Roll20 vs Fantasy Grounds

Whizbang Dustyboots · Aug 24, 2015

I've been playing mostly play by post for more than nine years now. My group is very skilled with handling the narrative aspect of the game, although in complicated battles, tactical stuff gets tough to follow or outright fudged.

I'd like to use a virtual tabletop as a supplement to the game, mostly for non-live play, as one of our players is in Australia, and it'd be hard for us to all be online at the same time. So I'd like to have something that players can log into, see where everyone is on the combat grid, post something, whether it's a move or a pithy quote, and have that be available for people to see hours later. But I'd also like to be able to do that live play when it's reasonable -- if you think combat taking an hour is bad, try having one battle stretch out over weeks.

So which of these virtual tabletops is your preference, and why? Or is there another one we ought to consider instead?

Thanks.

gamerprinter · Aug 24, 2015

Not the I have a preference, since I play live table games and have no needs for virtual tabletop applications. That said, as a cartographer who often creates maps intended for use with VT, I have some knowledge that might help you. Roll20 allows you to load maps up to 72 x 72 inches (@72 dpi), making it the largest available map area available for any virtual tabletop application. Also being that it is an online service, only the GM may need to purchase access to services, all players simply link to the GM's game account requiring no purchases by players. Although I haven't used Fantasy Grounds in a while (at least 2 years), IME, Fantasy Grounds required purchase of a full GM's version of the software, and less capable Player versions of the software - requiring a greater expense.

If you have some coding savvy, I'd recommend RPTools and their map application MapTools, but as stated requires some minimal level of coding to optimize the platform for indivual use. MapTools, unlike other virtual tabletop applications has no cost to use by anyone, though it is strongly supported by developers despite it not being used for profit.

Also there are many newcomers to the VT market, including many that work with mobile devices, even cell phones - so there are many to look at. While Roll20 is a major player, and Fantasy Grounds has been available for many years, neither are the first, the best nor the best priced applications.

bgbarcus · Aug 25, 2015

I've been playing on Roll20 for quite a while with good results. I've never tried Fantasy Grounds. For your limited use Roll20 will work nicely. Selecting between them may be as simple as cost - Roll20 is free with extra (optional) features requiring a paid subscription. If there is also a free version of Fantasy Grounds, give them both an hour of testing and see if one feels more comfortable. Otherwise, I'd select "good enough" for free every time.

smiteworks · Aug 25, 2015

Fantasy Grounds is better suited for live play than it would be for an almost play-by-post style play. It's technically possible, but you'd have to just leave your server up and running every time you wanted the game to be available. Another option may suit you best for that specific usage.

Nighthawk1337 · Aug 28, 2015

I haven't tried Fantasy Grounds but Roll20 seems perfect for what you want to do. You can just leave character tokens and monster tokens where they are and have a timestamped chat log along with it. It also has OOC options and in character options for chatting.

Oryan77 · Sep 2, 2015

If you are doing Play by Post games, you would have to leave these VTT systems logged online at all times. The DM keeps the server (map) running and players connect to it. You could just load maps on something like google docs or whatever (sorry I'm not familiar with what google has exactly). Then players can just edit that file as you play.

I did my VTT research years ago and came to the conclusion that Maptool (by RPtools) was the best software for my needs. I've been using it ever since. It's free and people on their forums are great with tech help if you have questions or issues. It actually has way more options and does things that the others don't. That only matters though if you want to get technical (using line of sight, lighting, macros, animated doors, teleporting, summoning, etc, etc). You can use the bare bones options just fine if you don't want to use all that sort of stuff. The interface isn't as pretty as some of the others, but I use it because it works better. I don't mind if it looks better or not.

You do not have to know about coding to use Maptool unless you want to custom make your own macros and tools. There are plenty of pre-made campaign frameworks that users have created to provide you with various tools for the edition of the game you play. That only matters if you want character sheets and macros to keep up with attacking/damaging and dealing with hitpoints. Otherwise, you can use Maptool straight out of the box.

It's free, so I say try MT first and see if it will work for your type of game. If you don't like it, then try the other alternatives. I hope that helps some.

bgbarcus · Sep 2, 2015

Oryan77 said:
If you are doing Play by Post games, you would have to leave these VTT systems logged online at all times. The DM keeps the server (map) running and players connect to it. You could just load maps on something like google docs or whatever (sorry I'm not familiar with what google has exactly). Then players can just edit that file as you play.

I did my VTT research years ago and came to the conclusion that Maptool (by RPtools) was the best software for my needs. I've been using it ever since. It's free and people on their forums are great with tech help if you have questions or issues. It actually has way more options and does things that the others don't. That only matters though if you want to get technical (using line of sight, lighting, macros, animated doors, teleporting, summoning, etc, etc). You can use the bare bones options just fine if you don't want to use all that sort of stuff. The interface isn't as pretty as some of the others, but I use it because it works better. I don't mind if it looks better or not.

You do not have to know about coding to use Maptool unless you want to custom make your own macros and tools. There are plenty of pre-made campaign frameworks that users have created to provide you with various tools for the edition of the game you play. That only matters if you want character sheets and macros to keep up with attacking/damaging and dealing with hitpoints. Otherwise, you can use Maptool straight out of the box.

It's free, so I say try MT first and see if it will work for your type of game. If you don't like it, then try the other alternatives. I hope that helps some.

Roll20 is always on since it is just a website. The DM would need to leave the campaign set to the map in use but that's a 'don't do anything' step rather than something requiring work.

Whizbang Dustyboots · Sep 4, 2015

Thanks, folks.

jedijon · Sep 16, 2015

Excel file on google drive.

Put the map down, move on the grid, comment in the next tab. May allow multiple users to grab the file and make changes simultaneously without notifying them and that could be chaos. You'd have to test it.

gamerprinter · Sep 16, 2015

There are tech savvy authors and publishers who've released adventure modules imbedded into virtual tabletop format ready to use, not just assets for a VT. From Rite Publishing, an adventure by Ben McFarland called The Breaking of Forstor Nagar features a ship entering into a city of ice that is about to get sieged by an attacking army. Using the Open Source (free) MapTools virtual tabletop application. Included on its DrivethruRPG.com sales page is a short video on using MapTools with this module that can show you the possibilities. Read the reviews for this excellent adventure.

Roll20 vs Fantasy Grounds

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero

gamerprinter

Mapper/Publisher

bgbarcus

Explorer

smiteworks

Explorer

Nighthawk1337

First Post

Oryan77

Adventurer

bgbarcus

Explorer

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero

jedijon

Explorer

gamerprinter

Mapper/Publisher

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