FANTASY GROUNDS Goes 3D With TABLETOP CONNECT

Fantasy Grounds, the officially licensed D&D virtual tabletop software, has just acquired Tabletop Connect, a 3D virtual tabletop which was successfully Kickstarted a couple of years ago. "Tabletop Connect is a system-neutral 3D virtual tabletop that lets you connect with your friends to play role-playing games just like you’re around a real table. You play in a true 3D environment—with miniatures, terrain tiles, physics simulated dice, character sheets, and handouts—you can almost feel the dice in your hands." Already one of the big two VTTs (the other being Roll20), this looks like it'll take online virtual tabletop gaming to a whole new level.

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Here's the full press release:

I am pleased to announce that Tabletop Connect has been acquired by SmiteWorks USA, LLC, the developer of the industry leading Fantasy Grounds virtual tabletop. As part of this acquisition I will be joining the SmiteWorks team to accelerate the port of Fantasy Grounds to the Unity platform. "

Doug Davison, President and Co-Owner of SmiteWorks added, "We have a distinct vision of what virtual tabletops can and should look like over the coming years and how Smiteworks can accomplish those things with Fantasy Grounds. For that reason, we began porting the core engine for Fantasy Grounds to Unity so that we could streamline and enhance the experience for players and GM's alike and distribute it more easily across all platforms. We've been following the progress of Tabletop Connect since it launched on Kickstarter and we've been very impressed with what Carl has been able to produce as a one-man operation. He shares the same vision we do on many areas and brings a unique level of talent, passion and creativity that is very hard to find. After some great one-on-one discussions, we believe that together we can do more than we could working separately. Work has been progressing on the Unity rebuild for the last year and I am genuinely excited about how the addition of Carl to the team will allow us to speed up the completion of this project and provide additional enhancements to the resulting product. "

During the development of Tabletop Connect your feedback and support have been invaluable. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to the next generation of virtual tabletops and to deliver the experience that you deserve.

As a backer of Tabletop Connect, you should soon receive the details of the realignment to Fantasy Grounds and your options during this transition.

Sincerely, thanks again for all of your support and I look forward to you joining me on this exciting new adventure!

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Tabletop Connect is here. Fantasy Grounds is, of course, here.

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[GMMichael]

If this becomes like NWN in the sense that a community does tons of extra addons for free, this could become HUGE!

Haven't seen an OGL yet, have you? There's a reason.
[MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION]: using minis is old-school, but only if they're pewter. Minis on an electronic device are not minis, they're sprites (or avatars or wireframes if you will) and therefore no longer count as minis.

 

[Hussar]

Haven't seen an OGL yet, have you? There's a reason.

[MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION]: using minis is old-school, but only if they're pewter. Minis on an electronic device are not minis, they're sprites (or avatars or wireframes if you will) and therefore no longer count as minis.

I really don't think the OGL covers the 3d visualisation of dungeons and maps in D&D. NWN certainly never had an OGL attached to it. And, since this is directly licensed from WOTC, it'S entirely possible to have free or for pay add-ons. Heck, look at the Fantasy Grounds site right now, they already HAVE free and for pay add-ons for 5e.

Dude, my minis were lead.

Why not? What's the difference? Other than my minis on a VTT are far more detailed and far prettier than any of my old real world minis, mostly because I can't paint to save my life. But, the idea that using a VTT somehow is inferior to face to face gaming is just not true for me. Different, sure, but, to be honest, I find the quality of role-play far higher on VTT when people no longer have to be shy about acting in front of people.