RISE OF TIAMAT Now Available For Fantasy Grounds

Hot on the heels of the recent officially licensed release of Hoard of the Dragon Queen for the Fantasy Grounds virtual tabletop comes The Rise of Tiamat. You get the full adventure, image handouts, tactical maps, tokens, and more. The package costs $19.99, and requires that you already have one of Fantasy Grounds' official 5E ruleset modules. (Thanks to Matchstick for the scoop!)

Find it here!

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Avert the Cataclysmic Return of Tiamat in this Adventure for the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game.

The Cult of the Dragon leads the charge in an unholy crusade to bring Tiamat back to the Realms, and the situation grows more perilous for good people with each passing moment. The battle becomes increasingly political as opportunities to gather allies and gain advantage present themselves. From Waterdeep to the Sea of Moving Ice to Thay, it is a race against Evil. Succeed or succumb to the oppression of draconic tyranny. Win or lose, things will never be the same again.

Dungeon Masters purchasing this module can use it to run the adventure with very little prep, other than reading through the adventure in advance. The contents of the story are indexed and linked, where appropriate. Combat encounters and boxed text are preloaded and ready to drop onto maps and into the chat window with a few clicks. Nearly everything has been optimized and streamlined for ease of play online.

This Module Includes

• the entire contents of The Rise of Tiamat 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
• 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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[jimmifett]

Really pleased with the HotDQ module and FG. Definitely grabbing this one soon as my players get there.

 

[georbit]

So, now, how much does it cost to get the whole thing for Fantasy Grounds, such that the GM acquires it all and the players don't have to pay as well. And if you get the monthly subscription does that cover these adventures too? I looked at their website it wasn't too clear on that in my opinion.

 

[GuardianLurker]

Cost of FG & Tyranny of Dragons

There's two basic modes for using FG. One where it's essentially a GM aid for a live game, and the other where its actually being used as a virtual tabletop. The latter is more expensive, primarily because of the licensing requirements for the GM/players.

So here's the breakdown.
In common between both use cases, the GM needs to acquire the 5e MM (get the pack) [$50], the 5e PHB (get the pack) [$50], HotDQ [$20], and RoT [$20]. Total cost $140. Basically, you're buying the adventures (again probably), but that's fair, because that's *exactly* what you're doing, and they're in a *much* more usable form. Note that the common stuff the GM buys can be shared to the clients, so the players don't need to buy the PHB, or anything else in this set.

For tabletop aid:
1 Full and 1 Demo License of the Fantasy Grounds software [$40], available on site or through Steam. Your players don't need to buy anything, as one of them will probably be running the Demo copy as a client, while you're using the Full License. You'll probably also want something where you can display the client desktop on a bigger screen (either streamed to a large TV, or by a digital projector), but that's not really in scope here. I'm also assuming your group already has at least two computers (desktop and/or laptop) available at the gaming table.

For online use, there are two variants, one that's more GM-focused, and one that distributes the cost more evenly:
For the focused version, the GM needs to acquire the Ultimate License from Fantasy Grounds directly (either $150, or a $115 upgrade). The players need no additional investment.

For the distributed version, the players need to acquire the full license ($40, as above). Or there's also a subscription rate ($4/month). They'll need one or the other, not both. The GM needs no additional investment.

The total costs add up, I know, but it's not that bad when you distribute the total across the gaming group, and it's easy to expand slowly as you need to; you don't need to buy it all at once.

Minimum start up cost: 1 full copy of the FG software, 1 demo client, 1 5e PHB, 1 HotDQ = $110. That has everything the GM and the players need to get started, using the software in the GM aid mode.

 

[graves3141]

Looks kinda cool but I'll never own any of this stuff because it's way to expensive... at least for me.

 

[georbit]

That still sounds like a lot of money, especially if the DM and several of the players already bought books and adventures. It's basically buying all that twice, except not, as my books were on sale and cost $30 each. It's a lot to think about though. The video and screenshots look amazing.

 

[jimmifett]

As a GM to 'Have it ALL' so your player don't need anything but the demo, it's $150 for the ultimate license (unlimited free players), $50 for the PHB stuff, $50 for the MM stuff, and $20 for adventures (of which there are 3, but I don't own the phandelver one). One doesn't NEED the PHB and MM stuff, one can manually enter it all by hand and there is a tool (Par5e) that makes that job very easy, if not time consuming (and not as much time as one would think). The basic rules from the PDF are only $3.

I unfortunately don't have the time, so I was willing to plunk down 2 weeks worth of adult lunch money and pack lunches to get the PHB and MM libraries.
With LUNCH MONEY. Hopefully that helps put it in perspective regarding cost.

But, if you're looking for the red carpet treatment: $250 + adventures.
Is this a lot? Yes. But the real question: Is it worth it? YES!

The organization of the HotDQ module is fantastic, it's dirt simple to build PCs and NPCs. Getting used to the program takes a session or 2, but youtube videos are making that easier. I match it up with google hangouts for voice/video.

I tried a month of the full Roll20 about3-4 months ago, it was OK, and the dynamic lightning neat, but it was a pain to use and more of a pain to set up, and no where near as integrated with the ruleset as FG.

At the actual table (with notebook) instead of online, I can look up my player's stats and spells quickly, as well as efficiently run a combat tracker, which is great for tracking conditions and such.

If anyone wants to try out, drop me a line and i'll be happy to get something going.

 

[CFong]

These comments have been very helpful to me. Thanks especially to GuardianLurker and jimmifett. An additional question if I may; how easy (or hard / impossible) is it to add / create custom, homebrew rules. For example, let's say I wanted to use the guns and hero points from the DMG? Or for a more extreme example, a customized class or class option with unique features (as an example, gunslinger with grit points, taking cues from the Pathfinder class.)

 

[graves3141]

I unfortunately don't have the time, so I was willing to plunk down 2 weeks worth of adult lunch money and pack lunches to get the PHB and MM libraries.
With LUNCH MONEY. Hopefully that helps put it in perspective regarding cost.

Your lunch money and what I spend and eat for lunch are two different things. Maybe if I skipped lunch for month, I could afford some of this stuff but I'd rather not lose the weight.

 

[GuardianLurker]

Or, divvying up the costs among the entire table, the startup setup I listed is under $20 each (assuming a GM and 5 players).

I really can't express succinctly how impressed I am with FG. Remember when I said it was *much* more usable? The adventure includes prebuilt encounters that auto-roll initiatives, and auto-place the monsters on the map. And they include maps, even if the adventure doesn't (like say for the "Stragglers" encounter). Or all those "Random Events" in "On the Road".

But honestly, here's my biggest complement for it: In the past, when I've used other VTT/CharGen/whatever software, my prep time has increased so my time at the table decreases, and things look better. With FG, my prep time stays the same (in might even be a little reduced), my time at the table is greatly decreased, and things look ... well, those screenshots up there? They aren't staged. That's what your players and you will see.

Also, there's tons of little things that you don't think about until you see them. Want to hide your GM dice rolls from players? Toggle a setting. Want players to be able to secretly ninja note you the GM? Already built in. How about an actual in-game calendar that can also serve as an adventure log? Yep, already there.

Oh, and for me, one of the best parts is that all those Token/Map PDFs/Tiles that I've bought over the years? With a (very) little work (scan/save the image) I can use them within FG.

And...and...and...

You know what? Just try the demo before you say no. The demo is free after all. It really is the best RPG software I've seen.