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Roolipelaaja (Roleplayer) is a finnish magazine that has shed some light upon a hobby far too little know. In the latest issue they featured Fantasy Grounds II, which is a program that should ease up pen&paper gaming through the Internet. I have to admit that I wasn't fully satisfied to the article.
First of all, the concept of computer-aided roleplaying wasn't explained at all, which really didn't help much understanding the concept of the program. Not that it would have been explained very thoroughly, even if all. It was briefly mentioned that the system helps in playing standard roleplaying games through internet, but any closer look to the features of the program was not given. This actually gave the impression that FG II would be the only such system. Well, This is not the case. I'd like that the editors would check the facts a bit better. Over 30$ price tag on such system is a bit high. Biggest reason being that free alternatives do exist. One of them being a system called openRPG. This is the solution that our gaming troupe uses, and we have found that very satisfactory. OpenRPG may lose some on the eyecandy side compared to FG II, but is that really such a big thing? The man behind the FG seems to think so, regarding to the article in Roolipelaaja. I don't know just how grand a system like this has to be graphically? You don't actually usually see so much eye candy on regular tabletop session. I'd say that as long as it works, it's enough. And openRPG usually works. Well, most of the time, but when comparing the pricetag, I'd say openRPG works decently. I don't want to criticize neither Roolipelaaja or FG II but I'd just wanted to say that there are options available. I don't know what was the article aiming at, but throwing an concept to the air and offering a single solution is a bit no-no, at least it is a pity. But well, now you know at least a bit more.
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