How can I add my own rulebooks?

[Stormbride]

Hi there!

I'm considering buying FGU.

Now my question:

I have all the 2nd Edition rulebooks as hardcovers & pdf's.
I saw a video where the guy said, you can add the data manually.
Is that correct?
And if yes, how do I go about that?

Cheers,
Stormbride

[Trenloe]

Moved this thread to the Classic D&D forum, assuming you meant 2nd Edition D&D.

[JohnD]

Well you need time and just approach it as a straight forward data entry task. Whether you want to comes down to the traditional time vs money decision.

On the plus side, entering your own data will help you learn how the program is structured.

On the other hand, there is huge value in getting say the three core books because of all the built in automation (also shows you how your self entered data should look when you get to it).

[Sterno]

Being already familiar with how Fantasy Grounds worked, I hand-entered all the Races, Classes, non-magic items, Spells, and Monsters from OSRIC (an AD&D 1e clone). I didn't even touch the magic items or all the rule text, and it took me well over a hundred hours.

I highly recommend just buying the AD&D 2E Player's Handbook and Monster Manual for sale in the store (and possibly DMG too, though that's less critical in my opinion) and saving yourself a ton of work. If money is an issue, you can get my OSRIC work for free, but it's not a perfect mapping to 2E.

If you were thinking there's some way to just sort of translate a physical book or a PDF automatically into a Fantasy Grounds module, though, there's sadly no such capability.

[AlterZwerg]

You can enter all the data manually or copy/paste it from the pdfs.
On the Sidebar you have different Buttons - "Spells", "Items", "NPCs" and so forth...
You can add entries by clicking the green "+" and enter your data in the various fields showing.
However, you will spend dozens of hours doing so (and figuring out how before that) and getting it right so that it uses all the bells and whistles FG has to offer.

As JohnD said - it´s "time to do it" vs. "the money to have it done for you".
As you´re from Germany, shoot me a message and maybe i can talk you through it or show you how things work :)

[damned]

If you enter manually just enter the data you need. Dont enter things you arent using. No Gnome characters, dont enter the race, no Illusionists, dont enter the class, no casters over 5th level, leave off the spells until you get there, fighting gnolls, orcs and a dire wolf this week - enter those monsters in.

[Stormbride]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

For me it definitely is a money issue, time on the other hand I have more than enough.
In addition to that, the PHB & DMG used in FG are the ones that have the minor but very significant changes (compared to the first books, which I prefer).

And lastly, quite a few books that I'd need aren't even available (Kara-Tur Setting, Horde Setting, Land of Fate, Planescape ... just to mention a few).

[Stormbride]

One more question:

Does anyone know if the Par5e Project still works?

[damned]

Par5e hasnt been updated in about 5 years.
Additionally Par5e isnt some magic tool that does it all for you.
Par5e requires you spend a lot of time getting fluent at it and then it does provide some time saving but its not like Par5e will even save you anything like half the time.

[damned]

Everything can be added in directly via the FGU interface.
You can make reference manuals by enabling the Author extension by celestian

[JohnD]

If you enter manually just enter the data you need. Dont enter things you arent using. No Gnome characters, dont enter the race, no Illusionists, dont enter the class, no casters over 5th level, leave off the spells until you get there, fighting gnolls, orcs and a dire wolf this week - enter those monsters in.

I'd go with no Gnomes just as a matter of principle.