Landing Page

[Kelrugem]

Hi all :)

As you may know, many DMs set up a landing page for their players; that is basically the first thing a player sees when they join a game and can look and maybe even interact with while waiting until the game starts :) I thought I try something similar in FG.

To do so, I create an image acting as a landing page for my campaign; of course this image has to be shared. In order to make my players aware of the landing page I use the Message of the Day feature to link this image in the pop-up my players automatically get when joining :) (we play in German, so the texts you will see in the images are in German)

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=57158&stc=1&d=1682429122


They then see the following image:



https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=57157&stc=1&d=1682429109

In more detail, the upper left shows:


https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=57156&stc=1&d=1682429088

That is basically a map showing the players camping (upper right) with their tokens on the map; the idea is to expand this map and personalize for the players once the campaign matures, right now this campaign is just one session in, so just shows basics :) The other tokens show either important NPCs (the round tokens) with shared links (the green pins), linking to the player reference manual describing these NPCs. The floating book has a green pin linking the whole reference manual. The isometric NPC token is a merchant who always shows on the map when the players are able to access a merchant :) That one merchant is one for basic goods and needs, and the green pin next to it links to its shops and contents so that players can access the shop and go shopping if they wish so :) (making use of a shop extension for that) For some aesthetic there is also a cloud fx over this part of the map

The upper right of the landing page:


https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=57155&stc=1&d=1682429073


This shows part of a world map the players are right now, also again with pins linking to more information the players already got :) There is also an Fx effect for parchment (and also some flickering effect for the torches). between the gold coins is also a hidden pin linking to 50 gold for the first player who finds that link :D That serves as an RP background addition, the corresponding character has a richer background then (the players are currently in a session 0); mostly a gimmick, but I think that is funny :D

The lower part:


https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=57154&stc=1&d=1682429061


This is a notice board I created, summarizing the most important story parts of the last session; little bit like a newspaper with clickbait/shitty titles and text :D Maybe I should also use a parchment fx effect here

Maybe this motivates also others to create a landing page; I would be happy to hear from your ideas :D

[Zacchaeus]

Nice work. I use the MotD to similarly summarise the campaign so far, link current quests and the map they are currently on. I like the notice board idea; if I could just motivate myself to draw them :)

[damned]

Nice work Kelrugem!

[Kelrugem]

Nice work. I use the MotD to similarly summarise the campaign so far, link current quests and the map they are currently on. I like the notice board idea; if I could just motivate myself to draw them :)

Thanks :D

I actually just googled "notice board" and "blank notice letters" (or so), and the text I added via paint :D The notice board is actually a separate layer in FG; I added the notice letters in FG as assets on top of the notice board so that I can scale and move them around inside FG :)


Nice work Kelrugem!

Thank you :)

[Novacian]

Extremely nice work, very artistic and immersive -- a great way for players to leave the real world and get into the game world of the campaign.

[indavis]

That looks awesome. I really like this idea.

[Kelrugem]

Thanks all :) Yeah, took me some time, and I hope my players will like it, too :)

[Kelrugem]

As a heads-up: With Saagael's extension, https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?77952-Points-of-Interest-Custom-Map-Pins, I now customized all my pins, for example, my players can now double-click on the merchant to oping their shop :)

[Egheal]

I'm also trying to make a landing page (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZErYDDqOEA) (using here the image of the wizard desk theme of FGU).
The extension Points of Interest works very well, enlarging the size of the token to fit the size of the object behind give a nice result.

Some problems:
- I can't make totally invisible tokens, if I reduce the opacity too much the token can no longer be selected.
- I can't hide the top edge of the image (with the icons).
- I can't throw dices on images, the throw must start outside the image to get the animation.
(Not a real problem though because the results of the dices are not used outside the chat box anyway...).

I haven't tried but it is probably possible to trigger a music when opening the image.
Last thing I must resolve is to share the image wide opened.

[Zacchaeus]

Why do you need to make tokens invisible?
You can't hide the icons atop the image and dice are always thrown into the chat box although you can drop them anywhere - but they won't roll. But why do you need the dice to roll other than into the chatbox?
When you share an image the players will get the image as it is on your screen. You can't share an image if it is enlarged (that is it can't be set to background). In any case once players have moved/resized the image you won't know what they are seeing and also when they open it in a new session it will be in the position it was last in - so again you can't really control the image size. Remember also that not everyone has the same screen size so what's good for you may not be good for your players.
You can link sound to an image. It won't automatically play that sound but it will be available in the sound panel when you open the image.

[Egheal]

Thanks for all those responses. For the sound it seems good enough.
I need invisible tokens to do like in the video: when my player point an objet it seems to react, showing a name. If he click on this objet (a book, a scroll...) it opens something else (another image, a note...). The invisible tokens make the player think he is interacting with the object on the image.
I deeply regret that the dice results are not shown if outside the chat box (a standard behavior in other VTTs, visually nicer, with the possibility to have bigger dices, like in roll20 or Foundry). It is possible to roll outside the chat box though, but not starting on an image, it is weird).
Lastly I would have thought you can share an enlarged image. But it is not a problem, the player can choose any size he want. And for the icon bar, it is not a big deal.

[LordEntrails]

I added a suggestion to the Feature Request list: Fantasy Grounds - Feature Requests (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/featurerequests/featurerequests.php?)
Search for 'Landing Page'

[Egheal]

Thanks for this suggestion, I voted for it.

[Kelrugem]

Thanks for all those responses. For the sound it seems good enough.
I need invisible tokens to do like in the video: when my player point an objet it seems to react, showing a name. If he click on this objet (a book, a scroll...) it opens something else (another image, a note...). The invisible tokens make the player think he is interacting with the object on the image.
I deeply regret that the dice results are not shown if outside the chat box (a standard behavior in other VTTs, visually nicer, with the possibility to have bigger dices, like in roll20 or Foundry). It is possible to roll outside the chat box though, but not starting on an image, it is weird).
Lastly I would have thought you can share an enlarged image. But it is not a problem, the player can choose any size he want. And for the icon bar, it is not a big deal.

About the invisible token: Can you not do that with Points of Interest? You can also use assets for your points of interest by the way :) For example: The merchant on my landing page can be clicked and it opens a shop page :) (making use of a shop extension in that case) Similarly, there is a book opening the player codex and so on. I am actually not using the pins anymore; using points of interest you can create points on the map the players can interact with :)

@LordEntrails: Thanks for the suggestion on the wish list :D

[Egheal]

About the invisible token: Can you not do that with Points of Interest? You can also use assets for your points of interest by the way :) For example: The merchant on my landing page can be clicked and it opens a shop page :) (making use of a shop extension in that case) Similarly, there is a book opening the player codex and so on. I am actually not using the pins anymore; using points of interest you can create points on the map the players can interact with :)

@LordEntrails: Thanks for the suggestion on the wish list :D

Yes, I can use the asset of a map for example, and place it, via the extension "Points of Interests", on the main image, if the player clic on this map it opens a larger map of the world.
If I place a near invisible asset on the drawing of the book it opens a note. But in some cases, the asset is still visible (barely).
My extension Strings and Pins (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/1711/view) can also be used to make Notice Boards, like the one you've shown us.

[Kelrugem]

Yes, I can use the asset of a map for example, and place it, via the extension "Points of Interests", on the main image, if the player clic on this map it opens a larger map of the world.
If I place a near invisible asset on the drawing of the book it opens a note. But in some cases, the asset is still visible (barely).
My extension Strings and Pins (https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/1711/view) can also be used to make Notice Boards, like the one you've shown us.

Uuh, nice, thanks for this extension, I will check it out :)

[Kelrugem]

I revamped my landing page:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=65769&stc=1&d=1762774974
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=65770&stc=1&d=1762774982


The first page actually shows an animated background of Waterdeep, and via the message of the day they get a link to the second screenshot:
I combined several assets, the background is from Czepeku and the newspaper I got from Baldur's Gate 3 which I edited with Gimp to remove the images and titles so that I can add my own (which I added within FG); I use the newspaper to summarize the last sessions and for some random information :D (though the newspaper is not yet finished in the screenshot).

on the righ side they can see an image from Waterdeep in the portal and they can click on the tokens to open homebrew rules, campaign book, item shops and so on :) (using Saagael's extension)
At the bottom they can click on their portrait to open their biography using advanced story entries; and above is a "Deeds" button where they can see their achievements throughout their campaign, following a style similar to Steam Achievements, and they may get inspiration points for certain achievements :)
I also plan to add a map of Waterdeep with tokens on it opening local information :)

I did everything inside FG by the way, except for Gimp to erase some images in the newspaper; in particular the portal on the right can be created inside FG. The original Czepeku image shows a blank portal, but with FG's fill painting mode you can "fill in" other assets and set some blur on the border to make it look nicer :) (filling means that you can adjust which part of the drawn asset is shown, allowing you to cut and to show only specific parts, reducing some workload because I didn't need to edit the asset file) This will also allow me to easily replace the portal's image with other assets, and I want to make it based on their current location :)

[anstett]

Awesome work as always

[LordEntrails]

By chance would you be willing to share a simplified campaign that has a landing page like this set up? I know you mean more than just a background decal, but I'm a bit at a loss. What you are doing looks really cool, I'm would love to explore it more.

[Trenloe]

@LordEntrails - the second image is a standard FG image that is opened by a link from the Message of the Day window. The image makes use of some extensions (e.g. Points of Interest to provide clickable tokens).

[Kelrugem]

Awesome work as always

Thanks :)


By chance would you be willing to share a simplified campaign that has a landing page like this set up? I know you mean more than just a background decal, but I'm a bit at a loss. What you are doing looks really cool, I'm would love to explore it more.

Indeed, it is as Trenloe described :) In the MotD message pop-up the players see a link to the landing page and that will open the landing page with the newspaper etc. :) The landing page itself is just an image, edited inside FG using the image tools (making the portal I learned from Josh's FG art videos :D)

I use an extension for tokens as pins, but alternatively one could add the buttons as assets and place pins on them; in that way one can avoid using extensions :)

EDIT: But I can still upload a sample campaign if you want, though it wouldn't be a lot because I have to strip the assets which I am probably not allowed to share :) But I can certainly show the setup :)

EDIT 2: The background of the first screenshot is actually an (animated) decal :) In case you also meant that one

[LordEntrails]

@LordEntrails - the second image is a standard FG image that is opened by a link from the Message of the Day window. The image makes use of some extensions (e.g. Points of Interest to provide clickable tokens).


Thanks :)



Indeed, it is as Trenloe described :) In the MotD message pop-up the players see a link to the landing page and that will open the landing page with the newspaper etc. :) The landing page itself is just an image, edited inside FG using the image tools (making the portal I learned from Josh's FG art videos :D)

I use an extension for tokens as pins, but alternatively one could add the buttons as assets and place pins on them; in that way one can avoid using extensions :)

EDIT: But I can still upload a sample campaign if you want, though it wouldn't be a lot because I have to strip the assets which I am probably not allowed to share :) But I can certainly show the setup :)

EDIT 2: The background of the first screenshot is actually an (animated) decal :) In case you also meant that one
I understand what's going on now. Thanks for helping an old man figure this out :O

[Kelrugem]

I understand what's going on now. Thanks for helping an old man figure this out :O

hehe, you're welcome :)