The thought of switching VTTs is so daunting

[osarusan]

Do you have any recommendations for YouTube channels or specific tutorials for making the FG to Foundry switch? I would like to give Foundry an honest go for the same reasons you enumerated, but as the thread title says, it has been daunting.

I'm afraid I can't recommend anything like that as I'm more of a reader than a watcher, and I prefer my instructions to be in text rather than video.

The challenge comes with the fact that Fantasy Grounds looks like a table top, with 3d dice sitting there and some icons representing the stuff you're going to use -- character sheets, monsters, etc. It has a strong "tabletop" metaphor, which is why I preferred it for so many years.

Foundry, on the other hand, looks like a webpage. It is a webpage. So that clear tabletop metaphor is sadly missing, and it's not instantly intuitive the way FG is. Its strength is that it runs in a browser, making connecting very easy; and that it is highly customizable and can be made to look almost however you want it.

My recommendation for starting with Foundry would be to install a basic ruleset (D&D, OSE, Cthulhu, whatever you play), and read through the included guides, then start muddling around and exploring how it works. All VTTs basically have the same moving parts; they just store them in different areas. Once you learn where they are, Foundry isn't really any different than FG or anything else. Then, you can start installing plugins (one by one!!!) to increase the functionality/visual flair of your server.

Worst case scenario, you break everything and then just delete and re-install Foundry. So it's not a high-risk thing that you need to be afraid of.

 

[Caephros]

My group had been using Roll20 for a couple years now, and I get the feeling that the longer we stay here the more entrenched we become. I think the thing most likely to make us switch is if the game fell apart and we re-grouped with some different players.

I do foresee a future where groups get more entrenched in a specific platform. I'm just hoping it turns out more like the video game console wars, where people reconsider and switch sides every few years, are willing to play on their friends systems, and where if you learn all the Mortal Kombat moves on Sega Genesis you can transfer them to Super Nintendo with some (but not zero) work. I don't want it to be like the Android/Apple wars, where people buy into an ecosystem too much and never leave it.

Yes, I agree that groups become entrenched. Had a rough experience with a long-time group for one of my games. We decided to try a switch to Foundry and we’re back on Roll20 as not all the players liked the changeover. I already had been using Foundry as a GM and a player, so I was familiar with it on the GM side. If you have a close-knit and long-running game, I’d definitely recommend having them all try it out before investing too much time in swapping the campaign over. Just create one PC and a quick encounter and have them each try it. Actually created an account just to share with OP. I think it could work for some groups, but I’d get 100% buy-in after a demo for each of them. Then invest time and money in the conversion if it’s a good fit for the whole group. Good luck!

 

[payn]

I'm afraid I can't recommend anything like that as I'm more of a reader than a watcher, and I prefer my instructions to be in text rather than video.

The challenge comes with the fact that Fantasy Grounds looks like a table top, with 3d dice sitting there and some icons representing the stuff you're going to use -- character sheets, monsters, etc. It has a strong "tabletop" metaphor, which is why I preferred it for so many years.

Foundry, on the other hand, looks like a webpage. It is a webpage. So that clear tabletop metaphor is sadly missing, and it's not instantly intuitive the way FG is. Its strength is that it runs in a browser, making connecting very easy; and that it is highly customizable and can be made to look almost however you want it.

My recommendation for starting with Foundry would be to install a basic ruleset (D&D, OSE, Cthulhu, whatever you play), and read through the included guides, then start muddling around and exploring how it works. All VTTs basically have the same moving parts; they just store them in different areas. Once you learn where they are, Foundry isn't really any different than FG or anything else. Then, you can start installing plugins (one by one!!!) to increase the functionality/visual flair of your server.

Worst case scenario, you break everything and then just delete and re-install Foundry. So it's not a high-risk thing that you need to be afraid of.

The best part of Foundry is you can code it to look anyway you want. My Traveller set up looks much much different than PF2, or any of the other games I've been working on.