HOARD OF THE DRAGON QUEEN on FANTASY GROUNDS

Fantasy Grounds, the virtual table top which contains officially licensed D&D 5th Edition content, has just released Hoard of the Dragon Queen. The Fantasy Grounds version contains the entire adventure, and even has 11 bonus maps. You can pick up the whole adventure for $19.99. (thanks to Matchstick for the scoop!)

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This Module Includes

the entire contents of the Hoard of the Dragon Queen adventure
image handouts that can be shared with players collectively or individually
maps containing information for the Dungeon Master (DM) only and with all locations pre-linked to story entries which may contain additional DM notes, boxed text, encounters, images and treasure parcels
maps with all hidden information removed and resized for use as tactical combat maps
11 bonus maps created by Zeph Ponos (aka Zeus) for use where maps were not provided in the original adventure
tokens for many of the monsters in the module. When no token is available, a letter token is used to represent the NPC
XP for encounters that can be dragged to the party sheet and awarded to the players as they complete them
Searchable monster indexes by CR, type and in alphabetical order​

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Find it right here!

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[I'm A Banana]

Wow, so by entire contents you mean all of the text as well, so you could run this adventure without the hardback? That would seem like a deal.

If it's anything like their LMoP conversion, yep, this is basically what they mean.

 

[mattcolville]

Wow, so by entire contents you mean all of the text as well, so you could run this adventure without the hardback? That would seem like a deal.

It's the entire adventure, text and all. Plus extras like player and DM versions of the maps, with grids on.

 

[Nylanfs]

Plus there are extra maps for encounters that are in the text but not detailed out.

 

[Nylanfs]

If you pay the 9.99 sub do you get this as part of that?

The sub (or one time purchase) gives you the program, and the framework mechanics for a lot of systems. But does not give you any copyright material like the class descriptions, abilities etc. That is what you would need to either type in yourself or buy the modules from Smiteworks.

 

[smiteworks]

The sub (or one time purchase) gives you the program, and the framework mechanics for a lot of systems. But does not give you any copyright material like the class descriptions, abilities etc. That is what you would need to either type in yourself or buy the modules from Smiteworks.

Nylanfs is correct. The sub (9.99) gives you the use of the software for 1 DM and any number of players and the standard sub (3.99) gives you the program and same stuff as the Ultimate sub, but without covering all your players too.

The price for this add-on covers the pre-loading of everything from the print version of the product, plus some into FG format. If you already have the book in hardback, you can play Hoard of the Dragon Queen without it and just enter things as you go and use the tokens you have available. The base subs come with a couple hundred tokens and simple letter tokens you can use to represent characters and enemies. You would need to enter in your own NPCs and supply your own maps or run as theater of the mind.

If you never bought the hardback, then you can buy this version and have everything you need to run it. Ownership of the hardback is not necessary to run this, although I personally like to collect those as well and read through them.

 

[Daelkyr]

We are still catching up with the products which have been released to date. We should be all caught up in time for a simultaneous release for Out of the Abyss later this year. The Rise of Tiamat should be coming out soon, followed by Princes of the Apocalypse (probably in a month -- hopefully less.) The DMG content was temporarily shelved to work out a few other issues, but might pop out before too long as well.

The sooner PotA drops, the better. I was iffy about running Tyranny of Dragons, but Elemental Evil is right up my alley. In addition, the module would really help when I work on Adventurers League content because I can drag and drop the EE monsters.

 

[Nylanfs]

Plus online games now qualify for AL games.

 

[Banesfinger]

Hi Smiteworks,

This product looks fantastic. But my group has a few questions:

- If we purchase this Adventure, is it necessary to have the 5e Monster data-packs? Or are all the monsters in the adventure included?
- If I understand your forums correctly (it wasn't clear on your site), the 5e Character data-packs are not necessary to play either, but significantly make it easier/faster to create characters (instead of typing everything, there is pre-loaded info)?
- Theoretically, a group could purchase the "ultimate" subscription licence ($10) and this adventure ($20) and have everything they need to play?
- Has fog-of-war already been pre-added to the maps for this adventure (HotDQ)? Or would a DM have to add that?

 

[smiteworks]

Hi Smiteworks,

This product looks fantastic. But my group has a few questions:

- If we purchase this Adventure, is it necessary to have the 5e Monster data-packs? Or are all the monsters in the adventure included?
- If I understand your forums correctly (it wasn't clear on your site), the 5e Character data-packs are not necessary to play either, but significantly make it easier/faster to create characters (instead of typing everything, there is pre-loaded info)?
- Theoretically, a group could purchase the "ultimate" subscription licence ($10) and this adventure ($20) and have everything they need to play?
- Has fog-of-war already been pre-added to the maps for this adventure (HotDQ)? Or would a DM have to add that?

1. It is not necessary to have the MM packs for this adventure, Lost Mine of Phandelver or Rise of Tiamat. That will not be the case for the Princes of the Apocalypse adventure. It will require the MM.

2. Correct. The player packs or complete pack are not necessary to play. You can fill out your character sheet like you would a paper sheet. For spells, we recommend entering it exactly as it is in your book and then select the parse spell effects option.

3. Yes, the Ultimate license sub ($10) and this product ($20) give you everything you need to play. I would highly recommend adding the D&D Basic Rules pack ($3) to the list though so you have the new theme and a bunch of basic character stuff pre-loaded.

4. Fog of War in FG is handled by adding a Mask Layer and cutting away the mask to reveal the explored sections. All NPCs from encounters are only placed when you launch that encounter and they are set to a default state of invisible. You can mark them visible individually or en masse and if they move back into the fog they become invisible again.

 

[Nylanfs]

On 4 I think he was asking if the mask was preapplied in the module, which I think is not the case. But is what, two clicks on the GM's part. But should be done before sharing the map with your players.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

One thing I am wondering about, will the additional races be available without buying the adventure campaign that introduces them?

 

[Nylanfs]

Races are one of the easier things to add. They are all text

 

[Doc_Klueless]

A little late to the party, I'd say. WOTC's already forgotten all about the Tyranny of Dragons (their links to it on the site are already breaking) and anyone who was interested in HOTDQ would have played it months ago. We just finished it two weeks ago.

I'm interested and I haven't played it. Neither has my daughter and her friends who are interested in me running it for them. Or the couple of friends I have who are in totally separate gaming groups (including from each other) even though their groups are heavy into playing 5e with their homebrew campaign. They're interested in playing HotDQ but haven't gotten too it yet. So I think you may be generalizing something that isn't necessarily true.

 

[Corpsetaker]

What happens if I just want to be a player and have all the player content? What would I need to buy?

 

[Warunsun]

A little late to the party, I'd say. WOTC's already forgotten all about the Tyranny of Dragons (their links to it on the site are already breaking) and anyone who was interested in HOTDQ would have played it months ago. We just finished it two weeks ago.

The first 5E game in my group of gamers is being ran by myself and we started a World of Greyhawk campaign and I passed on the entire Tyranny of Dragons series. Instead I wrote some original introductory games plus I converted the Saltmarsh series to 5E. I had a print copy of U1 and I bought the rest at dndclassics.com. Now that the Elemental Evil series is out I started running it for my group since it is very easy to convert to the home of Elemental Evil.

The group I get to play in (which started about 2 months after my campaign) started with the Lost Mines of Phandelver then just a few games ago started the beginning of the Tyranny of Dragons series. So we just started it a few weeks back. The DM decided his Tyranny of Dragons set in the DragonLance setting was going to have two sets of characters. He had planned on running some of the D&D Next labeled games such as Scourge of the Sword Coast but has reconsidered it. I am fine with that decision and hoping he makes some sessions up. So we each have two characters but they operate separately in their own party set in the same overall campaign. I have seen this done well back during AD&D 2nd Edition. Not sure if it will work as good this time but so far it hasn't broken yet.

 

[Warunsun]

One thing I am wondering about, will the additional races be available without buying the adventure campaign that introduces them?

I am guessing that the Elemental Evil Player's Companion will be a separate pack and will be very cheap.

 

[smiteworks]

I am guessing that the Elemental Evil Player's Companion will be a separate pack and will be very cheap.

This.

That content is also included in the full Princes of the Apocalypse pack but will be broken out as a separate, small purchase for people who just want the race and other player info without the adventure.

What happens if I just want to be a player and have all the player content? What would I need to buy?

 

[smiteworks]

What happens if I just want to be a player and have all the player content? What would I need to buy?

To use the licensed D&D content, you'll need either a standard license ($39) or a standard monthly sub ($3.99) and then whatever content player content you want. The Complete Core Class Pack ($49.99) has all the content from the PHB and the portraits -- basically all the classes pack stuff and the PC Customization Pack stuff rolled into one package.

That would let you build your character off-line from your DM.

If you don't mind building your character while connected to your DM's campaign, the DM can share access to their purchased player modules for use in building a character for the campaign you are a part of. If they have an Ultimate license or Ultimate sub, then all you need is the Free/Demo license.

 

[Banesfinger]

While I know Fantasy Grounds (FG) is meant for groups to play while online, our group plays a traditional face-to-face game. However, some of the tools FG has are very appealing for organizing, record keeping, etc.

We want to set this up, with a DM running (behind screen) and a 'single' player controlling all the players (not everyone has, or is willing to bring laptops), and broadcast to a big screen TV in the room.

Does anyone have any advice for this kind of face-to-face set-up?

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Does anyone have any advice for this kind of face-to-face set-up?

If you go to the fantasy grounds forum, you'll find that there are lots of people there who use that set up. You'll get excellent advice there.