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Thread: Thoughts on Fantasy Grounds?

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    Default Thoughts on Fantasy Grounds?

    G'day all, not sure if this is the right place in the forum so please let me know. Do any of the D&D playing cartographers on this site use the VTT Fantasy Grounds for their gaming, and if so, what do you think? On top of looking like it's fairly easy to bring in your own maps as well as maps sourced from elsewhere it appears as though, with a bit of work of course, that you can use it to take care of most of the bookkeeping aspect of D&D. I think the map editing aspect of the program is incredibly limited but I won't be using it for that as I will be using GIMP for my maps (or at least, that is my optimistic plan!)

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    Guild Journeyer wthrasherb's Avatar
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    DK13, I've tried most of the VTT options that are out there over the past few years and Roll20.net is BY FAR the absolute best option. It is free, although if you're a GM it is worth paying to be a "supporter" ($5/month), or a "mentor" ($10/month). But, you still get a GREAT free service if you don't want to pay.

  3. #3

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    D&D 5.0 just made a big announcement regarding Fantasy Grounds.

    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...antasy-Grounds

    Here's a big discussion thread on EnWorld that goes back and forth discussing the ins and outs, http://www.enworld.org/forum/content...age=2#comments.

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    I saw that and got excited until I discovered the DLC was for 5e and I play 4e as I have all the books etc (Borders going out of business saw my book collection grow stupidly!)... Alas... I might check out Roll20, I am keen to find a good VTT as I live Interstate from my playing group.

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    Community Leader Jaxilon's Avatar
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    Well, seeing as I am a GURPS user i can't use anything DND specific.
    I may check out roll20 to see if that'll work.
    “When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden

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    Guild Journeyer wthrasherb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jaxilon View Post
    Well, seeing as I am a GURPS user i can't use anything DND specific.
    I may check out roll20 to see if that'll work.
    Roll20 is system agnostic! You can even play card games and board games and such. GURPS away!

    If you are looking for a rules data base inclusion then you will be out of luck with Roll20. I just read that article seycyrus linked to about Fantasy Grounds and the 5th edition packs they are releasing. Roll20 is working on a rules "compendium" but so far it only has Pathfinder and I'm not sure if it will include D&D rules or not. Roll20 is meant to be a more generic interface for playing any variety of tabletop game, not just RPGs or specific RPGs. Also, you can't beat 'Free'.

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    Community Leader Jaxilon's Avatar
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    Agreed. I know some here have used maptools as well which is also free.
    “When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden

    * Rivengard * My Finished Maps * My Challenge Maps * My deviantArt

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    Thanks for the input all, Maptools I have played around with and liked, and see that it has quite a good map editor but a lot more work is involved for the nitty gritty paperwork side of RPGs. It may be almost impossible to find exactly what I'm looking for, I'm thinking atm that I'll go with Fantasy Grounds, put in the monster stats as I need them for my adventures. I'm keen to come up with absolutely everything as far as my adventures go (maps, encounters etc.) so I have a lot of work ahead of me at it is. Thanks again!

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jaxilon View Post
    Well, seeing as I am a GURPS user i can't use anything DND specific.
    I may check out roll20 to see if that'll work.
    I play Gurps with FG. There's a ruleset available, tho not nearly as much automation as you see on the D&D 5.0 packages.

  10. #10

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    Fantasy Grounds is absolutely the best platform out there. Roll20 is good overall but you will have to do every single thing yourself. They have some basic character sheets but that is it.

    Roll20 doesn't encourage sharing resources FG does. In Roll20 you cannot even transfer your own resources from one campaign to another unless you have their mentor subscription. You also cannot do any coding API without it.

    All of the rules are coded in Fantasy Grounds. They do allow all players access to all of their tools. The only difference in license is who you can play with. It is a one time fee. FG is the only platform with a full license agreement with WoC.

    Roll20 will most likely never have the D&D rules coded for Dm's.

    Fantasy Grounds is definitely more expensive start up cost. You will probably need to spend around 250 dollars for the full license and all the rules needed to play.
    Roll20 is technically free but all of their basic features needed for DM require the 5 dollar monthly subscription.

    If you are an active gamer and DM and don't want to do every single thing yourself than FG is your best option.

    Those that don't like it are probably biased because of aesthetic differences. I do find FG to be a little over crowded.

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