Has it finally happened - gaming on line??

[Emiricol]

Has anybody seen or used this yet? Looks pretty darn neat!!!

http://www.fantasygrounds.com/

I've been using WebRPG and OpenRPG for years. OpenRPG is free and (in my opinion) the better of the two. And free. Did I mention, free? Also, free.

If you simply MUST pay for it before you think it useful, despite Open and Web's years of experience and improvements, check out ScreenMonkey as well.

 

[Bagpuss]

But lets be honest all of those are seriously ugly and constantly remind you that its an application you are using, as opposed to a game you are playing. A decent GUI is worth the money IMHO.

 

[lotuseater]

is there a mac option out there anywhere?

 

[msd]

is there a mac option out there anywhere?

My understanding (the answer to this question is somewhere there on the boards) is that the plans are to concentrate and continue improvement of the Windows version, i.e. no planned Mac version at this time.

Don't quote me though.

 

[francisca]

But lets be honest all of those are seriously ugly and constantly remind you that its an application you are using, as opposed to a game you are playing. A decent GUI is worth the money IMHO.

It may be. But screen monkey lite is certainly good enough for what I want to do.

 

[rushlight]

I too will likely be grabbing up this software soon!

Although my current group meets locally, I'd like to join or start another group working through FG. One of the features I like about FG is while DMing, your chat lines take the personality of the NPC.

So in the chat window instead of:

TheDM: Frank says, "Don't steal my cabbage!"

you get:

Frank: Don't steal my cabbage!

That seems to work well.

So, are we going to start organizing some games through ENworld or not?

 

[Emiricol]

One of the features I like about FG is while DMing, your chat lines take the personality of the NPC.

So in the chat window instead of:

TheDM: Frank says, "Don't steal my cabbage!"

you get:

Frank: Don't steal my cabbage!

That seems to work well.

Most of them actually do this, OpenRPG included. The free OpenRPG and WebRPG have outdated looks to them, though. So if what you care about is how it looks, go with a pay product like FG or ScreenMonkey. There's little difference in terms of functionality between the various software out there.

I would love to hear what those differences are, because I'm sure there are some compelling ones, but use of maps/miniatures, whisper chats, public chats, character sheets, "NPC voice" for DM posts, and dice utilities sure aren't them. I'm not saying FG isn't good - just that it isn't the first to do this and that, this and that.

FG does have a lovely look/feel, though. ScreenMonkey does too. OpenRPG (which I mostly use), and WebRPG, have ugly interfaces.

 

[Bagpuss]

I've no experience of OpenRPG or the WebRPG, but what I've found very easy is using FG to organise a game, so much so that I'm planning on using it offline to organise my tabletop games. I've also found it really easy to code the actual data tables and rules since its in pretty basic XML, which is very similar to HTML as a language and just as easy to pick up.

But yeah I was won over by its looks at first, then I discovered its actually a great program.