Fantasy Grounds Licenses and Modules

This post begins with an attempt to describe the capabilities of the various Fantasy Grounds licenses from the perspective of a new Adventurers League Online participant.  It ends with a listing of the ways that FG DMs can purchase ready made modules for AL legal play.

There are three currently available licenses (as of July, 2016).  They are 1) The Free/Demo License, 2) The Standard License, and 3) The Ultimate License.

The good news is that if you're never going to DM the Free/Demo license is all that you need. As a player, the most important benefit you get from purchasing a standard license is that you can play with DMs who also only have the Standard License.  The majority of DMs currently advertising games on ALOnlinetools.net have the Ultimate License.  But there are some very good ones who only have the standard license.  If you wish to play with them, you need a standard license.

An analogy presented to me by Bryan Britt is that if the DM has the Ultimate License, she has purchased the rights to the table, and may seat whoever she wishes, but that if the DM has the Standard License, she has only purchased the rights to her own seat and you have to purchase the rights to your seat.

Purchasing a standard license, along with the Players Handbook (in Fantasy Grounds speak, it might be called the Complete Class Pack, interestingly all of the other Hardcover books seem to have the WotC name, except the Players Handbook), or a hand crafted Players Handbook substitute will also allow you to maintain your character without excessive typing and while not connected to someone else's server.

If you're not interested in being a DM -- you might not find the rest of this post interesting.

If you want to DM using Fantasy Grounds, then you need to purchase at least a standard license.  Doing so allows you to DM a game for everyone who has a standard or ultimate license.  If you purchase an ultimate license, then your players can play with the Free/Demo license.

Creating up an adventure module from a DDAL or DDEX *.pdf requires climbing a steep learning curve.  There are many video tutorials on how to do this on youtube and I'm not going to try to replicate that information here.  There are other ways to get AL legal material prepared for use in Fantasy Grounds.

1) DMSguild has just started (July 2016) to sell Fantasy Grounds DDEX modules.  In the months to come, I expect to see most (but not all) of the Season 1-3 adventures to be available in Fantasy Grounds format.  There are many Fantasy Grounds modules that aren't AL legal for sale at DMSguild, if you want to DM AL adventures, be sure to get DDEX, DDAL, or DDEN adventures.

2) Smiteworks (the Fantasy Grounds company) has a few DDEX modules available at their store.

3) DMSguild, Smiteworks and Steam have the WotC hardcover DDENs available for purchase.

4) If you join the Quest of the Week DM team, you get access to the Fantasy Grounds modules for the current season. Note that you still need to purchase the *.pdf from DMSguild.  If you'd like to join the Quest of the Week DM team, you can post your interest in the https://www.facebook.com/groups/onlineadventureleague/ facebook group.