WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

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Jan van Leyden
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WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by Jan van Leyden »

Hi folks,

apparently Wizards of the Coast make some kind of movement in the digital world:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/buyFG/Du ... agons.html

Will be interesting to see how this works out.

Huldvoll winkend

---Jan van Leyden

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Full Bleed
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by Full Bleed »

Jan van Leyden wrote:Hi folks,

apparently Wizards of the Coast make some kind of movement in the digital world:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/buyFG/Du ... agons.html

Will be interesting to see how this works out.
Well, good for FG!

Individual Licenses are $39 or $3.99 a month.

Their Ultimate License is $149 or $9.99 a month (allows you to GM games with people who don't have licenses).

It's $49.99 for the 5e "D&D Complete Core Monster Pack" and $49.99 for the 5e "D&D Complete Core Class Pack".


So for a group of 4 (or more) the start-up costs are about $250 for a 5e game.
Maptool is the Millennium Falcon of VTT's -- "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts."

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Dervish
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

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I can not even begin to say how utterly disappointed i am by this development

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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by JimBlue »

Seems incredibly over priced to me.
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Jan van Leyden
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by Jan van Leyden »

Full Bleed wrote:Individual Licenses are $39 or $3.99 a month.

Their Ultimate License is $149 or $9.99 a month (allows you to GM games with people who don't have licenses).

It's $49.99 for the 5e "D&D Complete Core Monster Pack" and $49.99 for the 5e "D&D Complete Core Class Pack".

So for a group of 4 (or more) the start-up costs are about $250 for a 5e game.
Expensive, isn't it? FG has some ... weird ... pricing scheme. It's apparently $250 if you a) never had FG before and b) want the complete contents of PHB and MM including tokens with macros, pictures, rules reference and whatever. According to the developers the Packs are mostly convenience products whereas the rules support comes with the main software license.

If this is but the first license in the electronics arena announced, we face some interesting times.

Huldvoll winkend

---Jan van Leyden

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Jagged
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by Jagged »

Plenty of money to spare some for lawyers to come sniffing round here :(

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aliasmask
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by aliasmask »

The monthly fee seems a bit much especially if you consider you get a lifetime access by paying the $39 fee (essentially 10 monthly payment). If you plan to use it for a year, might as well get the lifetime plan.

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Full Bleed
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by Full Bleed »

Jan van Leyden wrote:Expensive, isn't it?
If they are pricing in wiggle room for near constant promotions, maybe it's ok. I just know how hard it is to get a group of cheapskates to chip in for anything more than beer and pizza. ;)
...the complete contents of PHB and MM including tokens with macros, pictures, rules reference and whatever. According to the developers the Packs are mostly convenience products whereas the rules support comes with the main software license.
Given that the books are $50 each (retail, though it's easy to get them around $33 ea), I see where they're getting their pricing from. But, in that case, I'd want in-game digital access to the books, too.

I'd love to know what WotC's cut was. Probably too high to allow for the kind of market penetration you want from an initiative like this.
If this is but the first license in the electronics arena announced, we face some interesting times.
Sooner or later they need to embrace the digital world. Past attempts have failed pretty miserably, but I think VTT use is only getting more prevalent. WotC's failure to lead is costing them.
Maptool is the Millennium Falcon of VTT's -- "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts."

Jan van Leyden
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by Jan van Leyden »

Full Bleed wrote: If they are pricing in wiggle room for near constant promotions, maybe it's ok. I just know how hard it is to get a group of cheapskates to chip in for anything more than beer and pizza. ;)
What? Your players give you perks? Lucky bastard!

The price vs value for the product surely depends on available income and use you get out of it. I'd say that the number is high, but would be totally worth it if I get five to ten years of use out of it, with the software being updated to keep abreast with tech advancment.
Full Bleed wrote:Given that the books are $50 each (retail, though it's easy to get them around $33 ea), I see where they're getting their pricing from. But, in that case, I'd want in-game digital access to the books, too.
Digital access seems to be available. I watched a video where the guy added the MM to the library, opened it, and had all kind of stuff available, including the introduction, a couple of lists and tables and so on.

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---Jan van Leyden

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Jagged
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by Jagged »

Jan van Leyden wrote: I'd say that the number is high, but would be totally worth it if I get five to ten years of use out of it, with the software being updated to keep abreast with tech advancment.
And that is the $64M question. WotC don't exactly have a great track record there, and I say this as a user of their Silverlight d&d4e tools. Are the FG team committing to keeping things up to date?

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Full Bleed
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

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Jan van Leyden wrote:What? Your players give you perks? Lucky bastard!
If by "perks" you mean "pay a share of what they wolf down during games", yeah, they used to when we played face-to-face. Well, sort of anyway. I played with a bunch of barbarians who easily ate and drank 3-4 times their body weight every game, so splitting the bills was always in their favor. But try and get them to go above and beyond that... not a lot of luck.

For awhile there I made up this quick gambling game to start out each session. Half of the kitty would go to the winner and the rest would go into a fund to buy "game related stuff". Buy in was $1 each (everyone got 10 dimes to wager). I was able to shame them into participating in that and build up a small reserve fund.
Digital access seems to be available. I watched a video where the guy added the MM to the library, opened it, and had all kind of stuff available, including the introduction, a couple of lists and tables and so on.
I'd expect the MM to have all of the Monster data. But the "Core Class Pack" probably only has part of the Player's Handbook.
Maptool is the Millennium Falcon of VTT's -- "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts."

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Jagged
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by Jagged »

Hmm. FG site seems unavailable at the moment. Perhaps they are swamped by business?

Dracones
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by Dracones »

Full Bleed wrote: I'd expect the MM to have all of the Monster data. But the "Core Class Pack" probably only has part of the Player's Handbook.
They make an effort to add it all in, actually. Here's a screenshot of the PHB reference in FG2.
PHB Screenshot
Image
The real gold is in the adventure modules though. They have the story in those also
Lost Mines Story
Image
But the good part is the encounter/maps setup.
Lost Mines Map
Image
Get to the Cragmaw Hideout, the story text references the map. You click to bring that up, the story references an encounter. Click to bring that up and click on a button that plops the encounter into the combat tracker and on pre-setup positions on the map. Even the room text for each room you can just click on and it goes to the chat box. Encounter have treasure? Just drag the treasure parcel to the chat box or party sheet. Ditto with exp.

For the PHB, DM guides I don't know how practical it is to just use the FG modules. I'd also want the hard copy. But I don't think you'd need the hard copy for the modules they publish. If you want to run the official modules(they're getting released in FG) then it's basically all there.

My only complaint is I'd also like maps for the encounters that don't have maps in the official module. But there's no reason that couldn't be an add-on map pack for each module created by the community or devs.

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Full Bleed
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Re: WotC license for Fantasy Grounds

Post by Full Bleed »

Dracones wrote:
Full Bleed wrote: I'd expect the MM to have all of the Monster data. But the "Core Class Pack" probably only has part of the Player's Handbook.
They make an effort to add it all in, actually. Here's a screenshot of the PHB reference in FG2.
It does look a lot more comprehensive than just the classes. Wonder why they decided to call it "Core Class Pack"?
Maptool is the Millennium Falcon of VTT's -- "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts."

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