roll20 secures D&D 5E license

[ddavison]

The prices for the modules will be the same, so it will really come down to what implementation people prefer. I would have liked to have had the Fantasy Grounds Unity version with the dynamic line of sight and other bells and whistles up by now, but it hasn't happened yet. To use that on Roll20, you would need a subscription there for it first. They are starting with Lost Mine of Phandelver and then planning to do Storm King's Thunder in September. There are a lot of products still to do for 5E for them and depending on what all they provide in their products, those things will take them a lot of time. They can look and see how we've chosen to implement those things and then work to implement something similar. It might be better or it might be worse. Only time will tell.

Is it good news or bad news? I'm not sure. The good news is that Wotc is still very happy with SmiteWorks and Fantasy Grounds and we essentially proved a market for them. They are not likely to suddenly decide to start doing everything in-house again and they probably see external companies like ours as a part of their continued future. Similarly, the price issue should hopefully go away as people see that it costs the same to play on any platform. The bad news is that we are no longer the only game in town for official content.

It's all good though. If you are afraid of competition, you probably shouldn't be in business.

[Willot]

Just watched Polygon's review of fg again (its pretty good).It is frustrating to watch them do things wrong.Would probably be helpful if Doug or someone can be in the review (as a player?) To stop them doing things like draging the Character portraits on to the map instead of from the CT, which then creates a situation where the review winds up having phrazes in it like...Huh? why did that happen? Hrmph so how to we apply damage? With the added competition FG cant afford to have their product look hard to use in a review. Just because the PC icon got draged from the wrong thing.

[Newf]

I'll start by saying that, like a few of you I'm sure, I began my VTT experience with Roll20. However, once I saw FG and looked into it, I decided that it was best for me. I haven't look back since. I've finally been able to start building my game/resource library in it and couldn't be happier. I'm quite excited about the Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed ruleset. I've been using 6th with the extension for a few weeks now.

That being said, I do think Roll20 getting the stuff is good, as some have mentioned. The concern I have though is that now Roll20 kind of has a "leg up" in the sense that it's free to use. While FG has the 30 day trial, I still think most people will be more inclined to just go to a website and sign up without having to install anything. I do what I can to try to nudge people in the FG direction on Twitter and via my streams on twitch, but I think that just got a bit harder to do.

Dough brought up a great point about how people will now see that the price points are going to be the same. The main things that Roll20 had going for it was completely free to use and it has dynamic lighting. Once FG comes out with DL (and kind of has with that extension I saw being worked on, which is amazing and I'll be checking that out soon when I get back to D&D next week), I think that will level the playing field again. People often tend to hate up front costs, I know I do. It's just a matter of getting them over the hump.

[Answulf]

I've been playing Fantasy Grounds for over 10 years now, and that entire time it has always been the best product on the market - including now. Roll20 is a great product too and obviously they are doing something right with the insane number of players they have, I just wish there wasn't such a misconception about the cost differences between the two. I'm sure being the only officially licensed software was a huge competitive advantage for a while and it's too bad that's gone, but at least Fantasy Grounds still has the Steam advantage.

Hopefully the Unity version will give Fantasy Grounds another big bump - it can't get here fast enough!

[LordEntrails]

There insane number of reported user is just that, insane. Just because someone creates an account doesn't mean they are a player.

[Mortar]

I have only looked at Roll20 and never used it, this announcement is good for Roll20, its users and the hobby as a whole.

Not bash Roll20 or its users, but the whole price misconception is going to take a bit of hit on the Roll20 side with this. As the way I read it, the only way to get it is if you are a subscriber. Which means that a user that wants to buy it will be paying every month on TOP of purchasing the product.

[JohnD]

But... but... it's free!

[damned]

Dough brought up a great point about how people will now see that the price points are going to be the same. The main things that Roll20 had going for it was completely free to use and it has dynamic lighting. Once FG comes out with DL (and kind of has with that extension I saw being worked on, which is amazing and I'll be checking that out soon when I get back to D&D next week), I think that will level the playing field again. People often tend to hate up front costs, I know I do. It's just a matter of getting them over the hump.

I dont believe that the dynamic lighting is free... i think its only on the subscription levels.

[Newf]

I have only looked at Roll20 and never used it, this announcement is good for Roll20, its users and the hobby as a whole.

Not bash Roll20 or its users, but the whole price misconception is going to take a bit of hit on the Roll20 side with this. As the way I read it, the only way to get it is if you are a subscriber. Which means that a user that wants to buy it will be paying every month on TOP of purchasing the product.

Based on what I've read on reddit, anyone can buy the products and use them, but if you want access to the dynamic lighting for the maps, you still have to subscribe.

[Newf]

Yes, that's correct. Still have to pay for that feature, but it's still 100% free to use.