Setting Up Foundry VTT For GURPS: Update

Love GURPS for your RPG needs?
Looking for an amazing way to play online?
You got it!

I posted a quick guide to getting GURPS up and running with Foundry VTT a few months back (unofficially), and in that time it’s quickly become my absolute favorite virtual tabletop. It’s easy to set up, intuitive to use, incredibly expandable, and surrounded by a community of passionate contributors and fans.

If you’re a GURPS GM playing online, you should really check it out!

To that end, I’ve put together a video overview of what GURPS gaming on Foundry VTT can look like. This video is less to answer the question “How do I use Foundry VTT?” and more to answer “Should I use Foundry VTT?” That is, I just want to show off why I love it so much and how much it can do with a little setup. Then, if you’re curious for more, there’s a wealth of resources waiting for you!

* A couple of corrections:

At 10:23, I mistakenly said you cannot add items to the character sheet. You *can* by simply right-clicking on the black header bar.

At 12:36, I said tokens are added to the Combat Tracker in initiative order. They are *not* — you must “roll” for initiative one time to correctly set the order.

Community Resources

• Foundry VTT Home Page
• Foundry Discord
• Foundry Reddit
• Encounter Library (user YT videos, super helpful)
• GURPS Discord (has a #vtt-foundry channel with the authors)

The Intro Pack

If you enjoyed the video, maybe tried the Web Demo at the Foundry VTT home page, and decided to give it a try, this is how you can set up your Foundry VTT install like mine (more or less). Try the official help page if you need assistance installing the program.

The Game Aid

As mentioned in my original post, there are three currently active GURPS game aids. I am using the one from “Nose and Nick.”  First, open Foundry VTT and go to “Configuration and Setup,” then the “Game Systems” tab. Click the “Install System” button, and enter the following for “Manifest URL”:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/crnormand/gurps/release/system.json

Click the “Install” button and their GURPS game aid will be installed and available for use.

• Authors’ Documentation
• Authors’ YouTube

NOTE: As with any other virtual tabletop, there is zero official support from Steve Jackson Games, and none of the GURPS modules are publicly available through Foundry VTT. SJG have been generous in allowing other VTTs to be used for GURPS for years, and I hope Foundry will soon be added to that community, but as you know there’s never a guarantee with these game aids.

The Intro Pack

First, find the folder on your computer where Foundry VTT was installed, and find the “User Data” path specified in your program (under “Configuration –> User Data Path”). Open the “modules” folder inside there — this is where all of your Modules will live.

Thankfully, only the Intro Pack Module needs to be installed manually this way. Download the below file (“intro-pack.zip”), unzip it, and move the folder inside (“intro-pack”) into your “modules” folder.

Foundry VTT Intro Pack for GURPS | Downloads: 812 | Size: 291.1 KB

Other Modules

If you want to check out some or all of the other Modules I have installed (all highly recommended!), go back to Foundry VTT and go to “Configuration and Setup,” but this time choose the “Add-On Modules” tab. I currently use 28 Modules, some big, some tiny. I’ll give a tiny blurb about what each one does. To install, click the “Install Module” button in Foundry VTT, then enter the Module’s name at the top of the pop-up box until you see it appear in the list. Then just click its “Install” button, wait for it to install, and repeat for each Module you want (some may prompt you for dependencies — install those too).

Better Target (replaces the targeting crosshairs)
Chat Portrait (adds speaker’s portrait to chat log)
Combat Tracker Effect Icon Tooltips (adds tooltip on hover over effects in the combat tracker)
Compendium Folders (organization for compendiums)
ConditionIconHoverZoom (increases size of condition icons)
Custom Hotbar (adds an additional hotbar)
Dice So Nice! (adds 3D rollable dice)
Drag Upload (Get Over Here!) (can drag items directly into Foundry VTT)
Easy Target (allows targeting of icons on any layer)
Expander (allows opening the sidebar by clicking chat icon)
FXMaster (provides spell effects)
GM Screen (adds a customizable pop-up at the bottom of the screen)
Hey, Listen! (provides pop-up alerts from chat if chat log not visible)
Hide GM Rolls (fully hides GM private rolls)
Laptop Form Fix (keeps the “Save” button always on-screen)
Less Fog (lightens fog of war for the GM)
Macro Folders (organization for macros)
Not Your Turn (prevents token movement out of turn)
PDFoundry (in-game PDF viewer)
Permission Viewer (visual cues as to which assets are shared with which players)
Pings (adds pings to the map on left-hold)
Quick Encounters (pre-configure encounters)
Reset Doors and Fog (close all doors and reset the fog of war)
RollTable Buttons (provides access to rollable tables via bullseye icon on chat log)
Token Chat Link (adds a clickable token link to the chat log)
Token Mold (customize your tokens)
Turn Alert (notes in the chat log which token’s turn it is)
Turn Marker (visually denotes which token’s turn it is)

I really hope you’ll give Foundry VTT a try for your GURPS games! Let me know what you think!

 

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