Hi all. New and question...

[mearrin69]

Hi everyone,
New here. Downloaded and been playing with the demo and FG seems very impressive so far. So, am I missing it or is there a manual available so that I can see all of the things I would be able to do if I had a full license? I'd definitely like to get this but I'd like to learn more about the options for customization (like using it with D20 Modern or even GURPS?), campaign building, and so forth.

Okay, I see now that something I glanced at earlier has a lot more stuff than I saw at first. I'll dig into it - should be enough to get a fair idea

I did a little search through recent forum threads but didn't see this specifically mentioned so thought I would start a new thread - well, and I wanted to say hi. If all goes well I'll probably find myself on here a fair bit :)
M

OH, and the four answers on the FAQ about licensing didn't really answer all of my questions there. If I want to run games I need a full license and a lite license for each player? Can I buy a set for myself and four players and then hand out a license temporarily so that someone can play (and revoke it later when I decide they're a power gamer [heh, kidding, but players come and go]) or is this beyond the scope? Just seems it'd be easiest if I could buy the package and not require current/potential players to pitch in $20. Wow, that was longer than my original question.

[richvalle]

The FG licence model is that each player needs their own Lite license and the DM needs a full. Full's can be used to play as a player as well.

There are group discounts to buy them in 'bulk'.

It is possible to use FG for Gurps or whatever, but it is not setup to do so 'out of the box'. It would require you at least making a character sheet for each game you wanted to play. To do so requires some XML skills and ability to use a graphics program to create the images needed.

Hope that helps some.

rv

[mearrin69]

Hi Richvalle,
That does help out a bit. Thanks!

Any idea if it is possible to 'issue' one of my lite version licenses to a player for a limited time - i.e. I want to buy the full version and enough lite licenses for four players, but my gaming group tends to have a 'swing' position and I'd like to just say "Here use this to connect to our game" but not just give the person a permanent license in his name.

I guess what I'm envisioning is that I buy a license for the full version and x lite clients. Then I tell new player bob to go download the client and connect to me - and then his client kind of gets its authorization to run from my server (which knows how many licenses I own.) So, in essence I can run my full version and four lite versions at any given time but those four lite versions can change hands as needed.

I'm almost sure that's not the way it works with FG (heh, any 'feature request' people read this? :D ) but I'm just wondering if I can do something similar. Possible?

Thanks again for your help!
M

[The Velvet Souljah]

I guess what I'm envisioning is that I buy a license for the full version and x lite clients. Then I tell new player bob to go download the client and connect to me - and then his client kind of gets its authorization to run from my server (which knows how many licenses I own.) So, in essence I can run my full version and four lite versions at any given time but those four lite versions can change hands as needed.

I'm almost sure that's not the way it works with FG...

Unless this is changing in the second release (or unless I am mistaken, which I don't think I am), you are correct...this is not the way it works.

I don't think the server does any validation of client licenses. If you handed someone a license key "temporarily", I think you are relying on their honor to uninstall the application if and when they are done. If, for whatever reason, they choose to not do so, I don't think there is anything built into the software to prevent them from continuing to own and operate a fully working copy.

[mearrin69]

Ah, that's about what I expected. There are people I wouldn't mind pitching in $20 for but, for others, I'd rather just 'loan' it.

Have GMs using this had much luck convincing players to buy their own copies?
M

[Dachannien]

I've been in two groups that agreed to fork over the cash for FG. Now, one thing we did do when my second group (I'm the DM of that one) started using FG was let me give my lite copy to the group and buy a full copy (sort of like upgrading in a sense).

Don't forget the bulk discount, by the way. It ends up being a good bit less than $20 a person by the time you're done, so it's not a big deal asking each person you play with to buy their own copy.

[Griogre]

*shrug* There are plenty of players. If the player isn't willing to buy then most of them play with a free VTT.

If you are worried about people paying you what I did was buy all the copies in bulk and had my players use paypal to pay me. As their payments hit, I emailed them the licences and download links.

[richvalle]

Nope, no problems. At this point in our lives $20 is no big deal.

rv

[mearrin69]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

One more question. I was going to run two copies of the demo (to test DM vs player view). I assumed I'd need to set my IP to localhost (127.whatever) but found that I can't change the IP. I'm behind a router so it's grabbing router-assigned IP address and using that. I can imagine this would cause some problems having people outside my system connect to me. Do I have to use the alias server or is there a way to enter IP manually?
M

[joshuha]

Well connecting locally with the full license doesn't require 2 copies (i.e. you dont have to install a seperate players license on your machine). To connect the second copy locally you can use 127.0.0.1 or localhost, either of those should do a loopback to your machine.

For your external players they can still use your external ip (www.whatismyip.com) or you can give them the alias, again just make sure you router is forwarding port 1802 to your machine.

[mearrin69]

Thanks for the reply. My problem was that I couldn't seem to actually change the IP address - the field is greyed out. Know how to change it?
M

[edit: Ah, I see. Nevermind. I was being stupid.]

[Sigurd]

I recommend to anyone who might ever possibly DM buy a full license. Its less than a tank of gas and unlike a game book which you might use, you will use it for every second you're playing.

Remember, you can't upgrade the lite licenses to full but you can always use a full license as a lite one. Personally I think the full license is twice the deal of the lite one, but you have to want to DM at some stage.


S

[mearrin69]

Yep. I would want the full license for sure - thought I'd probably also buy some lite licenses for my players. As I play with this more I see that it's mostly got everything I would want. Can't wait to see what's in version 2. This is a lot better than the other VTT apps I've tried out.
M

[mearrin69]

Well, I just purchased a full license and one lite license. Guess I could have gotten a better deal by getting more lites but I don't have firm plans to use the app just yet - other than testing it out a bit more with a friend of mine.

You all can probably look forward to lots more dumb questions from me :)
M

[richvalle]

Well, I just purchased a full license and one lite license. Guess I could have gotten a better deal by getting more lites but I don't have firm plans to use the app just yet - other than testing it out a bit more with a friend of mine.

You all can probably look forward to lots more dumb questions from me :)
M

Bring em on!

:)

rv