New to FG! Questions!

[drucastillo]

Hi I hope I am posting in the right spot.

So I wanted to try out FG and show it to friends who want to get some D&D action going.

My questions are what would I need to get a game going as DM? I know I need the license but what else would I need or what would be best to buy to make sure everyone has a good time? Would the Player's Handbook be a good buy or what about the Monster's Manual? I was thinking of getting one of the adventures and was wondering which one people think would be a good one to get to start off with?

Also does everybody need a computer with FG downloaded or could I have my computer as DM and everyone else who's playing share one computer?

Again I apologize if I am posting in the wrong spot. Still kinda new to everything and would appreciate the help!

[Imagix]

Depends on how much effort you want to do entering in data. Assuming 5ed. The license would get you the SRD data. Buying the PHB and MM would pre-enter a lot of that data for you. I'm not sure how much of that data would be supplied by buying just one of the adventures. I hear that the Lost Mine of Phandelver is a starting-type adventure. I've never run it myself, but the adventure may come with enough information on its own to not need the PHB & MM.

Does everyone _need_ their own computer? I suppose not strictly. Two of my players used to share a machine, but they're each have their own now. Probably more convenient than having to hand the machine around to do actions.

Note that if you buy from Smiteworks, you have a 30 day refund policy.

[drucastillo]

Depends on how much effort you want to do entering in data. Assuming 5ed. The license would get you the SRD data. Buying the PHB and MM would pre-enter a lot of that data for you. I'm not sure how much of that data would be supplied by buying just one of the adventures. I hear that the Lost Mine of Phandelver is a starting-type adventure. I've never run it myself, but the adventure may come with enough information on its own to not need the PHB & MM.

Does everyone _need_ their own computer? I suppose not strictly. Two of my players used to share a machine, but they're each have their own now. Probably more convenient than having to hand the machine around to do actions.

Note that if you buy from Smiteworks, you have a 30 day refund policy.

Awesome, thank you! I like the idea of getting the PHB and MM to have the data pre-entered and I will take a look at the Lost Mine of Phandelver. Those are good starting points for me! Are there any other adventures you would recommend?

And it is good to know that we aren't limited to the number of players based on how many computers we have.

Thanks for your help!

[Imagix]

I come from the AD&D ages, so I'm not super familiar with the 5ed modules (at least not yet). Hoard of the Dragon Queen is rated for 1st to 7th level, so that would be appropriate.

[LordEntrails]

See https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...eed-to-play-5e

Any adventure you buy will come with all the NPC (monsters) you need to run it. You might want the MM, Xanathar's etc if you want to add additional NPCs. You might want the DMG to add additional magic items (5E is balanced around no/minimal magic).

LMoP comes with pregenerated characters. Or you can use the SRD or the Basic Rules to create characters with a limited set of choices. (Suggest you only allow the Basic Rules and not the SRD, but you can use it if you want).

LMoP is a great starting adventure. I've run it and found it is a great starting point for new GMs. Not completely novel if you have been around D&D for a long time, but well done. A solid and enjoyable adventure and the FG conversion is well-done. Another one that I don't have but hear good things about is IceSpire Peak from the Essentials Kit. I do have the 3 adventures that follow after IP and have started running them. They are aimed at new DMs, but I'm not having too much trouble expanding upon them to fit my tastes. IMO they are rather lacking in maps and additional content, but I can handle that myself easily enough.

I think you will find the reviews on HotDQ mixed. I would read up a bit before chosing it.

Princes of the Apocalypse has some simple side quests you can use to start off at level 1. This one I liked. As a DM you can run it linearly or you can open it to sandbox play, all by what leads you give the party when and what events you trigger to happen.

[Danalli]

I found the MM to be of minimal value. The DM Guide and the PHB are what I get into the most

[TXCBoy36]

Hi I hope I am posting in the right spot.

So I wanted to try out FG and show it to friends who want to get some D&D action going.

My questions are what would I need to get a game going as DM? I know I need the license but what else would I need or what would be best to buy to make sure everyone has a good time? Would the Player's Handbook be a good buy or what about the Monster's Manual? I was thinking of getting one of the adventures and was wondering which one people think would be a good one to get to start off with?

Also does everybody need a computer with FG downloaded or could I have my computer as DM and everyone else who's playing share one computer?

Again I apologize if I am posting in the wrong spot. Still kinda new to everything and would appreciate the help!

You can run a game with Fantasy Grounds classic with only 1 additional player running the demo version, otherwise additional players would need the full version of FGC (fantasy grounds classic) to run a campaign. If you purchase the ultimate version of FGC, then your players can all run off of the demo version. That is the difference, if I understand it correctly.

I purchased the Ultimate license so my players could participate with only having the demo version.

I also recommend looking into Fantasy Grounds college which is an excellent way to get some great instruction through Live streaming sessions and these classes are free....have been taking these classes and they are very helpful because you can interact with the instructor live.

Good luck!

[Griogre]

I've played in Lost Mines and run Tyranny of Dragons which is the "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" and the "Rise of Tiamat" adventure path twice. I also run my own homebrew adventures as well.

The Lost Mine of Phandelver is a good starting adventure, it has all the monsters and NPC's you need included to run the adventure so you could just get it and a PH for you players and be good. My biggest problem with LMoP is the magic items appear to have is randomly generated and I would replace them all with either more generic generally useful items (there isn't anything really useful for a rogue but there are a *lot* of wands) or a single customized item for each PC.

Unlike the latter adventure paths which are all in one book, Tyranny of Dragons is spread over two books/modules. I have run or played in most of the older adventure paths and I think its one of the best adventures. It has scale and the PC's will feel like heroes if they survive. It is a tough adventure with the start being very good scene setting but also quite dangerous. I've run the adventure path with two different groups and like it enough to run it again in the right circumstances. If you want a single book adventure path, I played in and quite enjoyed "Out of the Abyss".

So to run an adventure you just need the Player's Handbook and the Adventure. To run your own stuff you want the Monster Manual and the other books that have monster sections. If you want to run an adventure but heavily modify it or supplement it you will probably want to get the monster manual to help make supplemental encounters.

The DMG has the neatest tables and all the magic items and is probably the book you get last as a DM.

[drucastillo]

Thank you all for the info! You've really given me a good starting point to get things going for my friends and I! Appreciate all the feedback!