Tutoring GMing on Fantasy Grounds

[mhorgunn]

So we have been playing on FG for about 6 years. One of my players is going to run games for us. We are going from D&D5E to Traveller 2E. He knows the game but not the GM side of FG. He is looking to me for guidance on setting things up.

I have directed him to the excellent videos the community has created. We are setting up practice sessions to help him become comfortable with the process

Is there something or some suggestions to do this?

[srbongo]

I think one of the biggest challenges is just familiarity with FG - something your new GM has from playing. Making sure all the sidebar buttons are there so they've got access to every record type, and stuff like that. You've always got FG University as well and the Wiki for the MG2 ruleset. Honestly, you're doing the right thing by having some review sessions combining your experience and theirs - I'm sure they'll do just fine once they poke around. I just wouldn't worry too much about it as they'll learn stuff as they go as well.

[Ram Tyr]

I think videos are the way to go.

To supplement the videos (or to make the videos more understandable)... First, I would recommend letting him see the GM side of 5E if that is what he is accustomed to as a player. I have not played with Traveller 2e in FG, but I expect the options available to a 5E GM and a T2e GM in FG will not be the same. The new GM might have an easier time with T2e if he knows how things (he was used to doing / seeing done) were done with 5e. He doesn't have to actually run a real session, but run through simple combat, etc. This will give him something familiar in FG to compare the T2e GM experience to.

[mhorgunn]

I am beginning to think that perhaps we need to buy an adventure. This will give him an example to dissect. Also it will let him concentrate on learning the functionality rather than have to worry about story creation.

[Valyar]

I think reading the user manuals of the program and the ruleset are the most important things. Afterwards, everything will connect much better, whether you watch video or someone is explaining you.

[HywelPhillips]

I'd suggest running a short session in the ruleset he already knows as a player. Just a one-shot or even just an hour or two with just you as the player so you can share screens on Discord and show him what's what. Getting your head around the GM side will be easier done in a ruleset he already knows and a ruleset you can show him the ins and outs of if you need to. A commercial adventure (can be a really cheap and cheerful one - so long as it has a map, encounters, stories, tokens and parcels set up) would be the logical thing to do even if you don't intend to play the whole thing. It's worth it just to see how the "moving parts" fit together from the GM side.

Then for sure buy a published adventure and run that first in the new ruleset. There's a LOT of cognitive load on the GM running any RPG, then additional load from running on VTT, so don't also try to improv a stunning adventure. A one-shot with pregens or a starter adventure if the ruleset comes with one would be ideal.

Cheers, Hywel

[johnecc]

Depending on when he plans to start running Traveller, FG Academy is running a couple of Traveller Referee classes mid January. You can check them out on their discord server: https://discordapp.com/invite/Ew6nYyw

[mhorgunn]

Depending on when he plans to start running Traveller, FG Academy is running a couple of Traveller Referee classes mid January. You can check them out on their discord server: https://discordapp.com/invite/Ew6nYyw

Thanks! ... I know I'll be lookin out for this!!!

[Mansquatch62]

From a hardware perspective, I've found having two monitors is wonderful when GMing. I can put my maps on one screen and my combat tracker and such on the other. Now I'm thinking a third screen wouldn't be overkill.

[Grommit57]

I'm really liking Traveller on FG.
Just don't expect much in the way of automation just yet.
MBM is working on the automation and it's slowly getting better but there's a lot of manual tracking of stuff still at this time.