Undecided Roll 20 or Fantasy Grounds

[ddavison]

If you buy it from here, you can try out Fantasy Grounds and any add-ons for 30 days and refund it for a full refund if you decide to go with Roll20 instead. I recommend checking out the built-in tutorial campaign to get up and running quickly. There is a lot of power that you won't instantly grasp within Fantasy Grounds, but knowing how to use the basics will get you off on the right foot. Over time, you will end up mastering it more and more and be able to do much more with the software.

[FegPC]

It really depends upon what you want in a VTT. Here's my take on FG & Roll20:

Roll20 is often considered the easiest and cheapest, but it's not. I struggled with importing custom maps, creating any type of automation, and linking maps, stories, and encounters. There are (to me) bizarre restrictions on the number of campaigns you can use your books in, being able to move characters between campaigns is a paid feature, and the list goes on. Know that they recently had their third data breach of customer info in the last couple years. They are notorious for horrible customer service, not fixing bugs, and ignoring their user community. And, if you want any of the paid advanced features it is enormously more expensive than the other options. So I gave up on them sometime ago (yes I've used them in the past).

Fantasy Grounds has been around the longest (by far, 20 years) and is a client-server application, so everyone has to install the program. But it has a cloud hosted connection brokering so you don't have to worry about port forwarding. FG has by far the most official content from not only WotC, but many 3rd party publishers for D&D as well as numerous other game systems like Traveller,Pathfinder, 13th Age, Fallout, Cyberpunk Red, and many others. It also has the most automation and features without using optional community modules/extensions. But it also has a very robust developer community that increases the automation and capabilities if you want that as well. The permanent GM license costs $50.

In short:

Use Roll20 if you want the supposed easiest thing to get started and don't care about automation, features, the company's practices, or a long term investment. It's not worth using if you have to pay for one of the upgraded subscriptions to get what you want.

Use Fantasy Grounds if you want automation, long term investment, and out of the box power & capabilities. Though extremely powerful and with a potentially challenging interface, the community resources offset this and is the choice for users who want powerful features and a stable and long term solution.

When was the last time you used Roll 20. I know it has went through some major updates recently. Im wondering if your complaints about it are from prior versions, or if it is still the same today.

Thank you for your writeup!

[FegPC]

If you buy it from here, you can try out Fantasy Grounds and any add-ons for 30 days and refund it for a full refund if you decide to go with Roll20 instead. I recommend checking out the built-in tutorial campaign to get up and running quickly. There is a lot of power that you won't instantly grasp within Fantasy Grounds, but knowing how to use the basics will get you off on the right foot. Over time, you will end up mastering it more and more and be able to do much more with the software.

So i can buy a module/phb etc and try it 30 days. And if its not what I expected, it is refundable? Thanks for the reply as well.

[Trenloe]

As mentioned above, FG has the most official and 3PP (Third Party Publisher) products for D&D 5E, plus a lot of options for automation.

Maybe the one other thing to think about is the architecture - Roll20 is 100% cloud based and runs in a web browser; this brings its own challenges (ultimately a web browser based app can never be as feature rich as a stand alone app), but it also makes it easier for players to join the game and review things when the GM isn't online. Whereas FG is a locally installed application, with local data, and the players need to install an application on their computer and connect to the GM - some people have issues installing applications (especially if they may be temporarily using a work computer) and the GM has to manage a backup strategy for their FG data, as its local on their computer - this can be an advantage as it allows the GM to work on their session prep when there's not an Internet connection, but it can also be a disadvantage if they lose their data and haven't made a recent backup. From my experience with both FG and Roll20 around this there's advantages and disadvantages to both, but this may be a deciding factor for you.

[FegPC]

As mentioned above, FG has the most official and 3PP (Third Party Publisher) products for D&D 5E, plus a lot of options for automation.

Maybe the one other thing to think about is the architecture - Roll20 is 100% cloud based and runs in a web browser; this brings its own challenges (ultimately a web browser based app can never be as feature rich as a stand alone app), but it also makes it easier for players to join the game and review things when the GM isn't online. Whereas FG is a locally installed application, with local data, and the players need to install an application on their computer and connect to the GM - some people have issues installing applications (especially if they may be temporarily using a work computer) and the GM has to manage a backup strategy for their FG data, as its local on their computer - this can be an advantage as it allows the GM to work on their session prep when there's not an Internet connection, but it can also be a disadvantage if they lose their data and haven't made a recent backup. From my experience with both FG and Roll20 around this there's advantages and disadvantages to both, but this may be a deciding factor for you.

Online availability, web access is a plus feature to me.

Thank you for your reply.

[LordEntrails]

When was the last time you used Roll 20. I know it has went through some major updates recently. Im wondering if your complaints about it are from prior versions, or if it is still the same today.

Thank you for your writeup!

About 2 years since I last did anything with it. I dislike it so much I stopped offering to run con games with it. I hear the new management is making strides towards being more consumer friendly. But honestly they have a huge way to go. At one point in time, the owner/CEO of the Orr Group, which owned Rolls20, had one of the top 5 downvoted posts ever on Reddit. That's a long way to come for such a niche market company. It's not that Roll20 doesn't get updates. It does. But often times they are more like demo or beta tests as they are not stable. For instance, sound integration has gone through several major versions and reports I hear is it still is very unstable (years after the initial release). Dynamic line of sight is also very spotty. Some users say it works great for them, but I see regular and frequent reports from lots of people that its too laggy for them and that they have just stopped using it. And that's with purchased content so it's not like they are using mega maps or too many nodes. Same thing with their 'tablet' version. Been around for years, but everyone says it is unusable.

So i can buy a module/phb etc and try it 30 days. And if its not what I expected, it is refundable? Thanks for the reply as well.

Yes. Any purchase from the FG Store has a 30 day refund period.

Online availability, web access is a plus feature to me.

Totally fair. But for me it's a downside. Because what happens if Roll20 has a license change or goes out of business? Not only everything I bought, but everything I created is gone. With FG, because of their license agreements and their architecture, I have no worries. Everything I bought and created is on my computer.