Fantasy Grounds vs. roll20

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Mr. Fed
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Fantasy Grounds vs. roll20

Post by Mr. Fed »

So I see WotC has hooked up with Fantasy Grounds to license D&D 5e content. I had previously been toying with the idea of learning roll20 as an online gaming platform.

As far as I can tell, d20 is more modifiable and more hooked-in with video or audio chat. But Fantasy Grounds looks like it may be more noob-friendly and suitable (combined with a Google hangout for audio chat) for someone like me who is not too adept with the technology.

Thoughts?
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IceBear
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Re: Fantasy Grounds vs. roll20

Post by IceBear »

I think someone was saying that the fantasy grounds setup was going to nickle and dime you to death. I believe you can use roll20 for free (as a player anyway)...not sure the cost for a DM. Let me see if I can find the review I saw on Google+
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IceBear
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Re: Fantasy Grounds vs. roll20

Post by IceBear »

Sorry, can't find the article I was looking for, but this one echos it similarly:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vi ... sy-Grounds

Don't get me wrong, it seems awesome and I'd love to have it, but since I don't have the disposable cash to get all the modules that I'd want I'd probably stick with the free stuff as much as I can (even if it would require more work to setup and create stuff)
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hentzau
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Re: Fantasy Grounds vs. roll20

Post by hentzau »

Damn. $160 for the base D&D setup? Plus $40 per player? That a hard cash outlay to swallow.

Looks nice though.
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
smiteworks
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Re: Fantasy Grounds vs. roll20

Post by smiteworks »

Hey folks, I saw this on my Google search and thought I'd chime in with a bit of additional information.

Note: the use of the word "p l a y e r s" was considered as spammy by the forum software, so I will use an abbreviation of plyrs below.

The basic 5E ruleset comes included with all Fantasy Grounds licenses (standard or Ultimate) but does not include any licensed data or images. People have been playing with this version and entering their own spells, items, etc. for some time and this will function similarly to how it would work with any virtual tabletop. There is support for automation for a lot of the combat and abilities.

Now that there is an official license, you have the option to pick up pre-loaded packs of data that keep you from having to manually enter any of that info. For instance, if you picked up the Complete Core Monsters, it would contain pre-entered stats for all monsters in the MM, along with tokens for each of them and images you can use for player hand-outs. It would also contain the full descriptions for each monster from the MM. If you already own the MM in hardback, you can enter this yourself and use generic tokens. If you look at the cost of generic token pack modules for most VTTs, however, you'll see that the tokens alone would likely cost you over $50. If you already own a bunch of monster tokens that are suitable, you can again just enter the data and assign them as needed. Without those, you can use letter or numbers to represent the monsters on maps.

If you are a DM, you also have the option of buying a fully prepped and ready-to-run adventure, such as The Lost Mine of Phandelver that has everything you need to run that adventure. It includes all the maps in both a DM and Player version. The plyr versions are pre-scaled and overlaid with a digital grid that lets your plyrs and monster move about tactically and each room in the dungeon has a shortcut to that room's content, complete with all DM notes, boxed text you can share with your plyrs with a click, treasure parcels, monster encounter, etc. If there is a monster encounter, it will have the CR and XP pre-filled and will have all the monsters pre-placed in their starting position. You click one button on the encounter to place them all on the map, add them to the combat tracker and pre-roll their initiative. If you have your preference set to randomize hit points, it will also randomly re-roll each monster's hit points. You can then have your plyrs and monsters start targeting and rolling attacks and damage rolls against their targets and have it automatically determine hits or misses, crits and fumbles, saving throws and update damage on each plyr's character sheet and in the DM's combat tracker.

For a cheaper solution, there is the D&D Basic Rules pack which includes a custom graphic theme, 4 classes, equipment, 120 spells and over 100 monsters all pre-loaded for only $2.99. It won't include the portraits or tokens, however.
smiteworks
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Re: Fantasy Grounds vs. roll20

Post by smiteworks »

There are also subs of $3.99 per user that lets each person DM or play, as well as an Ultimate sub that is $9.99 / mo but allows a DM to host a game for plyrs who all play for free. This is set up to be comparable with other VTT subscription plans. We do not have a fully free version for DMs though.
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hentzau
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Re: Fantasy Grounds vs. roll20

Post by hentzau »

Thanks for jumping on and adding clarification to what we get with Fantasy Grounds. I may need to give this another look.
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
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