D&D General Tools for PCs?

[500 Toads]

I believe Fantasy Grounds is free to use now. One only needs to buy the plug-ins for whatever game you're playing. And, yes, it looks like they support both 5e (2014) and 5e (2024).

The license for Fantasy Grounds VTT is indeed free, which means that you no longer need to pay Smiteworks in order to be the host (and GM) for a session.

They still need to abide by intellectual property rights, though. So, they can (and do) ship with implementations of the freely-available base mechanics and SRD'd content, they cannot include the great bulk of player options without paying WOTC for the privilege. Most of the subclasses in the PHB (either version) for instance are non-free; and any legitimate, non-infringing tool needs to abide by that. In this case, the Smiteworks/Fantasy Grounds model has the GM pay for licensed content to enable him to use it in his campaigns, where he could share any and all of it with the players.

If you only want to use the Fantasy Grounds character sheet functionality for tracking things, however, and don't actually care about associated automation (character creation wizards, resolving spells, w/e), you can certainly manually enter things in the character sheet. If you do want automation and don't want to pay WOTC, you can still enter things and take time to enter all required metadata etc. for that, but it's a question of how you value your time; and you wouldn't be permitted to publicly distribute anything like a module that just contains data records for everything in the PHB, nor would anyone be allowed to send you such a thing.

The other quibble that comes to mind here is that since Fantasy Grounds uses a "host the campaigns on your own machine" model and only uses the Smiteworks services for faciltating connections ( lobby functionality ), unlike e.g. DDB or Roll20, the character sheets are not accessible to a web interface, but only when connected to the host (1) via the FG client. This excludes users who only use tablets or phones, because there is no FG client for those platforms.


(1) Technically, the players retain copies of their own character sheets cached on their own machines; but I haven't checked lately to see how usable these are if, say, there are references to material only owned by the GM. I think they may still be usable outside the session with data records being copied to the character sheet, but shrug.

 

[Maxperson]

That is true, and certainly to disengage with a brand/product/franchise/etc completely is a more effective form of protest than simply not buying it. But, a boycott is about cutting off the money flow, and that’s easier to get more people onboard for if you don’t also demand that they get rid of the things they’ve already spent their money on. More people participating in some capacity is better than fewer people participating in the maximally effective form.

Boycotts are generally just plain ineffective. There is usually a large group on the other side that comes out to rally against the boycott, and in my experience more come out to rally than are boycotting. The only effective boycott I can think of is against Target, because it managed to piss off all sides.

The most effective way to hurt a company's wallet is to silently quit buying. If everyone who is upset with the company practice silently quits, the loss of money is quite high, and nobody on the other side of the issue is alerted.

 

[Charlaquin]

Boycotts are generally just plain ineffective. There is usually a large group on the other side that comes out to rally against the boycott, and in my experience more come out to rally than are boycotting. The only effective boycott I can think of is against Target, because it managed to piss off all sides.

The most effective way to hurt a company's wallet is to silently quit buying. If everyone who is upset with the company practice silently quits, the loss of money is quite high, and nobody on the other side of the issue is alerted.

Boycotts are highly effective when they’re organized. That should be pretty evident to D&D fans given the results of the mass D&D Beyond cancellations in the wake of the OGL-pocalypse. “Boycotts aren’t effective” is what people tell themselves to justify their own unwillingness to participate in a boycott.

 

[Maxperson]

Boycotts are highly effective when they’re organized. That should be pretty evident to D&D fans given the results of the mass D&D Beyond cancellations in the wake of the OGL-pocalypse. “Boycotts aren’t effective” is what people tell themselves to justify their own unwillingness to participate in a boycott.

There was not another side to the D&D boycott as there usually is for other boycotts. That's why I said generally ineffective. Even when organized, the other side comes out in droves to counter the boycott. Most boycotts are based on politics or other social issues, and so there is generally a quite large other side of the issue.

 

[Charlaquin]

There was not another side to the D&D boycott as there usually is for other boycotts. That's why I said generally ineffective. Even when organized, the other side comes out in droves to counter the boycott. Most boycotts are based on politics or other social issues, and so there is generally a quite large other side of the issue.

This take is entirely vibes-based, and not consistent with actual evidence.

 

[Maxperson]

This take is entirely vibes-based, and not consistent with actual evidence.

Chic Fil A had record profits spurred by the boycott against it. In N Out saw no loss due to the boycott due to loyal customers coming out in support. Amazon saw a 6% increase during a boycott.

It literally has a name. The "Buycott" effect.

 

[Charlaquin]

Chic Fil A had record profits spurred by the boycott against it. In N Out saw no loss due to the boycott due to loyal customers coming out in support. Amazon saw a 6% increase during a boycott.

It literally has a name. The "Buycott" effect.

Yes, there are examples of that happening. That doesn’t make it the case that boycotts are generally ineffective, as you claimed.