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Module Loadout

Module Loadout

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Note that this is my personal module list for my live games, you should review each module and decide if it's right for your games. If you decide to use one or more modules from this list, it's highly recommended that you install one at a time and learn what each one does!

Introduction

This page is a list of all the modules I use in my live games, and a brief description of what they do. I've divided them into chunks so you can grab modules by the category you are interested in. Even though the modules are separated in multiple categories i use all these modules in my live game.

To promote responsible module usage, I've also written a small guide on how to choose modules and how to keep your module loadout balanced. If you want you can skip directly to the Modules section.

Why not use module X?

If you are asking, why are you not using module X? The answer is that I carefully select the modules. Generally i follow this rules:

  • Do I really need this module or does it add a very minor convinience I can live without? (I try to keep the number of modules to a minimum)
  • Is this module stable and well maintained? (I check the github repo and the issues)
  • Is this module compatible with the other modules I use? (I check the module documentation and the issues)
  • Will this module be essential to run my game if I decide to use it? (I try to avoid modules that are essential to run my game unless they are from a trusted developer, I prefer to use modules that add convinience or improve the experience)

For these reasons you won't see any newly released modules in my list, I prefer to wait for them to mature a bit before adding them to my list, unless the module is from a developer I trust (because I have other modules from them in my list).

Note: This is not a dig at developers that release new modules, nor at developers that don't have the time to maintain their modules since most do it for free. Since I like to be on the latest FVTT version I want to make sure that modules won't prevent me from updating.

How many modules should I use?

There is no exact magic number of modules, but the more you have, the more issues you might experience. However, here are some guidelines based on personal experience to maintain a balanced module composition.

Note that only modules adding functionality are considered, excluding items like Music packs, map packs, and asset packs as they don't affect system load.

How do I know if I have too many modules?

There are some key indicators that suggest you went a bit overboard with your module loadout:

  • Your game takes a painfully long time to load.
  • You or your players experience performance degradation during gameplay.
  • You experience random crashes or errors.
  • Your contol buttons are so many they overflow/don't fit on the screen and you need a module to manage them.
  • When dealing with windows, you have so many header icons that they overflow/don't fit on the screen and you need a module to manage them.
  • If you have more than 100 functionality modules, you probably have too many.

The Magic Number

After telling you that there is no magic number, I will now tell you that there is a magic number. The magic number is ~50. Of curse this magic number works under some assumptions:

  • Your module loadout composition is roughly 25% heavy modules and 75% light/medium modules.
  • This number is based on my own experience and it's not a hard limit.
  • By sticking to this number you will most likely experience minimum issues with your game.
  • When using this as a reference, you will need to do a minimal amount of troubleshooting if something goes wrong.
  • Sticking to the magic number will let you consider heavly if you really really need a module before adding it to your game.

The Cleanup

If you ended up with a ton of modules and don't know where to start to do some cleanup here are some tips:

  • Remove any module that does not indicate explicit compatibility with the latest FVTT version.
  • Go through your list of modules, and ask yourself Do I know on top of my head what this module does?. If the answer is no, remove it.
  • Go through your list of modules a second time, and ask yourself How frequently do I use this module's functionality? How much time does it save?. If you find out that you don't use it that often, remove it.
  • Double check any modules that you feel are critical for your game. Check when they were last updated and if they are currently mantained. If they are not, consider removing them and changing your workflow now instead of suffering a bigger headache later.
  • Do you have any modules the have a ton of functionality but you only use a small part of it? Consider removing it and replacing it with a smaller module that does only what you need.
  • Do you have multiple modules that do the same thing? Or do you have multiple modules that tweak the same aspect of FVTT? For each overlap, chose one module and remove the others.

After this cleanup, test out your game and see if there is anything you miss. If you find out that you really need a module you removed, you can always add it back.

All this said, let's get to the list.

Modules

The Basics

This first section contains modules that add to the game without drastically changing it. Because of this, I consider these modules to be essential to my game and I would use them in any game I run.

Notice how all the modules in this list will work out of the box without any configuration (or a very minor one). I try to keep the number of modules that require configuration to a minimum.

  • Auto Rotate (opens in a new tab) - Automatically rotates tokens to face the direction they are moving. If you don't use top-down tokens, you can skip this one.
  • Camera Dock (opens in a new tab) - Restores the V9 cameras UI. I personally feel the new interface takes up way more space than the old setup.
  • Carousel Combat Tracker (opens in a new tab) - A carousel style combat tracker. Spiritual successor of Combat Carousel. Inspired by games such as Solasta and Baldurs Gate 3 it will give you and your players a videogame style combat experience.
  • Combat Booster (opens in a new tab) - Speed up your combat with recent actions, turn marker and other smaller tweaks like Pan to combatant, body pile, mark defeated and more. Note that the recent action feature is only dnd5e compatible.
  • Dice So Nice! (opens in a new tab) - Adds 3D dice to your game.
  • Hover Distance (opens in a new tab) - Show distance to a token on hover without the need to use the ruler. Optionally supports inclusion of vertical distance.
  • Image Context (opens in a new tab) - Add a context menu when you right click on any image in foundry. From this menu, show a pop-out of the image or send it to chat with the ability to whisper it only to some players and more.
  • LiveKit AVClient (opens in a new tab) - A library that allows you to use LiveKit for video and audio chat which is miles better than the core P2P system. Keep in mind that if you are not ok with paying a small monthly fee, configuring and maintaining your own LiveKit server is not trivial.
  • Media Optimizer (opens in a new tab) - This module will automatically convert any images, audio and video you upload into foundry to WEBP, WEBM and OGG, it also has the ability to downscale the image. You can configure compression and downscaling in the module settings. By default images will be compressed with a 0.75 ratio and kept at a maximum resolution of 8K, images above that resolution are not downscaled.
  • SmallTime (opens in a new tab) - A small module for displaying and controlling the current time of day.
  • Splatter (opens in a new tab) - Add blood and gore to your games.
  • Token Z (opens in a new tab) - Automatically fix issues with token z-ordering, for example when a small token is overlapping a large token, the small token will be rendered on top of the large token at all times.

Make it more like a videogame

These modules will add substantial features to your game, giving you some of the quality of life features you are used to in RPGs. Note that these modules will require configuration and making content specifically for them, they will generally increase your prep time.

  • Argon - Combat HUD (opens in a new tab) - Show a Solasta inspired combat hud for easy accessibility of actions and bonus actions etc. Replaces a lot of the character sheet functionality during combat so that you don't need to open it. Not all systems supported.
  • Boss Bar (opens in a new tab) - Create a Dark Souls Like boss healthbar on top of the screen for epic boss fights.
  • Gatherer (opens in a new tab) - Gather, Hunt and Scavenge with a simple to use, Rollable Table based custom Journal Page. With skill/tool checks, automated uses reset based on time and a minigame option!
  • Item Piles (opens in a new tab) - Player trading, merchants, loot chests and more. This module will satisfy all your item storage and transfer needs.
  • Mastercrafted (opens in a new tab) - A simple yet effective crafting module for any system, create books, recipes, export and share! Make recipes with different outcomes or that can require alternate ingredients! Set permissions to specific players, require tools to craft and more!
  • Simple Quest (opens in a new tab) - A questlog, lore and map manager tool with a nice Baldurs Gate 3 inspired UI.

Keeping track of time

These collection of modules will add time related utilities to keep track of effects expiration, calendar and more.

Make your life easier (as a GM)

These modules will make your life easier as a GM, they will help you manage your game and your content. In general they don't require much configuration and will save you a lot of time both in and out of game in the long run.

  • Filepicker + (opens in a new tab) - Expands the default filepicker to add favourite folders, image and video preview tooltips, audio tooltips and a new layout, add a filepicker sidebar, folders/subfolders uploading and more.
  • Dig Down - Advanced Search (opens in a new tab) - Search inside folders in the file picker, use special search terms to filter your sidebars and many other advanced search filters. Use the excavate functionality to automatically find images for tokens.
  • Module Management+ (opens in a new tab) - Module Management+ improves upon foundry's vtt Manage Module and Configure Settings windows by adding additional features and functionalities to both managing modules and their settings. A beast of a module that will make your package management a breeze.
  • Spotlight Omnisearch (opens in a new tab) - A powerful search tool that allows you to search for anything in your game, including documents, compendiums, files, settings and more.
  • Taskbar (opens in a new tab) - A fully functional Windows-style taskbar for Foundry. Manage your stuff the easy way! Includes a Windows-like Start menu and utility icons.

Eye Candy

These modules will add animations to your game, they are not essential but they will make your game look better.

Utility

These modules will add utility to your game, they are not essential but they will make your game better.

  • Automated Evocations - Companion Manager (opens in a new tab) - Create and manage companions for your players. If you want, you can also use it to automate summoning spells. Not particularly useful for DnD5e.
  • Quickdraw (opens in a new tab) - A rapid drawing tool to make quick drawings in-game by holding a hotkey (default q) with live preview for all clients. No more going to the drawing tools, and then deleting stuff! After a set timeout they will automatically fade out.
  • Situational Shortcuts (opens in a new tab) - Whatever you use is, sometimes applying active effects slows down the game. This modules adds quick custom button near the 'Situational Bonus' field. This is perfect for low automation users and for those things that are to annoying to automate with active effects! Currently dnd5e and whfrp only - more systems coming on request.
  • Smart Target (opens in a new tab) - Target with Alt+Click, For players, target by just left clicking a non-owned token, Show portraits instead of colored pips to indicate targets, fulldesc/offset and size of the icons can be configured in the module settings, Customize color/shape of the targeting reticule.
  • TheRipper93's Module Hub (opens in a new tab) - If you use a lot of my modules, this module will keep track of updates, direct you to documentation with one click and warn you of important or critical updates.

Mapmaking

These modules will enhance combat and exploration by adding three-dimensional maps and other features. The modules are not ordered alphabetically in this section but in steps, as each module can be added on top of the previous one to add more three dimensional features.

Automation/DnD5e

These modules will add automation and improvements to the DnD5e system. If you don't play DnD5e you can skip this section, but it's my main system so I use all of these modules.

  • DFreds Convenient Effects (opens in a new tab) - Adds premade automated effects for various spells and items.
  • Dynamic Active Effects (opens in a new tab) - Improvements to the DnD5e active effects system.
  • Midi QOL (opens in a new tab) - A module that adds automation to DnD5e. It's a beast of a module and it will require some configuration to get it working, but it's worth it if you want the automation. I personally just use the basic automation (Attacks/Saves/Damage) and i don't go out of my way to automate every single thing, but it's up to you. Keep in mind that the returns on having every spell automated perfectly are very little and i suggest to let the automation handle the basics while you handle the rest.
  • Maxwell's Manual of Malicious Maladies (opens in a new tab) - A module for all your lingering injuries needs. 208 lingering injuries all with different severities, durations, and consequences, based on the 13 different damage types. Includes application automation, durations and item creation to keep track of injuries!

Library

These modules are libraries that are required by other modules. They don't do anything by themselves but they are required by other modules. They will be installed automatically if a module requires one or more of them.

FAQDowngrading Modules