Development

[icycalm]

I wrote an in-depth introduction to the new Foundry VTT, and near the end I explain exactly how we're going to use it (with a mini section on Astral VTT and Exalted RPG at the end too).

Introducing Foundry VTT
https://www.patreon.com/posts/46691666

[icycalm]

Foundry VTT modules tutorial: How to create a dynamic arena fight with Blood and Guts + NPC Chatter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM_si0IimsM

[icycalm]

https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748d ... on-VTTs#59

I like the full size art as well and never tokenize. You really lose that sense that halflings, goblins and kobolds are half the size of humans when they are the same zoomed in face. With the scaling feature you can even fine tune this so you can have the 4' dwarf and the 6'5 elf.

Also there is an isometric module which the full size transparent art background is absolutely perfect for using.

The journal entries tagged in each map room is how the PDF Foundry importer map layer has been done, but the journal notes icon needs selected to see them

I’ve thought about this before. The character and monster art is really lost when it’s turned into tokens in Fantasy Grounds. However, you do get the full artworks to push them to the players, and assuming they have organized their desktop well, they can have them on the side there, as long as there aren’t too many characters and enemies on the scene at any one time—which there often are. But, if you have high resolution or multiple displays, you’re golden.

That said, a map with proper official 3D pawns takes it to the next level.









Each adventure has its own, on top of the generic collections that are published.

So apparently that dude is saying that there is a way in Foundry VTT to use 3D pawns with 2D maps, exactly as on a table. That’s what I take from his post at any rate. Obviously this isn’t possible in Fantasy Grounds since it’s strictly 2D, but it’s possible in Tabletop Simulator, and in fact fans have already imported much material. This is Curse of the Crimson Throne in Tabletop Simulator:



https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2070233090

I don’t think it does the rules, it just gives you the virtual table. But Foundry DOES the rules AND apparently the 3D table. So it’s just a matter of figuring out how it works. I can always just message that guy on the Paizo forum and get a kickstart.

Of course the problem is that the adventures haven’t been converted to Foundry so that’s a ton of work for me, unlike in Fantasy Grounds. So for the time being this whole angle is unrealistic for us, but in the long run I will look into it. I wonder how the line-of-sight from FGU would work with the 3D pawns, if at all. It might be that they are incompatible and you have to choose between the two. That’s the reality currently with a LOT of the software and features that various teams are creating for VTTs: much of it is mutually exclusive, and my strategy to deal with this will simply be: let’s just try everything. Let’s play some adventures with one set of tools, and another with another set, so we can enjoy all of them. In the long run it will all fuse and cohere into a Direct X-like plug-and-play standard, but this will take years. Until then, every tool and technique will have its charms—e.g. official 2D static maps, animated fan maps, isometric versions of the official maps, and so on—so we’ll just play all of them.

This is a video of a dude importing Blender models into isometric Foundry maps:

Blender + Foundry VTT : part 1 Table and Tokens
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VOiYGB8gWsk

A little research I did a while back tells me it’s probably possible to pull the models out of the Pathfinder videogames and use them—possibly even the buildings. And you can probably do this with any number of videogames. Past a certain point though it will make more sense to put that stuff into TaleSpire instead since that is a full-3D program. The 2D pawns should go into Foundry but the 3D models into TaleSpire. We just need the TaleSpire modding scene to take off, as Foundry’s has done. Foundry is only a year old and it already has a much bigger modding scene than the ancient Fantasy Grounds. TaleSpire is way behind because 3D is much harder for modders to use, plus the devs haven’t yet opened up much of the code for easy modding.

This is among the most exciting areas of videogame development today, behind only FP4X really, and yet the engagement I see on Twitter is pitiful. Tweets that should be getting tens of thousands of likes and RTs get maybe 20 or 30 lol.

Oh well, just have to do our part and show people what’s possible, and the scene will slowly grow. It won’t sell as much as Baldurs’s Gate III, but there is still tremendous room for growth and, once more fidelity and automation come into play, I think the scene will start to transition away from stuff like BG3 to proper role-playing, at least to some extent.

We’ll see how it goes.

[icycalm]

Oh my fucking god: https://github.com/Vauryx/AdvancedSpell ... ble-Spells

[icycalm]

fuck

me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC1QGZFUhcU

https://www.reddit.com/r/FoundryVTT/com ... r_dynamic/

[icycalm]

I finally got an icycalm Reddit account (CULTxicycalm, because icycalm was taken) because I need to ask a bunch of questions in a bunch of TTRPG and VTT subreddits, and be able to contact people on there privately, etc. It's a great resource for this stuff. Can't really run Battlegrounds properly without it.

My first thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/FoundryVTT/com ... ebsite_so/

Foundry server can be used as public website? So my world can appear as videogame/webgame?

I'd like my world to appear publicly on the internet, not just for my players. Can Foundry do this? I know it can use a domain address like a regular website, but is access restricted to my players via invite only, or can any web user visit it and see my landing page? I would like the public to be able to browse around and check my overworld, journal entries etc., as in World Anvil and similar programs.

Of course I'll be serving the world/site through a dedicated server 24/7.

Thanks in advance for your help!

If you have the appropriate networking settings for it to be accessible to WAN, anyone could get to the page via the IP, domain, etc. I won't get into the networking aspect of it, nor how to properly secure the server, but on principle it is easy to do. Foundry is essentially just a web server, and can be configured to be accessible to the world like any other web server.

In the game world, you'll want to create a user, something like "Public" with no password, and assign it observer permissions to whatever you want them to be able to see.

If you want them to be able to swap scenes, you'll need to set each of those scene's settings to allow players to navigate to them.

If it's just one scene and your journal entries, you can just have that scene active and set the appropriate permissions on the journal entries.

Do note that if you are in the middle of a game and someone logs into the Public user, they're going to be seeing whatever you are in the middle of running if you have a different active scene. Anyone who logs in will also be able to type in your chat, and this may be a problem given the general behavior of anonymous internet users. Also note that only one user can be logged into each player a time; you could set up multiple "Public" users to alleviate this.

While Foundry can do this, it wasn't really designed for it and you may have issues with people leaving it logged in/tying up the accounts, people typing slurs in your chat, people sitting in on your games, etc. It would be better to just have your worldbuilding accessible outside of the game server if you want people to see it, but it is technically possible for Foundry to do it, just clunkily.

Thank you so much for this answer. I'll go with World Anvil after all. I do hope some day we'll have one program that can perform both functions.

[icycalm]

Hexploration with some cool Foundry mods. From this thread:

Trying to add points of interest on an overworld map, without sacrificing token visibility
https://www.reddit.com/r/FoundryVTT/com ... overworld/

[icycalm]

I am still trying to figure out if Foundry is best for our overworld. I will make a final decision by Monday, and next week I will finally build it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FoundryVTT/com ... i_heard_a/

Do journal entries break with updates? I heard a lot of things break...

I have a massive world I want to build in Foundry. Gigabytes of data: music, videos, you name it.

I have heard a lot of worrying things about Foundry updates breaking people's stuff. Do journal entries break too? Do overworld maps with autoplay-music and pins/markers etc. break? And if they do, is the damage irreparable and everything has to be built from scratch, or you can you salvage things with a bit of extra effort?

If I build my huge world in Foundry and don't update the program for years, will it all work again if I update years down the line?

I understand complex things like rulesets or modules breaking, but what about journal entries and overworlds?

Thanks in advance for any help you might offer me. I love the idea of Foundry, but I need some assurances before I jump in, as my time investment will be huge (I already own a license).

[icycalm]

I got some good replies, check the thread for them. Reddit is an invaluable resource. So much less stress when asking for help compared to Discord. So much easier to write and read properly, long replies etc. Also easier to save the thread for future reference.

We're going with Foundry. It is really next level what you can accomplish with it, you won't believe your eyes when I show you. It really is a game engine and not just a VTT. Battlegrounds will be a browser game running on the Foundry engine.

I am writing a VGART review of Foundry, and I'll explain a lot in there.

[icycalm]

Human Games Have Arrived
https://www.patreon.com/posts/59433413

The videogame industry will wake up one day soon, and they will not know what hit them. All their pretensions of artistic merit and intellectualism will be smashed and stripped off them, and they'll stand naked before us and appear as they are: as lifeforms barely above the level of animals.

Foundry 3D Canvas 2.0
https://www.patreon.com/posts/60731440

Another day, another insane update in the exploding GMRPG scene that's destined to change videogames forever. And you learn about it within minutes from me because no one is more informed on it than I.

[icycalm]

Vehicle combat: https://youtu.be/_er5ChEG2tI

[icycalm]

This is what the start screen and menus look like in a Foundry campaign. The server can be online 24/7.

I made a landing page for my Agents of Edgewatch campaign on Foundry VTT
https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/c ... _edgewatch

[icycalm]

Levels: Depth Blur module is out on Foundry.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/QmEZRmpYLYU

Outstanding work from TheRipper93: automatic blurring of lower levels for character tokens that ascend to higher levels. Looks very cinematic: the original Divinity: Original Sin does it (probably the sequel too but I haven’t played it). We might be seeing it in action soon if the Azlant team ends up using Foundry with the Peregrine for an animated ship. Not sure it would work with a video file though. I guess it depends if video files can be built with varying elevations, and if the particular animated ship we’re using has enabled them. For example, the water as seen from the deck should be slightly blurred.

The above video is the trailer. Below is a brief demo video that shows exactly how the feature works.

Module Showcase\Tutorial: https://youtu.be/EptprFHaSCw

[icycalm]

Argon Combat HUD
https://youtu.be/ODKi0AuDNA8

Insane work from TheRipper93 that dropped two weeks ago and I just noticed it. Don’t miss this video: full CRPG combat HUD but with a ton more information pulled straight from all the books you own. Imagine this plus animated tokens and spell effects inserted into Paizo’s new 4K Foundry adventure conversions. That’s how we will be playing Curse of Strahd and Kingmaker next year. The revolution is upon us comrades!

[ChevRage]

Foundry VTT Module Tutorial: Building in 3 Dimensions with Better Roofs, Levels and Wall Height
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELlweNunn4g

Looks like a pretty good bunch of 2D map modules. They'll allow you to make maps that have buildings with multiple floors to them without making separate maps for each floor. This type of functionality would have been very welcome in the senate building in War for the Crown.

It's not actually 3D like 3D Canvas, but it might come in handy for when you only have 2D maps on hand.

[icycalm]

Macro Wheel: power at your fingertips - Foundry VTT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYCLjAv-7jE



Foundry meanwhile is becoming more of a CRPG than any CRPG.

[icycalm]

The Paizo 4K Foundry conversions are absolutely stunning. They may be just 2D, but they're the most stunning 2D RPGs ever, CRPGs included.

The Kingmaker adaption is coming soon, and I am so glad we didn't start playing it on Fantasy Grounds earlier. My projects are so blessed that even delays end up working out for the better.

Meanwhile conversions of PF1 campaigns for Fantasy Grounds continue, and I'll have news on that soon. It seems that we'll eventually have all of PF1 for FG and all of PF2 for Foundry, which makes sense even from a technical/chronological perspective; if you think of PF2 as the sequel to PF1, it makes sense that the sequel will be more technically advanced.









Moreover, lots of other companies are jumping on the bandwagon, and though I don't think their conversions are to the level of Paizo (for example I doubt they have integrated Syrinscape sounds, or advanced lighting effects, etc.), they still look fantastic and plenty of them should be ready by the time we have need for them.

https://twitter.com/cubicle7/status/1470344365818224641

Did you know - Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound is Now On @FoundryVTT?

Module Includes:

Easy set up
Preprogrammed Effects
Bestiary
Rules of Soulbound
High res map of the Great Parch
And more!

https://bit.ly/3oHFIOj

#ttrpg #WarhammerCommunity

https://twitter.com/FreeLeaguePub/statu ... 9845563392

Coriolis – The Third Horizon RPG launched on the Foundry Virtual Tabletop!

Do you wish to crew a spaceship & explore a remote cluster of star systems?

The award-winning science fiction RPG is now available on @FoundryVTT
-> https://freeleaguepublishing.com/en/sto ... =407042053

[icycalm]

Terrific news coming out of PaizoCon! All Pathfinder Society Scenarios from now on will be getting the full 4K Foundry treatment! Moreover, so will Starfinder Society Scenarios! This latter news is especially amazing because it means the teams doing the conversions will probably be doing Starfinder Adventure Paths eventually, since the APs sell a lot more than the Society Scenarios after all. There are two studios doing these conversions, and I suspect they're getting more efficient since they're taking on more work. I have high hopes that a year or two from now all Paizo content will be getting the 4K Foundry treatment. My dream would be if they went back and did also all legacy content, but that might never happen. We can dream though. In the meantime, feast your eyes on screens from the latest content. I am especially amazed that the difficulty scaling of Society Scenarios has been programmed in. Also, now that Starfinder is officially supported, I expect the rules automation to improve quickly just like PF2 improved once official support for its content began.

Pathfinder Society Year of Boundless Wonder: Scenarios #4-13 & #4-14 (Foundry VTT)
https://paizo.com/products/btq02ejy/dis ... os-413-414

• 24 high-resolution character portraits and tokens for the unique monsters and NPCs in each scenario, plus a blank token ring and background for customizing your game.
  
• 5 high-resolution Pathfinder Flip-Mat encounter maps.
  
• Custom landing pages for each scenario.
  
• All scenes pre-configured with walls, lights, and sounds. A custom macro places tokens and hazards based on the group to provide GMs with the most convenient experience running the adventure for all parties.
  
• Soundscapes provided as ambient playlists and local sound sources to immerse your players, created by Michael Ghelfi Studios.

Starfinder Society Year of Fortune's Fall: Scenarios #6-01 & #6-02 (Foundry VTT)
https://paizo.com/products/btq02ek0/dis ... os-601-602

• 22 high-resolution character portraits and tokens for the unique monsters and NPCs in each scenario, plus a blank token ring and background for customizing your game.
  
• High-resolution tokens and art for all Starfinder Society standard player starships.
  
• 4 high-resolution Starfinder Flip-Mat encounter maps.
  
• Custom landing pages for each scenario.
  
• All scenes pre-configured with walls, lights, and sounds. A custom macro places tokens and hazards based on the group to provide GMs with the most convenient experience running the adventure for all parties.
  
• Soundscapes provided as ambient playlists and local sound sources to immerse your players, created by Michael Ghelfi Studios.

[icycalm]

Carousel Combat Tracker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKSyhZ4-Okw



We might be using this sooner than you think! Much, MUCH sooner.

[icycalm]

Foundry VTT Escalia World Map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD6C9KnJaEM



Cult Games Germany has been working on a prototype of an animated overworld with clouds, flying birds etc. And remember, this is just 2D Cult Engine 2 stuff. With CE3 and 4 it'll all be 3D.

Kinda bummed the prototype is of Beneos's crap homebrew world. I would have loved to see Golarion or the Realms, or Dark Sun. But this stuff isn't far behind. I'd say a year from now max we will begin seeing it.

[icycalm]

Paper Doll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMdRi3lcRcY



Coming to Cult Engine 2.

(It's not paper and it's not a doll, but programmers are dumb, so cut him some slack. What do you want me to do, fire him? Not that I haven't thought of it...)

[icycalm]

Dungeons & Dragons Arrives on Cult Engine 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrcKNag ... XVyolQO3wj



This is very cool news arriving at just the right time for us. The 5E Cult Engine 2 ruleset was never as well-implemented as PF2, and now that some money has been poured into it, it's much more functional and ready to automate much of Curse of Strahd for us. Moreover, if they go back to convert older campaigns, surely CoD will be the first they do as it's the most popular. That said there isn't THAT much we would be using from such a conversion, because all the maps and even the NPCs and monsters would come from Beneos. So I suppose that leaves... the journal entries? Which would be great, but I wouldn't hold back our running of the campaign to wait for that, even if it had a solid date, let alone now when I have heard nothing and might be pointlessly waiting forever.

On another level, it's hilarious to see Wizards keep copying everything they can that Paizo does. They are outright poaching their employees, they're copy-pasting rules and adventure-design cues (as I have heard), and now a year after Paizo entered Cult Engine 2 in grand style with 4K conversions with sound etc., Wizards follows suit, but of course at a lower level (no 4K remastering, no sounds I don't think, etc.)

So now Pathfinder APs, D&D campaigns, everything by Free League, and the Warhammer RPGs all debut CE2 conversions day and date with print and PDF releases. The one line that's sorely missing is Starfinder APs, but it must be coming soon, certainly with the SF2 debut in a year or two, whenever it comes.

Meanwhile the Cult Engine 1 crew still churns out conversions of all this stuff as soon as it comes out, but they just can't compete with CE2 conversions, even after the video and sound engine upgrades, since they don't bother to remaster any graphics or add sound.

[icycalm]

Rewatched the trailed, and D&D does get higher-res after all, but it's not made clear if it's 4K. Also animated light sources and such. No sound and music though. It does feel half-assed compared to the Paizo APs, but it's still very welcome and a huge upgrade to what we had before.

[icycalm]

Beneos made an animated "landing page" (which is what in videogames we call a main menu) for Curse of Strahd. Don't worry about his spoilers warning, the video is 15 minutes and if you just skim it in 15 seconds you won't learn anything you shouldn't.

Animated Landing Page for Curse of Strahd | All Characters | Spoilers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htREbY8tk_Q



This is what you'll see every time you log into our Curse of Strahd campaign, including when I am not online. And all our Cult Engine 2 campaigns will get similar menus.

[icycalm]

Epic Rolls 5e: Revamped
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNVSb4ihq7Q



Truly takes skill checks to another level! Too bad it's only for 5E, but at least we'll use them with Curse of Strahd. I can't imagine it being too tough to convert it to PF though.