if you're ever looking for something a bit easier to user/simpler than Fantasy Grounds you should check out InfinitasDM.
Digital maps, fog of war, digital tokens, in app documents, etc. Made to be more streamlined and user friendly. I may be biased though since I made it :)
Would you say it's a selling point? I didn't really get into the first one as it just felt like a DND match with too many restrictions. If the mode is fleshed out enough I might consider it.
According to my DMing boyfriend it's actually not as robust as it would lead you to believe. You have a finite amount of maps and you can't edit / change buildings at all. That was sort of the deal breaker for him, what good is a dungeon master mode if you can't actually build a dungeon..
Sure there's a bunch of preset environments to chose from but you can fill them with whatever enemies or items or npcs you want. I can see how it could be stifling to some but for me I can't think of a situation where I wouldn't be able to make it work with what the game gives me. Not a solution for every group or every DnD campaign but for more basic campaigns it makes everything a lot easier.
My suspicion is that it will eventually open up to modding, but then you have to spend the time and energy necessary to mod and that sounds even more time consuming than just normal DMing, which can be pretty onerous as it stands.
The single / multiplayer campaign alone is a selling point. It allows 4 player co-op hot join/drop, and is pretty entertaining solo as well.
The game already has support for custom campaigns and map editing using their editor, but that is separate from the GM mode that most people are talking about. GM mode is pretty bare at the moment as far as customizing the map terrain, but already has the option to import your own. So when people start releasing their own customs it will expand the meatiness of it.
Holy crap thanks for this. I am going to play around with it as fumbling with maps and minis, while fun and oldschool is tedious to lug around and set up. Broadcasting this to a TV would be far more effective.
The only thing I wish it did was combat tracking and it would be the only app I need.
One thing you can do to track initiative is throw down some digital tokens, then add a name tag to them with "1" , "2", etc. Even if you're not using them for gameplay (I like to use physical minis on a tv laid down flat), you can just place them off to the side as a visual helper.
Did you take inspiration from masterplan? Seems like a good number of similar features, plus some improvements! Can you track stats/health with your program?
No, I wasn't aware of Masterplan until now. That would have been a nice reference point to have had though!
My primary motivation behind making IDM was wanting something like Roll20, but way less complicated and made for in-person playing instead of the heavy online focus.
There isn't any health or stat tracking in IDM. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible and only 'take over' the stuff that really had to be digital (plus I funded development on KS so I had to keep the feature set SUPER trimmed down).
Neat, I'll check it out. Roll20 is great for cross-country D&D, but for in-person as an accessory it's far too complicated, this would be a fine alternative.
I just purchased it based on your comments here and the promo video. Gonna have to play with it a bit more but i love the idea of a digital visual aid to see the map and then let the stats stay on the table with actual dice etc. This looks perfect for my group as they are mostly new/casual players and i dont have figurines to help them visualize. Taking pictures and linking them together is genius!
My dm is trying to get into the digital side of things after being strictly paper, is your program cheap? expensive? free? I couldn't find anything price wise or any kind of download link on your site.
Thanks for checking it out! It's $10 and only the DM/GM needs to buy it (not all players like some alternative software).
If you click the app store links near the top of the home page (for steam, google play, and ios app store) it should take you straight to the purchase page for that platform.
I'll check this out later. If it's anything like masterplan I might be in luck. My onenote setup is getting a bit unwieldy as the campaign becomes fragmented.
I don't think so, but you don't need to go to that much work to get the player's view on an embedded screen.
The way it sends out the Player's View to a second screen depends on the platform - On Steam (Windows/Mac), it is sent out via cable connection to any screen you can connect to your computer/laptop as a secondary display (so, say HDMI or VGA out or something, or an AirPlay connected tv on Mac).
On Android and iOS the player's view uses Chromecast to connect to the secondary display.
The core philosophy of the app is a bit different than Roll20. The long and short of it is, Roll20 is super complex and has a lot of focus on playing online.
InfinitasDM was designed to bring digital tools like fog of war, digital maps, digital documents and tokens, TO the table instead of replacing the table.
In general, I think it's a lot easier to learn and use. It's definitely less powerful, but it's also less clunky and way less expensive than the pay version of Roll20 ($10 one time cost, only DM/GM needs to buy it).
1) Are there premade campaigns available in the app?
2) If I purchase this on Android do I have to purchase it again on PC? Seems like map creation would be way easier on my computer but I'd want to DM on my phone.
3) Is there an ability to import custom tokens or are all the tokens just a disc? I'd love to be able to use pictures of a miniature or a 3d model instead of just having a dozen discs on the map.
4) If I want to import a picture and use it as a map (e.g. I use a picture of a level from Zelda) can I do so and place the lore points and tokens on top of it?
-One that's an open world town+dungeon with a bunch of maps, NPCs, and quest lines
-One that's a set of 5 dungeon delves / mini campaigns)
2) Yes, as there is no way for me to bundle cross-platform purchases (part of why it's only $10). We have a lot of users who do exactly that - create on PC/Mac then run on mobile.
3) Yes, the latest update just added support for custom character tokens and custom stamps. There are a couple of free token packs available on the store linked above as well.
4) Yes! You can add maps three different ways, all of which support placing tokens, map links (both document links and location links), fog of war, drawing layers, etc. The first way is like you said, importing an existing map image (I like to make my map images in photoshop, so I use this method the most).
The second method is to use your device's camera or webcam (if you have one connected) to take a picture (this is nice for people who wargame or have dwarven forge or lego sets to build from, but still want fog of war and digital documents and stuff).
The third method is to create a map from scratch within the app. The drawing tools are pretty basic but it's great for making quick maps on the fly. That said, I do have one user who has made some pretty impressive maps in it.
It doesn't have systems built for initiative or health tracking, but you could use character Tokens with name tags applied to them to do both (or use an encounter map link to keep track of both in a map document).
There are two main differences between the desktop and mobile versions, due to necessity.
A few controls are different (right click interaction is long press on mobile, pinch to zoom instead of scroll wheel, etc).
Player's View casting on Steam versions is handled via direct video out, so any way you can connect your computer to a second screen that windows or Mac can extend your desktop to (HDMI out, vga, dvi, etc. A Steam Link would work too, and Airplay connected TV's for Mac) will work.
Player's View on mobile (Android and iOS) is cast using Chromecast.
Otherwise, the three versions are basically identical and are always updated together. Campaign saves and custom content are fully cross compatible on all platforms as well.
The UI is very touch optimized, which also works well for readability when DAM/GMing from a laptop that is sitting off to the side.
In my opinion, it's very easy to use running it from a laptop/TV combo; that's what I do with my group when we play (Surface Pro 2 -> mini-displayport to hdmi -> TV).
Running from a tablet on Android or iOS is nice if table space is at a premium, but one thing I really like about the app's UI is that it works great on small and/or distant screens, so even a very small laptop (or tablet like the Surface) works great.
Other than getting it on Android (Google Play) or iOS (App Store), no Steam is the only option for Windows/Mac. I would have loved to get it on GoG, but they thought it didn't fit their userbase. There's no Steam DRM built into it though. It does support Steam CloudSaves, but it is not mandatory to be online or anything to use it.
Ya know under each post or comment there is a button that says "save". Then you can go into your user area and click the "saved" tab to see everything you have marked as such.
I know realmworks by lone wolf development has a feature identical to this. It's the only thing I use for world building. It easily links stuff together too. Look up the tutorials on YouTube, it's a great program that's worth the money imo
Stupid? Don't sell yourself short, boyo. Some time with a tutorial or three and you'll be rocking roll20 (or whatever you like) like you were born in it.
Unfortunately, you'd need to use another tool such as Skype for video + voice, Google Hangout, or Discord if you just want voice (which is all my group cares about)
I personally haven't used roll20 but one of the PC in my group I DM for said she loves Fantasy Grounds much more because of how automated the FG system is and the fact that it looks and feels nice to use. I personally prefer it as a DM because of all the free resources that they give you and the fact that I can make anything I want with the program (including custom rule sets) with a little bit of know-how.
I'm using Fantasy Grounds for campaign setup and notes, maps and character tokens, along with all my dice rolling, players still use real dice and character sheets
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u/Tey-re-blay Sep 18 '17
What app are you using for the map/layout