Poll & questions: Favorite Virtual Tabletop for D&D 4e?

[Hyperlexic]

Hi,

I'm a GM looking to transition to an on-line D&D 4e game for my gaming group, since we're pretty spread out these days, so I'm looking for advice on virtual table tops. Everyone has high-bandwidth connections. I've been looking at the various postings here on enworld and other sites, and I think I've narrowed down to FantasyGrounds vs. Battlegrounds (BPRG). Among other things this site was very helpful:

Virtual Game Table Comparison Chart

Does anyone have any experience they can share about the comparison between the two?

A few specific questions:
1. Is there any difference in easy of use, particularly for the players? I want something very clean for the players
2. Does either of these support 4e better? In particular, can you load characters generated in D&D Character Builder into either tool?
3. Are there any other tabletops I should look at seriously?

I've put up a poll as well!

Thanks!

Hyper

 

[DMFTodd]

You left Kloogewerks off your list. There's a 4E definition with it which means you can type in your 4E character and have all the dice-rolling done easily.

 

[heruca]

Gametable is worth a look (the Java app, not the DDI Game Table). Its feature-set is not as robust as some other VTTs, but a lot of people seem to think it's the easiest of the bunch to use.

Here are links to all RPG-oriented virtual tabletops.

No matter which VTT you pick, it's going to be easier for players to learn the tool than it will be for GMs.

Are you and all your friends running Windows OS?

Regarding question 2, Battlegrounds only supports bitmap character sheets (e.g., scans, or screenshots taken from a character sheet app). However, the program supports D&D 4E light and vision rules very well, and the new Area of Effect templates from 4E, too (Burst, Blast, and Wall shapes).

 

[Hyperlexic]

You left Kloogewerks off your list. There's a 4E definition with it which means you can type in your 4E character and have all the dice-rolling done easily.

Oops! Anyone know how to edit an in-progress poll?

In any case... does Kloogewerks load from DDI Character builder?

 

[Hyperlexic]

Gametable is worth a look (the Java app, not the DDI Game Table). Its feature-set is not as robust as some other VTTs, but a lot of people seem to think it's the easiest of the bunch to use.

Here are links to all RPG-oriented virtual tabletops.

Thanks for the pointer. Hadn't heard of Gametable before.

Are you and all your friends running Windows OS?

Yes, everyone on 2k or above.

Regarding question 2, Battlegrounds only supports bitmap character sheets (e.g., scans, or screenshots taken from a character sheet app). However, the program supports D&D 4E light and vision rules very well, and the new Area of Effect templates from 4E, too (Burst, Blast, and Wall shapes).

Ok, thanks... so is there no HP tracker off of that, then?

 

[heruca]

so is there no HP tracker off of that, then?

Sure there is.

You can track whatever data you want in the Turn Sequencer. It's just not a full-fledged character sheet. It becomes unwieldy if you try tracking more than 8-10 values, IMO.

And in the case of Hit Points, you can graphically depict the general state of a character via color-coded halos, as shown above.

 

[DMFTodd]

In any case... does Kloogewerks load from DDI Character builder?

Not at the moment. But since the DDI output is XML and the Klooge character sheet is XML, there's nothing to stop someone from doing a conversion (other than the legal restrictions coming from WotC). I do a conversion in DM's Familiar from my database format into klooge format

(which, as an aside, I think is an important point: I'd try and find a VTT that makes things easy for the DM first, players second. The DM is going to do way more work on the game than the players).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I am using GameTable with my online group. So far, it satisfied our requirements, even if it's really simple. Or maybe because it is?

We use it for D&D 4E, Cyberpunk and d20 Modern.

 

[Hyperlexic]

Thanks for the input so far, everyone. I see Maptools is leading with 4 votes, and then BRPG with 3. Anyone want to give any input on Maptools?

 

[azhrei_fje]

ARGH! My post was lost! Okay, I'll try again...

(Disclaimer: I'm a site admin and moderator at RPTools.net and I've contributed code patches to the MapTool project.)

Here are some keywords/phrases I would use to describe MapTool:

free,
game system-agnostic with support for multiple game systems,
cross-platform (written in Java so runs just about everywhere),
unbounded maps (infinite size maps limited only by RAM),
light sources and sophisticated vision system (player sees what the PC sees),
fog of war,
health bars,
free,
halos,
token states (typically used to denote buffs or PC status),
property tracking for creatures (hitpoints and so forth),
macro programming language (considered an "advanced" topic),
macro panels for each token, for the campaign, and for global use,
free,
integrated initiative tracker (quite primitive, but usable),
table support (for random selection of items from a list),
tokens can be added to the map using drag-n-drop,
tokens can be cleaned up easily using TokenTool,
measurement tool (for distances on the map),
templates (for area of effect spells and such),
image layers (Token, Hidden, Object, Background),
textures (rudimentary text drawing on any of the above layers),
maps can be denoted as "GM only" to keep them hidden from players,
images are sent from server to clients as-needed,
all data saved in XML (allows external modification, if desired),
actively supported (by developers and the user community),
vigorously developed (new builds as often as weekly),
uses dockable panels to let the user configure the screen layout,
and did I mention it's free?

Minuses: documentation is often out of date but the community wiki is starting to fill the gap. There are video tutorials at RPTools Screencast Tutorials and they are being updated for the latest builds as well. The macro programming language is a custom language and is rather cryptic to read; there is a plan to move to javascript in the early v1.4 builds. The chat window is primitive; a major upgrade is planned for v1.4.

We are currently in bug-fix mode in an attempt to get v1.3 as stable as possible and call it "released". That will allow the developers to work on new and exciting features for v1.4! (And there are a lot of them planned!)