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Seeking reviews or comparisons of: Fantasy Grounds, kLoOge.Werks and Screenmonkey
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<blockquote data-quote="Bitr_Haag" data-source="post: 2517215" data-attributes="member: 35858"><p>In the spirit of fairness and complete disclosure, I have purchased both FG and Klooge but I use FG exclusively at this point.</p><p> </p><p><u>Klooge Review</u></p><p><u>Positives</u></p><p>Klooge has some really, really cool features (assuming they work). The distance calculator, the damage, AC, etc... calculators all look amazing and would help speed up my combat significantly. I would agree with the comment above that Klooge has more "brains" behind it.</p><p> </p><p><u>Negatives</u></p><p>After purchasing Klooge, I tried to set it up for 3.5 rules but it wasn't available at the time. I think, after reading the bottom/top forums on Klooge (hate that format btw!), that the users have fixed this but you have to download, tweak, etc... to get it working. It may be a very easy process, but I didn't want to take the time to figure java, etc... out.</p><p> </p><p><u>Fantasy Grounds Review</u></p><p><u>Positives</u></p><p>Rolling dice is fun. Call it a stupid quirk but I'd be willing to bet that the dice rolling feature is one of the Top 5 things users like about the program. Consider the "pen & paper" days with the friends... someone was ALWAYS randomly tossing a dice on the table or trying to make a die spin even though it annoyed the DM! Same effect here.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, the packaging looks great. FG has the shiny bells/whistles that attract the eye.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, the community and developers seem dedicated to making it better and listening to the users. In my opinion, the fact that Dupre, a developer, was even aware of this topic AND took time to respond to this topic is a HUGE testimony to their commitment to the product. It shows that SmiteWorks (?) is aware of more than just the FG site and that they are not resting on their last achievement.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, I also feel compelled to correct Dupre's posting above and add that "map zooming" is, as of Aug 25th, unavailable. It is part of the next patch that is scheduled to be released "soon" (Dupre's word on the FG Forums). Apparently, at GenCon, the demo version contained the map zoom feature so the full patch release is hopefully right around the corner.</p><p> </p><p><u>Negatives</u></p><p>Well, the negatives are all of the features that people are requesting on the FG forums. As a DM, the map zoom will be a HUGE benefit and make life a lot easier. There are still some connectivity glitches that will occassionally drop a player for reasons I can't reliably duplicate but they quickly log back on and we continue w/o any major inconvenience.</p><p> </p><p><u>Final Thoughts</u></p><p>I think FG is a great product. The initiatl goal was to re-create the original "pen and paper" feel for RPG's. I believe it has done a great job with it. I suspect some things will NOT be automated either for legal reasons (mentioned above) <u>OR</u> for the desire to remain true to some of the manual processes, just like "in the day".</p><p> </p><p>I'm also confident that FG will improve in the near future. In addition to SW development, the user community is actively working on different rule sets, tokens, maps, scenarios, etc... While I'm sure this is also true for Klooge, I have some firsthand experience w/ the FG community and believe in the members.</p><p> </p><p>However, Klooge appears to have some really, really, really cool stuff that FG has not indicated they are working on. One feature that sounds cool is being able to place a token on the map and have it be "invisible" to the players. Or being able to indicate a light source and have the "fog of war" move with the character with the light source. I wish I had experience with this software more to make a better informed decision.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, Klooge appears to be very technical and user unfriendly while Fantasy Grounds makes it pretty easy to get started. For those of you old enough to know... think of Klooge as "Beta" and Fantasy Grounds as "VHS".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bitr_Haag, post: 2517215, member: 35858"] In the spirit of fairness and complete disclosure, I have purchased both FG and Klooge but I use FG exclusively at this point. [u]Klooge Review[/u] [u]Positives[/u] Klooge has some really, really cool features (assuming they work). The distance calculator, the damage, AC, etc... calculators all look amazing and would help speed up my combat significantly. I would agree with the comment above that Klooge has more "brains" behind it. [u]Negatives[/u] After purchasing Klooge, I tried to set it up for 3.5 rules but it wasn't available at the time. I think, after reading the bottom/top forums on Klooge (hate that format btw!), that the users have fixed this but you have to download, tweak, etc... to get it working. It may be a very easy process, but I didn't want to take the time to figure java, etc... out. [u]Fantasy Grounds Review[/u] [u]Positives[/u] Rolling dice is fun. Call it a stupid quirk but I'd be willing to bet that the dice rolling feature is one of the Top 5 things users like about the program. Consider the "pen & paper" days with the friends... someone was ALWAYS randomly tossing a dice on the table or trying to make a die spin even though it annoyed the DM! Same effect here. Additionally, the packaging looks great. FG has the shiny bells/whistles that attract the eye. Finally, the community and developers seem dedicated to making it better and listening to the users. In my opinion, the fact that Dupre, a developer, was even aware of this topic AND took time to respond to this topic is a HUGE testimony to their commitment to the product. It shows that SmiteWorks (?) is aware of more than just the FG site and that they are not resting on their last achievement. Unfortunately, I also feel compelled to correct Dupre's posting above and add that "map zooming" is, as of Aug 25th, unavailable. It is part of the next patch that is scheduled to be released "soon" (Dupre's word on the FG Forums). Apparently, at GenCon, the demo version contained the map zoom feature so the full patch release is hopefully right around the corner. [u]Negatives[/u] Well, the negatives are all of the features that people are requesting on the FG forums. As a DM, the map zoom will be a HUGE benefit and make life a lot easier. There are still some connectivity glitches that will occassionally drop a player for reasons I can't reliably duplicate but they quickly log back on and we continue w/o any major inconvenience. [u]Final Thoughts[/u] I think FG is a great product. The initiatl goal was to re-create the original "pen and paper" feel for RPG's. I believe it has done a great job with it. I suspect some things will NOT be automated either for legal reasons (mentioned above) [u]OR[/u] for the desire to remain true to some of the manual processes, just like "in the day". I'm also confident that FG will improve in the near future. In addition to SW development, the user community is actively working on different rule sets, tokens, maps, scenarios, etc... While I'm sure this is also true for Klooge, I have some firsthand experience w/ the FG community and believe in the members. However, Klooge appears to have some really, really, really cool stuff that FG has not indicated they are working on. One feature that sounds cool is being able to place a token on the map and have it be "invisible" to the players. Or being able to indicate a light source and have the "fog of war" move with the character with the light source. I wish I had experience with this software more to make a better informed decision. Unfortunately, Klooge appears to be very technical and user unfriendly while Fantasy Grounds makes it pretty easy to get started. For those of you old enough to know... think of Klooge as "Beta" and Fantasy Grounds as "VHS". [/QUOTE]
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Seeking reviews or comparisons of: Fantasy Grounds, kLoOge.Werks and Screenmonkey
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