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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[Mithreinmaethor]

It is a very relevant question though, if they are going to be the only company with a D&D license that would be major incentive to me to buy their product (I want digital tools), if they are just the first of many, I am going to have to wait though to see what the market looks like because their current offering doesn't line up very well with my needs, I could make it work but it is a lot of money to spend if it isn't my last option to consider.

These are NOT E-tools.

These are products created for use on Fantasy Grounds roleplaying Tabletop granted by a contract from Wizards of the Coast.

 

[turkeygiant]

These are NOT E-tools.

These are products created for use on Fantasy Grounds roleplaying Tabletop.

Can you create characters and populate monsters with stats included? that's close enough to e-tools for me.

 

[RSKennan]

When was the last time you used roll20? And that false economy stuff is BS: I have used roll20 for two campaigns and only paid because I felt like I should.

I am a little worried that wizards is gonna get aggressive towards roll20 now, which could kill my games I have going now, at least for a while.

I use Roll20 every week for a gurps game with a group that won't pay for FG. The game goes much more smoothly in Fantasy Grounds. i stand by my comments. When was the last time you used Fantasy Grounds?

 

[vandaexpress]

On the one hand, this makes me feel like a total moron for all the time I've invested into Roll20 (manually parsing/entering spells, monster stats, etc)... And all the money I've spent on premium tokens/maps/mentor subscription for that platform.

On the other hand, this is going to save me SO much time and looks amazing. I'll miss dynamic lighting but the benefits of eliminating manual data entry more than offset this, especially since they're building out the modules.

I'm buying it all. Right now. This will cut down on my prep time so much and save my poor wrists from early onset of carpal tunnels with all the data entry.

Way to go, Wizards. Can't wait to dive into this. And yes, the official license etc IS all the reason I need to convert from Roll20 to FG.

So excited.

Also, not that this should surprise ANYONE, but ya gotta love how this isn't mentioned anywhere on WOTC's website for D&D. #justwotcthings

 

[RSKennan]

Incidentally, roll20 should be fine. It doesn't offer any rules support, and is just a shared space for gaming. They're different animals.

I don't want to get too down on Roll20; it has different goals, and for a game like Gurps that has limited FG support, it's a wash to choose between them. Sorry If I seem to be hating on Roll20, I just wanted to clarify some misconceptions I saw.

 

[Gundan Shadeslinger]

Could someone please tell me how much it would cost to get everything? I am a player and a DM.

Also, does this work offline?

 

[Kramodlog]

It is a very relevant question though, if they are going to be the only company with a D&D license that would be major incentive to me to buy their product (I want digital tools), if they are just the first of many, I am going to have to wait though to see what the market looks like because their current offering doesn't line up very well with my needs, I could make it work but it is a lot of money to spend if it isn't my last option to consider.

Plus there is the question of what happens if WotC stops making 5e. Is the license still valid then? It might matter to those who paid 150$ up front to play limitless D&D.

 

[Jester David]

That seems very expensive for a product where you need to buy the software as well.

This likely doesn't bode well for cheap pricing if e-tools are ever released.

 

[Nylanfs]

Fantasy Grounds looks neat and I'm not really worried about the cost, unless one has difficulty finding a game after footing the bill. It's pretty easy to find a game on Roll 20 for free. I did notice they've got FG forums, but no 'Looking for a Group' function as on Roll 20. Something similar to this on Fantasy Grounds would do much allay any similar fears and give players and DMs an idea of what experience they might expect after the buy-in.

In the forums under Guild House I believe.

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

Plus there is the question of what happens if WotC stops making 5e. Is the license still valid then? It might matter to those who paid 150$ up front to play limitless D&D.

The $149 is for a license to use Fantasy Grounds for you and your friends for whatever RPG you wish to play "forever". If you don't want to purchase a "forever" license then just pay the $9.99 for a month when you and your friends choose to play.

Does WotC come to your house and confiscate your 3e or 4e books, or hack your computer and removed 3e or 4e pdfs, because they no longer produce the version? I can not see why the rules products you purchase to use on the table top will be any different.

 

[Dire Bare]

Where the heck did I say it should be free? Wow, talk about arguing against a point I did not make at all. Wow. As for how fast the contents come out, how is that not a valid question? How do you know when they started working on it? You should maybe not make assumptions about posters and their intent.

In my post, I was unnecessarily harsh, sorry about that. I just came from the same discussion on Reddit, which was filled to the rim with histrionic complaints, and I overreacted on your post. Not an excuse, really. I've gone back and edited it, unfortunately after the damage was done.

After the first, harsh, line in my post, I was more responding in general. I'll continue here. Many of the complaints about price are ridiculous. If you feel that the pricing is too high for the value, that's fair. Or if you feel the pricing, fair or not, is out of your reach, it's reasonable to be disappointed. But many of the complaints I've seen in this thread and elsewhere act like Fantasy Grounds and/or WotC are trying to scam customers with unfairly high pricing, and that's patently ridiculous! FG is a small company and creating data sets is time intensive, and costly if you are paying someone to do it! And, as it's been pointed out already, you can input the data yourself, if you are willing to put in the time.

In regards to how quickly FG will release new data sets for upcoming WotC products, I still think expressing dismay towards FG on "how long" its taken so far is silly. Without any special insider knowledge, I feel pretty safe in assuming that FG did not start working on their D&D licensed data sets until sometime AFTER the Trapdoor Tech licensing arrangement fell through. Which wasn't very long ago, and again, it takes time to code a program to be fully compatible with 5E and than also more time to code data sets for the PHB and MM. The rollout so far, in both price and timeliness, is very reasonable, IMO.

 

[Kramodlog]

The $149 is for a license to use Fantasy Grounds for you and your friends for whatever RPG you wish to play. If you dont want to purchase a "forever license" then just pay the $9.99 for a month when you and your friends choose to play.

So once you pay that, you get access to any of the games they have licensed? The Druid pack that I bought, will still be usable?

Does WotC come to your house and confiscate your 3e or 4e books, or hack your computer and removed 3e or 4e pdfs, because they no longer produce the version?

WotC? No. They licensed that work to some Ninja Inc.

I would think that the rules products you purchase to use on the table top will be the same.

I'm sure you do, but an official confirmation from the guys who actually know whould be appreciated.

 

[GX.Sigma]

So, if I want to play D&D 5e online, I have two options.

Option 1: Use the free basic rules (or the rulebooks I already have) to make characters and adventures the old-fashioned way. Use a free video chat app (or some other technology I already have) to play.
Price tag: $0.
Additional setup time: None.

Option 2: Buy whatever content you need to make what you want on FG. Use FG to play.
Price tag: Greater than the retail price of the books.
Additional setup time: Unclear, but after 11 forum pages and looking at their website, I still have no idea how it's supposed to work.

My question to FG users is, what is there about option #2 that makes it so much better than option #1? So far, all I'm seeing are downsides.

 

[Nylanfs]

I believe I remember seeing this program at GenCon last year, and stating that I was transitioning to 5e. Now that this is a thing, I hope they will be at GenCon this year for me to see first hand (especially since I will be moving to CO soon). I will make sure to bring funds to purchase it on site if it is awesome

There are several groups that play and record on Twitch, do a search on there to find a game to watch.

 

[Dire Bare]

That seems very expensive for a product where you need to buy the software as well.

This likely doesn't bode well for cheap pricing if e-tools are ever released.

Full featured e-Tools shouldn't be "cheap". You get what you pay for. FG is expensive, but you get a lot of functionality for that price. Hopefully, the D&D license FG has acquired isn't exclusive, or at least allows different kinds of digital tools to be developed by others.

FG isn't a good product if all you are looking for is a character generator. I'm hoping that WotC allows other software packages like Hero Lab to fill that void, and it would likely be a lot cheaper.

Time will tell.

 

[smiteworks]

[MENTION=6790472]vandaexpress[/MENTION],
If you have token images from another source, you can add those into your tokens\host folder in Fantasy Grounds and reuse them. Your maps can be dragged into your image window as well or manually placed in your campaign's images folder.

 

[Gundan Shadeslinger]

[MENTION=6790472]vandaexpress[/MENTION],
If you have token images from another source, you can add those into your tokens\host folder in Fantasy Grounds and reuse them. Your maps can be dragged into your image window as well or manually placed in your campaign's images folder.

I don't understand the pricing system.

What will it cost me if I want everything?

 

[smiteworks]

Plus there is the question of what happens if WotC stops making 5e. Is the license still valid then? It might matter to those who paid 150$ up front to play limitless D&D.

I will comment on this part, even though it is part of our licensing agreement. Should the license end at some point, we will no longer be able to sell new content or existing content. We will be allowed to maintain copies of all products produced and sold at that time for maintenance purposes so that people can re-install products they've rightfully purchased and continue to use them. If you have it at that time, you'll continue to have it.

Our 5E ruleset itself is divorced from the actual content of the game, so we will continue to provide that, like we do for our 3.5E, 4E and PFRPG rulesets.

 

[Dire Bare]

So, if I want to play D&D 5e online, I have two options.

Option 1: Use the free basic rules (or the rulebooks I already have) to make characters and adventures the old-fashioned way. Use a free video chat app (or some other technology I already have) to play.
Price tag: $0.
Additional setup time: None.

Option 2: Buy whatever content you need to make what you want on FG. Use FG to play.
Price tag: Greater than the retail price of the books.
Additional setup time: Unclear, but after 11 forum pages and looking at their website, I still have no idea how it's supposed to work.

My question to FG users is, what is there about option #2 that makes it so much better than option #1? So far, all I'm seeing are downsides.

Goodness, it's not that hard. The FG website isn't the best, but after taking less than 15 minutes going through it, I feel I've got a pretty good handle on it.

Download the free demo or subscribe for one month for $3.99. Or take part of their upcoming virtual gaming convention where everybody gets full access for free. Spend another $2.99 on the Basic Rules dataset. Play around with it, run a game, try inputting your own data . . . take that car for a test drive. If you like it, decide *how much* you like it and . . . .

Option 1: Purchase the basic software for $39 and *maybe* some datasets beyond the Basic Rules. Or continue your $3.99 monthly sub (only when you are playing online). Your players will also have to purchase the software. Buy monster packs and adventures as you need them.

Option 2: If you want to host players who don't own the software, then spring for the $150 "ultimate" license. Or, sub for $9.99 a month as needed. If you have a lot of players and they all chip in, this can be cheaper overall than Option 1. That's really the only added feature of the "ultimate" license, as far as I can tell.

Regarding the D&D datasets, you have several more options.

Option A: The basic rules structure is including in the basic software package. You could spend your own time learning how and then inputting the data yourself. All for free. However, several posters have stated this is very time intensive. And it's easy to make typos that through off your self-made datasets.

Option B: Go for the whole she-bang and purchase the Core Class Pack ($50) and the Core Monster Pack ($50). All the work is done for you, but it is expensive.

Option C: Take the a la carte approach and purchase smaller packs as you need them. Are you a player and only play Rangers? Then instead of the Core Class Pack, just pick up the Ranger Class Pack. Are you a DM and don't need *all* the monsters? Then purchase some of the smaller monster packs as you need them. Over time, this could be more expensive than just simply getting the complete packs, but it can work out if you simply can't afford the big packages all at once.

The pricing is a bit complex because FG is giving you a lot of options on how to use their software. They could make the pricing simpler, but it would likely end up raising the price on the "entry level". But the idea that you *have* to spend $250.00 to use the software for D&D is simply not accurate, that is simply the price for the cadillac package!

They could use somebody to redesign their website to make things more clear and easy to find, that's certainly true!

 

[Dire Bare]

I will comment on this part, even though it is part of our licensing agreement. Should the license end at some point, we will no longer be able to sell new content or existing content. We will be allowed to maintain copies of all products produced and sold at that time for maintenance purposes so that people can re-install products they've rightfully purchased and continue to use them. If you have it at that time, you'll continue to have it.

Our 5E ruleset itself is divorced from the actual content of the game, so we will continue to provide that, like we do for our 3.5E, 4E and PFRPG rulesets.

I have another licensing question you may or may not be able to answer!

Do you have the license to reproduce WotC map products, like the many Dungeon Tile sets released over the years during the 3E and 4E era?

That would be pretty cool! And I would hope, easy to implement if WotC supplied you with the digital imagery!