Thank you for this video, decided to subscribe after a watching a few of your videos. I have been using Foundry since the beginning of February 2022, and I enjoy learning at setting it up almost as much as the actual D&D sessions. However I have been a user of Midi-Qol since not long after I joined Foundry from Roll20 and I have to say in this video you are a little harsh on how it works. You make it out like it is black and white, that you either have no automation or full automation which is a bit unfair. I totally get that it isn't your style and I did used to use the roll 2D20 method in Roll20 but all the pro's from Midi far out weigh any cons. You can set Midi to whatever suits your fancy, for example in my game, my players like to roll damage and apply it to themselves but don't want to click five times to get to that point, so I have set the rolls to fast forward but not to apply automatically. If there is a mistake and we need to retcon, all is not lost because damage and effects haven't been applied, and they can roll again if it turns out they should have had advantage or disadvantage. I am not trying to sell it to you, I understand you find something you are comfortable with if it does the job and stick with it, I just wanted to point out that Midi isn't black and white. 🙂 Keep up the great work though, I am definitely going to be using Tidy UI because of this video. The rest I already use and can't agree more. Thank you.
Hi Garry! Thank you for subscribing and also for taking the time to comment so thoughtfully! I want to start by saying, as I’ve mentioned in other comments, I have a lot of respect for Tim Posney and all the work it takes to keep Midi-QOL going. It’s a beast of a project, especially when you factor in the long list of interactions and incompatibilities with other modules that he keeps updated on GitLab. That’s real dedication. Your comment on everything being optional makes me think that maybe I did oversimplify my description of it. There was a time that the module description had a warning label because it functioned pretty much as I described it in the video - something to the effect of, "Warning: This module assumes that when you click a button, you are REALLY SURE you want to." It sounds like it's swerved in a different direction since then and made more of its functions optional, and my description in the video doesn’t take that into account. That said, I still wouldn’t recommend it for new Foundry users. It does A LOT, and has a number of fiddly interactions with other modules that could frustrate a new user. Several times over the life of this channel (and my time using Foundry), commenters have convinced me to reinstall Midi-QOL. Each time I’ve done so, I’ve played around with it, and ended up deciding it was trying to do too much. But you’ve convinced me to give it another look, anyway. Maybe next time I’ll have a different experience, and I’ll give you a shout out in a future video for changing my mind! :-D
Hey @@ronathanclark3433! Thanks for stopping by. So here's the deal... it's not an approval/disapproval thing for me. It's a powerful and flexible addon with consistent support from the developer and a lot of community support too. I personally don't use it for a number of reasons, but mostly because A) I’ve yet to find a setting in MIdi that will just roll 2d20 all the time and let me reference the higher/lower/first roll for advantage/disadvantage, which is the functionality that I prefer from both Beyond20 and Better Rolls. There are approximately a million settings in Midi, though, so it’s possible I just haven’t found the right combination. And B) I’m not in the "automate everything you can" camp, so the primary reason people recommend it is actually a turn-off for me. It’s like telling a vegetarian that a dish is awesome because of the bacon. So Midi lacks (A) and encourages (B), so it just isn’t a good fit for the way I manage my games. That said, it is a powerful addon that a lot of people swear by. Garry is correct that it’s changed a lot, and most of the functions are optional. If you enjoy a lot of automation, then it’s likely to be a great fit for you. Hope that helps...
Rise of the Drow in the background, hell yeah! My in-person group is transitioning to playing on Foundry VTT (wife and I are moving out of state) and we're moving our Rise of the Drow campaign to Foundry VTT. Thank you for all of your videos, they've been a huge help in making the transition :)
Not just beginners, been using foundry since Covid hit, and I learned a bit from this. I use better rolls, but didn’t have it setup right. Ty, and minimal UI too.
In hindsight, I don't think I explained myself well enough regarding Minimal UI. I think this is essential because it's such a great way to save space on the screen, and I think changing the UI midstream can be annoying/disruptive. I talked around it without really making the point. Will be better in the next video!
@@thebrutallyhonestdm Exactly what I was trying to say, but you explained it much better. Thank you for putting my thoughts into understandable language! :-D
Hey CDG, i'd fallen out of DMing for a while and am just preparing to start up again after a few years but with a new pc i lost all my old modules and add-ons, so starting up was a little intimidating - but after watching this and your add-on video from last year i'm feeling much more confident with a lot of quality stuff to use off the bat, thank you for explaining everything clearly and giving examples, great video! :D
Hey DuskyWraith! Thanks for stopping by! Hate that you had to start over from scratch, but I'm glad you found these videos helpful. Quick note: Better Rolls has been (more or less) replaced by Ready Set Roll. If you had trouble with Better Rolls, it's because it's the old version. (I was about to change the video description to acknowledge this, and noticed your comment!) Welcome back to DMing, and happy gaming!
Awesome content as always ! I always learn something I didn’t know from these videos. So many modules so it’s great to have updates on “the gold standard” modules that are still useful. 🍻
I just want to mention that you can turn off all the auto rolling elements of midi, or whatever elements you want. There are even premade profiles that let you swap to it without knowing what does what in the settings.
Fair points, and I appreciate the comment. I won't go into detail on it again (see the pinned comment above), but I still stick by my assessment that midi is not essential for beginners. People already say that Foundry's learning curve is pretty steep... I can't in good conscience recommend a module that increases complexity in a "for beginners" video.
is beyond20 something that only the DM would need to install, or the players as well? Thanks and love the video. Helping me a lot transitioning from roll20 haha.
Hi Sam! Great question. It does have to be installed by players, so it requires a little more setup on the players side than the usual Foundry fare. I was already using Beyond20 with Roll20 when I made the switch, though... it made the transition SUPER easy for my players because such a big part of their turn-by-turn play was exactly the same from one VTT to the next.
Good question! I assume you mean applying the bonus for each attack. Whoever attacks just clicks the attack as usual on D&D Beyond. Then when they look in the chat log to see their result, they click the little d4 in the Dice Tray (another module I covered in this video), and add the result to the attack roll.
Sure! But beware the quality! It's from September 2020, it's one of my first videos ever, and it's also the video I'm referring to in this videos intro... while the modules I reference are cool and useful, most don't fit the "essential" descriptor. ruclips.net/video/fTgWS-EM_XU/видео.html
I'm a 10-year subber to Roll20 and just dropped money on Fantasy Grounds and now am kind of regretting it given what I'm seeing with Foundry. Any thoughts on Foundry versus Fantasy Grounds?
Hi Steve! I have only used Fantasy Grounds as a player, not as a GM, so take this with a grain of salt. I found in the two short-lived campaigns I joined, that Fantasy Grounds assumes a high level of automation of game mechanics. The reason I prefer Foundry is that with all the modules available, there is support for all levels of automation. There are modules that focus on automating a combat heavy skirmish game, but there are also modules that focus on helping storytellers present very theater-of-the-mind style sessions with cool ambiance and transitions from scene to scene, and so on. Fantasy Grounds is cool... I enjoyed the games I had as a player... I don't know if it was worth the money, as I didn't pay for it, and I don't know what tools are available on the GM side of things. But if I had to make a recommendation, I'd still point to Foundry as the best choice on the market right now. (And for what it's worth, I don't have any sponsorship or anything from Foundry. I'm just a genuine fan.)
Hi Steve, I hope you don't mind me jumping in here. I have been using Fantasy Grounds for 3 years now, and I have spent hundreds pounds on it, and a countless amount of my time on it. I even created a rule system module for one of its unsupported systems, as well as converting a lot of rule books and adventures to my module for use in my games, I liked it that much. It is a good system and personally think it is better than Roll20. Now for the however. Fantasy Grounds over the past year has begun to annoy me, just little things, but I think the main issue I have is it is just not particularly third party friendly, and one thing Foundry does exceptionally well is allow for the creation of third party products, and imho, third party products are generally far superior to what the copyright owners create. As I think WotC now realise. I don't play D&D, but Fantasy Grounds was my jam, but I am moving my game over to Foundry as I personally believe it has a better future with the level of third party integration available. I understand that it is hard to stomach the sunk cost, although there is no need to tell you after 10 years on Roll20, but I think moving to Foundry now, rather than sinking more of your time and money into Fantasy Grounds would be a good call.
@@CopperDragonGames the ability to adjudicate a fireball's damage to 7 goblins, one stone golem, a bugbear, and a fire elemental while pulling and utilizing spell templates, auto saves, immunity and resistance flags, and special effects in like 5 seconds is amazing. Midi is just too good.
@@p00tis You're not wrong. It is definitely a cool module. I've tested it, and I've played in a campaign with an excellent DM that used it to full effect, but it's still not my cup of tea. It's an awesome module. The work that goes into creating and updating it is phenomenal. Mad respect for Tim Posney. But for beginners (and for experienced groups that don't prioritize that level of automation), I still recommend Better Rolls and/or Beyond20. Also see: ruclips.net/video/Sw_t_HYb0jo/видео.html
@@CopperDragonGames I fully agree with your choice to recommend BetterRolls to beginners. The last thing newcomers to Foundry VTT need are road blocks that more complicated modules can create. Problems like: "Why is magical resistance automation not working?!? I had it set up and everything to subtract the right hp!" Become a lot less troublesome when it's just a sticky note on your monitor reminding you to subtract the right amount of damage after your players click through the BetterRolls UI.
Thank you for this video, decided to subscribe after a watching a few of your videos. I have been using Foundry since the beginning of February 2022, and I enjoy learning at setting it up almost as much as the actual D&D sessions.
However I have been a user of Midi-Qol since not long after I joined Foundry from Roll20 and I have to say in this video you are a little harsh on how it works. You make it out like it is black and white, that you either have no automation or full automation which is a bit unfair. I totally get that it isn't your style and I did used to use the roll 2D20 method in Roll20 but all the pro's from Midi far out weigh any cons.
You can set Midi to whatever suits your fancy, for example in my game, my players like to roll damage and apply it to themselves but don't want to click five times to get to that point, so I have set the rolls to fast forward but not to apply automatically.
If there is a mistake and we need to retcon, all is not lost because damage and effects haven't been applied, and they can roll again if it turns out they should have had advantage or disadvantage.
I am not trying to sell it to you, I understand you find something you are comfortable with if it does the job and stick with it, I just wanted to point out that Midi isn't black and white. 🙂
Keep up the great work though, I am definitely going to be using Tidy UI because of this video. The rest I already use and can't agree more. Thank you.
Hi Garry! Thank you for subscribing and also for taking the time to comment so thoughtfully! I want to start by saying, as I’ve mentioned in other comments, I have a lot of respect for Tim Posney and all the work it takes to keep Midi-QOL going. It’s a beast of a project, especially when you factor in the long list of interactions and incompatibilities with other modules that he keeps updated on GitLab. That’s real dedication.
Your comment on everything being optional makes me think that maybe I did oversimplify my description of it. There was a time that the module description had a warning label because it functioned pretty much as I described it in the video - something to the effect of, "Warning: This module assumes that when you click a button, you are REALLY SURE you want to." It sounds like it's swerved in a different direction since then and made more of its functions optional, and my description in the video doesn’t take that into account. That said, I still wouldn’t recommend it for new Foundry users. It does A LOT, and has a number of fiddly interactions with other modules that could frustrate a new user.
Several times over the life of this channel (and my time using Foundry), commenters have convinced me to reinstall Midi-QOL. Each time I’ve done so, I’ve played around with it, and ended up deciding it was trying to do too much. But you’ve convinced me to give it another look, anyway. Maybe next time I’ll have a different experience, and I’ll give you a shout out in a future video for changing my mind! :-D
@@CopperDragonGames Has it reached a good point that is gets your approval?
Hey @@ronathanclark3433! Thanks for stopping by. So here's the deal... it's not an approval/disapproval thing for me. It's a powerful and flexible addon with consistent support from the developer and a lot of community support too. I personally don't use it for a number of reasons, but mostly because A) I’ve yet to find a setting in MIdi that will just roll 2d20 all the time and let me reference the higher/lower/first roll for advantage/disadvantage, which is the functionality that I prefer from both Beyond20 and Better Rolls. There are approximately a million settings in Midi, though, so it’s possible I just haven’t found the right combination. And B) I’m not in the "automate everything you can" camp, so the primary reason people recommend it is actually a turn-off for me. It’s like telling a vegetarian that a dish is awesome because of the bacon. So Midi lacks (A) and encourages (B), so it just isn’t a good fit for the way I manage my games. That said, it is a powerful addon that a lot of people swear by. Garry is correct that it’s changed a lot, and most of the functions are optional. If you enjoy a lot of automation, then it’s likely to be a great fit for you. Hope that helps...
Rise of the Drow in the background, hell yeah! My in-person group is transitioning to playing on Foundry VTT (wife and I are moving out of state) and we're moving our Rise of the Drow campaign to Foundry VTT. Thank you for all of your videos, they've been a huge help in making the transition :)
Not just beginners, been using foundry since Covid hit, and I learned a bit from this. I use better rolls, but didn’t have it setup right. Ty, and minimal UI too.
Thanks, Chris! Glad you found it helpful!
Subscribed in the first frame caz ya know - those AD&D books just can't lie from where you came from
Hahaha! Thanks, Dhin! Got my start with AD&D when I was a whole 7 years old!
Love your Foundry videos. Clear and concise and to the point!
I appreciate that! Thank you!
In hindsight, I don't think I explained myself well enough regarding Minimal UI. I think this is essential because it's such a great way to save space on the screen, and I think changing the UI midstream can be annoying/disruptive. I talked around it without really making the point. Will be better in the next video!
@@thebrutallyhonestdm Exactly what I was trying to say, but you explained it much better. Thank you for putting my thoughts into understandable language! :-D
Hey CDG, i'd fallen out of DMing for a while and am just preparing to start up again after a few years but with a new pc i lost all my old modules and add-ons, so starting up was a little intimidating - but after watching this and your add-on video from last year i'm feeling much more confident with a lot of quality stuff to use off the bat, thank you for explaining everything clearly and giving examples, great video! :D
Hey DuskyWraith! Thanks for stopping by! Hate that you had to start over from scratch, but I'm glad you found these videos helpful. Quick note: Better Rolls has been (more or less) replaced by Ready Set Roll. If you had trouble with Better Rolls, it's because it's the old version. (I was about to change the video description to acknowledge this, and noticed your comment!) Welcome back to DMing, and happy gaming!
Really, really good opinions that 100% allign with my values and how I want to run my games. Great content. Subbed.
Not sure if you have seen or use it, but there is a slick little module called Always HP which makes dealing with damage and healing really simple.
I remember seeing it on the list, but I haven't used it. I'll definitely check it out, though. Thank you for recommending it, Tom!
It's very simple and neat! Thank you for that...
Great content. Watched some of your videos about foundry. Thanks for putting in the effort.
Thanks, Leon! I appreciate you stopping by, and I'm glad you found something useful!
Awesome content as always ! I always learn something I didn’t know from these videos. So many modules so it’s great to have updates on “the gold standard” modules that are still useful. 🍻
Thanks, Kevin! Appreciate the feedback, and glad you're finding these videos helpful!
I just want to mention that you can turn off all the auto rolling elements of midi, or whatever elements you want.
There are even premade profiles that let you swap to it without knowing what does what in the settings.
Fair points, and I appreciate the comment. I won't go into detail on it again (see the pinned comment above), but I still stick by my assessment that midi is not essential for beginners. People already say that Foundry's learning curve is pretty steep... I can't in good conscience recommend a module that increases complexity in a "for beginners" video.
Dear Lord this is so helpful.
Glad you found it useful! Thanks for stopping by!
is beyond20 something that only the DM would need to install, or the players as well? Thanks and love the video. Helping me a lot transitioning from roll20 haha.
Hi Sam! Great question. It does have to be installed by players, so it requires a little more setup on the players side than the usual Foundry fare. I was already using Beyond20 with Roll20 when I made the switch, though... it made the transition SUPER easy for my players because such a big part of their turn-by-turn play was exactly the same from one VTT to the next.
In managing your characters in D&D Beyond in use with Beyond 20, how do you handle things like Bless?
Good question! I assume you mean applying the bonus for each attack. Whoever attacks just clicks the attack as usual on D&D Beyond. Then when they look in the chat log to see their result, they click the little d4 in the Dice Tray (another module I covered in this video), and add the result to the attack roll.
gracias!!
de nada!
what am i going to do, if for example the pnp module needs an older version?
I was looking for the essential 2020 addons, do you have video for that?
Sure! But beware the quality! It's from September 2020, it's one of my first videos ever, and it's also the video I'm referring to in this videos intro... while the modules I reference are cool and useful, most don't fit the "essential" descriptor. ruclips.net/video/fTgWS-EM_XU/видео.html
@@CopperDragonGames Thanks, sorry, I was just being a nob. I like your channel.
Comments for the thankful algorithm
I'm a 10-year subber to Roll20 and just dropped money on Fantasy Grounds and now am kind of regretting it given what I'm seeing with Foundry. Any thoughts on Foundry versus Fantasy Grounds?
Hi Steve! I have only used Fantasy Grounds as a player, not as a GM, so take this with a grain of salt. I found in the two short-lived campaigns I joined, that Fantasy Grounds assumes a high level of automation of game mechanics. The reason I prefer Foundry is that with all the modules available, there is support for all levels of automation. There are modules that focus on automating a combat heavy skirmish game, but there are also modules that focus on helping storytellers present very theater-of-the-mind style sessions with cool ambiance and transitions from scene to scene, and so on. Fantasy Grounds is cool... I enjoyed the games I had as a player... I don't know if it was worth the money, as I didn't pay for it, and I don't know what tools are available on the GM side of things. But if I had to make a recommendation, I'd still point to Foundry as the best choice on the market right now. (And for what it's worth, I don't have any sponsorship or anything from Foundry. I'm just a genuine fan.)
Hi Steve, I hope you don't mind me jumping in here.
I have been using Fantasy Grounds for 3 years now, and I have spent hundreds pounds on it, and a countless amount of my time on it. I even created a rule system module for one of its unsupported systems, as well as converting a lot of rule books and adventures to my module for use in my games, I liked it that much. It is a good system and personally think it is better than Roll20.
Now for the however. Fantasy Grounds over the past year has begun to annoy me, just little things, but I think the main issue I have is it is just not particularly third party friendly, and one thing Foundry does exceptionally well is allow for the creation of third party products, and imho, third party products are generally far superior to what the copyright owners create. As I think WotC now realise.
I don't play D&D, but Fantasy Grounds was my jam, but I am moving my game over to Foundry as I personally believe it has a better future with the level of third party integration available. I understand that it is hard to stomach the sunk cost, although there is no need to tell you after 10 years on Roll20, but I think moving to Foundry now, rather than sinking more of your time and money into Fantasy Grounds would be a good call.
M I D I!!!!!
It's not my style, but definitely worth checking out. People swear by it.
@@CopperDragonGames the ability to adjudicate a fireball's damage to 7 goblins, one stone golem, a bugbear, and a fire elemental while pulling and utilizing spell templates, auto saves, immunity and resistance flags, and special effects in like 5 seconds is amazing.
Midi is just too good.
@@p00tis You're not wrong. It is definitely a cool module. I've tested it, and I've played in a campaign with an excellent DM that used it to full effect, but it's still not my cup of tea. It's an awesome module. The work that goes into creating and updating it is phenomenal. Mad respect for Tim Posney. But for beginners (and for experienced groups that don't prioritize that level of automation), I still recommend Better Rolls and/or Beyond20. Also see: ruclips.net/video/Sw_t_HYb0jo/видео.html
@@CopperDragonGames I fully agree with your choice to recommend BetterRolls to beginners. The last thing newcomers to Foundry VTT need are road blocks that more complicated modules can create.
Problems like: "Why is magical resistance automation not working?!? I had it set up and everything to subtract the right hp!" Become a lot less troublesome when it's just a sticky note on your monitor reminding you to subtract the right amount of damage after your players click through the BetterRolls UI.
they did NOT make foundry easy for new people to learn if they would have I bet they would beat ALL other vtt's