Anyone using Fantasy Grounds to run PF1? If so what are your experiences? I'm familiar with Roll20 and a little with Foundry. If FG is any good it would be hard to get away from the massive amount of content they have ready to run.
I'm having a hard time convincing myself to spend $110.00 just to test FG's PF1 stuff so I'm looking for your experiences
Tl;dr - Fantasy Grounds Unity is awesome and you should get it.
I have been using Fantasy Grounds since the mid-2000s, starting with 3.5 until a couple of years ago when we switched to Pathfinder 1.0, which we continue to use (and I plan to stick with for some time...we were on 3.0/3.5 for ~17 years, for example). FG is excellent. They just had a significant upgrade to FG:Unity, which has some really neat new feature like character-based line-of-sight (you character only sees the portions of the map your character can actually see, so if a comrade goes around a corner you no longer see him/her on the map).
FG is more complex than Roll20 (but I still much, much prefer Fantasy Grounds). You can do all sorts of cool things with effects that can be toggled on/off...for instance you can have things like Point-Blank shot, shooting into melee, and shooting through people all as effects that will auto-adjust AC/To-Hit and you just toggle them on/off as needed. Same with spells...you cause an enemy to become shaken, you put the effect on the target, and FG handles the roll modifiers for you. There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you've got it, it is pretty incredible what you can do.
Couple of negatives...FG does NOT come with audio/video so you have to use an additional service for that (we use Skype). Character creation within FG is not fantastic (it is maybe 80% of the way there), so we use PCGen to do character creation (which I find to be 99% accurate) and then we double check the PCGen character sheet with what we do in FG and adjust FG where needed. I haven't tried it in FG Unity, but the original FG character import was terrible and the effort required to fix in FG was more than just creating a character from scratch. Finally, if you have a slower computer (mine is 4 years old and only 8 MB of RAM) you might have some minor issues...I'm in a campaign now where the DM has to launch the software 5 minutes before game time and close nearly every other application...and my PC is the same age and it takes me 2-3 min to fully log in and get my character sheet up. NOW, that being said, once we're in things run smoothly.
There is a ton of pre-created modules and Adventure Paths available, which makes DMing MUCH easier...I know, because I've been manually putting Rappan Athuk into FG for the past 2 years of our campaign and it takes me probably 4-8 hours per level to get everything perfect / automated (wandering monster generation, room descriptions, combat with pre-positioning of enemies, treasure parcels, maps, etc.).
Not sure what time zone you are in, but I've invited people to observe a game in the past so they can see how FG works. It doesn't cost anything to get the player version of Unity as long as the DMs have the ultimate license (which we do). Let me know if that is something you might be interested in doing.
P.S. I have no association whatsoever with FG, I just really love the product.
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I use FGU. I like it a lot. I tried Roll20 first, but it took a lot more effort to do even basic things. If you look at the long term cost of Roll20 vs. FG, FG ends up being cheaper in the long run and you won't ever hit a storage cap.
Foundry is just 50 dollars, objectively blows r20 out of the water, has a robust 1e system, and doesn't cost absurd amounts of money for a UI that looks like it came from AutoCAD.
There is more than enough automation on Foundry, and the statblock converter makes prepping a cinch. Maps are easy to get ahold of or extract yourself. If you have a LOT more time than money, FGU can be valuable, but it just really does not seem worth the absurd price of entry.
It's good as long as you don't mind having to buy a specific data package for absolutely everything you run. That means no dropping in templates or randomly cool monsters that aren't supported by said data packages.
Roll20 is better for avoiding data packages and doing more hands on GMing. You just need to load your PCs into the character sheets and then roll the GM dice manually.
It's good as long as you don't mind having to buy a specific data package for absolutely everything you run. That means no dropping in templates or randomly cool monsters that aren't supported by said data packages.
I'm not sure what you mean here...you can create whatever you want in FGU without purchasing additional stuff...we ran FG for years with just the basic 3.5 material and didn't buy anything extra. If you are talking about stuff that isn't OGL, that's one thing. But we literally played for years without spending a dime over the initial cost.
If you have a LOT more time than money, FGU can be valuable, but it just really does not seem worth the absurd price of entry.
I agree that if you have more time than money you can just spend the initial cost to use FGU, and then manually enter modules (which does take time...I know, because I've been slowly putting Rappan Athuk into FG for literally years, trying to stay a level or two ahead of the party).
However, as someone who has been playing since the 80s and has more money than time these days, I find the cost of Paizo Adventure Paths for FG WELL worth it. And if you link your Paizo account and your FG accounts whatever you spend on PDFs you get as credit towards purchase of the FG module. For example, I purchased the PDF of Curse of the Crimson Throne, and because my accounts are linked when I purchased the FG CotCT package, it cost ~$5 because the PDF cost was applied as a credit. That is something I appreciate.
Anyone know anything specific about the Foundry options for PF1? I know the PF2 is robust and well supported. Is the 1e one as well?
I have the FGU demo downloaded and have been messing with it a little. Is there much difference I. Automation between the srd version and the paid one? Beyond the text of the CRB? In terms of automation?
Maybe it's just the way my DM runs FG. He prefers all of the automated stuff.
I have the FGU demo downloaded and have been messing with it a little. Is there much difference I. Automation between the srd version and the paid one? Beyond the text of the CRB? In terms of automation?
The only difference that I think exists is that you cannot DM from the free version. And I spent the big $150 for the Ultimate License as DM, which means all my players can connect and play using the free version. So my players do not have to spend a dime for FGU.