly system it would have been even more frustrating learning how to use it.

> EXTENSION = RISK!!!!
I appreciate that folks are careful to point this out, as well. I've mucked with extensions a few times, then abandoned them. People sometimes suggest, "There's an extension that does just what you're looking for!" But since extensions aren't implemented & maintained by FGU, it makes sense that updates to FGU are likely to wreak havoc on them.
Why doesn't FGU's developers fix things themselves instead of offloading it onto the users?... I would imagine it's because it saves them from having to work through the nightmares what all of us who use the product have to work through.

Q> "Why can't a Ring of Protection improve my AC and Saves by +1 when I wear it?"
A> "It's very complex. It's not our responsibility to solve this for you, even if you buy the extra stuff beyond the basic Application, the Handbooks, a bunch of graphics, etc. Instead, appeal to the community. Purchase their solutions from them. We've conditioned them to do our job for us, though we warn you that their solutions are likely to break down when we update things."
Ah, the lovely Customer Service attitude of FG's developers. ;)
To be fair, the devs who've tried to help me in the past have been wonderful at suggesting work-arounds. They are almost always able to quickly figure out how to solve the myriad problems built into FG.
For some reason, that's the accepted solution for this platform. It's actually pretty impressive how well they've convinced their users that this is Normal and Helpful and Adequate for what we've all paid for this clunky product.
*shrug*
People who are thinking of getting mired into FG oughtta know something about what they're overpaying to sign up for, though.

> Still the easiest solution is for the GM to put all their notes into story entries and leave the Notes section to the players.
"easiest" is often not "best" unless viewed from the perspective of the dev who's offloading the problem onto the user.

> I learned long ago, don't fight the software UI, learn to use it as it was designed, even if that is not your desired workflow (Not just FG, but all applications.).
Ya, but most applications' UIs aren't nearly as nasty as FG's.
I, too, took the "ok, I'll learn their niche stuff" approach when I dove into FGU. And then I spent so, so much time reading guides, watching instructional vids, and reading forums. It was all very helpful, I must say! But the application itself simply *sucks* in so many ways, and it's so complicated and intertwined (in order to address any possible game mechanics) that it's a nightmare to learn and to implement and to troubleshoot.
These forums are a testament to that... there's *so* much energy put into figuring out work-arounds. It's very draining and frustrating.

> I was quite succinctly told not to do it. But I ignored all the advice and started down the path of evil, using the tools the way I wanted to. And didn’t look back, until now. Weird. I’m still going to walk the walk of peril.
Heh, go Minty! :)
Yeah, I'm getting the impression that "You're using it wrong, so deal with how lousy FG is" is a tempting "solution" for some folks, which wars with their generous inclination to provide assistance for those of us wallowing in the muck.
It's really nice that they're still attempting to help, though.

Thank you, folks, for all of the suggestions and efforts to help! Even when it's condescending and insulting, it's still an attempt to help, so that part is appreciated.

[LordEntrails]

Campaign vs Module vs Adventure vs DLC vs Development Campaign is easy to get confused and are sometime used interchangeably. Let me try to give you a few shortened definitions and hope to clear things up.

Campaign - this is a "virtual table" that is what you start (as a host/GM/DM) or join as a player. Each one is distinct from the others and generally are not designed to share data between them (see modules for an important distinction). Each one can have a set of 'modules' loaded into it and generally has it's own set of characters. You can think of this as a gaming group (i.e. "My Wednesday night D&D Group" vs "My Gen Con Session 42 Table" vs "Tom's Savage World Weird West Game").

Module - This is a set of data that can be loaded into an FG campaign. Typically, this is like a book, magazine, or such. i.e. the D&D 5E Player's Handbook is one such module. The Rim World Setting Guide is another. These can be created to be player facing (character options, equipment, abilities, etc) or GM (adventures, monsters, etc). Player facing modules default to being able to be loaded by any player connected to the host, or GM ones that can not be, though individual records can be shared by the GM (host).

Adventure - just a type of module, usually. These are typically the like the old D&D adventures (X3 Expedition to Barrier Peaks) you used to get in the 32 page folios.

DLC - Just another name for a Module. Comes from Down Loadable Content common from video games.

Development Campaign - So this is a campaign like above, but it's not used to actually play a game. Players never connect to it. It is purely used as a way to create a Module. Basically, if you want to create your own content to either make your own things like player options, campaign chapters, monsters, spells and magic items, etc; then you want to consider using a Development Campaign. Note, the thread my signature links to is a discussion, but the first couple posts has a guide of advice, as well as an attached file that is all you need to read.

Server Type Cloud - This one is often confused with "cloud" hosted servers or storage (Software as a Service, Google Drive, etc). With an FG game/campaign, this is not what it means. For FG, it means cloud brokered connection. In short, the Host/GM's computer still is the server, it hosts all the data, processes all the data etc. What the Cloud does for FGU is to provide an intermediary connection between the host and players to help facilitate connections through firewalls and other network restrictions. i.e. it's only helps with the connections, it does nothing else.

In your search for FG knowledge, have you heard of FG Academy (www.fantasygroundsacademy.com (https://www.fantasygroundsacademy.com)?))? They are a part of the FG community that is organized to help people learn FG. All their resources, including numerous classes, are all free. If you prefer to learn hands-on or via instructor led, they are they way to go. Also, are you familiar with Discord? There is an official FG discord, as well as one for FG Academy, that often have people available real-time to help out. Struggling with something and not up to searching the forums or watching video, you can jump onto one of those and go into the support channels and ask. and if someone can help, they will. Even doing screen shares and voice calls.

[ScottFromPortland]

Thank you, LordEntrails! Terminology clarity helps a whole bunch. Much appreciated!

I spent some time in the FG Academy back when I first started in to FGU 1.5 years ago. I don't remember much, though... after getting repeatedly frustrated with FG week after week, I gradually just started to use what I understood and not keep trying to learn more.
Unfortunately, sticking with the basics has turned out to be a rather lousy approach with FGU. I probably need to go spend more time learning stuff instead of just scrabbling for work-arounds when it falls apart.
Sounds exhausting... but ultimately likely to be less exhausting than just repeating the frustration of scrabbling.

I was too frustrated with FG to play tonight's game. I was considering switching to a different platform going forward, despite the incredible amount I spent on FGU and the various Extra Costs it demands to be useful.
But now I'm considering going back to FG Academy and resuming the doctorate degree required to make this horrible platform function adequately. Ugh. But, perhaps better than walking away from it despite how disgusted I've been with it. I dunno.
Thanks for giving me a lot to think about! :) You're a saint.

[ScottFromPortland]

Forgot one response:
My group uses Discord for voice while we play, and I use it for a few other things. I've dabbled with a couple of big Discord servers, for games I've had questions about. They're a little overwhelming & chatty, but it is really nice to often get immediate suggestions & help from folks. Thx for this suggestion!