gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
I have a newer version than 'classic', so probably can get Fantasy Grounds again. That said, I don't need it.
The thought of switching VTTs is so daunting
I tried MapTools back in the day, and gave up in frustration. I tried Fantasy Grounds years after that, and gave up in frustration.
When the pandemic hit and I had no other choice, I taught myself Roll20 - bought a lot of material for it, and got quite used to it.
Then I got Foundry to handle systems more complex than 5e (Warhammer Fantasy, Pathfinder 2e) and got pretty good at it within 1-2 weeks. I can't imagine playing some games without those tools.
It's definitely worth it to get a handle on a few VTTs. If nothing else, you can more easily find groups that play the systems you want, join in online play groups with friends from sites like ENWorld, take part in virtual conventions, etc.
It's a good option to have in your back pocket, even if you prefer your games in-person.
When the pandemic hit and I had no other choice, I taught myself Roll20 - bought a lot of material for it, and got quite used to it.
Then I got Foundry to handle systems more complex than 5e (Warhammer Fantasy, Pathfinder 2e) and got pretty good at it within 1-2 weeks. I can't imagine playing some games without those tools.
It's definitely worth it to get a handle on a few VTTs. If nothing else, you can more easily find groups that play the systems you want, join in online play groups with friends from sites like ENWorld, take part in virtual conventions, etc.
It's a good option to have in your back pocket, even if you prefer your games in-person.
Although I play a F2F game once a month or so, I mostly play online: I run one game a week and play in a rotating DM game once a week.
For DMing, I've invested pretty heavily in Roll20 for 5e and I mostly run prepackaged campaigns. For that, it's been great. For the game I'm a player in, we've used Roll20 for maybe 95% of the games. The remainder was when one of the DMs tried to use Foundry for DCC, and it was rough. The interface was daunting on the player side and there were lots of fiddly bits that never seemed consistent to us. That campaign died mostly due to how daunting most of us found the UI player-side. Some of that could have been due to the (relatively inexperienced) DM's lack of familiarity with both the system and with Foundry, and to our own laziness.
I'm curious what folks feel FantasyGrounds and Foundry offer players more than Roll20. Despite having played for almost 40 years now, I consider myself fairly casual gamer. As such, I don't know if I have needs/itches those tabletops would scratch in a way that Roll20 doesn't.
For DMing, I've invested pretty heavily in Roll20 for 5e and I mostly run prepackaged campaigns. For that, it's been great. For the game I'm a player in, we've used Roll20 for maybe 95% of the games. The remainder was when one of the DMs tried to use Foundry for DCC, and it was rough. The interface was daunting on the player side and there were lots of fiddly bits that never seemed consistent to us. That campaign died mostly due to how daunting most of us found the UI player-side. Some of that could have been due to the (relatively inexperienced) DM's lack of familiarity with both the system and with Foundry, and to our own laziness.
I'm curious what folks feel FantasyGrounds and Foundry offer players more than Roll20. Despite having played for almost 40 years now, I consider myself fairly casual gamer. As such, I don't know if I have needs/itches those tabletops would scratch in a way that Roll20 doesn't.
Thomas Shey
Legend
I haven't done so to date, but as I noted, I don't expect the VTT to do the heavy lifting some people do: if it'll let me upload maps and move around tokens, roll some dice and possibly play with some fog of war, I'm good.
Thomas Shey
Legend
I'm actually a Maptool user, but if I switched, it'd be to Foundry for a simple reason: it doesn't require you to be dependent on their servers.
(Note: Some of the other self-hosted options might be acceptable too, but I have players already familiar with Foundry).
As for the attraction of FantasyGrounds, for me initially it was the Combat Tracker featrue. It is much more than an initiative tracker.Although I play a F2F game once a month or so, I mostly play online: I run one game a week and play in a rotating DM game once a week.
For DMing, I've invested pretty heavily in Roll20 for 5e and I mostly run prepackaged campaigns. For that, it's been great. For the game I'm a player in, we've used Roll20 for maybe 95% of the games. The remainder was when one of the DMs tried to use Foundry for DCC, and it was rough. The interface was daunting on the player side and there were lots of fiddly bits that never seemed consistent to us. That campaign died mostly due to how daunting most of us found the UI player-side. Some of that could have been due to the (relatively inexperienced) DM's lack of familiarity with both the system and with Foundry, and to our own laziness.
I'm curious what folks feel FantasyGrounds and Foundry offer players more than Roll20. Despite having played for almost 40 years now, I consider myself fairly casual gamer. As such, I don't know if I have needs/itches those tabletops would scratch in a way that Roll20 doesn't.
It tracks initiative, shows conditions and the monster stat blocks accessible within the tracker. It does targeting and I can as DM, drag and drop the attacks, condition save and damage directly onto the target entries on the combat tracker.
It also has a pretty flexible content management. One can create story element, DM records, encounter and maps and all the elements can be linked together to make it very easy to run.
HaroldTheHobbit
Adventurer
I use Foundry and am comfy with that. Now, there are a couple of game systems I'd like to play that are better supported on other platforms. But I'm a humanities guy that is very uninterested in the tech itself, am happy that I've come to grips with Foundry, and it would feel daunting to start wrestling with another VTT.
On the other hand, it's not like I can't fill my disposable time with the games I run on Foundry, so I'm happy where I am.
On the other hand, it's not like I can't fill my disposable time with the games I run on Foundry, so I'm happy where I am.
But weirdly it is a major PITA to get info out of FG.
We switched from 5e to PF2e and since so many people on the PF2e subreddit swore Foundry was the way to go, we also switched from Roll20 to Foundry. What no one told me on Reddit was the Beginner Box module for PF2e was a pretty good tutorial on running a game in Foundry so it greatly eased the learning curve of switching both game system and VTT at the same time.
