Thinking of buying but........

[mrgrimm]

As the subject states I am thinking of buying this program, but.......... I have another program that does the same thing AND I REALLY want to be able to use this for something other than D20 based games, Like Tristat or Savage Worlds. So that leads to my question. I ask this to you all, the ones that have experience with this application. How easy is it or would it be to run a TriStat or Savage Worlds game with this application.


Thanks in Advance


Mr. Grimm

[Bagpuss2]

Unfortunately its not that straight forward. While the program will support such a system it would take some work to create a ruleset to do that. Steps involved...

1) Create a new character sheet to support the game system in question. - Requires a graphics package and some basic image handling skills.

2) Create the XML charsheet.xml file to support that character sheet. - Requires Notepad, or a free XML editor, and some basic knowledge of XML (if you know HTML you are halfway there already).

3) Optionally you could add OGL information (if the game is published under OGL) into a reference book but that's not required to play the game.

Obviously that all takes time and effort, but if you have any skills in that area it doesn't take a huge amount of time.

[mrgrimm]

Thanks for the response. I am still debating on whethter to buy this though.. I like the interface alot...

[richvalle]

Its still a new product with its support/fan base just starting. You could just wait for a while, checking back here every now and then and see how things go. I'm sure more mods will come and probably tools that will make modding the software easier.

rv

[mrgrimm]

So I bought it! I bought the full version, Woo Hoo! The thing that sold me is actually something REALLY small and I'll admit it, insignificant. It was the way you roll dice.... That is just too cool! Great tabletop feel. After that it was the drag and drop capabilities. I felt that those two features alone overpowered the negative things. As an example, the fact that everyone who plays in a Fantasy Grounds game, has to have bought at least the lite version. I have another program (I won't name names...) which does the same thing, but is not as visually striking as Fantasy Grounds and does not require the players to buy the program. It works through any standards based browser. Never fear though, this looks like the way to go.

[Ilwan]

Alea Iacta Est

Its what got me too

[DM Greg]

I started running a game with Screen Monkey a few months ago...kloodgy, slow, and I hated the refresh that the players had to do to stay up to speed.

I don't even use the chat engine. I use voice chat (www.skype.com) and this program by far emulates the tabletop experience to a tee. All I have to do is invent some scratch-and-sniff Dorito's cards and intentionally spill some Mt. Dew on my table to complete the setting.

Later,

Greg Volz
Natural Twenty Gaming
www.naturaltwenty.com

I have another program (I won't name names...) which does the same thing, but is not as visually striking as Fantasy Grounds and does not require the players to buy the program.

[Dupre]

I felt that those two features alone overpowered the negative things.

Aside from licenses, we're all ears when it comes to improving the software and if there's something that you find annoying, please write about it and we'll look into ways of fixing it. Licensing isn't a tabu subject either, but for the time being, we find the pricing of the software to be on par with the features it offers.

[Aesir]

I'll raise up the taboo topic then.

Not a gripe or a rant, well ..maybe it is, but it's not directed at the group here.

There's maybe 2 people in my group of 5 (sometimes 6) players that would pop for the 20 or 35 bucks needed. But unfortunately, that's not enough to get this group to use the program. The DM would buy it if the players wanted it.

I liked the program demo. I'd like to see the full feature set available for demo, perhaps on a time trial basis or without the ability to save campaigns or whatnot - but the campaign creation/editing needs to be part of the demo, as those functions in particular are what my DM is most interested in. We need to know what it would take to create the proper feats, skills, items/equipment, classes, and races for an Eberron campaign.

Unless we're missing something, she can't test that functionality in the demo. what that in turn means, is I can't sell the idea that we 'enforce' the purchase amongst the balance of the players.

Aside from that, and while I don't expect any real motion in the 'lite' license pricing, I'd toss it out there anyway to see if it sticks...I'd suggest that $10 for a 'Player/Lite' license is about the max I can see the majority of my playing group springing for.



As an aside, a player to player chat whisper function is sorely missed. I'd like to see that function allow for the following:

1) All whispers are visible to the DM, showing who is whispering and who is hearing the whisper, and..
2) Group whisper capability, whereby a player (or DM) can create whisper groups in advance so that a given whisper goes to more than 1 person if needed. The whisper groups should be definable. The functionality that exists in current (pre-release/beta) versions of OpenRPG pretty much sums up what I'm describing.
3) die rolls made inline with chat text... such as:
"Player: I step 10 feet forward, swing my sword [1d20+3] and move back 20 feet."

Just as an example, that is a bit more like what we're used to as far as RPing actions or rolling dice as part of an emote or whatnot.

[Edited: Since this has turned into a wish list post, I'll add the following:]

4) ability to change font sizes in the chat box and interface... my eyes ain't what they used to be.
5) Zoom capabilities on the maps. For pretty much the same reason as above. My desktop runs at a high resolution, so I prefer programs that account for that.

[Edited again to add...]
6) Copy/cut/paste functionality in all fields, text boxes, etc. via Windows clipboard for use in manipulating text both within the program, and also bringing text into and out of (from the clipboard, notepad, etc.) the program.

[mrgrimm]

I'll agree with everything Aesir said. I'm getting older and my eyes are getting worse...

Also, this is more cosmetic than anything, when you roll the D4 it is really hard to see the result. I do realize that it should show up in the chat window, but I would also like to see it on the die as well. You might look at changing where the numbers are displayed. In all the D4s' I have, the number is the same on every face along the bottom right in the middle as opposed to the top. Just a thought.