Tips for the noob GM

[Serafyna]

Hey, all! How's everyone? I'm still pretty new to the D&D community in general (playing for about 3 years now) and I only just got into being a GM. Thing is, there aren't all that many opportunities for a table in my area (I'm just outside the GreaterTorontoArea with no car, and work full-time) so I looked to create an online table from RPGTableFinder.
Well, I found a table! And we're starting our first session of Waterdeep: DH on Sunday (the 30th). Thing is, I deliberated for a while on using Roll20 or FG, and decided that using FG would be a lot easier; I've also looked at the firewall forums to make sure my connectivity with my players went smoothly, as well as some shortcut tips.
I just have a few questions though: 1) Do I need to buy the Ultimate license if I want to host a Demo player alongside the other 3 who do have it? I'm only wondering, because one of my players has the Ultimate version, and said that he could relinquish GM control over to me when the game starts. Is this possible?
2) I generated my IP with ZeroTier, so can I just send the IP address to them, or do I still need to send them the e-mail to join the server it's hosted on?
3) I already have physical copies of the PHB, DMG, MM, and WDH, as well as the FG version of WDH. Can I still use the Basic PHB & DMG on FG, or should I still get the FG versions?
4) HOW DO I GET MAPS AND PICTURES TO STOP RESIZING? I need the maps to stay at one size, where the tokens can be placed for combat and can move around, but no so big that it takes up the full screen.... And some of these maps are big!
5) Are there any other tips I should know? I've been playing around to get used to FG, but any help would be appreciated!

[Nylanfs]

Welcome to the forums and FG Community! This should help start.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...antasy-Grounds

[LordEntrails]

1) No, a player with an ultimate license can not "share" that to the GM so he can host demo players. If you have a standard license, then all your players need to have a standard or ultimate licences.

2) Don't know what email you are talking about. Your players need your IP address. I think it will be your Zero Tier IP address, but I haven't used VPN in a long time so don't want to say something I'm not 100% on.

3) Up to you. I suggest you read; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...eed-to-play-5e

4) Maps don't resize on their own. You need to learn the UI so you can learn how to control the map size, scale, zoom, panning. Check out the user manual, the wiki or the various videos. Depending upon your preferred learning format.

5) Yes, follow Nylanfs link, but don't try to learn them all at once. Read them all, then go back and learn/use one or two every session.

[Serafyna]

Thanks for the help, and i'll definitely keep checking out the starter guides and such!

[SirGraystone]

A good thing to do when you are learning the DM side of D&D on Fantasy Grounds, first open FG in a campaign, next open another instance of FG and join the first one as a player. That let you see on the 2nd copy what your players will see when you share stuffs or use fog of war.

[epithet]

...I already have physical copies of the PHB, DMG, MM, and WDH, as well as the FG version of WDH. Can I still use the Basic PHB & DMG on FG, or should I still get the FG versions?...

I would suggest that you start with the Basic/SRD content before you re-purchase the same books all over again. Wizards of the Coast believes that it is not unreasonable to require customers to pay the full price for every single version of the same book; they don't bundle, they don't offer discounts. It isn't Smiteworks' fault, look at the way Pathfinder books are priced for comparison.

Anyway, you can manually enter anything you need that isn't included in the SRD or Basic Rules. Make sure you enter it exactly as it is written in the rulebook, and more often than not Fantasy Grounds will know what to do with it. For anything you find that you need to set up manually (like some class abilities) you can find example characters on the D&D 5e forum that will have effects all set up for you to copy. Assuming you enjoy DMing on Fantasy Grounds (I personally love it) you'll probably want to go ahead and buy a bundle of books, but you don't need to get in a hurry.

On the loading screen in Fantasy Grounds, you will see the option to generate an alias. Do that, then click the button next to it to test your connection. If it doesn't give you a green success quickly, you probably need to forward a port on your router. There are instructions here on the forums, and you can ask if you run into any issues. Give your players your alias and they can use that to connect. Be careful that you don't click the button again, because if you generate a new alias there is no way (that I know of) to get your old one back.

[Skillkoil]

Yeah the tips and tricks guide is something you need to reference every now and then. You can't retain all that stuff in one read. It was put together by a lot of different people.(It still isn't done by the way). If you have even ONE Demo player you are going to need the Ultimate License or Subscription. Other than that, Happy Gaming!! If you need more help you can ask here or check out the Fantasy Grounds College where you can learn all about using the software.

[lostsanityreturned]

I would recommend getting the PHB, DMG and MM personally. While it feels bad to repeat purcahse the content it is discounted here and really makes the learning process / experience a lot smoother.

If money is an issue the PHB and MM make the biggest difference time wise.

I would also highly recommend buying the module for Dragonheist from the store here, it includes all the npcs, maps, items, encounters, tables and story entries needed. (if you haven't already) it saves a huge amount of time and you can ignore buying the monster manual in the short term in that case.

As of October first they will be replacing the complete bundle with three bundles. One of which being
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store...TC5EESSENTIALS

Depending on how much you are able to spend this could be an easy once and done purchase.

[Nylanfs]

Dodn't forget theres a sample tutorial 5e module for free.

[GavinRuneblade]

Do I need to buy the Ultimate license if I want to host a Demo player alongside the other 3 who do have it? I'm only wondering, because one of my players has the Ultimate version, and said that he could relinquish GM control over to me when the game starts. Is this possible?

What I did when I was first starting out and only had a standard license but one of my players had an ultimate is that I did all my game prep offline and emailed him the maps, images, etc. He created the campaign and pretended to be the DM we all connected to. I ran the game using voice and he moved the NPCs, etc all that for me as I directed. Eventually I saved up and got the Ultimate license and have been running as the DM ever since then.

I think there may be a way to transfer the campaign files just like I did when I moved computers but we lucked out and had a shift of games happen at the same time anyway so I just started a new campaign instead of trying to move the campaign folder over.

I also had a few sessions where one player wanted to learn how to DM, so I created the campaign and he verbally gave all the directions and I acted as his hands using my Ultimate account. He eventually bought his own ultimate license and is running his own game now.