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[Neruz]

Just wondering if anyone else here has Fantasy Grounds, mostly because with University ending soon i've been thinking about restarting my old Savage Worlds game. Finding dedicated players that aren't douches on the FG website or anywhere else online is always a real chore though, the last game i ran fell apart basically due to lack of players.

So i figured i'd check if anyone here has FGII first before i start the usual trawl.

[gordy]

Hi Neruz,

Yes, I've used Fantasy Grounds (but mostly Fantasy Grounds II for which you get a free upgrade if you have the original FG licences) for many great games with my regular group. We're in Australia, and cant always get to play face to face with our real world commitments. I've found it works great with 'fewer than normal' numbers of players ( 2 is great, three is about the max ) because the players get so much more into it and are much more likely to roleplay than sitting around the table. I think it tends to make shy players more confident and do and say things they would never do with their peers sitting right there. For example, I had one player rp his dwarf cleric/fighter with a scottish accent ( they always seem to have them ), and both players increased their CHARISMAS at 4th level because I was rewarding their excellent social interactions. I reckon we probably put away about 30 sessions at 2-4 hours per session, using downloaded maps and maps I'd mocked up myself using Dunjinni. FGII has a few great enhancements using the grid, tokens and token movement, and some cool stuff on the initiative tracker. If it werent for Guild Wars ( and steam in general ) we'd probably play a lot more! I do tend to think you need to instigate a few more rules before you can run an FG game properly. We tried to play using FG and a chat but we found the chat distracting and the players werent as confident, so we play just in text. I made a rule that the characters couldnt roll a die without my permission, otherwise they would just throw dice alll the time and you wouldnt know what it was for. We also use the different 'mood' settings ( that change the screen from light to dark, forest or fire settings ) to designate when the DM is or is not at the desk and whether the game is in progress or halted. I used PDF versions of modules and dragged them verbatim across into the FG storyboards and it works great!

We haven't tried 4th edition gaming in FG yet, but I understand some of the content is not open, unlike the 3.5 edition stuff. Going back and cleaning up some of the transcripts have made for some of the best reading ever! I couldnt say I was in a position to play regularly but I'm happy to jump in and test something out if you want to hook up.

[Neruz]

Legally, 4e is substantially more closed than 3.5. Smiteworks can't release a 4e ruleset for FGII due to legal issues, thankfully a 3rd party who doesn't give a damn about legal issues has created one of the most awesome rulesets ever, including wonderful things like player dice drops, effect trackers and disease charts, which, once you get used to it, saves so much time it's criminal.

I personally prefer using a voice client to not, mostly because it saves on the typing and leaves the chat box free for in-game chat, while OOC and DM voiceovers can take place over the voice client, but then again i've always approached PnP RPGs from a game aspect, which is one of the reasons i like the Savage Worlds ruleset (that and it's just so easy.)


4e definitely translates into FGII better than 3.5, as it's alot more 'gamey' than 3.5, the effect tracker alone means i usually run a local version of FGII on my laptop during my infrequent face to face games simply to track effects and hitpoints.

[Gunner-Chan]

This looks like a nice little program... I should find it.

[Emperor_Jonathan]

I'd play, just need to get FG first.

[Neruz]

If i can get like 2 - 3 people then it would be a go, since SW scales much more easily than DnD

[Gunner-Chan]

Hey... Does FG support gurps?

Because kitty loves her gurps.

[Neruz]

Yup, there's a GURPS ruleset. Actually i'm fairly sure all the major PnP systems are represented in FGII, and it's not too hard to sketch up new rulesets if you know XML.

[Gunner-Chan]

*Glee*

So gonna get this thing then.

[Neruz]

If i recall there was a thread on the forums looking for GURPS players recently too, no clue how good the group is, but i've found people dedicated enough to actually play GURPS are generally dedicated enough to make decent groups.

[Gunner-Chan]

Why get experienced players when I can get funny new ones? :P I'm A GM mostly, not a player.

[TheNewerMartianEmperor]

Does this support the storytelling system?

[Neruz]

Does this support the storytelling system?

I've never heard of that system, unless you're being tongue in cheek about it.

[Cthulhu]

What is Savage Worlds, anyway?

I fooled around with the demo for FG2 and it was super-sexy.  I just never wanted to pay for it, which is why I didn't get it.  I might though, if I end up joining a game of some sort.

[Neruz]

It's another PnP RPG system with emphasis on speed, flexibility and ease of use. Wikipediar has some more informations, including useful links.

I personally enjoy it because it's very quick and easy to use from both a player and DM perspective, the system supports everything from traditional fantasy to ancient realism to modern settings to space opera to sky pirates all without any major changes, furthermore it's entirely possible to hand players a book that tells them how to create their own balanced SW races, which i wub very very much.


Mostly i find it's a much nicer game to play on the intertoobs, as DnD requires a fair bit more personal investment due to it's complexity.