In fact, many serious DMs are like Thomas, who opted the $149 Ultimate License (also available monthly for $9.99), which lets any and all invited players join the fun, even if they've only downloaded the free demo client. It's not as bad as it sounds in practice, as much of this works out to similar costs as the printed materials from Wizards of the Coast. The price goes up further when you tack on the D&D modules themselves, which start at $20 for some campaigns and jump to $50 each for class and monster packs. The single license costs $40, but you'll end up paying $120 if you want to buy four more licenses for other friends to play with you. Fortunately, Fantasy Grounds boasts a ton of video tutorials in its wiki. Even as a player, I found it still took hours to feel my way around. Sure, it allows you to make house rules and character sheets, but only if you know programming. Yet if you plan on playing Dungeon Master and taking advantage of Fantasy Grounds' huge range of options, dig in your heels and brace yourself for a decent learning curve. It's a shame there's no built-in webcam support, but most groups do fine using a third-party service like Discord, or, in Thomas' case, GoToMeeting.
It's also available on Steam, and while it doesn't offer any kind of in-game Looking for Group tool, Fantasy Grounds' forums buzz with helpful Dungeon Masters advertising games familiar and obscure. The game files are stored on your computer, so you don't have to worry about fiddly things like server crashes and online storage space for tokens.
And the best part? As Thomas says, "All I really have to do is plug them in." Officially licensed systems include Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, and Vampire: The Masquerade, complete with adventures. Several times a month, he used it to play D&D with other professional writers who've worked on games like Halo and Borderlands. Fantasy Grounds comes highly recommended among D&D players-including Jordan Thomas, the creative director for BioShock 2 and senior writer for Bioshock Infinite.
0 kommentar(er)
