D&D 4E 4e Fantasy Grounds II Ruleset

[Phasics]

Just wondering if anyone is already working on a 4e ruleset for fantasy grounds II ?

Or is it more likely we'll get one once June rolls around

 

[Kzach]

SmiteWorks have pretty much said they're not doing it. Although they mentioned that they'd consider porting after adding all the functionality they could to FGII, the date of that announcement is four years old and still no answer.

The latest news was posted on the FG boards:

As of this moment Digital Adventures will not be doing a 4E ruleset. The new OGL for 4E, from what I understand, prevents it. If this changes on our end I'll be sure to let the community know. If people do decide to do it, WOTC would likely hammer them *if* it were put up for public download, so if someone does do one it will likely be for personal use.

 

[Hussar]

I wonder what in the GSL would prevent them from creating a new VTT? I've never used FG, so, how much of D&D is bundled into the system? OpenRPG would have no problems with 4e as it stands since it's completely system agnostic (both RPG and OS )

 

[Phasics]

lemme guess WoTC wants you to use their crappy ongoing monthly fee online gaming table top instead of letting other do it for a more reasonable price with better stand alone software.

 

[ferratus]

Seems like it.

I really don't understand the way WotC is handling this. I would be one of the people who this service would be for, given that I live in a rural area and I have old friends 3000 miles away who I'd like to play with. But charging 9 bucks a month for a software utility that others have sold for a reasonable lump sum? Charging for electronic tiles and miniatures? Making every single person pay to use the service?

Get serious. I know they want to recoup their investment, but this is ridiculous. They should realize that the key incentive of their efforts outside of their minis and rulebooks is to keep people playing their minis and rulebooks. Getting 5-7 people together to play D&D is one of the hardest things to do these days. Meeting up online is a lot easier, and if this is successful it would lead to more people playing. More people playing means more rulebooks sold.

I also expect that the performance of the program will be buggy enough to have serious problems for at least six months. I also expect that it will take a couple of years of honing to get an attractive tiles, models and program interface. It will be helped by the fact that this programming will be a lot simpler than most recreational programs. Lighting, spell effects, tiles, non-moving models. Heck, we probably could have done this 10 years ago with a simplified version of the NWN1 engine.

So hopefully they stick with it and get sensible. As it stands, I'm not sure if anyone on this message board is looking forward to DDI's launch.

 

[Xorn]

I see no reason that a FG2 ruleset won't be created for 4E. It will have a character sheet and combat tracker. That's about it. It will have no information in it that allows you to play 4E without the books.

There won't be a handy-dandy SRD module like there is for 3.5, but there will be a ruleset (such a misleading name) that includes a character sheet. It will be developed by the 4E community I'm sure (since I'm going to help with it), and I'm sure it's not going to break anything in the OGL once we see it.

I mean, there's already a "Generic Ruleset" for FG2. It's got a generic character sheet, and a generic combat tracker. I'm already running 4E fan playtest/demos using the default d20 ruleset with NO issues, so I don't see this having any impact on FG2. (Or MapTool, or Battlegrounds RPG--all fantastic VTTs.)

 

[Phasics]

I see no reason that a FG2 ruleset won't be created for 4E. It will have a character sheet and combat tracker. That's about it. It will have no information in it that allows you to play 4E without the books.

There won't be a handy-dandy SRD module like there is for 3.5, but there will be a ruleset (such a misleading name) that includes a character sheet. It will be developed by the 4E community I'm sure (since I'm going to help with it), and I'm sure it's not going to break anything in the OGL once we see it.

I mean, there's already a "Generic Ruleset" for FG2. It's got a generic character sheet, and a generic combat tracker. I'm already running 4E fan playtest/demos using the default d20 ruleset with NO issues, so I don't see this having any impact on FG2. (Or MapTool, or Battlegrounds RPG--all fantastic VTTs.)

Well then I feel a whole lot better all of a sudden

 

[mach1.9pants]

As it stands, I'm not sure if anyone on this message board is looking forward to DDI's launch.

errrm...me, for one. I couldn't care less for the digital tabletop and all the rest of that rubbish; probably won't be that good (I could be wrong but e.g. the graphics would have to improve ALOT) and I would personally never use it. However subscription gives me access to the rules from all published books, Dungeon, Dragon and other bits (character sheet thingy). A bargain for someone who used to subscribe to D and D magazines, for much less than the paper subscription price (about 1/2)