Basic Roleplaying released for Fantasy Grounds II

[Foen]

The wait is over, Charlie at Chaosium has given the green light for the Fantasy Grounds conversion of Basic Roleplaying to hit the shelves!

This game system conversion includes the full text of the BRP core rulebook and all seven adventures from the quick-start PDF. The accompanying user guide gives step-by-step guidance on adapting this to your own flavor of BRP, using RuneQuest third edition as an example. Now you can play BRP-based games with your friends over the internet.

Available from the Fantasy Grounds store, requires the Fantasy Grounds software to run.

Foen

[tedopon]

Can I copy the mod and pare down my own skill list and houserules like the d20 version?

I'll be buying it either way, but hopefully I can alter it to my personal tastes.

Thanks a lot, man. I've been waiting (im)patiently for this one.

[Foen]

The user guide can be downloaded from the link above without having to buy the product. That way you can get a feel for what is possible.

Hope that helps,

Foen

[tedopon]

Yeah, that's what I was looking for. I'm pretty sure I looked at the document a week or so ago and didn't see that info. Maybe I should stop using my favorite aluminum pan...

[RosenMcStern]

At last! It is a very nice gaming tool and allows you to run your adventures online very smoothly. Foen did a very good job with this module.

Alephtar Games will add some goodies to this product soon, so go get Fantasy Grounds at once!

[pansophy]

Yes! Thanks for that, mate! Just bought it. My wife will hate me ruining her Saturday now ... LOL :-D

[Gunnar Greybeard]

Got my copy. Really looking forward to using this system.

[RosenMcStern]

Is anyone who already has the BRP module willing to try The Hounds of Adranos for Fantasy Grounds over the weekend? If anyone is interested post here or PM me. Please note that for technical reasons you need hamachi to connect with me, but it takes 5 mins to install it.

[Rurik]

Does every Player need to own the ruleset with Fantasy Grounds or just the GM hosting the game?

Also, If the GM has an Ultimate license can unlicensed players use rulesets?

[RosenMcStern]

The reply to the first question is: no, it is not necessary. This also means that my invitation above can extend to people who have Fantasy Grounds and not the ruleset.

Ther reply to the second question should be: yes, they can. But I never tried this one, so it is better if Smiteworks or Foen clarify this.

There is also an interesting forum hosted on www.fantasygrounds.com that can provide this kind of advice. Note also that having the ruleset installed everywhere is faster, as clients do not need to download contents from the server.

Edited April 10, 2010 by RosenMcStern

[Foen]

RosenMcStern is correct - only the GM needs to have the BRP ruleset, but everyone has to have Fantasy grounds installed.

As regards Fantasy Grounds licences, you either need the GM to have the Utlimate licence and then the players can install the free unlicensed FG software, or the GM needs to have the Full licence and then the players need to have at least the Lite licence.

Hopefully that makes sense!

When a player first connects to the GM, the player's software downloads an encrypted local copy of the ruleset and adventure material into a local cache. If players already have the ruleset installed, this is a much smaller download. as this is only done once, it isn't usually an issue. If you want to avoid the download, you can get the GM to email you a copy of the cache and save it where FG can find it. That means you can connect the first time very quickly.

Foen

[Foen]

Just to let folks know that I've posted a free extension (ruleset plug-in) on the FG Wiki called Eldritch Horror to allow Call of Cthulhu-compatible games to be played using the BRP ruleset. It *isn't* the same as a bespoke CoC ruleset (there is already an official one of those) and therefore doesn't include any CoC artwork or reference material. It just changes the character skills and characteristics to reflect the BRP elements typically used in Call of Cthulhu.

Did I mention it was free?

Foen

[pansophy]

You made my day, Foen. Along with Chaosium releasing Rubble&Ruins ... Wow!

[RosenMcStern]

The Hounds of Adranos has been converted to BRP and packaged as a Fantasy Grounds module. Enjoy.

[Foen]

The Hounds of Adranos has been converted to BRP and packaged as a Fantasy Grounds module. Enjoy.

Furthermore it seems to be free! Thanks!

[soltakss]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is Fantasy Grounds? I could Google it, I suppose, but you'll know the answer ...

[wbcreighton]

It is a virtual table top program that allows the gm and players to play their favorite rpg over the internet. The idea is you can all see the maps and props on your computer screen. You have to pay for it. There are others such as Maptools and OpenRPG that are free. Some groups use skype or team talk to add a voice component instead of or in addition to chat. Never done it myself but it looks interesting.

[soltakss]

Thanks

[Foen]

Different products (virtual table tops, VTTs, or virtual gaming tables, VGTs) have their pros and cons. Some are free, some have immersive graphics (like MapTools' line-of-sight/fog-of-war), and some are more game-customisable. FG focuses on the latter, with rich character sheets tailored to the game system, combat utilities and (often) access to the full text content of the game system rulebooks.

There is a relatively unbiased site, www.fouruglymonsters.com, which caters for multiple VTTs, although it has recently been trimmed down a bit.

I built the BRP (and CoC) rulesets for Fantasy Grounds, and think it is a good conversion, but it depends what you are looking for. I'd be delighted to answer any questions.

Cheers

Stuart

[wbcreighton]

Thanks. I have a question about a section in the user guide:

Adapting the Ruleset

The Basic Roleplaying ruleset has a good degree of built-in flexibility that can be controlled by the

GM from the preferences dialog, but that won't always be adequate for a particular campaign or

genre. In addition to using preferences, a GM can change the default ruleset behavior either by

editing the underlying ruleset files or by using a campaign extension. The first of these options is

beyond the scope of this guide, but much can be achieved using the second option, which is

explained in more detail below.

Please note that whichever route is chosen, you cannot redistribute either the ruleset or a campaign

extension, as the copyright for the original code is the property of SmiteWorks USA, LLC.

So in practical terms what does this mean ? Let's say I have make a campaign extension so that I can play in a Post Apoc world and want to play a game. Do players in the game need the extension if I am GMing it. Do they need only the BRP ruleset ?

[Foen]

Only you, as GM, needs a copy of the extension and the ruleset. The players only need a copy of Fantasy Grounds - their machine will download an encrypted version of the ruleset and extension when they connect to you, so they don't need their own copies.

The last sentence in the quote above is specifically aimed at folks who might buy the ruleset, change some graphics and edit the ruleset logic to create a RuneQuest ruleset (say), then try to resell/give away that RuneQuest ruleset to other folks. It would be viewed as a derivative of the original IP and would fall foul of copyright law. You are still allowed to modify the ruleset and use it with your group, because you aren't redistributing it.

Hope that helps

Stuart

[tedopon]

Only you, as GM, needs a copy of the extension and the ruleset. The players only need a copy of Fantasy Grounds - their machine will download an encrypted version of the ruleset and extension when they connect to you, so they don't need their own copies.

The last sentence in the quote above is specifically aimed at folks who might buy the ruleset, change some graphics and edit the ruleset logic to create a RuneQuest ruleset (say), then try to resell/give away that RuneQuest ruleset to other folks. It would be viewed as a derivative of the original IP and would fall foul of copyright law. You are still allowed to modify the ruleset and use it with your group, because you aren't redistributing it.

Hope that helps

Stuart

I haven't purchased it yet, I was really busy with school, and hadn't had the time.

Reading this post made me wonder if (now that there's a new guy installed at Smiteworks) the ruleset looks at the serial for each individual running it. Meaning, with all other rulesets, my group all install the version one of us buys on our machines to cut down on load times, and we also switch GM duties every so often, so it's necessary for all of us to have each ruleset fully installed on their machine. Numerous hints in this thread have made me believe that this is no longer possible. The main FG checks each instance connected for serial, we had a problem a while back with two machines using the same serial (my group bought the program in a batch, so we all have the same list of product keys, and one guy reformatted and used my serial on accident) and I get the impression that now it is checking the ruleset product key as well, and only allowing one instance to run at a time.

I could go check on the Smiteworks board, but for convenience's sake, if you know that this is the case, could you let me know?

[RosenMcStern]

The program does not check for rulesets installed on client machines. If the GM has the ruleset installed, all players can download the contents they do not have from the GM machine. Installing the rulesets on client machines is only required if you want to speed up downloading of the campaign. We checked this multiple times during playtest.

[Foen]

The ruleset licence does not allow you to share it. The first time you connect, the ruleset downloads (which may take a few minutes) but thereafter the connection speed is very good. If you want GMs to share, each needs to have a legal copy of the ruleset.

[RosenMcStern]

Hmm, but you can still play if the GM has the ruleset and the players do not. Or not? I think tedopon wanted to know this.