need help. choosing webcam program and rob2e modules

[Cozy]

Hi

I played AD&D 30 years ago, but I am new to FG. I am now trying to learn as much as possible using FG before me and my old friends once more will reconnect to the D&D world.
There is a lot of rules to remember and a lot of flipping through the pages in the core rule books. So, I would like to minimize that by buying some of rob2e modules/extensions/etc.

What modules would be most helpful to keep in the game?


When we start playing, we would like to use webcams. I have searched YouTube to see what programs other people use when playing. But I only find advices about streaming. We are not interested in streaming, just to get that little extra it will give us to see each other while playing.

What program should we use that is functional and not to advanced to use?
Also, is there any good YouTube links?


Thanks for any help

[Zacchaeus]

Always learn how the program works before diving in and buying a bunch of extras. Robs modules are great as a timesaver, but you need to learn what the functionality is first - read up on effects in the wiki and watch some videos.

https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGU/pages/884913/5E+Effects+for+Advanced+Automation
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?41478-Effects-Videos-for-5E
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?42440-Tutorial-Video-Series

As for webcams I dunno; I just bought the first one that came up on Amazon in the mid price range. You can use things like Discord or Google etc for video chat.

[Cozy]

Great, thanks!

[Nylanfs]

Streaming and video chat are the same thing, it's just verbiage depending on whether you post the videos or not.

[Imagix]

All of my group have laptops and such, and thus use those for the webcam. We use Google Hangouts Meet for our videoconferencing. At my location I have another player with me, so I use an external USB mic on my laptop so that 1) we don't have two mics & speakers running in the same room (that's a recipe for nasty echo) and 2) the mic on a laptop is pretty bad, particularly if you're trying to capture people who aren't immediately in front of the laptop.

[JohnD]

Welcome Cozy!

It looks like you are planning to play 5e. If you played ~ 30 years ago, you may be interested to know about the AD&D 2e | Classics ruleset... it's what you would have been likely playing back then. May be worth a look depending on your interests.

[JohnD]

Double post after ~ 4 hours somehow. :)

[Cozy]

It will be 5e

[Halaku]

Personaly I use discord for Voice and Video chat, I tend to put it up on a second monitor but you can put FG into windowed mode and drag the FG and Discord windows around so you can see both on one screen.

https://discord.com/

[TXCBoy36]

Hi

I played AD&D 30 years ago, but I am new to FG. I am now trying to learn as much as possible using FG before me and my old friends once more will reconnect to the D&D world.
There is a lot of rules to remember and a lot of flipping through the pages in the core rule books. So, I would like to minimize that by buying some of rob2e modules/extensions/etc.

What modules would be most helpful to keep in the game?


When we start playing, we would like to use webcams. I have searched YouTube to see what programs other people use when playing. But I only find advices about streaming. We are not interested in streaming, just to get that little extra it will give us to see each other while playing.

What program should we use that is functional and not to advanced to use?
Also, is there any good YouTube links?


Thanks for any help

We are currently using Discord or Zoom for live streaming during the game session.

We have tried using Discord but sometimes the quality is a bit shaky. Zoom has turned out to be more reliable.

Hope this helps!

[Cozy]

Thanks for all answers
I am still watching the links from post 2
Will try zoom or Discord

[TXCBoy36]

Thanks for all answers
I am still watching the links from post 2
Will try zoom or Discord

Let me know if you need any help.....have gotten pretty proficient in using zoom as this was also the method in the kids classroom studies when they shut down the schools over the pandemic.

[BronzeDodger]

To chime in: we tried Discord and while it was rock solid for me, one player is using a computer they do not have full admin rights on, and so could not install the Discord windows app, and through the web it just did not work consistently for them. Then had another that seemed to have issues with window switching (sometimes Discord would mute itself when he click on FG and he didn't notice). We flipped to google hangouts and that has been easy - even without push-to-talk (so nice...) it's been better for us.

I did grab a few DMs Guild extensions but they are luxury stuff to automate things that are not that hard to do manually - we're just lazy.
But a couple of free one you can find on the forums that are really helpful:

5E - Roll For Initiative - ( request roll extension ) - let's you request individual or group rolls, openly or fed back just to the DM - use it all the time
CoreRPG+ Extension: Has Initiative Indicator - simple visual help for the DM to find the token with the current initiative

[rob2e]

I only wish I caught this when it was posted almost A YEAR AGO! I guess I'm not as "findable" as I think I am?