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]

I've noticed that Wizards tends to let their licensing partner make the initial announcement about the product. After all, it's the partner's product.

Wizards will likely put up an announcement in the next day or two.

Cheers!

There is a post on Facebook from WotC, well their Dungeon and Dragons page, linking to the Fantasy Grounds announcement.

 

[turkeygiant]

What irritates me most about this program is the pricing scheme. Our group rotates DM's, and some of us play with other groups as well. IOW, we'd need to buy six or seven licenses to get the same functionality that we get from Maptool or Roll20.

Now we're looking about about 200+ dollars, just for the VTT. That's before we start buying the packs, which we would then each have to purchase, since the DM has to have that pack.

A thousand or so dollars is a bit steep.

Yeah this is the same reason why I am so unsure about this setup. This just isn't the system for games where players come in and out and the DM changes all the tiem, there is too much of a focus on one account being crucial, I would rather see lower prices shared across the group so no one person is key.

Also though I see the value of the online play utilities, they just don't have particular value to my face to face traditional group, and there is no way to really purchase just the element of the system I am interested in, the digital resources for character creation and maybe populating monster stats.

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

Yeah this is the same reason why I am so unsure about this setup. This just isn't the system for games where players come in and out and the DM changes all the tiem, there is too much of a focus on one account being crucial, I would rather see lower prices shared across the group so no one person is key.

Also though I see the value of the online play utilities, they just don't have particular value to my face to face traditional group, and there is no way to really purchase just the element of the system I am interested in, the digital resources for character creation and maybe populating monster stats.

This is NOT, nor was it meant to be E-TOOLS.

It is exactly what it states it is, a tabletop program produced by Fantasy Grounds for internet play of roleplaying games, that is licensed by WotC to produce 5th edition content for their tabletop program.

 

[vandaexpress]

It does run on Mac and Linux under WINE. The easiest solution for most Mac users is to purchase the license for FG from Steam for Mac and then purchase all the DLC directly from our store. It's like a one click install at that point. When you launch it from Steam on your Mac, you'll go to your settings and link it with your Fantasy Grounds forum username and password so it can retrieve any DLC purchases you've made. The only issue we had with Mac is that the DLC bought directly in Steam doesn't auto-download. Those are not flagged as Mac compatible on Steam for that reason, but if you accidentally buy them anyway -- just shoot a note to support@fantasygrounds.com and we can add it to your FG forum account.

Just did this and it worked like a charm on my MacBook Pro. Diving into the content now.

 

[drjones]

Hmm if this means we will not be getting an affordable character builder or monster/encounter designer then I am super disappointed. The beta for the other tool seemed significantly better. Hopefully this is not an exclusive deal, though judging by the prices it will be.

 

[dd.stevenson]

Fantasy Grounds is easily my least favorite tabletop tool on the current market, and the price of this package is prohibitive.

Still, it's a start. Here's to hoping other VTT makers follow suit.

 

[DM Howard]

Fantasy Grounds is easily my least favorite tabletop tool on the current market, and the price of this package is prohibitive.

Still, it's a start. Here's to hoping other VTT makers follow suit.

Yeah, certainly not starting the moan-train, but I've never been able to get used to FG as much as I want to. It just feels too counter intuitive to me, personally. That pricing is a little much in my opinion, but to each their own.

 

[mattcolville]

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

Sure, but it would be easier and faster to do it by hand.

For 4E, there was a tool that imported your characters from the DDI xml, that was aces! Alas, no DDI for 5E.

 

[mlund]

Interesting.

I'm curious to see how much functionality you get with just the basic rules engine and subscription. I mean, if you can write in your own attacks and effects and have them still be drag-and-drop ready then it's not a bad deal at all if you already have dead-tree versions of the books. I already have to write up character sheets and monster stat-blocks by hand to prep an analog game as a player or DM anyway. I can't stand trying to run a game flipping back and forth in the PHB or the MM all the time. I guess the real test is to see how accessible the hooks are. Like, can I transcribe a feat or class about that gives Advantage under certain conditions accurately? Do I need the MM or PHB to use the Lost Mines content?

Marty Lund

 

[Tony Vargas]

Yeah this is the same reason why I am so unsure about this setup. This just isn't the system for games where players come in and out and the DM changes all the tiem, there is too much of a focus on one account being crucial, I would rather see lower prices shared across the group so no one person is key.

It would seem appropriate for 5e's rulings not rules philosophy, since you can't really expect a lot of portability from one DM to the next (unless they're all AL DMs, of course). Ideally, the DM would even be able to customize the content his players access (don't know if that's the case, or even a possibility going forward, but it'd be supportive of 5e's DM-empowerment).