Fantasy Grounds Now Offers Free Trial; Plus D&D 5E Basic Rules Now Included In All Licenses

Virtual Tabletop Fantasy Grounds has been the licensed VTT for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition for a while now. The price point can be a little steep for those who just want to try it out, so Smiteworks has just announced a free 30-day trial (you have to sign up then cancel before it's up) and also that the D&D Basic Rules are now included in all Licenses and Subscriptions (other than the demo). That's the four basic 5E reaches and classes, plus 120+ spells, equipment, and the basic rules reference. It also includes, of course, other game like Call of Cthulhu, Castles & Crusades, and Savage Worlds.

Click on the pretty screenshot!
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[Dire Bare]

Unfortunately this does nothing for me. I /know/ I don't want to spend money on a Fantasy Grounds license. I am not interested in previewing (or using) the baseline VTT functionality.

What I am interested in previewing is the forthcoming DMG DLC that apparently includes new tools, and, to a lesser degree, all of the D&D content. I am glad that digital D&D5 books will exist in some form, but I do not appreciate them being held hostage behind a truly massive paywall consisting mostly of software I will never use.

Hostage, huh? Those bastards! I say we storm the SmiteWorks Keep to free the hostages! How dare they charge for the work they've done creating those tools and inputting all of that data! I mean, I could do that for free . . . . over the next decade or so . . . .

 

[DMZ2112]

I love this new way of describing selling things. Holding them hostage behind paywalls!

Come on, Morrus, show some perspective. I'm not asking for a free-to-play D&D5 digital solution. I'm asking for a D&D5 digital solution that is /only/ a D&D5 digital solution, and not also an expensive VTT. That's a paywall -- being forced to pay for something I don't want in order to get something I do.

Fantasy Grounds' ludicrous pricing scheme for largely irrelevant bells and whistles are not the source of my frustration; they merely salt the wound.

 

[Mirtek]

What I am interested in previewing is the forthcoming DMG DLC that apparently includes new tools,

There's an upcoming DMG DLC for FG that will work without FG?

 

[Nylanfs]

Not to my knowledge

 

[DMZ2112]

There's an upcoming DMG DLC for FG that will work without FG?

No, there isn't. There is an upcoming DMG DLC for FG that will absolutely not work without FG.

 

[Morrus]

Come on, Morrus, show some perspective. I'm not asking for a free-to-play D&D5 digital solution. I'm asking for a D&D5 digital solution that is /only/ a D&D5 digital solution, and not also an expensive VTT. That's a paywall -- being forced to pay for something I don't want in order to get something I do.

Fantasy Grounds' ludicrous pricing scheme for largely irrelevant bells and whistles are not the source of my frustration; they merely salt the wound.

I don't think it's FG's fault that you don't want a VTT! They're a VTT company.

 

[DMZ2112]

I don't think it's FG's fault that you don't want a VTT! They're a VTT company.

No, that's true. It's also not their fault that their Wizards licensed products (specifically) are so expensive. But I'm not calling SmiteWorks out over their "free trial," or even over their VTT-required implementation of the D&D5 DLC. I simply stated that none of it is targeted at my demographic, because of the aforementioned paywall.

I have dispersed my criticism in an appropriate forum in the vain hope that someone who /is/ responsible will see it and take it under advisement. Is that not what we are doing here? Screaming into the void?

 

[Dire Bare]

Come on, Morrus, show some perspective. I'm not asking for a free-to-play D&D5 digital solution. I'm asking for a D&D5 digital solution that is /only/ a D&D5 digital solution, and not also an expensive VTT. That's a paywall -- being forced to pay for something I don't want in order to get something I do.

Fantasy Grounds' ludicrous pricing scheme for largely irrelevant bells and whistles are not the source of my frustration; they merely salt the wound.

SmiteWorks is providing a tool that isn't to your needs. That doesn't mean their pricing is "ludicrous" or that D&D 5E digital is being held "hostage". It simply means that this isn't the product for you. Happens every day, man.

WotC has hinted that they are looking into other options into bringing 5E digital solutions to the table, when and if that happens, and what those future packages will look like is anyone's guess, they might not meet your needs either.

Even with the awesome new free trial deal, I haven't bought into FG yet because it doesn't meet my needs perfectly. But I'm not going to rail against SmiteWorks for not meeting my specific needs, like that's somehow the responsibility they took on. I'm not even going to rail against WotC for not making the "right" licensing deals yet when it comes to software.

If a future product is released that meets my needs well, I'll buy it! If not, I won't! Simple as that. Not going to waste time lamenting what isn't or hasn't happened and use charged language to assign blame.

 

[DMZ2112]

SmiteWorks is providing a tool that isn't to your needs. That doesn't mean their pricing is "ludicrous" or that D&D 5E digital is being held "hostage". It simply means that this isn't the product for you. Happens every day, man.

I agree with your overall sentiment, although their pricing is, absolutely, ludicrous, and using the word 'hostage' in this context is not particularly inflammatory in the way you seem to think it is.

If a future product is released that meets my needs well, I'll buy it! If not, I won't! Simple as that. Not going to waste time lamenting what isn't or hasn't happened and use charged language to assign blame.

I am not sure what to say other than that you are clearly using the internet incorrectly.

 

[smiteworks]

I'm not entirely sure that I understand what it is you want or exactly have a problem with. It's kind of like saying that you want the ability to play a PlayStation game without having to buy a PlayStation. Holding it "hostage" doesn't make must sense to me either. If you think that our version is basically the same as a PDF and that our version somehow excludes the possibility of a PDF version being made available, then I could see your point. Neither of those is true though.