FoundryVTT: Modules
From animating the opening of a door all the way to making your entire game system have beautiful dice, a full calendar, self walking tokens and even entirely new ways to control those tokens. Modules change the very core of what Foundry can do, and honestly, it’s what sets Foundry so far apart from the competition.
Add-on Modules
Modules can do just about anything to improve your FoundryVTT experience. You can get a module simply to just add ambient sound effects for when somebody opens a door, or a module to move the entire background of a map to make a ship appear as if it’s sailing. There is no limit to the content you can find.
Modules are usually made by members of the community, and target something that perhaps vanilla (unmodified) Foundry may not contain. It could be things to make your prep easier, things to make the player experience enhanced, or even modules to just change how your UI (user-interface) appears. There are even modules that can add the long sought after dark mode.
Installing a Module
To install a module you simply click on “Install Module” in the bottom left of your modules tab on the main Foundry screen. You then choose your packages from there. We will make guides for some of our favourites, but for this, we recommend you download something like “Dice So Nice!” by Simone, JDW.
This module will allow you to download a whole new collection of beautiful dice that you and your players will be able to see.
To find it, go to the search bar that states “Package Name” and then type in “Dice So Nice” and it should just come up. Once it does, click “Install” and it will begin to download. Once it is done, go back into your game world.
Activating the Module
To activate the module is quite easy. You go back to your game world, and you make your way to the settings tab in the top right corner.
From here you make your way down the list until you see “Manage Modules” and then you click on it.
Managing the modules is the screen we want. This is what allows you to turn off and on each module, you have installed, as you did in the previous steps.
This can be important if you have issues and bugs. You can toggle different modules to figure out which are causing problems with your main game. Sometimes when you update your modules, or even your game itself, things can get a little bit messy, so this menu is perfect for letting you control the modules you have.
Toggle the Modules
The final step to activate the modules is simply to click the empty box, and then you can click on “save” down below. The game may restart, which is totally normal.
Control the Module Settings
Once you have the module active, you can go to the Settings tab - Configure Settings - Module Settings tab. This will allow you to overview all the modules that have additional settings available.
In this example, we are using Dice So Nice! which will allow us to change the dice themselves. You can click on “My Dice Settings” and you can toggle and tweak the dice to your heart’s content.
You can also change things like the rollable area settings. This is a great example of why you should update your modules. This didn’t initially exist, but it was added in a later update. That, along with multiple bug fixes and things to make your game run smoother.
If the dice rolls lag your system, you can even lower the amount of dice that roll at one time.
Many modules have enhanced features like that to tweak your experience with each module.
Make sure you click save once you’re done tweaking your settings. This will refresh your game again, in most cases.
Hopefully this helps some of you with downloading modules. If you wish to know more about updating modules, and the risks involved, you can follow this article.