So, last Thursday night I offered my players the ability to tour Fantasy Grounds while we were not in a game to get a feel for it. It also allowed me to check that Libby’s installation was up and running OK and thankfully it was! As I only had one confirmed character already I decided to take them into the “Crossroads” adventure that I had created for use with Fantasy Grounds Con so long ago.
It was a hard read to see if they liked it or not at the start. I started by just screen sharing with them so that they could see the way to handle dice, look through a character, use effects and modifiers. The chat window, special dice colouring and all of those sorts of features. Then I showed them the combat tracker and how they could keep a track of what they were doing and understand how it worked.
We then had a mock combat where I used one of my end bosses to fight them (though I made her really dumb) and they really got into the swing of what this program has to offer them. Not all of the players could make it but some of the others have used the program before although others will be newbies. I will even have to do some brushing up before Monday and watch a video tutorial or two as I have forgotten how to use area effect spells for targeting multiple creatures and the like!
At the end of the night I think they were suitably impressed with the way that Fantasy Grounds takes the Pathfinder rule set and streamlines it for both the player and the GM. There is so much less preparation that I need to do in the game than I did for Roll 20. Sure, the dynamic lighting of Roll 20 is a fantastic visual but it really does not bother me to lose it now, especially as the Fog of War in Fantasy Grounds is so easy to use.
Only issue now is that I have to get all of their characters in the game on time – I have plenty of material on their already (not quite the full module but getting there) and I even made a custom desktop for Fantasy Grounds. Damian Hupfeld (a fellow Australian) has been a great help in making it really easy to build these!
Please give this tabletop a go at some stage. Find a game that is going on with an ultimate license user and you won’t pay a cent. Badger me to run a game of D&D for you! I have a module that I want to fine tune so harass me and I will likely run something! Until next time, keep rolling!