Goodman Games

Hey folks,

I am a FG user and found that an independent Fantasy Grounds developer has created a DCC RPG ruleset for use with the program (see it here: http://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/sh ... PG-Ruleset).

The developer, leozelig, has apparently also developed a FG official ruleset module (with all the tables, spells, etc etc) and offered it to GG so it could be be sold officially. I would love to purchase this. GG has declined for some reason but I really hope they reconsider. FG is a great program and having all the DCC tables and what not all automated would be great for online play.

I would love the same thing for Roll20.

I just about have my Roll20 group talked into trying a DCC funnel. I’m a relative noob with Roll20 and it will be my first time running on the platform. I’ve run several in person groups from funnel to 3rd level, so I’m not new to DCC, it’s just that getting everyone together for a physical game has become nearly impossible these days.

So our group switched over to Fantasy Grounds and it is great. We are liking it so much better than Roll20. With our busy lives and geographical distance it allows us to still maintain our weekly session.

I almost had them talked into giving DCC a whirl. Everyone loved the rules and the old school feel of the system, but hand entering everything into FG is just too much for our limited time. They decided on 5e because everything is available and ready to go. I'm hoping it won't be a total loss as I am going to convert some of my favorite adventures over to 5e.

Oh well.

Ya, guys, I purchased your Lankhmar books by backing via KS. I also bought other of your products. I really hope you guys consider selling your stuff on FG. Having this game run on FG would be great. I only play online. Despite owning all these products I cant play them since I only play with online groups.

From my understanding, the FG user has all the material inputted and ready to use. GG just needs to partner with FG so they can sell it.

What is the FG virtual system lacking that makes it impossible to run DCC?

I don't understand.... If you can run it face-to-face, what makes that not work in a virtual medium? I ran some DCC a few years back on Roll20 and it went fine, but I don't know FG.

Everyone's experience is, natually, different. All I can say is I cannot see myself playing this game online without having the equivalent of the Crawler app implemented in the virtual table top.

This is possible right now on FG if Goodman Games agrees to it.

If you dont need all that, more power to you.

Yeah, after doing 5e and Savage Worlds for months on FG, it was too hard a sell to convince my group to both try a new game AND not be able to use FG for anything but the maps, especially when even bringing those maps in would have required a lot of tweaking on my end.

Oh well.

Okay, so re-reading some of this.... Is it a trust issue or something like that?

I mean, if someone rolls actual dice while you're playing online, is that not cool because they could be fudging the results?

I'm failing to understand why these things not being built into the site is a deal breaker -- but I'd like to understand...

I imagine it's not so much an issue of trust, as there are built in random number generators that will roll dice for you at the click of a button. But I imagine an integrated ruleset would have functionality similar to something like the purple sorcerer tools. Maybe you'd have a wizard who at the click of a button pull up the entire description and chart for a spell he's casting. Or when a warrior rolls a d20, on the roll of a 19 or 20 it would automatically roll on the critical hit table and pull up the result you got.

Basically it would probably be about quality of live improvements rather than just playing the game itself, which is already quite doable on many VTTs.

Maybe that's it.

Why would GG not want to further their VTT gaming presence with FG and the DCC ruleset that has been created by a fan of DCC.
Can anyone from GG speak as to why this is not even on your radar? VTTs are the way of the future as they allow friends and gaming groups separated by not only distance, but time constraints to come together and play an awesome RPG at a moments notice. It would be awesome to see some Fantasy Grounds DCC games being run on Twitch along with all the 5e D&D games that play out every week.

HolyOutlaw wrote:Why would GG not want to further their VTT gaming presence with FG and the DCC ruleset that has been created by a fan of DCC.
Can anyone from GG speak as to why this is not even on your radar? VTTs are the way of the future as they allow friends and gaming groups separated by not only distance, but time constraints to come together and play an awesome RPG at a moments notice. It would be awesome to see some Fantasy Grounds DCC games being run on Twitch along with all the 5e D&D games that play out every week.

If you dig a bit into the history of DCC, it's aesthetics, the things that Goodman Games tries to support, etc., you will find the answer to your own question.

Never say never...but it's a matter of priorities.*




* I am not an official employee/member/voice of Goodman Games.

By all means point me to these hidden nuggets of history so that I and others may be enlightened. I asked a specific question and have searched for an answer here, to which there are none that address it specifically.

HolyOutlaw wrote:By all means point me to these hidden nuggets of history so that I and others may be enlightened. I asked a specific question and have searched for an answer here, to which there are none that address it specifically.

There are several things working against your effort to find direct evidence.

First, Google + is about to disappear...today. I'm guessing there are some discussions there that would be of help.

Second, it appears that what you're looking for is an explicit statement addressing this specific issue. I doubt one exists - none that I can recall off the top of my head (but I'm old and a lot of discussions have taken place over the last nine years, so...).

Best I can do is offer this:
1) From the beginning, Goodman has sought to bolster the FLGS and similar F2F gaming. You can see the evidence of this is in things like the Road Crew and support for Free RPG Day. I believe this is because Mr. Goodman finds merit in the old idea of F2F venues being an integral experience - but you'd have to ask him, I can't recall any specific conversations we've had on the subject.

2) Conventions - look how many Goodman Games attends in one way or another. It's literally how this product rose to fame IMHO. Goodman Games has put a lot of emphasis on the F2F that happens at conventions from its early days at GaryCon to the tournament at GenCon 2018.

3) In earlier days, most licensing was focused on, and I'm paraphrasing here because it's been a few years since the first conversation, "things that have a direct impact on the game being played at the table." Now there are tshirts and lunchboxes and such. But for the most part everything is directed towards the F2F tabletop gaming.

Don't quote me, but I've concluded that the plan was always to hook you on the great Face to Face experience that is DCC (FLGS, Convention, etc), get you to buy it right then and there, then take it home and, like a virus, spread it among your local gaming community.

Now things might be changing; I mean, look at all the stuff they offer for sale now that doesn't have a direct impact on the game/table. So who knows?

Best I can do for you. I'm not part of the company, but I've been around since almost its very beginnings - so take it for what its worth.

Good Luck and I hope you find that which you seek.

I fully get what your saying, and I get that vibe from GG, but times are a changing. VTTs make it heck of a lot easier to do as I stated earlier with spur of the moment games. I think they are missing a huge opportunity with a much larger crowd.

I will check back off and on to see if they ever change their position on future tech...


Thnx!

I think VTTs may be "easy" to use for a game in which everyone's rules-as-written are the same rules. DCC can be trickier, with mercurial and corruption effects, rolls affected by spellburn or luck flying around or situational dice chain effects or judge fiat or house rules....
DCC is punk rock, and that's a strength, not a weakness.

My concern would be the bad influence (vanilla predictability) of online games on DCC rules (habanero awesomeness).

Ahh, but that is the beauty of Fantasy Grounds! You can customize the game to your hearts content. Dice rolls or any other rule to fit the judges play style. Just the basics are needed to get things rolling as a common starting point.

From what I understand, a fan has already done the lion's share of the work programming the rules into FG for his home game and GG would not allow him to make that mod packet available to others. He wasn't attempting to charge for it, he was just going to upload it into the community so that every single group who wanted to play DCC on FG didn't have to reinvent the wheel.

It's too late for my group, they've settled on 5e, but I would still love to see this available in the future.

Good news! DCC will be coming to Fantasy Grounds very soon. Goodman worked things out with Smiteworks. I will post an update when the ruleset is available..

Here is the official DCC ruleset for Fantasy Grounds:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/pr ... CCGMG5070T

HolyOutlaw wrote:Here is the official DCC ruleset for Fantasy Grounds:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store/pr ... CCGMG5070T

This makes me very happy.

Time to dig out my DCC books and brush up on the rules!