Why should I buy this?

[SpaceCadet2220]

I've always been a TBYB type person. I was glad to see that there was a demo on the site to test it out however I found the demo excruciatingly limited. Now I'm a PnP GM. Basically I've played all my GM life in a social crowd with real people face to face. I am considering using an online way to play with my group because of distance issues and fuel prices etc...

Now I'm not one for d20 systems mainly because they too are limiting. I prefer GURPS over d20 any day because you can make what you want with the points you're given. Not locked into stereotypical class/races (you must be this and have these skills, feats and cannot deviate outside your selected class without being massively penalized)

Back on topic

Right now there is absolutely no reason for me to purchase a full version of this and a bunch of lite versions. Main reason is because I haven't seen how it works or it's flexibility. Why have I not seen how this works? because I can't create campaigns, or characters or test it out with my players.

Suggestion:
Make a time-limited license available for groups on the full versions. Reason for this is so that someone like me, who already has an established group can take it for a test run. Because I can guarantee you that sales will increase exponential if people can fully try the features before they decide to purchase it. If they like it the group will chip in to buy it. If they don't like it then nothing gained, nothing lost.

Because honestly if I were to purchase this for my 6-8 players and find out that it is nothing like what we thought it was going to be like I would be extremely pissed that I just spent over $100.00+ which could have been used for other things, like books, food, entertainment, etc...

Sure the company would be a little richer but the users wouldn't have gained anything and feel like they were conned.

I know many people here love the system and swear by it. But that's other people, maybe my group and I would fall into that same category as well but unless we have a full featured (be it time-limited) demo to try first. I can't see the 1,000's or more people like me purchasing it on a whim (unless we have extra cash to burn).

So again, why should I buy this?

[Spyke]

All I can say as a user is that we all faced the same choice as you and decided to go for it. And I think most people haven't been disappointed.

One cheaper way forward would be to commit just your own $40 and buy one full license. You'll be able to use this to play in other people's games even if you decide against using it for your own campaign. (You'd still get a discount on a bundle of Lites later so you wouldn't lose out by much overall.)

If you want to play GURPS 4e you can download my ruleset for free from www.spyke.me. (Character sheets and combat tracker only - in accordance with SJG online policy.) Join us in the GURPS group (https://www.fouruglymonsters.com/index.php?option=com_groupjive&task=showgroup&groupid=8) over at Four Ugly Monsters to organise a game. I run the occasional one-shot. You can also discuss and explore the alternatives to Fantasy Grounds there.

I think you've been a little harsh on the demo. While I agree that a time-limited version would be better, it is possible using the demo to enter campaign data, albeit in the d20 sheets, and to manipulate maps, tokens, images, the combat tracker and roll dice. It's not a huge mental leap to extrapolate that to your chosen system. A time-limited version would allow you to invest a pile of effort to demonstrate the same things in your system of choice, but by its nature it wouldn't prove whether it was the right long-term choice for you.

Spyke

[demonsbane]

(...) So again, why should I buy this?

Because there is nothing equal out there?

Seriously, I understand your worries. In my case, I did start with FG buying a Full license while a friend mine bought a Lite one. We were trying to do "GM + 1 Player" games, so the $ cost wasn't close to the one what is demanding an entire group, what seems to be your case.

Anyway, I think Fantasy Grounds 2 is a bit expensive, and devs could listen some of the worries SpaceCadet2220 and other people are sharing around here. I think they are legitimate concerns.

And BTW, Spyke saved Fantasy Grounds 2 for me with his making of the GURPS 4e Ruleset for this application.

Regards

[unerwünscht]

And BTW, Spyke saved Fantasy Grounds 2 for me with his making of the GURPS 4e Ruleset for this application.

Regards

Agreed, I had already deleted the application in fact and then i saw this post today and reinstalled it to check out the GURPS set. I just might start using the application again with that. I find GURPS players a little easier to get along with than some of the others.

[Griogre]

I just want to point out the demo can connect to two players. I suggest you try to connect to someone else to make sure you don't have any connection difficulties before you buy and also to get the impression of some of your players. That's what I did.

I was very leary about my original purchase myself, mostly because I was already running an online game and at the time I was worried FG couldn't handle the number of players I had in my group.

In answer to why you should buy it? I think overall it is the best VTT available with the largest community. It's interface is very easy to use for anyone who has played in a face to face game around a gaming table. Ultimately, FG is a dice roller, chat program, image sharer and battlemap with tokens. You can literally play most games with no required input and just the rulebook in your lap and the adventure next to your keyboard. This is particually true if you chose to use voice software (and most do).

I would suggest you load up the demo again as a host than start a second instance of FG as a player (you need to change the user name). And just play around with it. Ask about anything that comes up. Ask Skyke his impressions - he's probably done everything you need to know to get his game to work.

[Valarian]

The ability to register Lite licenses with the Full version in order to demo other rulesets to new people has been requested as an enhancement and is on the wish list. Until this has been implemented by the developers, the only demo version we've got is the d20 one. As Griogre has said, the interface is pretty good and is worth having a play and going through the user guide available in the Library (link in the top menu above).

Try to get past the demo being d20, the current default ruleset for FGII. There are many other character sheet rulesets available for other games. You won't have the rules modules, as they're generally copyrighted material, but this isn't too much of a hardship if you've got the rulebook handy anyway.

Digital Adventures has commercial rulesets (including modules) available for Iron Heroes, Savage Worlds and (hopefully soon) Call of Cthulhu.
I've done community character sheet rulesets for Traveller (QLI's T20), Babylon 5 (Mongoose's OGL), and the Unisystem (Eden Studios).