Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds may be the better known names in the Virtual Tabletop (VTT) market, but Astral Tabletop, which launched in 2017, has recently spent a year revamping its offering. Additionally, it has now partnered with DriveThruRPG!
Here's their new press release:
Astral TableTop’s New Experience Helps Game Masters Create and Host Engaging Tabletop Roleplaying Games Online and In Person
Astral TableTop is the easiest way to create, host, and play tabletop roleplaying games online and in person.
April 15, 2019 — Astral TableTop launches its new experience that provides Game Masters with an easy-to-use platform to create, host, and play immersive and engaging tabletop roleplaying games. Founded in 2017, Astral has undergone a significant reimagining that preserves what the community loves about it — a beautiful, approachable user experience — while expanding its features to serve as a go-to toolkit for Game Masters of every level.
With Astral, Game Masters can bring their worlds to life for any RPG ruleset. The new Astral experience offers a streamlined TableTop Editor to effortlessly build custom maps; add sound, weather, and atmospheric effects; track combat; upload documents for any tabletop RPG ruleset; and keep an updated journal of game sessions. Dynamic lighting, doors, and automated actions take gameplay to the next level, adding smart tech without replacing the analog gaming experience that makes tabletop play unique. Add-ons, such as the combat manager and dice roller, can be used on smartphones or tablets to enhance in-person game sessions.
"The new experience is the result of listening to what our amazing community of Game Masters needed most,” says Astral CEO Tom Lackemann. “We spent almost a full year refactoring everything about Astral to make sure we addressed the problems and needs GMs in 21st century have."
The popularity of tabletop roleplaying games is at an all-time high, in part thanks to platforms like Astral TableTop, which allows enthusiastic gamers to play their favorite tabletop RPGs anywhere. Savvy groups can tap into this growing market and use Astral to stream their games to Twitch, where actual play tabletop roleplay shows like Critical Role and Dice, Camera, Action continue to rank among Twitch’s most-viewed programs.
Astral is a community-first platform. Its popular Marketplace features more than 30,000 art assets and offers drag-and-drop map and character designs created by artists from around the world. The Astral team prioritizes the features requested by its dedicated global community, many of whom joined Astral at its inception.
The new Astral experience is available now at AstralTableTop.com.
The DriveThruRPG twitter account has retweeted a tweet from the DM's Guild twitter account announcing that "Our sister site [DriveThruRPG] & [Astral Tabletop] have partnered to create a new, easy, immersive way to play [tabletop RPGs, D&D] ... and you can use all your fav [DMs Guild] titles!"
Steve Weick, DTRPG's head honcho, posted on Facebook:
We're formally announcing today that DriveThruRPG is a strategic/investment partner in Astral Tabletop, a new service for virtual/in-person RPG tabletop play.
Similar to Roll20, Astral is free (freemium) and web-based, which makes connecting with friends and playing a game on the platform super-easy. Astral's focus is on ease-of-use. It was Astral founder Tom Lackemann's dedication to making the tool simple to learn and use that attracted me to partnering with Astral. It's taking the learning curve out of using virtual tabletops.
It also takes in-browser graphic performance to a new level. If you haven't tried a VTT with features like fully animated maps and weather or localized sound effects, I'd encourage you to give Astral a try and see how immersive it can make your next game.
Here's their new press release:
Astral TableTop’s New Experience Helps Game Masters Create and Host Engaging Tabletop Roleplaying Games Online and In Person
Astral TableTop is the easiest way to create, host, and play tabletop roleplaying games online and in person.
April 15, 2019 — Astral TableTop launches its new experience that provides Game Masters with an easy-to-use platform to create, host, and play immersive and engaging tabletop roleplaying games. Founded in 2017, Astral has undergone a significant reimagining that preserves what the community loves about it — a beautiful, approachable user experience — while expanding its features to serve as a go-to toolkit for Game Masters of every level.
With Astral, Game Masters can bring their worlds to life for any RPG ruleset. The new Astral experience offers a streamlined TableTop Editor to effortlessly build custom maps; add sound, weather, and atmospheric effects; track combat; upload documents for any tabletop RPG ruleset; and keep an updated journal of game sessions. Dynamic lighting, doors, and automated actions take gameplay to the next level, adding smart tech without replacing the analog gaming experience that makes tabletop play unique. Add-ons, such as the combat manager and dice roller, can be used on smartphones or tablets to enhance in-person game sessions.
"The new experience is the result of listening to what our amazing community of Game Masters needed most,” says Astral CEO Tom Lackemann. “We spent almost a full year refactoring everything about Astral to make sure we addressed the problems and needs GMs in 21st century have."
The popularity of tabletop roleplaying games is at an all-time high, in part thanks to platforms like Astral TableTop, which allows enthusiastic gamers to play their favorite tabletop RPGs anywhere. Savvy groups can tap into this growing market and use Astral to stream their games to Twitch, where actual play tabletop roleplay shows like Critical Role and Dice, Camera, Action continue to rank among Twitch’s most-viewed programs.
Astral is a community-first platform. Its popular Marketplace features more than 30,000 art assets and offers drag-and-drop map and character designs created by artists from around the world. The Astral team prioritizes the features requested by its dedicated global community, many of whom joined Astral at its inception.
The new Astral experience is available now at AstralTableTop.com.
The DriveThruRPG twitter account has retweeted a tweet from the DM's Guild twitter account announcing that "Our sister site [DriveThruRPG] & [Astral Tabletop] have partnered to create a new, easy, immersive way to play [tabletop RPGs, D&D] ... and you can use all your fav [DMs Guild] titles!"
Steve Weick, DTRPG's head honcho, posted on Facebook:
We're formally announcing today that DriveThruRPG is a strategic/investment partner in Astral Tabletop, a new service for virtual/in-person RPG tabletop play.
Similar to Roll20, Astral is free (freemium) and web-based, which makes connecting with friends and playing a game on the platform super-easy. Astral's focus is on ease-of-use. It was Astral founder Tom Lackemann's dedication to making the tool simple to learn and use that attracted me to partnering with Astral. It's taking the learning curve out of using virtual tabletops.
It also takes in-browser graphic performance to a new level. If you haven't tried a VTT with features like fully animated maps and weather or localized sound effects, I'd encourage you to give Astral a try and see how immersive it can make your next game.
