D20pro

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Overview

http://www.d20pro.com/

d20pro is role-playing software a lot like Fantasy Grounds 2. It is surely one of the better FG2 alternatives out there, but like all software like this, has its own quirks.

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Provide well-rounded overview.

Licensing

GM typically buys a license with enough guest licenses such that players can connect for free. Players can buy a player license to make up for the DM not having enough free slots available.

Tips

Import things to know about d20pro:

First joining the game:

When you join, the first thing you'll want to do is to launch the two main windows.

• Click the d20pro button in the top left (this is your Start Menu, pretty much)
• Choose Game Log
• Go back and also choose Roster
• Resize the two windows for convenience out of the way (I like the roster to be thin and wide)

The game/chat window, which has tabs for All, Game, and Chat. Use the All tab unless you want to filter the information for convenience.

Main interface tips:

• Show your PC action menu: Right-click on your character(s) for the context menu
• See character quick info: Hover over their picture (get in the habit of this!)
• View character sheet: Select your character and type E
• Loading Lag: If you see an hourglass icon in the top right, you're loading something big (map, picture, etc). Please wait!

Comparisons to FG2

Things you will hate about d20pro

• Players have no control over their character sheets. DM does most of that.
• All chat typed into the chat box is considered OOC! In-character chat is handled like this:
  • To chat IC, select your character.
  • Press T for Talk. Enter your text and click the button to send it.
  • If you don't want to click the button, hit CTRL+S for quick sends, etc.
• GUI is not 100% intuitive (but won't feel totally unfamiliar)

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http://i.imgur.com/EVJsc.png

Things you will love about d20pro

• GM will love the tile-based map creator
• Effects are tracked with their own duration timers. DM can see the entire list (screenshot on the right) while players can hover over their character to see their effects.
• Movement management is pretty cool
• Runs on Linux, OSX, and Windows

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Add more info

Other things

• Pros:
  • Very easy to import graphical assets for creatures, maps, handouts, etc
  • Supports PDF handouts and URL handouts
  • All combat rolls are managed by the interface
  • GM approves all rolls explicitly
  • Reconnects due to net issues are pretty seamless for players
• Cons:
  • Only shows the players one map at a time (helpers: world map can be a pic handout, avoid lots of small maps)
  • No Notes
    • No GM handout notes (helpers: use text-block notes in chat, or use d20pro's PDF/url/txt handout features)
    • No cross-player collaboration via notes (helpers: effect management makes this less needed, use a wave URL handout)
  • No easy/visual reach indicator for mobs
  • No way to share effect templates, each player saves their own templates locally.
• Neither here nor there:
  • Tile-based fog of war management (cool, but sometimes revealing half a grid cell would be cool)
  • Network indicator