R20 Transitioning Questions

[Apshai]

Howdy all,

So - my OSRIC/AD&D group recently decided to transition to Fantasy Grounds from Roll20. The main reason was because we were running the Slaver Series of modules, and the already built ones are just a great way to save time (vs. importing map by map into Roll20).

However, I'll admit we've hit a number of snags in the learning curve which has frustrated us. We've got a few questions we're hoping the community might be able to help us out with
Thanks for any assistance.

1. How do we share PCs so they are still available in player's absence?

2. is there any way to have the campaign notes available if the DM (me) isn't running the program? Ie, with Roll20, my players could always prep beforehand by logging and reviewing our Loot/Quest tracker. With FG, it seems like they can't access our campaign without logging in. Is there a way around that?

3. I'm the one who owns the Ulimate License - and I bought the 2E PHB so that items could be imported (which I wasn't thrilled with since we don't even use 2E) - since none of my players have a license or any of the books, when they look at their characters all of the data definitions become broken. Is there any way to fix that, short of each player buying the PHB (which isn't feasible)?

We're liked most of what we've seen from FG (love the party order and language interpreters) but my players not being able to access their PCs and prep for sessions is a bit rough.

Thanks again for any help with these issues -
Apshai

[viresanimi]

1) Only way to let one player, look at another's is to clear the owner. Right click and select in the character selection screen.
2) No
3) Since they don't own the module, they can't access it, as far as I know. You do. So if they log in, it should be good. It's a licensing thing, I am sure.

Can't say that prepping as a player has mattered to me... Ehm. Leave a copy of FG running? Only thing I can think off.

[LordEntrails]

1. As the gm in the character selection window right click on a pc and select clean ownership.

2. No. Players can access read only versions of there characters, but can not edit them unless they export them, import into manage characters or their own campaign then export them again for the gm to import to the play campaign. Stories and notes, party inventory etc are only available when connected to the gm.

3. Did they load the PHB via Library > Modules? They should not have any problems while connected to your campaign, but wont have access to it via Manage Characters.

If you are playing 1E, not sure why you had to buy the 2E book, but I'm not sure proficient in AD&D anymore.

[Zacchaeus]

A good extension to try is the Message of the Day extension which allows you to write a story entry which pops up when the players join your game. You can use this to summarise the previous session's key features and/or note the state of quests or whatever. You can alos link things to it like the current map they are on and other things so that they can quickly see what's going on.

Players can access their characters via Manage characters. They should select the name of the campaign when doing so and they'll be able to view their character. They won't be able to edit it however. Only when they are connected to your game can the players edit things.

As for the handbook as others have said make sure that you have shared it in Library > Modules > Green Cross and that your players have loaded the module via Library > Modules > Load.

[JohnD]

Welcome! You have great taste and made the right switch.

There is a 1e extension that you can download and use... not sure where the link is located but if you do a little stumbling around you'll find it.

[Apshai]

Welcome! You have great taste and made the right switch.

There is a 1e extension that you can download and use... not sure where the link is located but if you do a little stumbling around you'll find it.

Unfortunately - the Slavers modules don't work with any rule set *other* than 2E, unless I'm doing something wrong - am I? We use OSRIC and I found the OSRIC extension and installed it, and, it wouldn't allow me to load in the Slavers modules.

[Apshai]

A good extension to try is the Message of the Day extension which allows you to write a story entry which pops up when the players join your game.

This doesn't solve the problem that they can't access the current game notes/loot/quest tracker/storyboard unless I'm running it on my PC.

Since we're an OSR group, one of the things the group loves doing is tactial planning during off-time: managing equipment and loot, tracking XP and training costs, changing up party order, setting up tactical positioning. Not being able to do that when the game isn't being played is...a big problem for us. Right now, I'm understanding the only option is to keep that information on another application like Obsidian Portal (or Google Docs). I don't think the group is going to go for managing two applications.

This is very frustrating - I was enjoying the FG UI, and the Slavers Modules loaded in!

[LordEntrails]

Is it possible for you to leave FG running? Dont know what your computer situation is, but that would mean your players could access it at any time. Just put a password on your campaign for added security.

[ddavison]

Hello Apshai,

It sounds like your other questions were answered, but just in case: For players to access links and the PHB, the GM should make sure it is marked as Shared in the GM's Library. Then the players can go to Library > Modules and open it. Once opened, it will remain opened whenever they re-connect.

For persisting the game between sessions or when the GM is not there, the GM has to launch the game and leave it running and then the players can connect and disconnect at their leisure. Many GMs will open the table up 1-2 hours before a game for this sort of thing, leveling up, shopping for equipment, etc. There is also a chatlog saved on the GM's computer for each campaign. Look for chatlog.html. You can upload this somewhere for players to view offline. It is a running history of everything that has happened in the campaign so far. I don't know if they are still current and up-to-date with all the available rulesets, but some users wrote a tool called the Chat Log Scrubber that extracted and reformatted some of this info to make into nicer to read blogs. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...ubber-released

[JohnD]

For opening modules in another ruleset there is an extension - it won't give you the NPCs/monsters obviously since those are different across the board, but you'd get the maps, story entries etc....