why did you chose FG over other VTT apps?

Our group started using FG when FG2 first came out. Previously, we had been using mostly kLoOge and maptool, although we had also looked at a couple of others.

I think it's fair to say that we were seduced by the design and the dice, to start with. FG2 looked good, ran smoothly and did everything we needed of it (maps, characters, combat management) so we went with it and are glad we did. Yes, it has some limitations (my pet peeve is clients being unable to manipulate the map), hence the various wishlist posts on this forum, but the recent changes in developers have proved to be an extremely positive move so far and there is no reason to think that will change.

In summary then, FG2 looks better than most other VTTs, it has some USPs (such as its dice and design), it is very customisable and extremely well-supported by both the developers and the community, and it is going from strength to strength.

Hope this helps.

I ran Klooge for a couple of years. The program is very un-user-friendly for those who never touched a VTT app before. There was a major learning curve (more like a 90 degree angle), it was an intense memory hog, and it was a cluster**** to get anything organized.

Its high points is that it did have a fog of war that you could apply effects to (such as a sun rod effect or darkness spell effect.) Targetting was a lot easier and able to be done both on Master and Client side. A lot of things were automated.

hope that helps

Our very own moon_wizard was responsible for the best 3.5e kLoOge ruleset definition. You won't be surprised to hear that.

I've been using Fantasy grounds since 2005.

It was the dice, at first.

Other VTTs have come along and I've looked at them but not really tried them because:

FGII the GM is the host, no external servers to rely on.
It doesn't try to automate everything!
It's "easy" to modify and create your own stuff (this varies by person of course)
It is the closest too sitting round a table and handing out maps and moving miniatures.
AND it has 3d dice! :P

Style and dm control.

You log into a DM's computer like you'd go to their house. There doesn't have to be anyone else involved - players and a DM. The dice are elegant but not too flashy. The resources available are virtual notes, dice, and books.
It won't play the game for you and it won't get in the way when you play the game.

Other VTTs are worth a look. Maptool is probably my second choice. Fantasy grounds however, has very open management, is extremely flexible, and I enjoy its style.

For me, a tank of gas is now more than the cost of the full license. I couldn't drive to see all the people from even one game on a tank of gas.

Sigurd

I admit that the eye candy was one of the reasons we choose FG. It was nice to be able to actually roll the dice. Other then that, it seemed very intuitive and easy to use from a player point of view. We looked at a bunch of other virtual table tops and Maptools was the only one that came close in our minds.

Also, FG had the most active forums.

The only complaints I have about FG are that 1) I wish it was native to Macs and Linux (espically linux), and 2) I wish there was a much easier way to create rulesets and character sheets. For someone whose not much of a programmer, creating a 'full' ruleset can be somewhat daunting.

As an IT Project Manager, I first defined my requirements. I wanted a tool that would enable me to manage an online campaign, store notes and have rule sets easily available for game systems that I like to play. My requirements were Call of Cthulhu, Rolemaster, D&D, and Castles and Crusades.

I have maptools, which is superior to the mapping portion, but vastly inferior to Fantasy Grounds for a campaign particularly for the rules I like to play with. It's strengths include characters line of sight and lighting where in FG it is clunky. If my requrements were for dungeon crawls (mostly one shot) or face to face gaming I would use maptools. I might integrate maptools with FG2 and get the best of both worlds but not all of my players have two monitors which makes it a bit difficult to flip back and forth.

Battlegrounds looked excellent if my requirements were for hex based games. If my thing was Mechwarrior, I would likely have selected Battlegrounds.

I also looked at the other VTTs and Klooge looked as a potential with some ways to import characters with character generators so it was close for me because FG lacks that. However I felt that character design in Call of Cthulhu isnt that complicated nor is RMC so FG2 won.

I have found FG2 to be very stable and we've had a blast. I don't regret one penny for having purchased the Ultimate License.

And one final note.. and this is coming from an IT guy running and securing one of the largest networks in the world. If you rely upon a central bank of servers and that company goes under, that server gets hacked, or the data center where the servers are located gets flooded... will your game go on?

If I have the software on my own pc or server and people can direct connect through my IP address I can ensure 24/7 uptime. I just need a high speed connection and I'm set. Soon I will have a wireless aircard so even if my ISP takes a hit, the game can go on!

done deal. FG it is.

Well, you're already decided but I'll state the obvious from the responses you've gotten;

The community.

None of the other VTTs have as prolific and helpful community as FG2. I've seen projects get started over someone's favorite rules and next thing you know we've all got a new full featured ruleset to game with. This also goes for tokens, maps, themes/skins, and ruleset assistant extensions.

In addition, you can come here and often within minutes get an answer to a quesiton, no matter how obvious or stupid it may be to some. Let me tell you, I've started working with extensions and I can't tell you how helpful the posts here have been.

All the other stuff is great, 3D dice, DM servers, and now the new licensing options... but, if I had come here back in 2008 and seen flame wars and competing VTT recriminations, and a generally unsupportive and unfriendly community, I would have bought something else. As it was, I was immediately happy, and have never looked back.

Another thing to consider is that, unless the limitation is in the core programming, most of the limitations can be coded out with FGII yourself, where in many other platforms you don't have that option.