New to VTT Got a Few Questions After Booting the Demo

[Dangazzm]

Alright so I play with a group... we can't meet up as often due to how late at night we CAN ACTUALLY start playing. So I thought to myself... hey VTT seems like it is making some decent progress! And then we can play no matter the time without getting everything together and all that junk.

1. Which version of Battlegrounds do I need? I read about the differences but it didn't mean too much to me lol. I like Roleplaying games but don't play them with my group as they don't really do that. I would wanna find some people who wanna get together and play online but it seems like every other thread I see they all fall apart and its impossible to find a game lol. Other than that I play with MY GROUP:

Catan
Munchkin
Risk
Ascention
Arkham Horror
Zombie Dice... you get the idea lots of simple games with a few complex as we FINALLY learn them lol... still think we play Arkham wrong! But it was SO MUCH FUN anyways

2. What about increasing the free slots for the licenses? Is there a set price if I get the cheapest one with one free slot to REALLY try it out with my buddy then wanna increase it to like 6. Is there a default price on this? Also if someone DOES have some slots and wanna bring me and one other to try out some games I WOULD LOVE that. Would really help me decide hah.

3. This is to append number 1. Where do people GO to find a few extra to play with? I really wanna play some games like who is the traitor and its SO MUCH more fun with more people haha.

Alright those are the main points... however I did have a few questions about particular games and how they would translate in Battlegrounds. See cause most of them require something physical such as in Are you the traitor one person says everyone close their eyes and traitors open them so they can acknowledge one another so on and so forth. Is this possible to automate in Battlegrounds so that there doesn't have to be a mod that they like all message and he tells them who else is a traitor?

[Dangazzm]

Going back through the comparison I didn't notice that the RPG version didn't have as many free slots if any! Ok so that does make it so that the Board Game edition is my main choice right now but I do have to wonder why fog of war isn't enabled in the board game edition? Isn't it very useful for pre-setting up a lot of stuff in games and just revealing it as it comes up? Anyways just wanted to get that out there

Adding one more to the questions... one that my friend actually asked.

I noticed the licensing for free slots RAMPS UP a lot, if we wanted to both get the 3 free users licenses for now. However, if we wanted to take advantage for getting like 15 free slots would we simply pay price difference? didn't see the option in the store for this.

[heruca]

Welcome, Dangazzm.

It sounds like BGE is better suited to your needs, and it is definitely the less expensive option, especially if you expect to play games with a lot of players at once.

Yes, it is possible to upgrade the number of free Player Slots in BGE by paying the price difference plus $2. So, for example, to upgrade from 1 free slot to 3 free slots would cost $7. To upgrade from 3 to 7 slots would cost $12, etc.

Getting the least expensive one (just 1 free player slot) is probably a good way to try it out to see if it works for you and your group.

Keep in mind that free Player Slots are shared, so if (for example) you have 7 slots and your friend has 7 slots, you can host huge games with up to 16 users.

To find players to supplement your gaming group, you can post on these forums, and/or use the chat Lobby built into BGE (although there are not many people online at any given time yet; gotta build up the userbase, first). I would also strongly advise posting a "players wanted" thread in places like BoardgameGeek, under the game you want to play.

There are some things that simply can't be easily done via virtual tabletop, like dexterity-based feats, but I think the traitor game example you gave is doable, at least if playing with VOIP and assuming you trust each other not to cheat. You could assign each player a card that can be revealed/flipped when necessary. Those who flip the card to reveal the "Traitor" side can keep their eyes open during the reveal period to see who else is a traitor.

Hope that answers all your questions.

[Omnidon]

Hope that answers all your questions.

You missed one

I do have to wonder why fog of war isn't enabled in the board game edition? Isn't it very useful for pre-setting up a lot of stuff in games and just revealing it as it comes up?

[heruca]

You can pre-set stuff up and save it to Deployment files, which you can load when those game components are needed.

Fog of war (in the BRPG sense of the term) is something else entirely, and isn't generally needed for this sort of gaming.

Note that BGE already has unit obfuscation and hidden unit features built in.

[Dangazzm]

Ahh thank you very much! I have to admit as well... after booting up the Aliens board in the demo I am kinda hooked. this is the absolute best looking VTT and seems like with the turn sequencer and everything noone can POSSIBLY get lost while playing I am just for some reason SO EXCITED to play with this program lol.

I couldn't get the user manual to boot up in the demo... dunno why, but it wouldn't.

[Omnidon]

I couldn't get the user manual to boot up in the demo... dunno why, but it wouldn't.

Do you have Acrobat Reader? It's a .pdf file.
You can always open the manual & readme manually from the BRPG folder.

[Dangazzm]

Well I feel like a fool... yea I can open it in there hah. There was a button that when I clicked nothing would happen. But yea I got acrobat.

[Dangazzm]

Talked with some of the other players about it we all do want to get it. However one question came up that I didn't know about and that is deck building games. Are they easily done in Battlegrounds? For example Ascension and Dominion? What I mean is that I looked at ZunTzu and it does it fairly easily but yea know... we will take convenience over free right now hah. See in that you cannot draw straight to hand and a certain amount with ease... you have to draw each card one at a time and place it in your hand then flip them, which is fine I guess but Faster=better in this case.

[heruca]

There was a button that when I clicked nothing would happen. But yea I got acrobat.

You may need to create an alias/shortcut to Acrobat Reader.

For access to the User Manual from within BRPG
Microsoft Windows users must place an alias to their preferred PDF-viewing program in the BRPG folder, and name the alias œPDF Viewer

[heruca]

one question came up that I didn't know about and that is deck building games. Are they easily done in Battlegrounds? For example Ascension and Dominion?

I'm unfamiliar with Ascension. Dominion could be easily implemented in BRPG or BGE. Have you seen the Zombinion digital game conversion? I've also converted Thunderstone, but it's not something I can share.

Battlegrounds lets you select a deck and then draw between 2 and 10 cards at once. Shuffling a deck, or drawing or discarding a card are all just a hotkey away. As for creating a custom card deck, what could be easier than selecting the "Create a Card Deck" command and pointing Battlegrounds to a folder full of card images?

[Dangazzm]

Still making my way through the manual to figure out EVERYTHING I can as I write this. However, still sadly in the demo version (figuring out how many floating licenses I need is holding me back) there was the card table which was the only way to get cards from what I could find hah like I said though I saw your video with setting up the solitaire like game and that looked good.

But yea that's perfect that you can hotkey most actions... but then do you designate YOUR discard pile then rather than having a universal one? Oh and Ascension is practically just like thunder stone. So if you made THAT then it is definitely possible! Excitement! Hah.

[heruca]

There are two ways to use cards in BGE: via the Card Table window and via the Game Table window.

For a game like Ascension, you will want to use the Game Table window, which has no discard pile, per se. You simply select the cards you wish to discard, stack them with a hotkey (RETURN), drag the stack to wherever the discard pile is (or should be), and then press the Discard hotkey (Shift-D).

Using the Card Table window, on the other hand, would mean that all players draw from the same deck and use the same discard pile. This is fine for many games (eg, Zombie Plague), but won't work for a deck-building game.