Advice for potential new all-in backer on KS

Hey guys and girls.

I’m a long-time (20 ish years of gaming off and on) In-person gamer that has been meandering along with one or two games per month at my FLGS. I’m getting bored of the same old tropes. I’ve never played online and I’m based in the U.K.

I just ran my first ever game; a Coriolis scenario and half the party really enjoyed it, the other half didn’t (dice snobbery) and it made me realise that a) I don’t wanna run D&D like everyone else in my FLGS seems to and b) once a month is not enough.

I haven’t managed to use FG at all, but I don’t want to get a piece of software like this without some tuition alongside it. My questions are fairly simple... I am considering the Newbie Benefactor pledge of KSU

1) how successful is LFG generally? If I said I wanted to run a game once I have a positive rep would I generally expect some success in getting one together? How about with finding them? I can see the posts obvious but I’m curious about user experiences

2) I’m interested in the less common systems such as Coriolis, City of Mist, KULT Divinity Lost, Shadows of Esteren. How easy is it to adapt the product for those systems?

3) How straight forward is it to get new skins etc for the UI? The base ones all look pretty much like standard fantasy tropes and I’m more interested in a contemporary style.

Thanks, I’m really sorry for asking these last minute newbie questions instead of spending more time finding the answers but with such little time before the KS ends I thought it best to ask the community. I asked here instead of in the general forum as I have a feeling that this is where most of the games I want to run or play would reside.

Much appreciated.

Phil

Welcome to the forums Phil :)

No problem asking, we understand about the time shortage.

1) LFG for main systems is very easy for GM's to find players. For more obscure systems, I think you can do it, but you need to take the right approach. What I would recommend is to run an open table or one-shot format for awhile. If you provide Pre-gens and a few different scenarios, people won't be afraid of investing on a new system or afraid of not fitting in. Also running games during FG Con or FG Daze will get you some players too.

i.e. put out a good plot hook and people might say to themselves something like; "I've never played that system before, but the plot sounds fun and a couple of those characters are interesting. I'll give it 4 or 6 hours of my time to see if I like something new!"

2) Look at one of the 'generic' systems like CoreRPG, MoreCore and DORCore. All three of those allow you to create basic character sheets for any system. Some might have specific die rolls for you, but in general you can always just roll the virtual dice and determine the results like you would do at the table.

3) Well, there are lots and lots of themes already out there. www.fg-con.com has several non-fantasy ones I'm aware of. Also, there are lots of MoreCore themes out there. And, their is someone working on a Theme generator. Right now I think it only does 5E and CoreRPG? But it might do more or be a good starting point.

When it comes time to actually make things work, we can point you to threads and videos with more info.

Hi Phil,

As anywhere D&D is the king of the roost and most games played (by a long margin - like 65%) are D&D.
I play/run D&D, Dungeon World, Pulp Action, Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, Esoterrorists, Legend of the Five Rings, City of Mist, Castles & Crusades and a few others.
I use MoreCore for running a lot of these. Sometimes I build custom extension and sometimes I use MoreCore as it is.

Here is a L5R table.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...chmentid=27443

and here is a Pulp Action table:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...chmentid=23024

Thank you both. I think mostly I’m terrified of this ending up like any of my Steam games... Just installed and neglected. Especially as it’s gonna end up being a $300 investment (otherwise I just won’t end up using it as I learn best from demonstration and none of my friends here use any VTT software).

Might I also suggest heading over to Fantasy Grounds College and taking some classes. They helped me a bunch. All you need is the Demo so no monies out of pocket. That way you can at least get a feel for the interface before you spend real funds.

Thank you everyone, I realised I forgot to provide an update.

I took the plunge and went for the Rookie Benefactor pledge. What can I say, I’m a sucker for paying my dues. :) I’m enjoying the fact that they haven’t sent a license key for the current product though which means I don’t feel like the pressure is on for me to get my money’s worth yet.. (Sincerely, no sarcasm here.)

Much appreciation for your help, one and all.

Phil.

I dont think you will get a key for another month.
You could email support@ and see if the FGC key might be made available sooner...
Not sure...

:) I seriously wasn’t kidding, I’m fine with waiting, gives me more time to read Coriolis again fora start :D :)