Running a 5e game without parsed content

[Zacchaeus]

I suppose it depends on what you are wanting to do. All I have parsed are the Monsters and Spells from the downloadable Players Handbook and Monster Manual. I'm setting up to run the Keep on the Shadowfells module from 4e (converted to 5e of course) and since I have the PDF for that as well as all the maps for it (either d/l or made myself) it was easy enough to get the DM stuff going. My players all have the PHB so they were able to work out their own characters. I suppose what I have spent most time on is getting to grips with FG (since it is new to me), particularly getting effects to work so that as much as possible can be automated, and also sorting out token scales and things like that.

[Xorn]

GunnarGreybeard,

Until the creation of PAR5E, I used FG for 10 years without library modules. PAR5E is amazing, but as I've always tried to make clear in my videos--you do not need library modules for FG to be awesome. You could just create NPCs and Items in a single campaign, then export that campaign to a module--now you don't have to repeatedly make NPCs. If you're going to prioritize what is the most useful to parse though, here's my ranking:

1. NPCs
2. Equipment/Magic Items
3. Feats/Spells
4. Class/Race/Backgrounds
5. The rest.

NPCs are far and away the most useful thing to parse in my opinion, because you will use them all the time. You don't need to put them in all at once, though! Put in all the monsters you want for the adventure you're running, and parse it. Later, add some more monsters, and parse it again to update your library module. When you have some spare time, add some more and parse it. It doesn't need to be all at once.

Equipment is extremely handy, and you'll use it a lot. It's also really nice to drag-n-drop a weapon onto a character and have it auto-populate. Magic Items are great, but a lot like NPCs--don't tackle them all at once--just build them and parse as you need, and when you are bored with some spare time (like watching a movie or something).

Feats are easy and every character will use them. They are also low reward for low effort--you probably won't be like super excited you have feats done. Spells on the other hand are amazing, and your spellcaster players will love you for it. But at the same time, there's nothing preventing them from just typing in their spells themselves--so I'd call it a high reward for high investment--because there are a TON of spells. You might tackle it in pieces by just having all the level 1 spells parsed at first, then add level 2 over time, etc.

Class/Race/Backgrounds is only really used at character creation and level-ups. It's true that I have all the class links for my group on a hotkey bar so I can look their class up in a pinch, but my PHB is sitting on the desk next to me, too. Still, it's nice to have built eventually. Backgrounds are very easy to enter, and races aren't that bad. Classes are probably the hardest thing to parse, and it's still not that bad--plus there aren't 50 pages of them, like spells.

I guess "the rest" is parsing a reference manual. Knock yourself out, but in all seriousness--I have a fully parsed PHB, MM, and DMG, and I never use the reference manual portion. It's annoying because I spent days trying to decide how I wanted to break down the chapters, and I literally never look at it. At the point I'm using the reference manual, I would seriously prefer to just open the book up or search my PDF.

Good luck with the parsing, I hope this is a helpful breakdown of priorities.

P.S. Now making adventure modules is the reason to DM with Fantasy Grounds--but you don't need to parse to do that--but you can if you want! I'm sure you've seen them, but there's a tutorial playlist in my signature that shows how to do everything I described above.

[GunnarGreybeard]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Definitely helps give me a plan.

Oh and Xorn, thanks for reminding me about the old school parse, i.e., entering the data directly into FG and then exporting the content to build the library modules that way.