#2 - Making the Most of Fantasy Grounds

Fantasy Grounds is amazing software and I mention I use it to organize and run even the podcast and other in-person games. But like any software, there are tricks and practices that can allow you to squeeze more use out of it. Here is a question I received recently:

"I've just written some encounters of my own. Previously was using modules that I would import into FG. Can you recommend a quick start guide to adding your own content into FG?"

The beauty of Fantasy Grounds is two-fold. 

1. During Gameplay: This is the one everyone knows about and raves about. FG automates so many of the dice rolls, modifiers, bonuses and penalties, constantly checks for Concentration, automatically adds Bless spell modifiers, or poisoned penalties not to mention automatically applying any Resistances or Immunities many opponents have.

2. Prepping for/Creating the Game: This is just a powerful tool for Dungeon Masters. This works, very broadly in three ways:

   1. Copying NPCs and very quickly customizing them. This allows you to use existing creatures, copy them and then edit them or save them. They then can be duplicated, exported, copied and modified further. 

   2. Copying existing unused adventure segments. If you have a very long adventure like the Scarlet Citadel for example, there are going to be segments that are rushed past or ignored. By creating copies of those you can rename them, edit them, tweak them and repackage them in some future adventure. 

   3. Grabbing any map from any of your existing assets. You simply need to open it up, strip the name off the ‘new map’ created and you are ready to go, especially if its already been formatted with a grid and Line of Sight.

Process

So, how do I use these techniques when creating a new adventure? (Essentially cobbling a new adventure out of existing assets that have been re-purposed.)

First I create a brand new Campaign I called Create. I do all my prep in this Campaign. Then I export all that material as a module (using /export) to use in my game campaign. Here is the kind of module I create:

NPCs

Most adventures come up with some unique NPCs that can be copied from an owned adventure and used over and over again in one of your future games. For example, in Shadows of the Dusk Queen, the players likely end up fighting the Dusk Queen herself. Assuming you own the FG version of the adventure you can drag and copy the Dusk Queen NPC and rename her something and now you have a relatively powerful fey spellcaster than can be easily repurposed as a generic evil opponent. 

Then, I personally will rename the copy something like ‘Dusk Queen Wiz 7 Cl 7.’ I do this to make it easy to find her later. I can search for ‘Wiz’ or ‘Wiz 7’ which is far faster than sorting the NPCs of all the adventures into Humanoid CR7 and then scrolling through all the character names looking for a Wiz. 

And once you have made that first copy, you can copy the NPC again and again, add HP, or spells, delete special abilities or add more. You can even get fancy and switch up the token and voila the Dusk Queen is now Esmy the Enchantress for your latest homebrew!

Encounters/Story

Next to NPCs, the most useful duplication comes from copying then editing Encounters or whole Story pages with Encounters and NPCs on them. You would do this when you have large portions of an adventure that has not been discovered but has been completed. When I copy these I also rename them for clarity: 

For unused encounters and story pages I simply add four **** to the front of the title and that pops it up to the top of the list for quick scanning and future use. So something called ‘01.01 Tavern Brawl’ would be renamed ‘‘****01.01 Tavern Brawl’ to show me that I haven’t used it and liked it. All copied pages and stories can be unlocked and edited of course.

Then when I am ready to use that item, I rename it ‘(Year/Month) Tavern Brawl’ or ‘2202 Tavern Brawl’ which takes it off the top of the list but makes it very easy to find again by searching for 2202. I use 2202 for all the repurposed material I used that month.

This same idea can be used around magic Items, Parcels, Quests, Tables. They all allow you to quickly and easily create your own material.

Making your Own Module

At the end of each creation/copy/edit session, type /export into the Chat and quickly post all your copied, edited and tweaked items into your own personal module that can be later opened in other campaigns. Just make sure to include All to capture all the new material you have created.

And most importantly, make sure to always export from the same Campaign -mine is called ‘Create’- so that all new items, added or edited items are all exported. 

This is just scratching the surface on the first, simplest type of Fantasy Grounds creation, repurposing existing material for more future use.