Paizo And Foundry Virtual Tabletop Content Partnership

KyleS wrote:

So this is kind of a big one then that should probably be asked. The PDF to Foundry module worked off of purchased PDF's. Can we anticipate some support to those of us who have used this route to help create our games? And being as the Beginner's Box is very common in the Humble Bundles, will there be future support for that?

PDF to Foundry is no longer being updated with new APs. Frozen Flame was the last one. The decision to end support for it was Fryguy's, he was spending ~30 hours a month doing the work on it and spoiled every AP, adventure, and society scenario in the process. He was going to retire PDF to Foundry earlier but when we got word that Outlaws of Alkenstar would be the first premium module he pushed on to close the content gap. There is nothing preventing someone else from stepping up and making a similar program, but they would have to start from scratch as his code is closed source and he won't be releasing it to help reduce piracy. He could decide to add future content into the module again, but given that these modules are beyond anything the importer could ever do it's unlikely to be revived. Nothing in the module as it currently is will be going away. All the APs up through Frozen Flame will be importable as normal.

I caught that the other day Tikael. I just didn't want to flood the Discord with another repeat question because even though I know that you just looooove to see those, I figured I'd be nice and move the question here so it could hopefully have an answer close to the top. I just didn't expect for it be answered 5 different times lol.

Glad to hear that there will a discount, but it's not really the published content that had me concerned as there normally is a discount in other places, but there is a hell of a lot more being shown in that preview. I know that Narchy puts a lot of effort into his maps, and then adding in the Syrinscape and animations (seems like TokenFX, but could be wrong)? That's kind of where my question of support for those who've already purchased and would use PDF to Foundry. Could it turn out to be a situation similar to the Flip Mats in which there would be a few updates to the download by having the Paizo released maps (not Narchy's remakes) and some of the art assests for tokens?

Not trying to sound cheap in way because holy hell the work that's going into that is absolutely worth the price, and even if I may not run this again anytime soon (even if at all), I'd have zero issue with getting this without the discount just to be able to have some resources to apply to other future games. But I also know that there's a fair amount of people out there who aren't interested in an "upgrade" so to say, but just have some support in terms of what was already purchased, if that makes sense.

This could be best news of the year!

P.P.P.S. And the next step is Cyberpunk 2077-level. Whoever does that wins the entire artform of videogames.

Maybe not, given how Cyberpunk 2077 ended up.

SO, what is foundry and how does it help at the table of the game as we gather in the Home/Game Store?

You'll still be able to build worlds in Foundry without needing to buy premium content. You can put in the Paizo maps as images and then put down the walls and lighting. All the actors you need will be in the system for free, and I can tell you that those take the most amount of time compared to everything else. PDF to Foundry will still work so bestiary creatures can even have the art assigned through the importer.

PDF to Foundry still works, and it will be maintained, just not improved upon or have things added to it (other than maybe PFS scenarios because they're super easy compared to an adventure or an AP). But for new stuff you would be 100% on your own. That sounds bad until you realize that you have all the actors, feats, features, classes, everything CUP still available, including from new books and adventures. So compared to, say, a 5e player you are still MILES ahead.

In any case, before judging the price point I think we should all wait and see what it will be for what is being offered. If you value your time at $20/hr, how much would it take for you to buy the module instead of building the world yourself. That's the real question.

For scope, it took between 160 and 180% of what it would take a single person to set up a world to make the same thing work in PDF to Foundry if the layout of the PDF was the same as a previous one. This meant that FryGuy was putting in over 30 hours and had to spoil every adventure (except AV because he ROT-13 encoded some of the text and taught me how to use it - this is also why AV in PDF to Foundry isn't as good as other adventures... all my mistakes, not FryGuy's) for the good of the community. PDF to Foundry was amazing, and FryGuy paid over $1,000 out of pocket on things he'll never get to play before starting the Patreon, and then closed the Patreon as soon as he broke even.

Plus someone can still make a new PDF to Foundry. As long as it has suitable watermark checking it can be listed as a Foundry module. Someone just has to do that work and respect Paizo's IP. If Foundry doesn't enforce that for officially listed modules then no publisher will want to publish on their platform, and that would suck for the whole industry.

Tikael wrote:

KyleS wrote:

So this is kind of a big one then that should probably be asked. The PDF to Foundry module worked off of purchased PDF's. Can we anticipate some support to those of us who have used this route to help create our games? And being as the Beginner's Box is very common in the Humble Bundles, will there be future support for that?

PDF to Foundry is no longer being updated with new APs. Frozen Flame was the last one. The decision to end support for it was Fryguy's, he was spending ~30 hours a month doing the work on it and spoiled every AP, adventure, and society scenario in the process. He was going to retire PDF to Foundry earlier but when we got word that Outlaws of Alkenstar would be the first premium module he pushed on to close the content gap. There is nothing preventing someone else from stepping up and making a similar program, but they would have to start from scratch as his code is closed source and he won't be releasing it to help reduce piracy. He could decide to add future content into the module again, but given that these modules are beyond anything the importer could ever do it's unlikely to be revived. Nothing in the module as it currently is will be going away. All the APs up through Frozen Flame will be importable as normal.

I caught that the other day Tikael. I just didn't want to flood the Discord with another repeat question because even though I know that you just looooove to see those, I figured I'd be nice and move the question here so it could hopefully have an answer close to the top. I just didn't expect for it be answered 5 different times lol.

Glad to hear that there will a discount, but it's not really the published content that had me concerned as there normally is a discount in other places, but there is a hell of a lot more being shown in that preview. I know that Narchy puts a lot of effort into his maps, and then adding in the Syrinscape and animations (seems like TokenFX, but could be wrong)? That's kind of where my...

Huzzah!

Oh, these are excellent news with impressive looking previews.

SO, what is foundry and how does it help at the table of the game as we gather in the Home/Game Store?

It's the go-to virtual tabletop for a lot of people playing Pathfinder 2E, including myself. It doesn't lend much to in-home gatherings/game stores, except for those that play on top of flat screen display tables.

awesome!

thaX wrote:

SO, what is foundry and how does it help at the table of the game as we gather in the Home/Game Store?

It's the go-to virtual tabletop for a lot of people playing Pathfinder 2E, including myself. It doesn't lend much to in-home gatherings/game stores, except for those that play on top of flat screen display tables.

To add to this, my group is playing in person again and I've still found Foundry useful for managing my character on my tablet at the table. Being able to drag-and-drop conditions and various spell effects and have it all auto-change my rolls as needed has been fantastic.

I notice the features list 'audio from the extensive Syrinscape library.' Does this mean the audio files are included in the product or that a Syrinscape account is needed to be linked to Foundry?

YESSSSS, exciting news!

Is it bad if I rush my current campaigns of AoA and SoT so I can start up new campaigns using this stuff XD

YESSSSS, exciting news!

Is it bad if I rush my current campaigns of AoA and SoT so I can start we new campaigns using this stuff XD

The world is full of people telling us to finish what we start. If you want to start all the APs and never finish them, or just jump around in strange orders, I give you permission, as long as you and your group are having a good time. ;)

I am so excited, was expecting the tokens, but not Syrinscape!!!

Amazing! and the previews look awesome!

I am very happy about this announcement and hope that it will be a great experience for everyone involved.

I notice the features list 'audio from the extensive Syrinscape library.' Does this mean the audio files are included in the product or that a Syrinscape account is needed to be linked to Foundry?

The audio files are all custom-mixed, using assets from Syrinscape's vast library, and included with the product. No Syrinscape account is needed.

Buuuut, if you find yourself liking those sweet sound effects and wanting more, you know where to look...

Thanks for the reply. It is good to know. This is looking too good to be true, so I am looking for the gotcha.

I would like to know if this would cover foreign languages PDF's to the discount as well, since both Fantasy Grounds and Roll20 ignore the people that get the PDF in their native language instead of directly from Paizo.

In my example, i'm from Brazil, the partnership with the "New Order Editora" has the rights to translate and distribute Paizo Books here, but we are shut down from those kind of initiatives since they only recognize the english versions of the PDF's.

And for those who don't know, our mininum wage is under $1,2/hour

I would like to know if this would cover foreign languages PDF's to the discount as well, since both Fantasy Grounds and Roll20 ignore the people that get the PDF in their native language instead of directly from Paizo.

Our system is only able to verify ownership of PDFs purchased on paizo.com, so any translations of Paizo books sold elsewhere aren't going to return a result when the store looks to see if you've already got the PDF. Sorry!

Samir Sardinha wrote:

I would like to know if this would cover foreign languages PDF's to the discount as well, since both Fantasy Grounds and Roll20 ignore the people that get the PDF in their native language instead of directly from Paizo.

Our system is only able to verify ownership of PDFs purchased on paizo.com, so any translations of Paizo books sold elsewhere aren't going to return a result when the store looks to see if you've already got the PDF. Sorry!

As a Software Developer I can imagine that an API linking the translated store and Paizo is doable the same way it will integrate with Foundry and have been conected with Roll20 and FG in the past.

So it would be possible to get the "Original version" at paizo with a discount and use that to get a discount at foundry or the preferred VTT later.

This isn't really the thread to get into the intricacies of our Paizo Connect API and whether or not our various partners use it, but it is possible that if a translation partner wanted to link purchases of their content to the English-language version on paizo.com, that it could daisy-chain ownership to allow a purchase in Portuguese (or whatever language) into a discount on other Paizo Connect-linked sites. There are a number of royalty-related reasons why that's not a great deal for our translation partners, however, which is part of the reason they don't do it. But there's nothing contractual that I'm aware of that would prevent a licensee from doing so, they've just never expressed interest in it as far as I know.

This isn't really the thread to get into the intricacies of our Paizo Connect API and whether or not our various partners use it, but it is possible that if a translation partner wanted to link purchases of their content to the English-language version on paizo.com, that it could daisy-chain ownership to allow a purchase in Portuguese (or whatever language) into a discount on other Paizo Connect-linked sites. There are a number of royalty-related reasons why that's not a great deal for our translation partners, however, which is part of the reason they don't do it. But there's nothing contractual that I'm aware of that would prevent a licensee from doing so, they've just never expressed interest in it as far as I know.

Thanks for the reply, i'm just excited for the opportunity to change things, since before it begins is always the better timing to it

I think I'd like to have a go at Foundry, but one of our players uses a Chromebook.

Will a Chromebook be able to cope with Foundry's resource requirements?

Fantastic news! Was dreading having to manually enter Blood Lords (our next campaign for my VTT group) after we finish AV.

If you're already running a game using a PDF converted via PDF to Foundry and want to take advantage of all the new features that come with our official conversion, you may have a few minor cleanup tasks on your hands, but for the most part you should be able to activate the module, import all of the new compendium content, and pick up more or less where you left off.

So, we're halfway through Abomination Vaults. I guess the best way would be to import the new module into our existing, PDF to Foundry-game then. And then delete the "old" maps and assets, except the things I've modified. After a fresh backup :-) Ok cool, thanks.

Will a Chromebook be able to cope with Foundry's resource requirements?

I haven't tried myself, but heard that people can. The player will get the graphics dialed down quite much though and likely won't see things like soft shadows. The latest version of Foundry adjusts graphics automatically.

Ok thanks Razcar

Ok thanks Razcar

No problem! There's a demo here that resets regularly, have them log on and test themselves https://demo.foundryvtt.com/join

Password is foundry.

I hope this is successful and we see more of the 2E material added. I'm looking at Strength of Thousands or Kingmaker after our current Legacy of Fire run. SoT in particular has great potential for interesting music and images for players. After converting two AP's to 5E, I'd love to be able to run something without spending time doing all the conversions and fiddling around with uploading assets to a VTT.

Saw the announcment notification on foundry yesterday.

High resolution maps is all I dreamed for, but have to say the extra stuff is really amazing too!

Just a little question about maps...

Is there by any chance the possibility to also get maps meant for "generic encounters" that were not added within the AP

To make a quick example, from EC BOOK 3

I do sincerely hope they release all the current content like extinction curse and Agents of Edgewatch

Hoping for a subscription model for this.

Saw the announcment notification on foundry yesterday.

High resolution maps is all I dreamed for, but have to say the extra stuff is really amazing too!

Just a little question about maps...

Is there by any chance the possibility to also get maps meant for "generic encounters" that were not added within the AP

To make a quick example, from EC BOOK 3
** spoiler omitted **

Hi! I'm one of the people working on the AV conversion as well as a member of the PF2E system's development team.

I haven't played or run EC so I may be misunderstanding your question, but I will try to answer:

- If you're asking about the generic "encounter maps" that are sometimes included (I recall an example from Age of Ashes), where they just have four maps that you can use for any random encounter in the AP:

While AV doesn't (that I recall) have any such maps, I can assure you that if we were to convert an adventure that did, they would absolutely be included. These encounter maps are a critical part of the adventure and would not be left out!

- If you're asking about encounters in the AP that have no provided map but would logically require one:

AV does have such an encounter- I won't mention where, because it may be a spoiler, but in this case, we are providing an entirely new map to play the encounter on which we hope maintains the feeling of the official maps. Of course, using it would be entirely option, and GMs are free to provide their own map, reuse another map, or pull from Foundry's huge pool of exclusive content to get an alternative that they like more!

I hope that answers your question!

- If you're asking about encounters in the AP that have no provided map but would logically require one:

AV does have such an encounter- I won't mention where, because it may be a spoiler, but in this case, we are providing an entirely new map to play the encounter on which we hope maintains the feeling of the official maps. Of course, using it would be entirely option, and GMs are free to provide their own map, reuse another map, or pull from Foundry's huge pool of exclusive content to get an alternative that they like more!

I hope that answers your question!

You surely did!

Nice!

Will the maps be of appropriate quality at miniature scale? I see the tokens are mentioned as being high resolution, but see no such comment about the maps.

Will the maps be of appropriate quality at miniature scale? I see the tokens are mentioned as being high resolution, but see no such comment about the maps.

I've seen it mentioned that the maps will be upscale and have a higher resolution than what you can find in any PDF.

Just don't ask me for a source. I think it was one of the PF2 Foundry developers on reddit.

EDIT:
Found it at https://foundryvtt.com/article/paizo-faq/

"Upscaled, high-resolution versions of the original maps which exceed the resolution and quality of those contained within their available PDFs"

I think I'd like to have a go at Foundry, but one of our players uses a Chromebook.

Will a Chromebook be able to cope with Foundry's resource requirements?

You could always suggest to the player to try out using the character generation server graciously provided by one of the developers of PF2 on Foundry.

Foundry Character Building Server
For anyone wanting to try out character building in Foundry, there is a server accessible by all, specifically for building PFS PF2e characters, set up here: https://pfs-pf2e-builder.munsie.ca/

Note: You can leave the 'access key' area blank when logging in.

----------------------------------------------------------------

And if the person is interested, they can find a decent number of org play games online that are offered on Foundry.

I think I'd like to have a go at Foundry, but one of our players uses a Chromebook.

Will a Chromebook be able to cope with Foundry's resource requirements?

I have a whole group of players playing on chromebooks or other non gaming laptops and they've been fine for over a year. They can turn down the graphics-related settings and cap the frame rate at 10 and it's fine.

This is a very smart move. Well done Paizo!

Also, if I'm GMing for the Beginner Box weekend, will I need to buy this set if I want to use it?

Malgwyn wrote:

I think I'd like to have a go at Foundry, but one of our players uses a Chromebook.

Will a Chromebook be able to cope with Foundry's resource requirements?

I have a whole group of players playing on chromebooks or other non gaming laptops and they've been fine for over a year. They can turn down the graphics-related settings and cap the frame rate at 10 and it's fine.

Is that also a client side thing?

I knew I can tweak with map pixels to reduce the map quality, but I didn't know a player could lower the grafic either.

nephandys wrote:

Malgwyn wrote:

I think I'd like to have a go at Foundry, but one of our players uses a Chromebook.

Will a Chromebook be able to cope with Foundry's resource requirements?

I have a whole group of players playing on chromebooks or other non gaming laptops and they've been fine for over a year. They can turn down the graphics-related settings and cap the frame rate at 10 and it's fine.

Is that also a client side thing?

I knew I can tweak with map pixels to reduce the map quality, but I didn't know a player could lower the grafic either.

It's player side. They click on Settings -> Configure Settings -> Core Settings and scroll through the list. There's a module called something like Potato or Not that on first logging into a server will ask the quality of your PC and then configure automatically based on your selection.

HumbleGamer wrote:

nephandys wrote:

Malgwyn wrote:

I think I'd like to have a go at Foundry, but one of our players uses a Chromebook.

Will a Chromebook be able to cope with Foundry's resource requirements?

I have a whole group of players playing on chromebooks or other non gaming laptops and they've been fine for over a year. They can turn down the graphics-related settings and cap the frame rate at 10 and it's fine.

Is that also a client side thing?

I knew I can tweak with map pixels to reduce the map quality, but I didn't know a player could lower the grafic either.

It's player side. They click on Settings -> Configure Settings -> Core Settings and scroll through the list. There's a module called something like Potato or Not that on first logging into a server will ask the quality of your PC and then configure automatically based on your selection.

That's great!

Thanks for sharing it!

I can amplify the answer provided above. The resolution of all maps will be 200 ppi (so one map grid is 200 pixels by 200 pixels) which is better than what we can import PDF maps at. The exception is one of the maps in AV because of concerns about old graphics cards. Older graphics cards have a specific limit that a map that size would exceed, so that one map is 100 dpi, or one quarter the resolutions (which is similar or slightly better than most Paizo interactive maps, depending on the map). Obviously this was done to make sure maximum compatibility. It would suck to get through several floors of AV and then just have to stop because one player can't see the map :) That's the type of foresight that Foundry and Sigil are bringing to this conversion!

Will the maps be of appropriate quality at miniature scale? I see the tokens are mentioned as being high resolution, but see no such comment about the maps.

Great news! Official support might well be the last push I needed for switching from Roll20 to Foundry.

I can amplify the answer provided above. The resolution of all maps will be 200 ppi (so one map grid is 200 pixels by 200 pixels) which is better than what we can import PDF maps at. The exception is one of the maps in AV because of concerns about old graphics cards. Older graphics cards have a specific limit that a map that size would exceed, so that one map is 100 dpi, or one quarter the resolutions (which is similar or slightly better than most Paizo interactive maps, depending on the map). Obviously this was done to make sure maximum compatibility. It would suck to get through several floors of AV and then just have to stop because one player can't see the map :) That's the type of foresight that Foundry and Sigil are bringing to this conversion!

Fumarole wrote:

Will the maps be of appropriate quality at miniature scale? I see the tokens are mentioned as being high resolution, but see no such comment about the maps.

I will slightly modify this answer as a member of the Foundry VTT staff. At present, all of the Abomination Vaults maps are only being included at 100px per grid square resolution in order to maintain consistency across all scenes (this does include the original maps for the adventure as well).

Well that's unfortunate. I use a TV on my table with minis, so low resolution maps are unusable for me. I know I am not alone in this setup. Looks like I'll be creating my own maps (or look to the community at large) if I run Abomination Vaults.

Well that's unfortunate. I use a TV on my table with minis, so low resolution maps are unusable for me. I know I am not alone in this setup. Looks like I'll be creating my own maps (or look to the community at large) if I run Abomination Vaults.

Same for me ( our group is using a projector, so we need very well done map for it ).

There's already an AV map remake module from Narchy ( but IIRC, it's just the map. You'll have to deal with walls, tokens, etc... ).

100px is generally pretty decent, at least on a monitor.. Not sure about on a tv. It's what I use for most of my maps, unless they are really large at which point I use 50px since I don't want to overload people's machines.

I notice that the preview video shows a number of community modules being used during the Foundry example sessions. Will the Beginner's Box module list which community modules are recommended/required for the content so that a GM can install them?