FANTASY GROUNDS Virtual Tabletop's D&D License!

Officially licensed D&D electronic tools! For real! Fantasy Grounds, one of the leading virtual tabletops, has just released a set of D&D 5th edition licensed data packages. These include the D&D Basic Rules, packs for each of the core classes, and a pile of monster packs. Each states specifically that "This product is licensed from Wizards of the Coast." This appears to be the first officially licensed and branded electronic product. (thanks to Matchstick for the scoop)

Check out their D&D wares here. They mention that "The DMG is still in the works, along with the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, The Rise of Tiamat and Princes of the Apocalypse." and that "The basic 5E ruleset will continue to be provided directly within Fantasy Grounds to all licenses. These purchasable options add a new graphics theme that is officially branded, along with the library module support, and whatever other enhancements we could squeeze in, like tokens or portraits or decals."

Here's the announcement:

We are proud to announce that we are officially licensed to sell D&D source material and content inside of Fantasy Grounds! This is the beginning of a great new partnership between SmiteWorks and Wizards of the Coast that will benefit gamers worldwide.

You can purchase the D&D Complete Core Class Pack with all the class, feats, spells and equipment or you can purchase individual classes only. You can also buy the monsters in packs or as the D&D Complete Core Monster Pack. These products have been converted to work really tightly with Fantasy Grounds to give you the best possible gaming experience - we know you're going to love them. They contain all the great artwork and content from the official products and all the smarts and integration to work with Fantasy Grounds. Not only will you get the same content that can be found in print, but you also get an exciting new Fifth Edition theme, adventures and content customized specifically for ease of play inside of Fantasy Grounds.

For Dungeon Masters and players on a budget, you might pick up a Player Customization Pack and one or two Class Packs of your choice. Dungeon Masters can often get by with just the Adventure of their choice and one or two Monster Packs.

Don't forget that players can gift purchases through Steam for Dungeon Masters who have linked their license on Steam.
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[Umbran]

Fantasy Grounds is not a subscription, it is a one-time purchase.

They have subscription licencing right there: GM/Player $3.99/month. Ultimate $10/month.

Edit: never mind, others beat me to it

 

[Umbran]

Okay, so, WotC is playing things close to the chest. This must have been in the works for some time, for FG to have that much content ready now, but nary a peep about it.

Which means, we cannot say at all we know the plan, if they can keep things this quiet. Surprises can come on any day. Which is kind of cool, actually

 

[smiteworks]

You will need one of the non-free licenses of Fantasy Grounds to use any of these modules. Generally, the players don't need to buy anything that the DM has purchased. They can access it while connected to the DM if the DM chooses to share those with players. If players want to access the content while offline from the DM (like to build characters), then they would also need to buy the packs.

 

[feldrol]

[MENTION=6789257]Gecko85[/MENTION] Fantasy Grounds does not have dynamic lighting. It has a fog of war the DM remove by hand.

Just to try a clarification here. Fantasy Grounds is a Virtual TableTop software. I bought it 10 years ago when I moved away from my group and have been using it once a week since then to play at distance. It allows you to share maps with the players. The players have their character sheet in the software. It has a combat tracker that is very good, and allows quick fights.
What I like in this software:
A character drag and drop his attack from his character sheet on a monster token on the map. The software rolls the dice and tell you if it is a hit or a miss. He can then drag and drop the damages on the token and the software will roll the damage and decrease the monster hp automatically.
Player can make characteristics or skill check with double clicks, ...
What this D&D5 licence will change for me (I am running Hotdq):
Before, I had to prepare the stats for NPCs, monsters, find tokens, the maps by inputing data in the software. If you are perfectionist, it can take quite some time.
With that licence, players will be able to drag and drop their spells from a library to their character sheets, the monsters will be usable by me without preparation, with their tokens and everything already placed on the map. So less preparation time and quality material.
It is expensive, but I think this software was the best buy I ever did regarding price/time played. (around 1500 hours in 10 years)

Plus you can play other games with it.

 

[Zaran]

You will need one of the non-free licenses of Fantasy Grounds to use any of these modules. Generally, the players don't need to buy anything that the DM has purchased. They can access it while connected to the DM if the DM chooses to share those with players. If players want to access the content while offline from the DM (like to build characters), then they would also need to buy the packs.

Ok, so if I buy the 150 dollar license, I can make all my players' characters for them with all the features? But I cannot use any monsters from the monster manual unless I purchase the packs? I can make my own monsters and use my own pictures on their tokens and use my own maps?

 

[smiteworks]

Ok, so if I buy the 150 dollar license, I can make all my players' characters for them with all the features? But I cannot use any monsters from the monster manual unless I purchase the packs? I can make my own monsters and use my own pictures on their tokens and use my own maps?

You can make characters for your players in advance or they can log onto your game and make their characters while connected. It would be recommended to also buy the D&D Basic Rules and Theme pack in addition to the FG license because it includes the basic races and the 4 basic classes. It will give you a good idea of the difference between building a character from a library module or building it with a plain character sheet and no data pre-loaded. You can then create all your own monsters and drag in your own maps and images. You can put your tokens in your tokens\host or tokens\shared folders.

 

[TDarien]

Ok, so if I buy the 150 dollar license, I can make all my players' characters for them with all the features? But I cannot use any monsters from the monster manual unless I purchase the packs? I can make my own monsters and use my own pictures on their tokens and use my own maps?

With just the $150 license, you would need to add all the character content manually. If you bought the complete character pack, you could create their characters, or your players could create them while connected to your game. If the players bought the complete character pack or an individual class pack, they could create their character offline.

 

[Torgaard]

Ok, can someone who uses FG answer this for me?

We currently use Roll20 for our IRL game, to display the maps (with dynamic lighting). One person connects via laptop and moves the tokens to open up new parts of the map. All combat is done on the "real" tabletop.

So, with FG, if you go with the free version, can you load in a module and run it in demo mode to do what we're currently doing with Roll20? I'm looking at the license comparison on this page, but it's not completely clear: http://www.fantasygrounds.com/buyFG/

One of the guys from SmiteWorks can confirm this (or answer it better), but I believe you can do just that. The demo mode had a demo module last time I used it (couple years back), thought I don't know that there was a 5E demo module. There was a 4E demo module (I think). But you don't necessarily need a full on module. You can just whip up a character, make a monster (and maybe duplicate it a few times), slap a map in the "Images" folder, put a grid down, and off ya go!

Note that I believe that in demo mode you can have a DM host (with the demo), but only 1 demo player can connect at a time.

Fantasy Grounds does not have dynamic lighting (yet), but it does have manual "mask". The DM puts a mask on the map that is slightly opaque for him (but the map itself is blank or sorta hidden for players), and he just manually draws around an area he wants to unlock for them, so that they can see that area. It's basically a manual fog-of-war kind of thing. Works pretty good.

The real power behind Fantasy Ground (in my opinion) is maybe something most people wouldn't think of, because it's not quite as sexy as sharing a cool map with fog of war and all that. It's the "Combat Tracker". It's very powerful, very versatile. It can just about keep track of dang near everything, and automate alot of it. Initiative, rounds, HP's, AC, attacks for monsters, etc.

Example: let's say you cast Bane on an enemy. The Combat Tracker will let you create an "Effect" that you can drop on the monster (who you've simply dragged n' dropped onto the Combat Tracker and you're ready to go), and it'll automatically apply the requisite penalties to that monsters rolls when his turn comes up and he makes attacks. And all the player had to do was target the monster, click a button, and it's done. It'll also remember who cast it on him, and it'll drop it off him when it expires. Multiply that by the other half dozen buffs or debuffs players and monsters throw around the table, and the dizzying permutations thereof, and it makes managing all that stuff a breeze. It's pretty cool!

 

[Gecko85]

@Gecko85 Fantasy Grounds does not have dynamic lighting. It has a fog of war the DM remove by hand.

Ah, ok. I suppose that would be OK. Is it easy to remove the fog of war? I do like dynamic lighting, but I hate having to build it on every map by hand...

 

[jshauber]

I see a lot of folks griping about the price of the 5e content for FG. Besides the hours of use you will get from it, don't for get it is "Officially Licensed" material and thus WotC probably has some say in what it can be priced at.

Be thankful the guys at Smiteworks were able to obtain the licensing and put in all the work to make it available to the online community at all.

As an FG user I have been waiting for 5e content and I realize how much time/effort went into programming all the content that is included. Seems a small price to pay for hours of gaming enjoyment with friends from all over the country/world....