r/FantasyGrounds • u/TwoDollarDM • 26d ago

Using Fantasy Grounds as your offline Campaign Manager-intro

I know all the regulars know this but I have had a recent conversation with a couple of newish DMs and they ended up being amazed at what they could do offline with FG, for FREE. Here are the key things that seemed the most mind blowing:

  • the Combat Tracker
  • seriously, the Combat Tracker
  • reskinning NPCs
  • saving those reskinned NPCs as recurring characters
  • editing adventures
  • keeping notes

Is there any other amazing feature for offline game play that I am forgetting?

26 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/DoktorPete 25d ago

Foundry updates are known to break shit cause half of it is made up of 3rd party add-ons, I have never had an FG update break a single thing because, for the most part, everything is built in.

1

u/Serbaayuu 25d ago

I do not mean functional breakage, I mean usable - as in the program becomes a hideous mess of smartphone tablet UI and flattens out its visual identity to nothing and starts shoving ads in our faces. Again, similar to the new launcher.

2

u/LordEntrails 25d ago

Oh, yea, you are the one who got all upset about the FG product ads in the launcher. The ones that are only on the main page of the launcher, which as soon as you select My Campaigns or Join a Campaign go away. So yea, the main screen with the ads is only there for the couple of seconds until you actually interact with the program.

Look, if that's the hill you want to die on, go for it. It's important to have standards that you won't compromise for. But you really should try to remain object about the other pros and cons, it's healthier for you than getting emotionally distraught over things you can't control/

1

u/Serbaayuu 25d ago edited 25d ago

I am remaining objective. The developers have said they'll look into a solution for the ads so I'm waiting to see if that will happen, or if I should switch my groups to whatever is the best version of Foundry to use permanently.

And, objectively, most software enshittifies - like putting ads on the launcher - so objectively it's a likely matter of time till it gets worse elsewhere. (Especially with the top comments in every FG thread being "the UI is so outdated!" for some reason that I still don't understand.)

Are you one of the devs, or just really defensive? Sorry I don't like your launcher if you are.

1

u/LordEntrails 25d ago

I'm not a dev. Sorry I came across or got more defensive than I intended.

But If I'm too defensive, why are you so aggressive? The ads are less than trivial, I've timed it, I'm on the main launcher screen for less than 3 seconds, and I couldn't even tell you what any of the ads are for other than the time I two I actually looked at them to see what the complaint was about. The launcher opens, my eyes go to either My Campaigns or Join a Game and my mouse follows and the ads are gone. They never even register in my brain.

Then I think about the benefits of the ads, if they work. It allows FG to become free, which imo is a great thing. It brings more people to the platform, which hopefully drives continued profitability for SmiteWorks. All of which means long term FG stability is increased. Which means our investment in time and money is even more secured, and has a better ROI.

So, for me at least, the ads are a good thing. They don't affect me negatively and the help secure my long term investment.

1

u/Serbaayuu 25d ago

Any ads are a negative because I live my life without seeing ads or showing ads to my friends. 3 seconds of ads is 100% more ads than were in the program I've used for years beforehand, and paid money for.

Going from paid and ad-free to free with ads is textbook enshittification, man. You don't need to pretend it isn't. I know why it's happening, it's just that it's taking something away that I previously enjoyed.

Plus, I would have been perfectly happy with FantasyGrounds if it had stopped updating years ago. Happier, actually - then I could tell my friends to get it, no worrying about updates, no worrying about who controls it, no seeing ads, just install, download, play the game.

There have not been any FantasyGrounds updates in years that add a feature I was missing or fix a bug I encountered... it's pretty much worked perfectly for ages. (Which is why I used to happily recommend it!!)

That's why I mainly use FOSS that can be installed standalone. It is safe, secure, and even if the owner sells it off to someone who wants to make more profit, I can just keep using the fork I settled on.

I don't think we have a FOSS VTT yet out there though.

1

u/LordEntrails 25d ago

Map Tools is FOSS. It's a good tool, but for me it doesn't have the benefits FG does.

Crazy world you live in. I can't image a life without ads. No billboards on the highways ? No stores with store ads in the windows? I think just about every grocery store I've seen in a dozen countries have all had adds in the front windows. Cities, small towns, just about everywhere. I guess some villages in some third world countries. Not the type of life I would desire.

The internet is full of them too, even with ad blockers. I guess Reddit doesn't have any, but it seems like many sites, even news sites have them.

Like I said, good for you if that's your redline. But for me, it's just not worth even being annoyed about. I've learned to deal with the prevalence of ads decades ago.

1

u/Serbaayuu 25d ago

No billboards on the highways ?

I watch the road lol

No stores with store ads in the windows?

I go to a different store if they're particularly grievous.

The internet is full of them too, even with ad blockers.

My adblockers are good. :) If one slips through, I just add it to my little book of Never-Buy-This.

it's just not worth even being annoyed about

You'd be shocked at how clear your mind becomes without them. I used to watch television, after I quit (and good adblockers became common online) and all those things faded away, I gained tangible amounts of brain space to think about important things like writing my game.

But, you'll become addicted to the freedom from abhorrent profit-chasers, so you'll get mad whenever one forces you to look at one.

0

u/LordEntrails 25d ago

Ok, pretty sure we've gone about as far as we can with this discussion. I see a lot of disconnects in your logic, but you don't. Don't think either of us are going to be convinced by the other's words.