Change My Mind: Invest in FG, need top 5e capability but also OSR/ShadowofDemonLord

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Originally Posted by Gray Geist

Hello all! Very direct and useful responses as always, thank you. Based on what many of you are saying it sounds like that perhaps having everyone (including me) buy a "Standard License" might be more useful in the long run. I want my players to be able to get on (on their own) and edit characters, etc without relying on me to home to turn on computer or rely on my internet connection. Now with that said I have a feeling I may have the wrong idea and having the Ult License as a DM may be highly advantageous. Has anyone experienced a situation with everyone (including DM) having Standard? Are there severe limitations to the DM having Standard I'm not understanding? On the other hand has anyone experienced having Ult and everyone having the free version? Have you run into the issue of players having no access when you're not around and had to plan it so you can get on to give them access to look at their character sheet, etc?

On the other hand I can see having Ultimate is useful and worse comes to worst I would log in 30 minutes early with my players to have them level up characters, etc but sometimes people can't crunch 30 minutes in. Just spit balling here really :)

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So yea, maybe theirs a point or two you are missing.

First, I have the ultimate license and my players are typically free licenses. But, that only matters when it comes to connecting to my game. Even if everyone has standard licenses, they still have to do the export to Manage Character and then re-import into the campaign to edit their characters when they are offline. This is because the campaign "owns" the data and FG doesn't want the cache change remotely without it being changed on the server. It helps with data integrity, because what would happen if the DM changed it and the player changed it when they were not connected to each other? Which one would the database want to "keep". Not that their are ways to handle such, but FG has not (yet?) been programmed to handle it, so it just locks the player cache when offline.

Also be aware, regardless of the license setup, the players have to be connected to you in order to have access to your books/DLC. When not-connected, they will only have access to any books/DLC they have bought, or in the case of 5E, the Basic Rules and the SRD (which, if you are usingthe PHB, they probably don't want to mix).

To me, it hasn't been a big deal for me to start up FG early (or late) to let my players in to update their characters. Sometimes early, sometimes just at random times they'll ask, but it's really not something has to be done often. More so at the beginning a everyone is getting used to FG and to 5E, but later once they know the system and rules, it's not something they spend much time on.

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Speaking of Discord, I just can't get into the damn thing! I tried twice and find myself utterly overwhelmed by it and I absolutely hate it's interface! Is that just me? I'm sure everyone has their own ways of reading it and such but I don't think even Odin himself could keep up with all the crap that comes down the stream even only following a few boards. Do you log on and "catch up" on some stuff and focus on real time convo or do you just focus on the real time piece? I've been gaming on my PC for years and I'm a pretty fast learner but Discord just won't click - I even tried keeping it on my phone and just...meh ya know? But if Discord means I can talk to this crowd in real time and go to FG College (awesome!) then I'll have to learn :D

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I initially didn't like Discord either. But, what I found with it is on each server/channel is changing the default notification settings so I only get notified when someone names me (@LordEntrails) or uses the @everyone @here names. I also find that I generally don't try to go back and read the "old posts". Good servers will have different channels. Like a chat and an announcement channel. The announcement channel should only have stuff that you do want to go back and read. The chat is just the flood of real-time discussion (it's great for tech support and hanging out).

I agree Discord can be a slap-in-the-face-with-a-wet-fish when you first load it up and join an active server.

The biggest issue I have is that it's hard to keep up with conversations if you're not on, and it's very hard to provide feedback on incorrect statements/assumptions if you're not online around the time the discussion is made. The medium makes it more susceptible to incorrect statements that can't be corroborated or corrected. Which is why I still prefer the forums as the main way to discuss issues and questions within FG. Especially as it's hard to search/find info from previous discussions on Discord - I know there's a search facility, but getting through all the chatter is a bit of a mission.

But, for people wanting immediate answers/feedback (even if they may not be that correct) Discord is great. Even though forum folks are usually pretty quick to answer here too.

I tend to think of Discord like a busy pub. There's lots of conversations going on, a lot of them filled with the crap/nonsense that people spout when in a pub. Anyone can wander around the pub butting into conversations and giving their opinion. Don't get me wrong, some of the conversations can be useful and enlightening. And, I have been known to like busy pubs... :)

Ahhhh got it everyone! So yeah it does seem Ultimate License is the best way to go. I'll do that and begin asking questions soon! First the demo and some messing around on my own...

I have an Ultimate license and over time all of my players bought their own licenses whether they were Standard or Ultimate themselves.
Having Ultimate gave me the flexibility to invite anyone to my table.
Over time hopefully one or more of your players will opt to GM for a while and then you will need to revisit the license situation.
But by that time you will probably have found you are very happy and the purchase will be much easier to justify.

Load FG an hour or so before your game starts. This gives your players the opportunity to review characters, whatever before game. Also, will help alleviate a big load on your bandwidth with everyone connecting at once if there are large downloads to do (i.e. 5e PHB). Plus, people can socialize, etc....

If the op is still about I hope you have checked out the Shadow of the Demon Lord ruleset in the forge... it is moving closer to an official licensed release.