Fantasy Grounds (0)

Overview

Fantasy Grounds (FG) is a virtual tabletop software program that allows one person to host a game as a Game Master (GM) and the other players to connect and run one or more characters each. The GM view provides additional options for creating your own campaigns and adventures and for managing and running all of the Non-Player Characters (NPCs).

FG functions with the aid of rulesets that provide game specific functionality and automation for a host of different RPG game systems. Some of these are officially licensed and others merely provide support for the mechanics of the game system. Included with the program are rulesets for D&D 3.5E, 4E, 5E, Pathfinder (PFRPG), FATECore, Numenera and a generic RPG system labeled CoreRPG. The 3.5E, 5E and PFRPG systems all provide some basic data libraries full of monsters, spells, items and other reference material that can be used to help expedite play. The GM and players can enter data as needed if it is not already provided. The ruleset knows what sort of data elements each object type needs and the mechanics will typically recognize specific keywords, like the type of damage dealt by weapons, attacks or abilities and it will be capable of determining success or failure of most actions in the game.

Paid add-ons are delivered in the form of DLC that either add additional pre-loaded reference modules or fully ready-to-run adventure modules that a GM can use to run a game without having to perform any data entry.

The most popular, officially licensed systems for FG are Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition, Savage Worlds and Call of Cthulhu. The PFRPG ruleset is not officially licensed, but is also very popular in usage reports. Community rulesets have been built by modders to provide support for over 30 other game systems, with popular systems providing the ability to play Star Wars, Warhammer Dark Heresy, World of Darkness, Vampire the Masquerade, AD&D and more. These community rulesets provide support for the mechanics but do not contain any of the data or images of the RPG system referenced.