I am very new to FG II (3 weeks).

I have downloaded and installed the 4E to FGII, and it works great.  I am tring to download the parser to get any characters, Library, Spells etc on FG. 

I downloaded the 4E parser.  I downloaded to its own file.  How do i get the information from the parser to my FGII. 

Links within community discussions should now work, however, they must be preceded by http://.

The Article/Blog component on the site has been upgraded and show now integrate into the activity stream of our Social component. Users who choose to can have their blogs show up on their profile by adding the MyBlog application.

 

In order to encourage more articles/blogs we are devising ways to offer prizes for submitting content useful to the virtual tabletop community so stay tuned.

 

 

Virtual Game Tables – the beginning

Virtual Table Tips

There is depth to most VT's on the market today. I learn something new almost every time I use one. I am experienced with Fantasy Grounds II. I want to share my tips that make my use of the tool easier. Easier for me to prepare, or to share my material with players.

TIP #1 - Scaling the Map

One word: loved it!

 

Okay, okay, I know that's two words but one word just wouldn't do.

Since the new components and features have been implemented I have been compiling a list of requests and fixes. Please note that some of these may be bugs in the component themselves and if its possible for me to hack in a fix I will, if not it will need to wait for that components release.

 

Forum

 Pain seems to grace him with each foot fall, but it wasn't of the flesh, it was internal anguish. Slowly but surely he had gone miles, numb to his surroundings, almost as if in a trance.

Conflict within was ever present and it was not going to let go, something had to give.  There were birds singing in the trees here, but they were paid no heed by the elf. There were forest hares darting away at his barley audible steps, unknowing that they were not in danger. The wind was whipping up the canopy as if a gale force storm was coming and somehow he knew it to be true, but that was in the furthest part of his mind. While his body worked, he was miles away from that place.

Elaine clouded his vision, all he could see was her face, the very visage he would never see again, the very thing that had become his goal. What he was looking for was self purification and had been rebuked most aggressively. He could not fathom what had happened nor what he would do from now. Even the laughable quest of gaining acceptance from a church was ludicrous in his brain now.

Finally, I am a bit back on track. Have been busy like hell at work (in a good way) and with a large art project.

Expect me to be around again and with a few surprises in the making ;)

The miles of forest couldn't pass fast enough as his light footfalls gracefully fell on the leaf littered floor. What was behind was no more and he knew it, there would be no grand entrance, back to his family, nor would there be a rejoicing of fellowship for one that had left long ago.  Life had suddenly vanished without a trace, possibly to the farthest reaches of astral space, if you believe in such a thing, heh.

You have to run Bolt there is no other way, get as far as possible, maybe then you won't think about it so much, then the pain would disappear like so many of his kin. It hadn't yet; there was a lump in his heart the size of a rough stone that was grinding his soul into oblivion, it literally hurt.  What was I trying to accomplish by coming back huh? Start over? Turn a new leaf? Try to change myself by coming back to the very people I had betrayed?

Yes, they would have accepted me, he tells himself.  With open arms and smiling faces, each one would have forgiven past sins. They would have forgotten the silly gardener who enjoyed in some rather foul and unnatural vices. Really would it have been that simple? Guess he would never know now.

In my article Historical Themes in Roleplaying, I discussed using history as a guide and inspiration for fantasy roleplaying campaigns.  I also mentioned that I once used Byzantium as a model for a campaign. Here I will describe why I made that choice and how I implemented it. The campaign occurred many years ago, in the days of Second Edition AD&D.

My motivation was a National Geographic map of the Byzantine Empire. I believe the map showed the situation in the late eleventh century, after the Byzantines had reconquered a substantial portion of Asia Minor from various Muslim states. Medieval as well as modern place names linked the past to the present. The map seized my imagination, and I immediately knew I had to use it in a campaign.

I wanted to draw from real history and, as best I could, give some flavor of the real Byzantium. The core of that flavor would be an outlook derived from an intensely religious environment strongly based on Christianity. The setting would be the "Eastern Empire." The looming enemy would be a great evil bent on crushing the Eastern Empire. There was nothing new in the basic ideas. The question was whether I could breathe life into a melding of AD&D and Byzantium.

How would I place this within the traditional AD&D races and classes? Most races would remain unchanged, but would acquire a history that reflected this particular conflict between good and evil. For reasons I don't recall, I decided that arcane magic would be evil and unavailable to player characters. All the mages had turned to the Dark Lord and were anathema in the lands of the True God. To balance this, I would offer other classes a selection of powers that mimicked some of the arcane effects, although without an arcane basis.

The lack of arcane casters was a hard sell. The gaming group had strong ideas about what was required in an adventuring party. They were certain no group could be successful without a Wizard or similar caster. I convinced them to give my ideas a try, but I think their reticence was always a stumbling block that doomed the campaign from the start. In my exuberance, I did not appreciate this, and proceeded to expend much energy crafting a setting based on that one National Geographic map. Even though we only completed two adventures before things fell apart, I have fond memories of my excitement as the vision came together.

Now I will use my old campaign notes to describe some of the campaign elements. These appear in a different font color from the main text.

Campaign Background

 

I have found it to be a good practice to have a timer running when runing one-shots. Even if you as a GM never even touch the thing, every time you look at it it will re-infoce the urgency the players feel.

 Another useful tool I have occasionally used is a BIG visible timer on the TV controlled from the lap-top. The players don't even need to know WHAT it counts down to... it can be something trivial. But it helps once again to make THEM hurry up and keep the flow going.

My, my, my, some interesting things have changed in the last week. Of course by now, you know my games are always a changing, ultimately for the better. In this case our Earthdawn campaign that has been going for 6+ months is closing. It was decided to finally to lay it to rest after some discussion.

The ending was mainly due to a change in scheduling that could not be arranged for everyone. Out with the old, in with the new. Sometimes i just wish i had the gift of foresight, so i would know not to buy the $54 book ahead of time. I can't really complain too much about it though, as it was a great read and a great system and i got alot enjoyment out of it.

So, the survivors are left to pick up the pieces and what are they to do? Talk about the next thing of course and we did not waste any time. Josh is still available that night to do another system and signs point to World of Darkness, probably Vampire Requiem, at least for my character.

                It had been a long time since he had been here. Too long it seemed. The place was different and not just in sight, but in smell and sound as well. His senses were alive with the new odors that wafted through the air. Gone were the ones of midday blooming flowers, some that he had planted with his own hands, years ago. Gone were the cries of the little ones playing by swaying in the barked branches above, for which their people were so fond. Vanished were the elders walking around enjoying sunbeams that hit their face as they walked through the gardens, reveling in a life of peace.

                He was staring at nothing. There was no one about and no sound permeated the small valley. Even the trees were silent as if they had witnessed the obliteration of a people and were in mourning. His village had disappeared as if it had never existed, but it must. Where is it? His excellent senses were not deciving him, there was truly nothing there.

Sitting on a large flat stone, that was a remnant of his plot, he tried to make sense of it, but nothing entered his brain. Everything was indescribable. Barely a whisper floated from the great trees above, at the very tops of the canopy. Bugs were still in the grass, but they also seemed sad in a way. A grasshopper jumped onto his outstretched hand and then fluttered away unconcerned for the crying elf.

                Obviously something strange or dramatic had happened, but there were no clues. Already he had scouted the entire area and found nothing. There were no tracks of his people anywhere within a mile, or of anything else humanoid. Maybe his people had decided to join the fey world finally. That was an extremely unlikely scenario, but at this point it couldn't be ruled out. It's not like they were Eladrin or some such thing. His people would not willingly lose this peace.

Well, things have definitely changed in our 4th campaign. The first thing is that the online group has ceased to be. Our little share of the FUM site has been washed away. The creation of a new group facilitated its destruction.

 Enter stage left, into the newest incarnation of our group...... face to face play. Apparently Josh was able to get a rather sizable amount of persons from his work place to meet at my house every two weeks and he is not even the GM for our sessions.

 I am extremely excited about this, as it has probably been 5 years since i have had a face to face session of any type. I have gotten so used to FG that this wasn't even e in my mind.

It was all right back in 1979. It was January, just after New Year, and I was handed the blue Basic D&D book and a whole world opened up. Four character classes and three levels; the themes were easy to grasp and the interactions were endlessly pleasing.

By the time we went Advanced we were ready for it. By then I had my own fantasy world, and our characters began to get caught up in the politics, the travel and the history.

Soon after, I opened those little black books, and began generating subsector maps. Dozens of worlds on a single page, each ready to be detailed and explored. Then came the Spinward Marches, and an epic history. And the Marches became an Imperium. Off to one side was Glorantha, and driving me mad was Arkham, which inflated to fill the 1920s and then stepped back into the 1890s.

Hello again.

I just finished reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I read this book in less than a week. I couldn't stop reading it. Before starting Neverwhere I was going through the John Carter of Mars books.. about 1 book every 4 days, but they are small.

 

Things have come to a screeching halt in my D&D 4th edition campaign. We are reassessing what needs to be done to get player participation. More than likely we will be changing the day, possibly the time and the setting.

While this is definitely grave news, it doesn't come  as a big surprise, as this generally happens in groups where people don't feel engaged enough. The few weeks of time off due to extenuating circumstances didnt help either and its hard to get persons to care about a campaign when they have no vested interest in it.

 What we are planning to do is build a group around some core players, who rarely if ever miss sessions and go from there. Josh and i have talked about potentially having some sort of restriction on non-participation. If you are not having fun, there is no need to drag out the issue and impact others fun.

Into the keep we went, descending into the darkness. My measly cantrip is no match for the darkness that pushes the light in around us. We entered a room with chains that hang down into a large hole in the ground. Blood covered the floor, where it came from I don't know, I don't want to find out either.

 We fight a cultist and a couple of vampire spawn. As the creatures die they explode blinding Percy and Omar. I use my sphere to keep the cultist busy. Next thing I know I am attacked by a berserker and must fall back to give my allies time to come to my aid. Omar blind as well a daft listens for my commands but misses several times before connecting with the man. A close call.

In the pit in the center of the room we could see the portal. Unable to wait or return later Daichot and I decide to chance it and slide down the chains. Thankfully our good friends trust us and believe the same as us. The fight was shorter then expected, as the cultist know as Kala is pushed into the portal and ripped into pieces. A bitter sweet victory as Oleaf also was pulled into the portal trying to fend off the cultist.

Day 3

We returned to the town to find that undead have risen in the near by graveyard, and several villagers have come up missing. We have decided to deal with this more immediate threat first. We will leave after resting at the inn to regain our strength. We intend on getting there just as the sun is rising to give us the added light before the undead retreat into their graves.

On a brighter note the cleric says that Oleaf, Daichot's ill friend, is much better and may be able to leave with us in the morning.