SirLOL ask: To buy or not to buy...a question only for mod/admin...

[SirLOL]

I have not seen any real intelligent interaction as of yet, well at least toward me save for the sage, which wasn’t even direct at all actually. So there fore before I use my money I want to know if its worth it over all and should I expect an intelligent community response better than I have yet received?

[Spyke]

Hi SirLOL,

I'm going to answer anyway, even though you're saying just mod/admins, because, after all, this is an open forum... ;)

If you browse through the various threads in the forum I think you'll agree that there's a lot of intelligent interaction, and that most requests result in some good support and considered community response. You've been unlucky with a few of your posts.

In 'Whimpering Bear Tavern' you touched a nerve with some of our fellow gamers, and their response was unfortunate.

In the two 'Error code 14' threads, and in 'Creating your own', I think you've had solid replies, although it's a shame it looks like your graphic card is just on the edge of compatible.

I think with your 'Introduction' thread you needed to give a bit more detail to get a response. It's better to give a timezone, genre and some idea of the game system if you're looking for players. Otherwise the field's too broad.

FG's definitely worth the money, even if just for the games you'll join and play as time goes by, let alone the ability to host your own.

Hope this helps,

Spyke

[Foen]

Hi

You might want to check out the following thread:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7839

It touches on a number of alternative products.

Foen

[Griogre]

I noticed no one talked about MapTool on that thread which I think is also a very good VTT.

Hecuva's Battleground site has a large link section to a large number of VTTs. My two cents is you are going to find each one is a bit different. You want the one that complements the style of the game you want to play.

Link to Battlegrounds - click the link section and scroll down to VTTs: https://www.battlegroundsgames.com/index.html

FUMcon is comming up in April and there are usually a bunch of demos of various VTTs: https://www.fouruglymonsters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=119&Itemid=91

[Cearlan]

I would suggest doing what I did. Find out who the contenders are that you can a) afford and b) can run on your computer. Both of these are vital. Another point would be what you intend to use it for. Some of the apps available are more map focused, whereas FG is character focused - so you need to be clear what you want the programs to do.

Then visit the fan sites associated with each product and see which ones host the most games - say within the last six month or so, that will give you a good idea as to what products are being used across the community. A very good program with no users is no good to you. But then again is a more popular program that doesn't really achieve what you want any better?

When I did this I found FG to fit my own needs very well with and Battlegrounds and Klooge Werks a very close second. Both of these are excellent products but the other thing that swung me over to FG was the excellent use of an integrated character sheet that is editable both by the Keeper and investigator (my Call of Cthulhu background showing there).

If I had to raise two points that are negative about FG it is the lack of a decent manual, I personally like to have the info in front of me as I dabble, not a link to the user guide. The second point is my own personal lack of .lua and .XML. I am a bit too long in the tooth to get my head round these subjects. On the plus side we have Xorn's excellent videos, where I got the vast majority of my (limited) knowledge of FG's workings.

As for myself I am the proud owner of FG and really like the access it gives me to roleplaying games once more. I am giving serious consideration to making another purchase, probably Battlegrounds, to give access to games being run with that program.

[SirLOL]

Foen: Thank you for the link, however;

Griogre & Cearlan make a clear point in the direction I wish to attend to, That of the character, and more importantly, the player itself.

I can deal without almost anything, except the ability for good character keeping. I have played many games on both sides of the table completely from memory or at random, telling the story and creating as we go, and oddly enough, that was some of the better games, as long as they didn’t get too long, LOL. The only problem I ran into that way was the ability to remember every detail as the players wanted it to go on for hours…. However if the player reminded me of some detail I had misplaced in my mind somewhere, and they were true, or found some better way of telling the story that added that keener touch of physics/ reality or some other subject matter, I rewarded their character as long as it was not presented in a prideful or ****y manor. So something like FG is what I have been looking for some time. Yes the lack of instructions can be annoying at best, however trial and error seems to open up new ideas of applications and ways to use the tool. (Yes I know that was a bit redundant, as it seemed appropriate for clarity.)

Basically I am a story teller and want the players too feel as if they enjoyed a good story, but more importantly, have also learned something in the process.