DM Looking for Suggestions

[AznVille]

Hello All,

It's been a rather long time since I've touched fantasy grounds let alone do anything in it. Due to life circumstances I've had to pull out both as a DM and a player. I'm interested in getting started back up but would love any suggestions to help me get jump started.

A bit of background, I've used fantasy grounds classic for a few years, tabletop for over a decade, and am mostly familiar with 3.5/pathfinder. I'm fairly competent with technology, but I'm no coder. I'm currently a single father, caring for two girls and working full time so don't nearly have as much free time as I used to. I own dungeon painter (on steam), but would love to be pointed to some map resources due to my limited time. FGU and 5E are new to me, but they may be the best fit for me and my friends. I mostly prefer home brew settings/story but stay true to the majority of a ruleset. Based on all this, I'm thinking that the community could potentially be a huge help to me and would appreciate any assistance that can be offered.

First off, my current intent is to upgrade FGU Ultimate and potentially purchase the D&D5E essentials package. My thoughts are I can cut down massively on prep time if it's mostly all drag and drop. If my perception is off, please help me align my expectations. Next, I would love to have some DM's preferred addons that have been used with the latest unity build. I've realized just how much they can help in the past, and wonder if it's more or less the same for the Unity version. I'd be lying if I claimed to remember all the essentials I used to use as a player/DM/GM.

If nothing else, it's nice to reach back out to this community. Thank you for the read and any tips you may send my way.

[Tabarkus]

Welcome back! I am currently running a group through Dungeon of the Mad Mage. It is an adventure that requires a ton of preparation to run well. It is definitely one I would avoid if you have little time available to fix it. I find it necessary to reformat paragraphs of text for any and all locations of consequence just to be able to deliver the necessary information to players without revealing details that should only be found upon investigation. This is the worst WotC product I've seen to date. The adventure and story of DMM is fairly good but the prep time is just atrocious.

[LordEntrails]

The Essentials Bundle is great, but just so you know it's not required. You really can get away with just the PHB and one or two additional books for more player options if you are going with the purchased adventures/campaigns. But if you have the funds, the Bundle is a great purchase and will give you and your players plenty of options and content.

The Essentials Kit... I don't have. Other than the adventure, the rules that it comes with is similar to the free Basic Rules, though it includes Sidekick rules. Though the adventure is a good place to start, though it won't last you too long and I can recommend the 3 follow on adventures.

If you purchase an adventure, all the maps, encounters, etc come prepared. Note that only the maps from the printed product are included. BUT, almost every WotC adventure has additional maps on the forums here (or like DoMM included with your purchase as a separate module) for encounters that the product doesn't include.

I love homebrew as well, particularly my own setting(s). But the prep time they require, from me and the players, isn't worth it to me at this time in my life. Run purchased adventures, use the default FR setting, spend your time on the core game and having fun and enjoying. And let us know how we can help.

[Fear Grounds]

Welcome back AznVille.

I have the D&D5E Essentials package, and highly recommend it. It gives you everything that you might need to setup and run any number of games. Though you may want to pick up an actual adventure just to get you going again.

The only extensions I use are: Critically Awesome Essentials, Enhanced Spell Windows, and Portals

Hope this helps.

[charmov]

I'm pretty new to fgu but I've been playing in Rime of the Frost maiden for about 10 weeks and it's fun. The DM and other players are all more experienced at fgu (and discord, for that matter) than I am which is great. Theres still things that take figuring out for us but we know where to go for help (right here).

I also play on roll20 (5e). I like roll20 because it's easy for beginners. Other than that I think fgu is better if you're planning to play/DM long term.

I'm slowly building an Avatar/berserk style setting to DM for friends. I love the better menus extension, the big font extension, and the notebook paper theme. I bought the essentials but find there's too many options at times. I think the core books, phb, DMG, mm are great to start. Good gaming brother!

[AznVille]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. Seems like it's a go from my group of friends so it's time to get into things. I definitely plan on giving some of those extensions a try, especially when I get a feel for things once again. I'm open if anyone else has some additional advice. Even if it's stated already, doesn't hurt to know more than one person has found something helpful.

[WindrunnerCGG]

@AznVille, we also have the FG College (https://www.fantasygroundscollege.net) that specifically helps people with requests like yours. Whether it’s our classes that help you improve your knowledge of and efficiency with FG, or any one-off conversations to help you with preparation, we are here to help. Discord is the best place to chat with us. The sign-up link is in the upper right hand corner of our homepage.

Windrunner

[Cainon]

I using a Might and Magic setting in my game at the moment for DND 5e. I suggest Star Citizen Setting will be very interesting.