Fantasy Grounds
- Thread starter Morrus
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khersheyjr
First Post
5 out of 5 rating for Fantasy Grounds
Fantasy Grounds is my favorite VTT so far. I've tried a bunch of different ones but always seem to come back to fantasy grounds. It has tons of neat useful features such as the cool 3d dice roller and combat tracker. The community has also been very helpful with any and all questions that I have had.
Fantasy Grounds is my favorite VTT so far. I've tried a bunch of different ones but always seem to come back to fantasy grounds. It has tons of neat useful features such as the cool 3d dice roller and combat tracker. The community has also been very helpful with any and all questions that I have had.
Adam Östergren
First Post
5 out of 5 rating for Fantasy Grounds
I got into Fantasy Grounds back in the very beginning version 1.5 I think it was. Before that I had tried OpenRPG and several other early VTTs, none of them really made me feel very happy with the mood. Too much Windows 98 over them I suppose. The first version had customization through XML only and was to be frank quite limited even if you could make some really pretty charactersheets in it. I am primarily an Ars Magica player and as such there was no ruleset in place. I decided to build my own. By the time 1.6 was to roll in I was pretty pleased with what I had. It worked and my then long distance girl liked it. The update was a bit of a beast, they introduced a programing language on the side to the XML scripting. Needless to say I had to start over. I have had periods when I haven't been using the program and I have for some reason always come back to it. When some of my friends have been away and when work has sent me or the now wife to other towns it has been a life-saver. It has let me sample other game systems with various GMs out there and generally it has let me get my gaming in when life tried to get in the way. I didn't know any XML or Lua for that matter when I started out but I have learned and if the clueless little bastard I was back in 2006 could, so can you . But these days (unlike back in my days when we had to walk uphils two miles in snow both ways) there is a lot more on offer if you aren't into the big D&D and pathfinder games. I have developed a fondness for Savage Worlds through Fantasy Grounds, and I got my first taste of the Fate Core system from it as well. I think all things considered you are unlikely to regret it if you shell out and try it. I know it has kept me from many empty and boring hours. - Adam
I got into Fantasy Grounds back in the very beginning version 1.5 I think it was. Before that I had tried OpenRPG and several other early VTTs, none of them really made me feel very happy with the mood. Too much Windows 98 over them I suppose. The first version had customization through XML only and was to be frank quite limited even if you could make some really pretty charactersheets in it. I am primarily an Ars Magica player and as such there was no ruleset in place. I decided to build my own. By the time 1.6 was to roll in I was pretty pleased with what I had. It worked and my then long distance girl liked it. The update was a bit of a beast, they introduced a programing language on the side to the XML scripting. Needless to say I had to start over. I have had periods when I haven't been using the program and I have for some reason always come back to it. When some of my friends have been away and when work has sent me or the now wife to other towns it has been a life-saver. It has let me sample other game systems with various GMs out there and generally it has let me get my gaming in when life tried to get in the way. I didn't know any XML or Lua for that matter when I started out but I have learned and if the clueless little bastard I was back in 2006 could, so can you . But these days (unlike back in my days when we had to walk uphils two miles in snow both ways) there is a lot more on offer if you aren't into the big D&D and pathfinder games. I have developed a fondness for Savage Worlds through Fantasy Grounds, and I got my first taste of the Fate Core system from it as well. I think all things considered you are unlikely to regret it if you shell out and try it. I know it has kept me from many empty and boring hours. - Adam
5 out of 5 rating for Fantasy Grounds
I've tried multiple different web-based and software-based tools for managing my face-to-face games, and Fantasy Grounds blows them all out of the water. It has more features than I can count in this review, a lovely layout, and a fantastic community.Please keep in mind that I don't (yet) play online games, so I cannot fully vouch for it in that regard. But for campaign planning/organizing, it is by far the best product I've used.
I've tried multiple different web-based and software-based tools for managing my face-to-face games, and Fantasy Grounds blows them all out of the water. It has more features than I can count in this review, a lovely layout, and a fantastic community.Please keep in mind that I don't (yet) play online games, so I cannot fully vouch for it in that regard. But for campaign planning/organizing, it is by far the best product I've used.
Matchstick
Adventurer
5 out of 5 rating for Fantasy Grounds
I've been GMing with Fantasy Grounds since I bought it at GenCon 2006. It's been a fantastic way to keep our gaming group alive and kicking without worrying about anything other than timezones. My 50 Fathoms Savage Worlds game last Sunday had four people from four states: Ohio, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Playing an RPG online is more than effective, it works very well, and Fantasy Grounds helps it to work even better. We consistently have easy and great connections to the game, and rarely have a drop. Macros and linked character sheets make playing easy. The built in ruleset allows everyone to have access to the base rules (for Savage Worlds at least), and the 50 Fathoms add on even adds the 50 Fathoms book and Player's Guide! For my part as the GM Fantasy Grounds helps me to stay organized, and keeps a lot of information just clicks away. Considering how long I've had FG, and the number of games it has enabled for our group of friends, it has been more than worth the price, including add on prices.
I've been GMing with Fantasy Grounds since I bought it at GenCon 2006. It's been a fantastic way to keep our gaming group alive and kicking without worrying about anything other than timezones. My 50 Fathoms Savage Worlds game last Sunday had four people from four states: Ohio, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Playing an RPG online is more than effective, it works very well, and Fantasy Grounds helps it to work even better. We consistently have easy and great connections to the game, and rarely have a drop. Macros and linked character sheets make playing easy. The built in ruleset allows everyone to have access to the base rules (for Savage Worlds at least), and the 50 Fathoms add on even adds the 50 Fathoms book and Player's Guide! For my part as the GM Fantasy Grounds helps me to stay organized, and keeps a lot of information just clicks away. Considering how long I've had FG, and the number of games it has enabled for our group of friends, it has been more than worth the price, including add on prices.
VenomousFiligree
Explorer
5 out of 5 rating for Fantasy Grounds
You want to play RPGs online, then Fantasy Grounds is for you!
You want to play RPGs online, then Fantasy Grounds is for you!
5 out of 5 rating for Fantasy Grounds
I unequivocally give the product 5/5 if you are playing one of its core supported Roleplaying Systems - Dungeons & Dragons, PathFinder, Savage Worlds, Castles & Crusades and Rolemaster and a few others. The wonderful character sheets, the intelligent automation, the quirky UI, the crazy 3D Dice and an amazing community make this product a winner.Campaign management, game prep and games mastering is so much easier with Fantasy Grounds than it is in real life or with any of its competitors. No product is perfect though. The CoreRPG ruleset allows you to create charater sheets and run systems that dont have actual rulesets which is fantastic but coding a new ruleset is not for the fant hearted. it requires a decent programming background and/or a decent chunk of time. It is doable but its not as easy as many would like. The fact that there are great community developed rulesets out there for systems like - Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, WarhammerFRPG, World of Darkness, Trail of Cthulhu etc etc is proof that you can extend this great tool in amazing ways - its just a little tricky for non programming types like me!Id like to give it 4.5/5 but since I cant Im erring towards 5 becuase it really is a great tool!
I unequivocally give the product 5/5 if you are playing one of its core supported Roleplaying Systems - Dungeons & Dragons, PathFinder, Savage Worlds, Castles & Crusades and Rolemaster and a few others. The wonderful character sheets, the intelligent automation, the quirky UI, the crazy 3D Dice and an amazing community make this product a winner.Campaign management, game prep and games mastering is so much easier with Fantasy Grounds than it is in real life or with any of its competitors. No product is perfect though. The CoreRPG ruleset allows you to create charater sheets and run systems that dont have actual rulesets which is fantastic but coding a new ruleset is not for the fant hearted. it requires a decent programming background and/or a decent chunk of time. It is doable but its not as easy as many would like. The fact that there are great community developed rulesets out there for systems like - Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, WarhammerFRPG, World of Darkness, Trail of Cthulhu etc etc is proof that you can extend this great tool in amazing ways - its just a little tricky for non programming types like me!Id like to give it 4.5/5 but since I cant Im erring towards 5 becuase it really is a great tool!
Lwaxy
Cute but dangerous
4 out of 5 rating for Fantasy Grounds
Good for games which have community support, and affordable enough. Easy enough to figure out, too. Also, there are online conventions where you do not need to buy the program to play, because GMs can have an ultimate license allowing everyone else to play without paying. It is also a fantastic program if you love to work with handouts, campaign notes etc. You can basically pre-build a campaign which is especially useful with text only games. You can change the color of your dice so it is always clear who is rolling. GM can make hidden rolls, of course. There are downsides, though. For one, you need to install the software and can't access it from everywhere as there is a limit as to on how many machines you can put it and you can't go and use a friend's computer to play unless they have the software installed. I found managing images, especially having them in the right folders for each campaign, a hassle, especially for shared images. Managing loaded images is difficult for me as a player, especially on small screens like notebook or tablet, which is where I almost always play. There tends to be lag, at least for me, and I keep getting throw out often, and getting back in can be an issue. It is unusable on WLAN for me but this may be different for others. You need to watch which version you are running and to make sure everyone has the same updates or there will be confusion. If you do not use Hero Lab and need to edit your char sheet in the software, you need to do it during play time or arrange a time with the GM, which tends to slow some of the sessions I play in down at times. And you need a mouse to make full use of this - which I don't have at my tablet so lots of problems occur even when wanting to do certain dice rolls.
Good for games which have community support, and affordable enough. Easy enough to figure out, too. Also, there are online conventions where you do not need to buy the program to play, because GMs can have an ultimate license allowing everyone else to play without paying. It is also a fantastic program if you love to work with handouts, campaign notes etc. You can basically pre-build a campaign which is especially useful with text only games. You can change the color of your dice so it is always clear who is rolling. GM can make hidden rolls, of course. There are downsides, though. For one, you need to install the software and can't access it from everywhere as there is a limit as to on how many machines you can put it and you can't go and use a friend's computer to play unless they have the software installed. I found managing images, especially having them in the right folders for each campaign, a hassle, especially for shared images. Managing loaded images is difficult for me as a player, especially on small screens like notebook or tablet, which is where I almost always play. There tends to be lag, at least for me, and I keep getting throw out often, and getting back in can be an issue. It is unusable on WLAN for me but this may be different for others. You need to watch which version you are running and to make sure everyone has the same updates or there will be confusion. If you do not use Hero Lab and need to edit your char sheet in the software, you need to do it during play time or arrange a time with the GM, which tends to slow some of the sessions I play in down at times. And you need a mouse to make full use of this - which I don't have at my tablet so lots of problems occur even when wanting to do certain dice rolls.
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