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  1. #11
    Congratulations and thanks for posting this!

    Our group will be hitting 1 year later this month. I've really enjoyed getting to learn FG and the community has been outstanding. It was pretty rocky in the beginning. I thought I had a pretty good grasp on FG after watching several videos and reading countless posts on how to do things. Then we had our first session and it was pretty painful. Luckily, I had a very patient group of players and we all learned FG together. In hindsight, I wish I would have taken a couple FG College classes. We are still learning things in FG, but I couldn't imagine playing without it anymore. I'm going to remain virtual, but even if I were to play face to face, I would still incorporate FG.

    I'm slowly entering all of my campaign world data into FG. I wish the toolset were a little more robust for world building (Would love to see some World Anvil type database organization), but I understand that's really not what FG is for. I just like the idea of having everything in one tool.

    I tried OneNote, but for some reason it didn't grab me. One of my players suggested Scrivener and it works great for me--I find it a little more powerful than OneNote. I'm not sure it's any better than OneNote, but it's better for me. I write out my setting and then copy and paste it into FG. Here's a screen cap:

    scriv-look.PNG

    As I said, I've really enjoyed getting to know FG. FG opened up the door to a whole new way of gaming and a new group of friends who are sharing this adventure with me.
    Last edited by JonStormbringer; June 11th, 2021 at 02:20.

  2. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by JohnD View Post
    Even though you're face-to-face again, you might consider still using FG - it works just as well if you're all in the same spot.
    FWIW I'd love to bring my laptop (a player hosts the weekly game) and run the game with everyone in the same room. One player (the host) is in both my online and in person games, and for the life of him, rolls terrible either way. Now we all get to share his frustration in person

    Maybe one day we can emulate Make Love, Not Warcraft LAN party.jpeg

  3. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by JonStormbringer View Post
    Congratulations and thanks for posting this!

    It was pretty rocky in the beginning. I thought I had a pretty good grasp on FG after watching several videos and reading countless posts on how to do things. Then we had our first session and it was pretty painful. Luckily, I had a very patient group of players and we all learned FG together.

    One of my players suggested Scrivener and it works great for me--I find it a little more powerful than OneNote.
    I am eternally grateful for suffering through the early sessions because the payoff was well worth it. I recently played a Roll20 game where the DM had nine individual saves to make, then had to track damage and conditions, and all I could think was 'this would have been over in a few clicks in Fantasy Grounds.' We made the right investment.

    As far as Scrivener, I did look at the software, but my Windows subscription pushed me to keep my office platform consistent. That being said, I forgot to make a point in my original post:

    When prepping for an in person game, my campaign ideas bounce around my head and I can improvise and adapt while DMing through loose notes and face to face interactions. Online, and in Fantasy Grounds, SPECIFICITY IS KING, meaning I needed to actually and dare I admit accurately prepare for my sessions. One major benefit was once I built whatever into the game it was there, and as long as I remembered where it was built, I had instant access.
    Last edited by Brian D; June 11th, 2021 at 04:28.

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by JonStormbringer View Post
    I'm slowly entering all of my campaign world data into FG. I wish the toolset were a little more robust for world building (Would love to see some World Anvil type database organization), but I understand that's really not what FG is for. I just like the idea of having everything in one tool.
    You might see if the Player Agency extension gives you some of what you are after.

  5. #15

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    If you want a simpler alternative to Scrivener you can try the free yWriter authoring software (though I have not used yWriter7) which you can get from the Spacejock website here:
    https://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html

    It's got a very dated feel but its free and pretty easy to use.
    Last edited by Griogre; June 11th, 2021 at 18:26.

  6. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by damned View Post
    You might see if the Player Agency extension gives you some of what you are after.
    PA is a great extension! If I had it/knew about it before I entered a pretty fair amount of information, I definitely would have used it. Unless I missed a feature, I'd have to re-input everything I'd already put in to keep the same style/format. Is that correct? I'd already created about 150+ story entries when I first saw PA.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnD View Post
    Even though you're face-to-face again, you might consider still using FG - it works just as well if you're all in the same spot.
    I would like to second this. I actually started using Fantasy Grounds as an offline tool way before I used it as an online tool. I used it for projecting my maps to a TV, tracking initiative, and reading monster statblocks while in person. If my brain was tired I also rolled dice with it directly off statblocks as well when dm-ing. I can't imagine going back to running dungeon crawls without it - makes it very easy.

    Quote Originally Posted by JonStormbringer View Post
    PA is a great extension! If I had it/knew about it before I entered a pretty fair amount of information, I definitely would have used it. Unless I missed a feature, I'd have to re-input everything I'd already put in to keep the same style/format. Is that correct? I'd already created about 150+ story entries when I first saw PA.
    I've begun the worldbuilder portion of this extension to make notes about lore in the world I run in. I really like it and want to second how helpful it is. You can pin your story entries into the forms in PA if that helps.
    I'm thinking of keeping a copy in FG but then copy and pasting in OneNote as I also like to use that for campaign planning and like the idea of having duplicates of my work.
    Fantasy Grounds D&D Adventurers League Consultant
    Organizer, DungeonMaster , and TTRPG Gamer

  8. #18
    For worldbuilders I've been toying around with the free version of this. It's interesting. https://www.notebook.ai/

  9. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian D View Post
    I am eternally grateful for suffering through the early sessions because the payoff was well worth it. I recently played a Roll20 game where the DM had nine individual saves to make, then had to track damage and conditions, and all I could think was 'this would have been over in a few clicks in Fantasy Grounds.' We made the right investment.
    I see this on Foundry, too. I like the interface, but the automation is so spotty. It tends to lurch forward depending on what updated (the program or the various modules) from the prior week. Its been hard recently as our party had a good number of buffs - smite, protection, boost trait plus a summoned critter to boot (talking Savage Worlds here). Manual adjustments made to sheets (you could put in code, but not like you can with FG's built in effects in the powers) then having to track them. And the global effect is very nice to toggling cover and illumination penalties in FG.

    But! Foundry now as a mod to interface with Giphy! For me as a player I love it! Now was a GM, I am glad FG does not have that.
    Last edited by amerigoV; June 14th, 2021 at 16:14.

  10. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian D View Post
    In March 2020 our 5e TTRPG group transferred online. My buddy (I.T. professional) purchased both Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, evaluated both, then decided to continue our Avernus campaign in Roll20. Once I got accustomed to playing online, I built a 12th level 5e adventure in Roll20 to DM. We played this 'one shot' over seven sessions and I gained valuable DM time.

    No amount of prep replaces direct experience DMing (online)

    I found making individual saving throws and manually reducing hit points cumbersome. I wanted the unwieldy aspects of running online games automated and later found Fantasy Grounds. On June 10th, 2020 I purchased Fantasy Grounds Unity and began figuring out the software.

    The learning curve (at 40+ hours for me), turned out to be well worth the investment. I began prepping for our next campaign, a 5e D&D Eberron conversion of the Pathfinder Skull and Shackles adventure path, building everything I could think of into the software before our first game.

    Six months later the Avernus campaign finished. In November 2020 I resumed DMing for our group in Fantasy Grounds.

    Here, in no particular order, are my general experiences:

    • SmiteWorks Admin are quick to respond and friendly. Fellow gamers are a great resource and happy to teach. Thanks to everyone who helped me along.
    • I first learned to play via one shots, then learned to DM the same way. I felt comfortable DMing around six to eight sessions in, even with some Roll20 experience. My players had similar learning curves, though Ctrl-clicking or building powers in still gets forgotten.
    • I knew I was comfortable DMing when I quickly diagnosed player software familiarity lapses and easily improvised work arounds if glitches came up. Nothing replaces direct experience DMing online.
    • If I am to play online I prefer Fantasy Grounds automation and my players with experience on other platforms concur.

    Things, in hindsight, I wish I knew beforehand:

    • Staying organized and navigating through the software's internal logic necessitates trial and error, then forethought. That being said, all campaign building, table creation, item building etc. should be in one master game and then exported out as a .mod file. I currently have three games built, one of which is now active, leaving me to search for or rebuild files.
    • Always copy NPCs, story, parcels, from purchased products IF THEY ARE GOING TO BE CHANGED. I updated story modules without first copying the files, then reverted the module, losing all of my work. The little notebook icon in the right side of the window tells you if it's owned, changed, or neither.
    • I use a second account for an additional player login to see directly what my players see (and still necessary, even with Player Vision Preview in current version, though this may be argued.)
    • If the characters don't know or identify an enemy or piece of equipment, using the Non ID Name (Red circle) allows an alternate description. One click on ID puts the name back correctly.
    • The dice tower works great for checks the players wouldn’t necessarily know, like stealth or appraise checks. Other notable dice tower mentions include death saving throws and knowledge checks.
    • I purchased DMsguild extensions and mods, mostly from Grim Press and Rob Twohy, and downloaded others from within the FGU forums. I am happy I did. Verify the players have access to and then open these files in their library.
    • Updating. Every month, I update FGU around the 1st and ask my players to do the same. My (DM) updates include verifying which DMsguild purchases and FGU forum downloads got updated, then downloading those files for transfer into FGU. Please note that updated files sometimes have misspelled names, so need to be corrected when replacing the old version.
    • Windows users - earlier this year, one of my players computer refused to update Fantasy Grounds. After four hours and numerous tries we found the specific files from within the SmiteWorks folders so he could update. The next week SmiteWorks launched Fantasy Grounds customer portal. No similar problems since.
    • Windows users - my computer was running hot during games - my graphics card (GPU) running at 80%+ during sessions. I typed /vsync 4 in game chat which reduced the GPU to 15% without performance loss.
    • The software isn't perfect and has its quirks. I'd like to share tokens with my players, easily move custom tables between games, rename purchased files, etc. Still, even with the other options out there I'll take Fantasy Grounds stability and automation any day.

    In early April I started DMing a second game in FGU for some friends who moved out of town. Then last month came the loosening of restrictions, so my weekly Tuesday game resumed in person again. Changing back to tabletop proved more work than anticipated, with my campaign needing to be cut and paste into OneNote, but worth it to see my friends every week. At least I still get to run Fantasy Grounds a few sessions a month. Now I miss the convenience of automated conditions, critical hits, concentration checks, and calculations using the software.

    Attachment 47464
    I have spent quite less time than you, having the extra burden of learning 5e (most of us coming from 2e) from scratch. Many mistakes, much searching, but FGU allowed me to push forward as all of us re-learned the game.

    I wish I had consistently copied entries before changing, as you mentioned, but I did not

    The second account advice is gold; I share it over zoom and record it for future reference.

    The vsync command is something I need to check next time.

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