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I am new to online role playing. I am trying to discover the best way to set up games with my friends. I am thinking of Fantasy Grounds or Roll20. Is there a preference from the group here. Also I would like to get into a game to learn how to effectively lead an online game. Direction on how to do this would be appreciated.
Fantasy Grounds is probably the best one, but also the most expensive.
Foundry VTT is incredible popular for PF2 though, as it's an one single payment and the quality is great. The disadvantage is that you can't buy the adventures on it like you can with Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds and have it totally done for you.
There's a big improvement to PDF to Foundry in the works as well, but it's not my secret to spill so I'll let Fryguy do it or just have it be revealed on release. Hopefully it will be in the next version some time this week.
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Opinions differ.
Roll20 is currently the undisputed most popular VTT. Which makes it the easiest table to find players for.
Personally, I think Foundry is the best VTT. Fantasy Grounds is generally considered to have a steeper learning curve than roll20. Many believe that it is better than roll20 if you get over that curve, many don't
If you want something quick and easy to use but without many features, Epic Table works. You have to use some kind of voice chat like Discord, but the basic Epic table setup allows for easy importing of adventure materials.
Personally, I would go with Foundry VTT. I can't stand paying a second time for the things I already own. Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds both require you to do that so they're non-starters for me.
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I feel like Roll20 being the most popular is being underemphasized.
Roll20 may not be the best, but it's the most popular. By far. So unless you're going to choose one system and play with one specific group of people forever, at some point you're going to have to learn Roll20.
Very few people are going to be able to only pick one of the non-Roll20 options. It's really "learn Roll20" vs "learn Roll20 plus Foundry" vs "learn Roll20 plus FantasyGrounds". If you (or your players) want to find games outside of your group, it's extremely likely that you'll be forced to play on Roll20 at some point.
My advice is very practical: Roll20 is free, and you're almost certainly going to have to learn it. So start there (with the free version).
After a few sessions, when you feel comfortable with it, consider a better program - Roll20 has a paid option with some very nice features; Foundry is probably the best program I've used, but it requires technical setup; and Fantasy Grounds looks terrific, but I've heard it's very expensive relative to the other paid options.
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Just to note, no you do not need to create your own server. I run my weekly games with Foundry and haven't done any server jiggery pokery. There is an invite button in game, I sent that to my friends and they connect.Foundry has the PDF importer (which I think works great), but I'm hesitant to use it because you need to create your own server (and I'm not techie enough to do that),
That does require a paid service doesn't it? Or a friend to host the server for you?
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Just to note, no you do not need to create your own server. I run my weekly games with Foundry and haven't done any server jiggery pokery. There is an invite button in game, I sent that to my friends and they connect.Foundry has the PDF importer (which I think works great), but I'm hesitant to use it because you need to create your own server (and I'm not techie enough to do that),
It may require router jiggery pokery, or at least it has in my case.
Personally, I would go with Foundry VTT. I can't stand paying a second time for the things I already own. Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds both require you to do that so they're non-starters for me.
Yes I've had a friend just do that and he has paid for much of Fantasy Grounds. He is just sick of paying for it twice. Plus he likes the D&D Beyond integration to Foundry. So its not just PF2 players moving over.
I'm trialling Foundry at the moment. I'm happy so far. There are some bugs but they are repeatable and you can work around them. Actual campaign hasn't started yet.
That does require a paid service doesn't it? Or a friend to host the server for you?Just to note, no you do not need to create your own server. I run my weekly games with Foundry and haven't done any server jiggery pokery. There is an invite button in game, I sent that to my friends and they connect.Foundry has the PDF importer (which I think works great), but I'm hesitant to use it because you need to create your own server (and I'm not techie enough to do that),
Nope, you can use your computer as the server. Worst you might have to do is use their short tutorial on port forwarding.
Running a server is simply running the Foundry program, for many people that is all that you actually need to do. Others may have to take the extra steps to set up port forwarding on their router, because while Foundry supports upnp not all routers do. Some ISPs may make your life difficult though by either providing a terrible router you can't configure or by blocking things on their end. In those cases there are Foundry hosting services like The Forge which are pretty cheap.
I self host on Foundry and only had to set up a port forwarding rule to do it.
For me the benefits of Foundry are that the system is well automated, highly customizable, and easy to navigate and use.
There's also VTT options that no one has mentioned so far: Astral, Talespire, etc. Which have their own communities, and strengths and weaknesses. I still prefer Foundry but some people like different things.