Free-to-Play Question

[Autolycus]

I just noticed that Fantasy Grounds is now free-to-play and includes rulesets. For a home grown AD&D 2ed campaign, do you still need to buy the PHB, DMG, MM and/or anything else to have character classes, mechanics, etc. predefined?

[Malystryx]

Hi Autolycus, yes, that's right. While the AD&D 2E ruleset is free to access, if you want the ease of having all of the content material preloaded for built-in use, you would purchase the core rule books (PHB, DMG, MM) at a minimum. Anything else you add like the Complete books will add kits as well. This will let you just drop in your home grown world story content and not have to worry about much else.

To be clear, these purchases are completely optional. It does make using the system so much easier but if you prefer to not spend the money, you can simply manually add the content you need by hand from your physical books.

[Autolycus]

Thanks Malystryx

[JohnD]

Unless you have 100s of hours to spend entering data, the books are huge value for your $ spent.

[Autolycus]

Unless you have 100s of hours to spend entering data, the books are huge value for your $ spent.

I've never used FG, but I thought that might be the case. A friend is going to be starting a new campaign and I suggested he check FG out for that reason.

[Autolycus]

If someone (presumably the DM) buys the PHB, DMG, and MM, do the players need to buy any of the books? For example, to be able to update their character sheets?

[Zacchaeus]

If someone (presumably the DM) buys the PHB, DMG, and MM, do the players need to buy any of the books? For example, to be able to update their character sheets?
No. The Host (DM) can share any books that they own with any player whilst that player is connected to the host’s campaign.

[LordEntrails]

Though this was written in 2016, the concept on what to buy and why is still valid. What do I need to play 5e? (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?32987-What-do-I-need-to-play-5e)

[Autolycus]

Thanks everyone for the great information, just what I was looking for!