Fantasy Grounds Licenses are Now FREE! Plus Online Digital Reader launched in Beta

[Jiminimonka]

Is there any timeline for when products will be added to the reader? I was briefly checking out the reader earlier and I noticed that there were quite a few products that were missing. I imagine that adding products will take time but there were more than a few that were missing that didn't "make sense" given the other products that are available. For example, I own the pre-update version of the Traveller Core bundle on FG. Some of the books (the central supply catalogue, the vehicle handbook) are available in the reader but the others (including the core rules, high guard and the traveller companion) are not available. Similarly, I own the Starfinder Essentials bundle. A few of the books appear but most of the books (including the core rulebook) do not show up for me. Or to take another example, I own each of the 6 PF1E Kingmaker modules in FGU. However, only parts 3-6 can be read using the reader. Part 1 and 2 are nowhere to be seen. Other rulesets (Cyberpunk Red) are missing entirely.

As Adam said on the stream, there are over around 4,000 products on the store and 1,600 are done already. Pretty quick since it is in Beta and just went public.

Also, some of the books are split in to multiple parts (like the GM Guide and the Player Guide for the same product) so those have to be treated differently. Smiteworks are working on this too. Then more products will appear.

[Jiminimonka]

Does the move to F2P mean that, i as the forever DM, in theory could let another player log into my account to be the DM as all our books and adventures are tied to my account... or would there still be issues preventing this ?

It means you as the forever DM can now tell your players "my turn" and they can be DM instead - but they have to buy the books.

[ikki]

Those rulesets are already in FGVTT. You want to get the books, they cost money and no; FVTT, Roll20 nor any other provides the content for free, or Wizards of the Coast would shut them down.

I mean that currently, FGU supports 5E and PF2E rulesets for free; you only need to purchase modules. Is there a chance they will support more rulesets in the future? Right now, many rulesets are behind a paywall

[Zacchaeus]

I mean that currently, FGU supports 5E and PF2E rulesets for free; you only need to purchase modules. Is there a chance they will support more rulesets in the future? Right now, many rulesets are behind a paywall

I think they'd like to make rulesets free but it does depend on the publisher. Usually any rulesets that are paid for come with the core rulebook which you'd need anyway.

[ddavison]

There are more built in rulesets beyond 5E and PF. Since rules are not copyrightable, we can build these for any system— but we still prefer to get the blessing of the game owner because our desire is to help them sell more official content. With their blessing, we will be able to use some of their trade dress and branding without having to build and maintain two versions. With no license fee or subscriptions, this becomes even more important.

[Navigat0r]

As Adam said on the stream, there are over around 4,000 products on the store and 1,600 are done already. Pretty quick since it is in Beta and just went public.

Also, some of the books are split in to multiple parts (like the GM Guide and the Player Guide for the same product) so those have to be treated differently. Smiteworks are working on this too. Then more products will appear.

Undoubtedly adding these books will take quite some time. Is there any place that I can check to see a list of which books are currently available? Or a place where "updates" can be read regarding which books are being worked on?

Just so my impatient self can have something to help me resist the urge to post "when?!" too often...

EDIT: And also so that I know that products I own should or should not appear in the reader. If they should appear but do not, I will know to make a report in the appropriate place.

[Vackipleur]

That’s great, and it’s big news. I’ve stayed loyal to FGU after 12 years of intensive play.
Will there still be random discounts on Store products? I mean outside of the bundles—asking as a guy who’s collected nearly 200 items...

[ddavison]

Undoubtedly adding these books will take quite some time. Is there any place that I can check to see a list of which books are currently available? Or a place where "updates" can be read regarding which books are being worked on?

Just so my impatient self can have something to help me resist the urge to post "when?!" too often...

EDIT: And also so that I know that products I own should or should not appear in the reader. If they should appear but do not, I will know to make a report in the appropriate place.

We don't have it in a list form of any kind, but I imagine we might tie it into the store and the store history at one point so you will be able to jump directly to the product if you own it -- or see if it is there before buying.

[ddavison]

That’s great, and it’s big news. I’ve stayed loyal to FGU after 12 years of intensive play.
Will there still be random discounts on Store products? I mean outside of the bundles—asking as a guy who’s collected nearly 200 items...

If you are not already, please sign up for the newsletter. We put around 40 items on sale nearly every single week.

[Navigat0r]

After poking around with the reader a bit more, I have a few more questions. First of all, I noticed that some of the data that one would expect in a book can not be accessed. Namely, data records which exist as links within the fantasy ground program such as NPC stats, treasure parcels and encounter records (and sometimes tables depending on the book). Within FGU, one needs to simply click the link and be shown the relevant data record. However, in the reader these links do not exist and many such records are not viewable. This is particularly noticeable in monster books where a significant potion of the book is dedicated to stats. For some books such as the 5e monster manual, there is flavor text I can read through (along with a line of text saying NPC [name of npc]) but none of the actual mechanical stats I would need to run the creature. For other books which contain most of the important stuff within data records, the online reader only shows a few sections such as the FGU conversion info and a few sidebars.

This is also true of adventure modules. Much of the information I would need to know to prep an adventure is contained within stat blocks, encounter records and parcels. With the reader I would know that behind this door the BBEG and his minions await (and maybe some info about the arena itself) but I am not able to know what kind of spells the BBEG has, how many minions there are, what kind of abilities they might use, or what sort of treasure is available after the fight.

For me this lack of ability to see the information is something of a problem as my biggest use case as GM would be to prep when I am away from my PC. Familiarizing myself with adventure content, learning the abilities of NPCs, adjusting treasure to fit the party using and drawing inspiration from tables and so on. However, in its current form, the online reader makes it a bit hard to do that.

Are there any plans to make such data records viewable within the reader?

To be clear this is not a complaint. I think the reader is a big step in a positive direction and I would like to continue using it. However in its current form the utility of the reader is somewhat reduced.