Thinking about starting.

[mgholson]

I DMed a year long very stable campaign on OpenRPG a few years ago using D&D 3.0, it was really fun. I never actually played on OpenRPG just Dmed, one reason was that I couldn't find a game that actually started and stopped when it was supposed to, so I just made up my own even though I didn't really know what I was doing.

I started a campaign on there last year but canceled it even though I had some players I just couldn't get into it. Openrpg still didn't work right and looked like crap. I think the first session didn't go so well and I just kind of quit, had lots of players who sent me stupid characters, really how many half dragon wizards could exist?

So I started thinking about it and kind of want to try again then stumbled across fantasygrounds. I really enjoy DMing but never cared about power gaming or reading lots of extra materials. This time I want to actually play first as to get a grasp of the system and program instead of learn it on the fly like I did with 3.0 I'm leaning toward 4E for the simple reason that it is new and isn't burdened yet by hundreds of stupid extra books and rules.

So here are my questions.

GMT -6:00 would I be able to find a game that plays pretty much once a week at the same time. I could play just about any week night except Wednesday.

Will I be able to find a game where the emphasis is on role playing and not calculus.

How hard is it to create a campaign in Fantasy Grounds, it was pretty simple to load maps, and objects into openrpg.

If the answer is yes to those I would probably buy it and start.

[Foen]

I'm not so sure about the availability of groups and players - but you could try the Guild House forum, which is the place to go to find new groups. Many folks are happy to have newcomers, and will gladly teach you the ropes.

As regards creating campaigns, it is quite straightforward (copy your images directly into the 'images' folder, for example). There is some knack, however, if you want to run a full campaign and not just separate adventures. To do that, it is often helpful to modularize (is that a word?) your adventures so you can plug them in and out of the campaign.

Finally, if you get started with FG adventure/campaign running, don't forget to create regular backups of the campaign folder (after every session, for example). FGII isn't flaky, but if it bombs it has an uncanny knack of losing all your hard work, adventures, PCs etc in an irrecoverable manner :eek:

Please shout if you want any more info or insight.

Cheers

Foen

[Sigurd]

I think you're smart to play a little rather than jump into DMing. There's a knack to using the software. Check out the video tutorials by Xorn in the download section. They are worth the time to see how an organized DM uses the program.

CST (UTC-6) is a popular time zone. There are a number of games in or close to that time zone.

OpenRPG has its strengths but I think Fantasy Grounds is far easier to use. Something about the table metaphor is very slick.

I'd be curious about your reflections on the difference between the two systems.

Welcome aboard,

Sigurd

PS.

Foen's advice about backups is good. Take it as caution not alarm, I've probably played or DMed 100+ FG games now and I've never lost data. I haven't even needed to restart the game since V2.

[Lysander]

I don't know about the rest of us, but I'd prefer you not air so much of your dirty laundry from your last campaigns.

"I tried to GM, couldn't get into the characters that were created and decided to step back" is all we really need to know. Everything else is venting, and dulls the luster of what you want to try to do here.

Good Luck in your new endeavors...

[mgholson]

Thanks and I see your point and you are correct that was unneeded information but I wanted to show what I didn't like about those characters and what I didn't like about some aspects of the hobby of D&D. When I posted my game I said I wanted core characters only, and I got a few, but I mostly got a bunch of exotic characters created with some rare book.

I think in the past I have had way too many cases of people creating odd ball characters just for a collection of unique powers and abilities and got a bit jaded by powergaming.

Thanks and I think I am going to jump into fantasy grounds.

[Spyke]

Thanks and I think I am going to jump into fantasy grounds.You won't regret it. :)

Spyke

[Tenian]

I've never played any game where at least one of the players didn't attempt to power game in some sort of way. I don't think it's really a bad thing.

It is however up to the DM to review/allow/deny/adjust whatever to make the campaign fun for all the players involved. I have no problem playing in a game that uses only the core rules or disallows supplimental material, etc.

My only complaint is when these things are changed after characters have them/have been created and the players have no recourse to change them. For example if in a 4E campaign I felt the need to adjust a power, I would automatically offer my players the ability to retrain out of/into that power.

[EugeneZ]

Powergaming is one of the (many) reasons I like 4e. As far as I can tell, powergaming in 4e is encouraged and is rarely harmful. I don't doubt given time some players can find some exceptions but the system is a lot more system as a whole.

I find that most players powergame to some degree. Everyone wants their characters to be as effective as possible, right? If not, DnD is probably the wrong ruleset for you. The problem is when players create characters that decrease the fun other players are having with THEIR characters... I mean, really, what's wrong with a half-dragon wizard? If the player can effectively play the character (both in combat and outside) then what's the big deal? Players should play whatever characters interest them, I think.

[mgholson]

Most likely D&D is probably not the best ruleset for me, I would probably enjoy playing a nearly magicless, almost historical campagin, but I have always been happy with D&D in the past. My problem was that magical items and rare races and stuff should be rare especially when starting out.

Anyway definitly to each his own and everyone should play to have fun. The only reason I bring this up was that my experience DMing on openrpg was that I asked for core rules 1st level characters for my campaign setting that was low magic and very mundane human setting and got half dragon wizards. I would ask the player, "did you even read the campagin setting?" And they would say, "Yeah, but like my half dragon wizard flew in from somewhere." So I would reply, "OK as soon as the locals see you they will mob you and flail the skin off your corpse."