Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6656081" data-attributes="member: 37579"><p>You can't beat the price of Roll20. Free is good. And I'm a sucker for companies that start free and encourage subscriptions with perks that are <u>actually perks</u> and not necessities. </p><p>But anyone playing on Fantasy Grounds is likely dedicated to the game; they <em>really</em> want to play and there's less chance of a casual newb stumbling in. </p><p></p><p>Fantasy Grounds has the advantage of the published content. Which is nice if that floats your boat. Or even if you have the disposable cash and simply want to pillage it for maps and encounters. </p><p></p><p>Roll20 also has a dedicated LFG section of the website, while you have to sift through a lot of other campaigns in Fantasy Grounds. But Roll20's LFG section has been buggy for me (I've been actively looking for a group there), so your mileage might vary.</p><p></p><p>Fantasy Grounds, as paid software, also looks a little more polished. They've been around a long time and have spent years working the kinks out of the system. Roll20 is newer and amazing for the time that has been invested, but there are still some quirks. </p><p></p><p>Still, since you <em>want</em> to encourage people to get into the hobby and limit barriers to entry, Fantasy Ground's starter price is super high, and charging for the otherwise free Basic Rules is an irritation. For that reason alone Roll20 seems the better choice. </p><p>Apparently there's a demo mode to Fantasy Grounds. That may or may not let you test playing in a game with a licences DM (the details are vague). </p><p></p><p>I think Fantasy Ground's price made sense when it was one of the few VTT's on the market and free meant buggy and problematic (maptools). Charging to get started is harder to justify now, let alone $44+licence. But now they have competition, and that competition is free. Responding by getting a D&D licence is a great move but charging more than the core books for the product seems unnecessary. </p><p>This is emphasized by the dearth of reviews for Fantasy Grounds' D&D package.</p><p></p><p>As I mentioned, I've spent the last two weeks looking for an online group. My wife's work schedule shifted and I can no longer make my regular Organized Play game, so I need to play from home. As a D&D fan with a computer looking to play digitally, I'm exactly the target audience. And yet going with Fantasy Grounds was never realistically considered. Because I cannot justify the expense. I'm not spending $60 for the <em>chance</em> of playing a game. At least when I but the rulebooks, even if I never end up playing I walk away with books to read and keep. I'll be able to look at those books for decades to come (or months in the case of the PHB<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> ). Fantasy Grounds... who knows how long it's servers will be up?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jester David, post: 6656081, member: 37579"] You can't beat the price of Roll20. Free is good. And I'm a sucker for companies that start free and encourage subscriptions with perks that are [U]actually perks[/U] and not necessities. But anyone playing on Fantasy Grounds is likely dedicated to the game; they [I]really[/I] want to play and there's less chance of a casual newb stumbling in. Fantasy Grounds has the advantage of the published content. Which is nice if that floats your boat. Or even if you have the disposable cash and simply want to pillage it for maps and encounters. Roll20 also has a dedicated LFG section of the website, while you have to sift through a lot of other campaigns in Fantasy Grounds. But Roll20's LFG section has been buggy for me (I've been actively looking for a group there), so your mileage might vary. Fantasy Grounds, as paid software, also looks a little more polished. They've been around a long time and have spent years working the kinks out of the system. Roll20 is newer and amazing for the time that has been invested, but there are still some quirks. Still, since you [I]want[/I] to encourage people to get into the hobby and limit barriers to entry, Fantasy Ground's starter price is super high, and charging for the otherwise free Basic Rules is an irritation. For that reason alone Roll20 seems the better choice. Apparently there's a demo mode to Fantasy Grounds. That may or may not let you test playing in a game with a licences DM (the details are vague). I think Fantasy Ground's price made sense when it was one of the few VTT's on the market and free meant buggy and problematic (maptools). Charging to get started is harder to justify now, let alone $44+licence. But now they have competition, and that competition is free. Responding by getting a D&D licence is a great move but charging more than the core books for the product seems unnecessary. This is emphasized by the dearth of reviews for Fantasy Grounds' D&D package. As I mentioned, I've spent the last two weeks looking for an online group. My wife's work schedule shifted and I can no longer make my regular Organized Play game, so I need to play from home. As a D&D fan with a computer looking to play digitally, I'm exactly the target audience. And yet going with Fantasy Grounds was never realistically considered. Because I cannot justify the expense. I'm not spending $60 for the [I]chance[/I] of playing a game. At least when I but the rulebooks, even if I never end up playing I walk away with books to read and keep. I'll be able to look at those books for decades to come (or months in the case of the PHB;) ). Fantasy Grounds... who knows how long it's servers will be up? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds?
Top