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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[Psikerlord#]

The only thing I wish FG had was a "Looking for group" ability like Roll20.

Otherwise I think FG is better all round for roughly the same $10/month subscription (I currently subscribe to roll20, but will be making the switch to FG this weekend). Roll20 does have video and voice chat built in, but ime, Skype works better and more reliably, so we've never really used that aspect of Roll20. So we can switch to the much prettier FG system, still use Skype for voice/video, for the same price. And then if we want to add all these packs we can do that over time if we choose. Note I am a fan of theatre of the mind style combat, so dynamic lighting and so on is not of interest to me.

 

[Mask_of_winter]

The only thing I wish FG had was a "Looking for group" ability like Roll20.

Otherwise I think FG is better all round for roughly the same $10/month subscription (I currently subscribe to roll20, but will be making the switch to FG this weekend). Roll20 does have video and voice chat built in, but ime, Skype works better and more reliably, so we've never really used that aspect of Roll20. So we can switch to the much prettier FG system, still use Skype for voice/video, for the same price. And then if we want to add all these packs we can do that over time if we choose.

The looking for group is called the Guild House: http://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?40-Guild-House

 

[Nylanfs]

Oh, sorry, might not have been clear. I mean that anybody can play it for free, and the reason they can is because some of us pay for the subscription. I enjoy the perks that the subscription provides, because I enjoy programming in my spare time and there are some existing scripts people have written that expand the functionality of the software in useful ways. But I also see my subscription as helping to support the software and the servers that I use every week to play my game. That being said, there's nothing that requires me or anybody else to purchase that subscription in order to enjoy 90% of the software's features, create their own campaigns, invite people, etc.

So, yeah, I'm paying the same on Roll20 that I would pay on FG to allow my group to keep playing for free. I like Roll20 a lot, though it has some quirks and flaws. I think the community is great and brings a lot of value to the service. On the other hand, I'm interested in the possibilities for shorter prep that Fantasy Grounds might provide. I intend to do some experimentation with it.

Just a note, all your data on Roll20 is on their[\b] servers. With FG your campaign, images, tokens and such are on your computer. And if you change GM's but want to continue the campaign you can simply email the new gm the campaign folder and pick up where you left off.

 

[dd.stevenson]

The majority of comments in this thread indicate that people think the pricing is confusing and/or too high for them, for whatever reason. Maybe FG is fine with that, and view themselves as a high-end premium product. But if their intent is to become a more broadly-accepted platform than simply a premium product, they probably need to either reconsider the marketing messages in their pricing page, or the prices themselves, or both. (snip)

It seems clear (to me, at least) that they view their product as competing with other steam games, especially the mid-range, sub triple-A products that are DLC-driven. (Think of a Paradox game, for example.)

If they aim to compete with roll20 beyond the Steam platform, then they're hiding it pretty well.

 

[redrick]

<snip> And since time is money...

Amen to that.

Yes, I followed your earlier thread exploring virtual tabletops as an option. I love a lot about Roll20 and think their team is very responsive and active about expanding the software with new features. I also love that the software is very much geared towards flexibly supporting as many different applications as possible, though some of this comes at the expense of the more sophisticated automation. I love that the community is huge and that I can get several thoughtful responses to a Looking for Group announcement in a couple of days.

I do not love spending my sunday afternoon coding in monster and NPC stats and macros.

I'm really looking forward to an upcoming thread on this site that does some serious comparisons between Roll20 and FG, with a lot of contributions from the folks now who are making the switch.

I also hope that, at some point, way opens for Roll20 to provide some sort of content support for D&D 5e. I'd happily pay $50 to have all the Monster Manual tokens pre-coded with attack macros, saving throw macros, trait descriptions, etc. That would be an incredible value. Unfortunately, I think Roll20 is probably a ways off from that, as they only just demoed their first "compendium" style system, and it is using Pathfinder (because of OGL) as the test case.

 

[transtemporal]

I don't suppose anyone has posted a link to a description of the varying license types and what they include? Or a handy diagram?

I read the FAQ but it just described what a subscription is and how to cancel it, which is cool but doesn't really describe what the subscription includes.

Like say as a DM I want to run a series of homebrew one-shots for 5e that my players can join, that for reasons of simplicity I'd rather just pay for. Whats the option best for me?

 

[JohnnyZemo]

Because you're going to play a Wizard.

I think most people, I think the vast majority of players pay for the whole Player's Handbook but only ever use a handful of classes from it. If they could get the content they actually use, cheaper, why wouldn't they?

That's fair, I guess, but as a DM I can't imagine buying just buying "Constructs and Elementals" or "Celestials and Fiends." I mean, does anyone run a campaign where the characters only fight a single type of monster?

 

[transtemporal]

Just a note, all your data on Roll20 is on their[\b] servers. With FG your campaign, images, tokens and such are on your computer. And if you change GM's but want to continue the campaign you can simply email the new gm the campaign folder and pick up where you left off.

For you that seems to be a plus, for me, not so much.

I want to be able to flip over a campaign to another dm by selecting the campaign from a drop box and click "reassign to".

I don't want to root around in mydocuments folders, finding the files, manually zipping them and sending them to someone, who then has to do the process in reverse for it to work.

Theres a knowledge barrier there for some people and its vulnerable to all the issues of manual steps and local harddrives crapping out.

Cloud all the way I say.

 

[Mask_of_winter]

For you that seems to be a plus, for me, not so much.

I want to be able to flip over a campaign to another dm by selecting the campaign from a drop box and click "reassign to".

I don't want to root around in mydocuments folders, finding the files, manually zipping them and sending them to someone, who then has to do the process in reverse for it to work.

Theres a knowledge barrier there for some people and its vulnerable to all the issues of manual steps and local harddrives crapping out.

Cloud all the way I say.

Until the servers are down. Then you can't play. With FG, the GM is the server. If Smiteworks went offline tomorrow I'd still have all my stuff and could keep on using the last build indefinitely.

 

[Nylanfs]

I don't suppose anyone has posted a link to a description of the varying license types and what they include? Or a handy diagram?

I read the FAQ but it just described what a subscription is and how to cancel it, which is cool but doesn't really describe what the subscription includes.

Like say as a DM I want to run a series of homebrew one-shots for 5e that my players can join, that for reasons of simplicity I'd rather just pay for. Whats the option best for me?

I would get the ultimate Subscription until you know you like it. The ONLY difference between the Full and Ultimate license is that they players do not have to buy FG to play.

What you get in this license is the following.

• 5E (D&D), Mechanic's only*
• 4E (D&D), Mechanic's only*
• 3.5E (D&D), SRD material only
• PFRPG (Pathfinder), PRD material only
• CoreRPG (Generic), Empty character sheets, NPC's etc. supports many dice mechanics
• Numenera, Mechanic's only
• FATE Core System, Full system and info, is a Pay what you want system though.

* There are parsers in the forums that let you semi-automate importing your data. 4e needs a DDI sub to scrape the info, while 5e pulls from a text file that can be either typed into or copied and pasted from a pdf or OCR scanned book. Note: This method takes quite a while for 5e because of errors in the scanned books, Basic Rules pdf imports just fine AFAIK.

In their store you can buy stuff for the following.

• D&D 5e
• Savage Worlds
• Rolemaster Classic
• Mutants and Masterminds 3E
• Castles and Crusades 5E
• Basic Roleplaying
• Call of Cthulhu 6E
• Iron Heroes
• Arcana Evolved
• D20 Modern

In the forums you can find the rulesets for the following that support the mechanics, but no copyrighted materials

• 2E (AD&D)
• Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2E
• Ars Magica Base
• Black Crusade
• Dresden Files
• Earthdawn
• Extinction Event
• Fantasy Dice
• Generic
• GURPS
• Labyrinth Lord
• Maelstrom RPG
• OSRIC
• Pavillon Noir Reloaded
• Rifts
• Shadowrun
• Stargate SG-1
• Star Wars: Edge of the Empire
• Star Wars Saga
• Strands of Fate
• Trail of Cthulhu
• Traveller
• Unicore
• Vampire: The Masquerade
• Warhammer 40K: Dark Heresy
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
• World of Darkness

Edit: I should note that you can also buy tokens, maps and other things not directly tied to a gamesystem.