Price on the Ultimate Licence

[phantomwhale]

Ah - I did wonder if there was something specific in mind ! Yes, your comments become more clear with that in mind.

Now I still think FGII has the licensing and breadth of rulesets advantage which another pretty interface wouldn't necessarily have. But your point about some of the tools is quite true, and probably is an area we should focus on.

Now is probably a good idea to highlight to those who haven't seen the other thread that Moon has put the FGII wishlist up on the internet - https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/ - you can not only add ideas, but more importantly vote on existing ones. I'd urge people to just vote for things they really want to see - voting for everything is the same as voting for nothing !

I personally voted for some Dev features I'd like to see, but also for a few of the interface / map tool changes that unerwünscht has highlighted. On this I agree, with just a little effort we can get the image/map tool a bit more "polished". The nice thing with that is the image tool is part of the Core engine, so improvements made to it would automatically effect all rulesets, I believe, adding this polish to the entire catalog.

Plus all this continued development makes my license fee feel well spent; remember when we were talking annual fees *shudder*. I do understand the fees can be a prohibitive cost of entry for others though - I know it's worth the money, but it took a bit of a leap of faith for me to buy the full license to discover this. This is an old, and slightly different topic though, one that has been partly addressed by the improved demo offering, allowing people to properly try before they buy, as well as open one-shots and hopefully, FGIICon (coming soon) too !

[Dracones]

I would honestly say the thing that sets FG apart from all the rest is the 3rd part development community. The issue with that is that it becomes a very unstable foundation to build your empire upon.

Maptools has a 3rd party developer community for it. I'd say it's toolset and framework support are just as good as FG, though FG is a lot easier to get into as a player.

What separates FG out is the 3rd party licensing. With FG you can buy a Deadland's reloaded module and run it for a group of players without a lot of manual prep.

I'd think the ideal situation for FG would be to have modules coming out for the VTT the same day they hit print. But building up to that is a lot of work. The rulesets all need to be well rounded, they need reliable 3rd party developers and a way to fund them, and they need support from the companies they want to license from.

[unerwünscht]

I'd think the ideal situation for FG would be to have modules coming out for the VTT the same day they hit print. But building up to that is a lot of work. The rulesets all need to be well rounded, they need reliable 3rd party developers and a way to fund them, and they need support from the companies they want to license from.

That is EXACTLY what I plan on doing with my gaming line. Hitting a digital shelf near you this august.

[wbcreighton]

One of the strengths of FG2 is that it can handle all the varied rulesets. The problem is that if another VTT comes along that can do PF or DnD in an extraordinary way, that's all they need to succeed.

PF and DnD are such a big chunk of the market (they literally are the market), that if FG loses out in that segment, they will never get it back.

Not saying they will but the danger is there. That's why it is a priority for Smiteworks to land a deal with paizo or WotC.

[unerwünscht]

That's why it is a priority for Smiteworks to land a deal with paizo or WotC.

I think you vastly overestimate the importance of Paizo and WotC in conjunction with (D20 System) 3.5 OGL. In fact WotC has completely abandoned the 3.5 line of products, and Paizo's Pathfinder is only as popular as it is because (currently) it is the only option for decent 3.5 material (Decent is a relative idea here).

I think you also overestimate the amount of the gaming market that is tied down to 3.5 systems. Yes it is a significant chunk of the market, but in no way is "they literally are the market" even close to an accurate idea. In fact more and more players turn from that system everyday in favor of more flexible systems, and with the extremely limited support that they now receive fewer and fewer new players are picking it up anymore.

[phantomwhale]

The 2011 sales report (https://www.smiteworks.com/press/AnnualReport2011.htm) suggested that the other product lines (SWEX / Cthulhu and others) offer a small but growing income stream for FGII, but the core product (which comes bundled with 4E and 3.5E) still represent over 80% of the core income stream.

Hard to say if that directly translates to Paizo / WotC gaming making up 80% of FGII's use - you could argue those figures and potential usage patterns in many different ways. But I know my local tabletop gaming group is always at least 50% DnD these days - it's really boosted gamer numbers in the last decade, but I've felt more sidelined in trying to run alternative games. Hopefully it's "just a phase" or a gateway game to hook in new / retired gamers

[EDIT] although ignoring costs and focusing on quantity only, the Core engine / 4E sales only represent 50% of the total sales made - so that hints more that a variety of rulesets is a big part of FGIIs future and unique sales position.

[wbcreighton]

I think you vastly overestimate the importance of Paizo and WotC in conjunction with (D20 System) 3.5 OGL. In fact WotC has completely abandoned the 3.5 line of products, and Paizo's Pathfinder is only as popular as it is because (currently) it is the only option for decent 3.5 material (Decent is a relative idea here).

I would like to think you are correct. I've never been big into DnD. I don't have the sales numbers to back up my claim, perhaps you do.

To think that the only reason that PF is popular is because it is the only 3.5 option is somewhat incorrect in my opinion. I think the reason it is popular is because they hire good writers and artists, and they consistently produce good material with high production value. They put out a monthly 96 page adventure as part of their AP line (plus a host of other products). Very few companies out there can boast the same, and they can do it because it sells.

BTW I'm not trying to spark a raging debate on the topic. If you have sales figures that show that paizo sales combined with WotC sales is not a signifigant part of the rpg market I will be happy change my view on the topic.

[Magnatude]

Ultimate license holders can become a great asset to the FG2 community... they can bring in a lot of new players that are "interested" but not yet convinced that FG2 is their kind of VTT.

I'm having fun with mine and FG2 is an excellent product, I get to help boost sales of FG2 (so hopefully we can get some revamps of our purchased outdated Rulesets) wink wink... nudge nudge...

[GunnarGreybeard]

I'm having fun with mine and FG2 is an excellent product, I get to help boost sales of FG2 (so hopefully we can get some revamps of our purchased outdated Rulesets) wink wink... nudge nudge...

I'd give a wink and nudge to that myself.