Playing D&D Online Using Fantasy Grounds
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- Опубліковано 3 кві 2020
- Now might be a good time to get a D&D game going online. Fantasy Grounds is my Virtual Tabletop of choice.
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#RunningTheGame #MattColville #FantasyGrounds - Ігри
This video was a huge pain in the ass to make, I apologize for obscuring the combat tracker with my giant head.
I also want to point out the reason these third-party virtual tabletops have to charge you money for the books you already own, is because they had to pay wizards of the coast for the license. And they need to recoup that money.
I bought some books on Roll20, I can see it becoming expensive if like my group split across platforms. But its ok, I'm just happy to play. I just wished I remembered the AUD dollar was so bad against the USD in the current crisis!
And there is some work making the module too. It's not created by magic (wouldn't it be awesome?)
How hard is it to upload custom rulesets? As I am making a Wargame/RPG and have been using Roll 20 for it's freeness and knowing that it can work with any game even if it's not uploaded to it. Which it has worked great! But I've always looked at fantasy grounds as a paid-for/offline alternative and your video shows it is nicer... if you have the ruleset.
Thanks Matt wish you, your family and MCDM/ the great people there well too.
And even if it was free they still have to take the raw data and turn that into something that can be used virtually.
Can you make custom stated weapons and the like?
Fantasy Grounds was sure fun playing with Matt and Craig running. It felt better than other online RPGS.
Is there anywhere we can see your live plays with fg?
phton ohphotn not really, no studio or equipment and not sure most of my players would be interested in becoming actors. The game I did a video with my group was five hours of video I edited down to one hour. It would be a big project. Maybe I’ll find some group doing this that would like me to DM
I love how Matt, a video game designer, gets so excited about a computer's ability to compute xD
The twinkle of excitement in his eye when he explained you can hotkey any data around 18:00 is amazing lol But, tbf, while we're chuckling at how excited someone is about seemingly simple functionalities, FG is literally the only VTT I'm aware of that actually has all of the obvious functionalities. Setting this kind of automation up on Roll20 or Foundry makes me wince
Lars is gonna be like you DID say that was my character.
Sigurd got SWOLE
Yes, but unfortunately, it's for a one-on-one campaign where everyone but Lars is a Beholder :/
@@MCXL1140 swolegurd
I love that the skull is just gone after that intro.
The language chat feature is, imho, one of the best features of Fantasy Grounds. I use it it a lot, drives my player nuts sometimes.
It caused me a lot of problems during the game, when two characters constantly chat in Elvish and it drove otehr players crazy (in bady way). It was rude and annoying. And not very funny.
So, I declared it's not feature for players to use to share game impacting ideas, only jokes.
But I still like it. It saves me a lot of time when I', not sure if certain players can read specific text or understand specific NPC.
Agreed - also the whisper feature. As a DM, I am constantly throwing whispers to my players. It's like secret notes, but faster.
@@colinoneill9470 It's not a bad feature, the only issue for me with it is that because chat and rolls/spells are all placed in the the same text box, its very easy for it to go unnoticed. especially if you send a whisper in the middle of combat.
In an entirely appropriate way, I have missed the sound of your voice.
And me too, but in an inappropriate way! Stupid sexy Colville.
Me: "Matt's a goober because he didn't know he could drag the red helmet over to put all the hostiles on the map at once"
Matt: *Clicks target button and drag-selects all the baddies*
Me: ".... well... isn't that something."
Fantasy grounds in a nuthselll. I've been using it for 2 years yet every now and then watching someone DM gives me the pikachu meme face.
This is exactly what everyone needs right now.
" *it thinks the skull is a person, no, I am the human!* "
ahh, nothing like living in a cyberpunk nightmareland
On the plus side, we know we can use pictures of skulls to confuse our Robot Overlords.
Then right after, the skull is removed from the shot, proving our ability to adapt and overcome!
My game went digital for the pandemic, and today we played for 9 hours, about h
1/2 of which was this crazy battle between elementals, the party, yuan ti, and a pair of bullettes. It was fantastic.
Pro-tip for people with more than 1 monitor, don't make it full screen and just stretch the edge onto your other screens, as a DM, it makes life a lot easier to have lots of stuff open.
I generally find that "how long it takes to make a character" rarely has anything to do with the medium. Just people hemming and hawing about decisions.
hell i can take an hour to design a character in an MMO before i even chose a class, and that isnt even a mechanical choice
I mean, when you have a lot of decisions to make it's going to take awhile, especially choices you can't change. Hemming and hawing is a bad way of describing weighing options
As a guy who is starting a new campaign with all new people, back story and character traits take more time than the mechanical choices.
Laventhros Ormus true
@@lionskull1 i usually got a few generic backstory outlines tucked away, so choices like which class features to take or what spells i want end up taking longer
Hey Matt, bom dia!
Out of nowhere, but I was telling friends about you, your videos, where you started and where you are now, etc. And it hit me how me and our community we're really behind you on basically everything.
We came for the content, we all loved the package, got a lot of cool things happening and now I really feel a lot of cohesion. I see how some of the choices you made weren't thinking about what's most profitable, but making sure that the content and the community are as dope, neat, and with the best quality possible.
Thank you for keeping up such a good work.
I just showed up to leave a comment of support, got a little out of hand.
The first 20 seconds alone made me laugh out loud alone in my room...the skull being covered in the second cut..this is peak environmental storytelling
It says something about Covrisma that I have looked into Fantasy Grounds, know full well that Fantasy Grounds is NOT a good fit for my group, and yet I'm still tempted to watch this all the way through.
Matt, it was your original Fantasy Grounds videos that got me started with it and virtual tabletops in general. I tried Roll20 a couple of times, but never loved it. Within a couple of Fantasy Grounds sessions, I was fully-in. I've since introduced it to a number of friends, who absolutely love it. It has allowed my old college group the opportunity to come back together than play again, even though we are spread across the country.
Me too, last night!
Roll20 is fine as a free option but if you wanna start getting more features, other VTTs just destroy it when it comes to premium feature options.
Don't wanna spend money to get all your book info into FG? Be insane like me and manually input, literally everything! Mwahaha... my hands hurt.
cough the trove cough
@@PopezillaTheThird Cough what do you mean? Cough
@@gabrielsmith6600 *cough* you can get any dnd book you want at thetrove.net *cough*
@@evan11711 But can you automatically load it into FG?
I don't use FG, but I started playing online recently, and oh boy, have I been pressing Ctrl-C, Alt-Tab, and Ctrl-V a lot lately.
Matt, please keep this series running. I really want to hear more about Fantasy Grounds and you're the best one to do it!
thanks for making this. I already use Fantasy Grounds but I still learned some new tricks and you're so much better at explaining this than other tutorials I have watched.
I enjoyed this video. Very well made and easy to understand. Your fast jolly personality makes it easy to watch.
This was so incredibly helpful. Thank you! I bought Fantasy Grounds shortly after hearing about this video and now I LOVE using this program. I agree with you on the moderating just enough of the tedious points and none of the parts I want to control.
When running face to face games, I use FG classic as a table top on a TV screen. I built a custom table that has the tv in the center. The players manage their characters how they like (paper, DnDBeyond) and play their minis on the tv screen. I manage the maps and npcs/monsters in FG and use the tokens for most and mini for bosses. I have their characters loaded into the Combat tracker to get the Initiative order managed. It's ran super smooth for 8 months. Looking forward to that when this is all over. For now, we are using this time to take a break from the campaign, and run some Call of Cthulhu sessions over Discord.
Matt, I forgot how fun it is to listen to you explain D&D. I really enjoy your work. Thanks!
This is literally exactly what I wanted, exactly when i needed it, it's like you read my mind. Thanks Matt
Was a really good look at a product I didn't know about. Thanks for this. Cheers to and all the MCDM crew.
HI Matt, just wanted to stop in and say thank you. I started Dming for some friends and your videos helped me to get over those new DM difficulties. Our games are going well and we are all having a great time. You helped with that.
This was absolutely tremendous! Thank you for this video Matt! I can’t wait to see the next video, especially with all these changes that are occurring and with social distancing. Also, I am not a man afraid to admit that I love what you have done with your hair! I wish an endless amount of blessings be flown your way for all your help and amazing attitude!
This was perfecting timing for me and my group. We were trying to figure out the best way to play online because we are used to playing in person. Thanks for this video!
Stumbled on your videos after a friend invited me to play DnD. After watching your a few of your videos I started DMing. You're a great teacher and I hope to be somewhere near as great a DM as yourself. Keep being great !
Thank you so much Matt! My friends and I have been trying to figure out how to play during this craziness and just happened to come into a subscription to fantasy grounds. By far one of the most engaging tutorials I've seen so far. I will be forwarding your beautiful hair and voice to my friends plagued by shorter attention spans.
I'm planning to DM my first ever game with a group where only one person has played it before. Your videos have been a great help in making the whole thing less intimidating! Thank you for making such helpful content :D
Thank you for making this! I remember waaay back when i was deciding between roll20 and fantasy grounds. Your video on combat (plus some other things i researched) was what made me decide for Fantasy grounds, and i love it, use it at the table to track initiative, player hp and a ton of stuff and use it for online sessions as well. So thanks again, I am sure a lot of people will be using it more from now on.
I've always enjoyed your content, in particular your animated speaking style (because I've had to listen to enough lectures in my time) but the 'it's focusing on the skull!' intro was nice and I'm glad you kept it!
Outstanding stuff. I currently run three campaigns (one 5e and two Pathfinder) and the process of moving all the prep work, AND learning curve for each player has felt like a Sisyphean task. This vid came at an uncannily timely point. Bravo!
Matt, thanks for this! We were dithering about VTT for our 2 games and about 30 seconds into this, my husband decided on FG b/c you're having so much fun! Thanks for the new info and keep up the good work!
Been using this program for a good while now. It's super useful and I love the automation and the ability to even add in some of my custom items/races/npcs and having it all automated.
Great video and very informative!! Love the energy! This was a lot of help in my descision to get this program. Thank you.
Look! it’s a Mini Matt Colville! Quite the rare example of transmutation, The class is very lucky to have such an exhibit!
Thanks so much for putting this together. It's great to see a new video from you right now.
Been so long since I've seen a video of yours. I've missed your videos and your voice.
Very helpful video, my friends and I have been trying to find something to play online. Thanks Matt!
Hey Matt! I just binged your entire "running the game" series this past month during mundane tasks at work. I started with a few videos from other DM channels and when I told my housemates I was interested in running a campaign, my brother told me of your channel. I just wanted to thank you for all the help!! I have now run 2 short sessions of DnD in a (currently) small world I made up for my brother and girlfriend. We are having a blast and everyone is excited to keep playing. I will absolutely be on watch for more "running the game" while I start listening to the campaign diaries. Congratulations on your kickstarters and your company, you deserve it and I appreciate your work. I hope those fantasy books you mentioned are still available when I get around to order strongholds and followers.
Peace. Out.
I remember seeing some shitpost on the Matt Colville subreddit, of some mad theory that Matt was a Scottish vampire from the 1600s or something like that.
The camera is trying to tell us something.
Scottish magician
I understand this is an old video, but thank you so much for illustrating the use of Fantasy Grounds. It definitely convinced me to give it a try. Thank you so much for everything that you do!
Great video! As someone who has never played online you really helped me realize how easy it can be. Keep up the good work.
Matt you rock! Dm'n my second session tomorrow, you rock!
Thanks for the inspiration. So much of what I bring is your advice filtered through my brain.
Thanks so much, MC. You're probably drowning in, "we need this," but I just dropped in on FGU and am going to buy all of the modules we as a group need. I'm going to ask the players to pay what they can, but given the current state of the world, I'm happy to buy the PHB and DMG, MM, etc., to make things good for us.
Glad to see a new video. Keep it coming!
I have been using fantasy grounds for many years and you only have to pay for the stuff once divide by all the years of use, it's incredibly worth it, when you factor in that if you own the Ultimate license everyone else can play for free.
This video has convinced me to start DMing. I had tried DMing a few months back, but it wasn't a good fit for our group. But now, I can play with my good friends who live miles away! I'm super excited and nervous. Thank you for the inspiration and information!
I'm 100% ready to see a more in-depth video for how to prep with and use Fantasy Grounds!
We really appreciate you taking the time to reshoot the start of the video fifty times until those good rolls came up ;) Anyway, thanks for this video, I'm actually in a Fantasy Grounds game later today, for the first time, and this came in really handy. Keep up the good work Matt!
Thanks Matt. I've been using FG VTT since 2015. It allowed me to introduce D&D to a group of friends from my console gaming clan - bringing together people spread all over the country to one virtual table. I purchased the Ultimate version, and they all used the Free Demo version, which allowed them to PLAYED FOR FREE for several years.
Thank you for doing this piece! This was my first time watching a video of yours.
My group and I have been discussing how to continue our game, not just because of the pandemic, but because a number of our group (25 years together) have been suddenly scattered across the realm like the tribes of Babel. We were discussing the different platforms we could use and this has been helpful. I also genuinely enjoyed watching you, you seem a very pleasant fellow.
I am now subscribed! Thank you!
omg perfect. I am really struggling to play online, Matt Colville u are, as always, my hero
Hey Matt I appreciate you a lot man. I only got into D&D about a year or so ago, when I turned 24. I'd never played before, and I'd never really given it much thought. My dad played when he was younger, but I always thought it was weird. Now I'm hooked on it. I'm DMing two campaigns currently, and I managed to get my dad into one of them. One of the campaigns is more modern (uses modern classes and rules) while I tried to make the one my dad is in as classic as I could. Im focusing a little less on the story at first (it's still there though) and more on the combat and dungeon crawling. He only ever played for the combat when he was younger in 1st edition. Him and his friends would just make a dungeon and run it. Anyways, he had a blast and I'm really excited. My dad and I haven't had too much in common for a while, but this is something were both enjoying immensely. I got a lot of the advice on how to run that game from you. For that I thank you, for helping me reconnect with my dad.
Love your stream, love everything you do Matt. Keep up the great work!
Big thanks for the video! Always wondered about Fantasy Grounds. Looking forward to see the next video. A bit of normalcy in this time of chaos.
I'm so glad I backed your Kickstarters, and that that is helping you guys all stay safe. Hope to see you at a conference some day, but only once the world is back to normal. ❤️
Thanks Matt, this was something I didn't know I needed. Stay strong and stay safe everyone!
I would love to see a mini adventure with 2 or 3 players to really show the power of Fantasy Grounds. Make sure the players interact in any way possible to show off as many features as possible.
Thank you for this great snapshot of Fantasy Grounds.
Matthew, thanks for the quick look at Fantasy Grounds. I bit the bullet back and 2002 and got the Ultimate Edition and not only do I play in online, I have used it at the table as my DM screen. The players run their characters traditionally and we have miniatures on the table, but I keep track of the battle via Fantasy ground. I find it runs the game so much smoother with both Fantasy Ground and D&D Beyond at my fingertips at the table.
That was a very thoughtful remark at the end of your video. Thanks!
"Wait, it's not a livestream!"
Had me rolling laughing! We love you, Matt, don't ever change!
Thanks for obscuring the skull. Much like your camera, it required my focus.
> 50% roleplay and 50% combat
exploration pillar crying alone in the corner as usual
The awesome thing about exploration is that it can be combined with both roleplay and combat to make those encounters more intriguing! Let's use examples.
1) roleplay and exploration.
The pale mountains tower above you, and you see but one obvious passage. A dark tunnel of dwarven origin. As you approach a deep voice bellows out from within. "All passage through the pale mountains must be sanctified by paying its toll."
-It is up to the players to interact with the mysterious voice while they look for clues as to its nature in the surrounding area, as well as look for other ways forward.
2) combat and exploration.
After the elven ranger spotted a thin goat trail leading up the mountain, you've all left the tunnel and its mysterious guardian behind. As you ascend, however, you realise ever more that your climb is perilous. The wind shrieks and your steps send loose stones tumbling down the cliff. Suddenly, the shrieks of the wind is joined by a chorus of harpies!
-Harpies ambush the players who must interact with the natural environment of the high mountains or risk tumbling down or become stuck - clinging on for their dear life. Do they jump from one ledge to another? Do they seek refuge in a cave or crevice? Do they attach themselves to the rockwall with pins and ropes?
I think exploration is so sidelined since from what I’ve seen, people don’t seem willing to let people be free and do whatever they want. I mean within the confines of the game you all agreed to though. Sure, go to the dread forest of Ceglane, it’s on the map. Don’t try to start up a bakery in the first village, we didn’t sign up for that.
I find online play to be great for exploration, on a small scale. If you have dynamic fog of war players can literally move their little dudes around and explore with more immediacy and agency.
I think exploration is heavily dependant on sensory feedback, mostly visual. As a comment before me said, online is great for this because you can use so many tools to make fancy maps and such.
But as another comment before me said, exploration is most efficiently used combined with other things. Exploration is obviously more fun in real life and in videogames, so by combining it we can implement it (somewhat) seamlessly in the game to make it feel as entertaining as the other pillars.
@@johnnybigbones4955 I also use fog of war on the campaign map, showing the players where they've been and what they've done (shown with green pins).
You sold me on getting Fantasy Grounds. Well done!
excellent walkthrough... Pretty cool GUI. Loved the map option ... pretty cool
Matt back in Fantasy Grounds, nice throwback to the History of D&D One Fighter at a Time days :)
That's ace thanks a lot for that Matthew - just preparing to run my first campaign (LMOP) from London through Fantasy Grounds (with a bunch of friends who have no clue about D&D - even less than me which isn't saying much haha) and this was a great help ! Appreciate it and hope you are staying safe also. Peace ✌️
oh and i'm terrified of running the campaign btw haha - but kind of in a good way ... is that normal ? 🤔
Nice rolls.
Fantasy Grounds has been great for my group. 5 strangers, spread between Australia, the UK and the US, and only the DM (me) had used it before. We're 7 sessions deep and having a blast.
Sigurd was always a Bard!
I read Dune for the first time thanks to your video, actively looking forward to your next one.
Thank you for this! I am trying to learn the program right now and I am loving it but it is a LOT, this helped a ton!
We would LOVE a video from you on how to run a game for a solo players. Your videos are always terrific and informative.
I'm not shocked at all to find out that you linked a bunch of VTT map artists in the description. Very considerate of you, good sir. :D
Thank you for the video, Matt! I'm in the process of possibly getting a group together to play online for the first time, and was shopping around to figure out what would work best for us. I can't say for sure we'll go with FG, but this introduction to it definitely helped a lot!
Okay this is awesome. I wish I knew about this before I bought my books, I would have just bought them digitally. Thanks Matt!
Thanks for the video, you really explained the program with detail and I feel well informed!
You said "powerful" so many times I'm beginning to believe it's a hint to where you're being held hostage.
I'm seeing a secret message in your comment. Do you perchance need help?
Roll an insight check
Matt, your voice is fantastic.
The content is also brilliant.
I love how Matthew covered the Skull in the background after the first few second clip.
Even tho I am biased (maybe 1.5 years experience with tabletop RPGs), this is a great option to run the game. I love how the combat works, the language chat, the little color pallet to change your dice, the creation of NPCs or items...just so satisfying
Best introduction to Fantasy Grounds ever. Shifted to Starfinder so I don't really want to buy more books, but FG is an excellent system for running games
This was great. Thumbs up and Subscribed. This was exactly what I needed to see!
Be Well,
Bryan
0:55 Matt Colville: 50% role-playing, 50% play-rolling
I already use FG as a basic mapping program for my home game, putting the second instance up on my TV. I have watched a few other instructional videos on how to use it, but none as informative and enjoyable as this. Would you be willing and able to do more videos to go more in depth? It would be a fantastic series I would love to see.
Great demo, thank you for the explanation. I had no idea what this app was prior to today.
Dude, FG is a BEAST of a tool. Learning to use it, especially its effects (which are like a rudimentary coding language) was very satisfying. And while automation can be a bit of mental work, doing everything manually is VERY doable and doesn't ask you to do more than copy/paste the title of the effect. You can add effects, damages, attack rolls, saving throws so on and so forth if you really feel the need to.
I use Tabletop Simulator, have been using it for around 3 years now. It handles nothing for you. It's just a table and some props... But we all love it.
The fun thing is, you can just cast a grid on a blank table and draw everything as you go. You can also make tiles with different colours or textures, like glorified Legos, and make giant 3D heightmaps of your surroundings. You can keep notes in-game or use a Tablet for D&D Beyond. In game. An in-game working browser tablet.
The fact that I have bought D&D Beyond's Legendary Bundle makes me kind of comitted to it. The fact, as well, that we share a Master Tier subscription, makes it hard for me to invest in something else. But Tabletop Simulator has no boundries. If my players want to use a physical sheet, hardcover books and keep notes on paper, that's fine. Just move your miniature in game when combat starts, and roll some dice for me.
I strongly recommend Tabletop Simulator if you already have the books or use another third party site like D&D Beyond. If anyone has any questions about Tabletop Simulator, feel free to ask me.
I would just like to add that rolling dice in tabletop is more satisfying than any other virtual solution I've tried. It also does the best job of replicating the feeling of sitting at an actual table. The best part is you can also use it to play other board games or card games when not playing DND.
@@Illevas001 Agreed, I play Catan and card games all the time. It's an amazing all-round tool.
"i'm not here to try to convince you to use fantasy grounds over other software"
what a gentleman.
well, I AM here for that reason! down with roll20!
One thing that nearly all VTT software has in common is that it's better than Roll 20.
I will be honest, I transitioned to online and VTT when the pandemic hit. That has been what, 6 months? I bought into Roll 20 because that's all I ever had heard off. It took a while to learn how to use it. The learning curve is steep. But once it is overcome, it is pretty decent. I am not trying to defend it, I just think that once you learn it, it does a very, very decent job and I do not understand the hate.
@@ademiranda2
ua-cam.com/video/kZJHAywQFm0/v-deo.html
@@skippyzk yeah, I've seen that video. It is irrelevant to me. Limiting our discussion to availability of tools, functionality, access & ease of use, I don't understand why someone would think it is any worse than FG. Like I said, I don't prefer one over the other because all I have experience really learning & using is Roll 20.
@@ademiranda2
Also all the reddit drama.
Imagine if everyone didn't have a standard and just did what was convenient and comfortable.
I've been using fantasy grounds for over a year. Still stayed for the entire video just for matt.
My group started playing online last week. Surprisingly, a few of the more shy and reserved players at our table are really coming out of their shells when roleplaying, just because they're behind the computer screen. So that's been exciting for me as a DM. I recommend giving online a go!
Thank you! I needed this info. Trying to figure out what would work best for my friends and myself.
Thank you SO VERY MUCH for making this video. I've never used Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds to run a game and this was really helpful. Looks like it takes a minute to fully set up, especially since I already had to convince my players to set things up in D&D Beyond. I might have to give it a click around to see if this will work for us while we're being forced to stay apart.
Thanks! This is gonna be a huge help for my friends!
Matt thank you so much for making this video while I already knew some of it I didn't know all of it. The fairie fire thing did in fact blow my mind. Please now make another video explaining the proper cleaning methods of removing brain matter from a wall.
Awesome vid, trying to get some gaming in while I have ample freetime. Strongholds&Followers is great, nice work!
Thanks for mentioning me Matt! I usually run my games at a physical table, but these times it's hard to get the group together! I'm definitely going to try this out and see how it goes!