Virtual Tabletop software?

[Sylrae]

I've recently been shown glittercomm and d20pro. Have people used these? Are there any virtual tabletops that other people recommend?

One thing I'd like to see, is one that does NOT force the use of a grid, having circular templates and measuring ranges and distances in straight lines. (instead allowing movement like using a tape measure in warhammer, and cones shaped line cones, instead of cones shaped like cones approximated into squares).

I know these two don't have that. Are there any that do?

Even without that feature. What sort of virtual tabletops do you guys use?

 

[IronWolf]

Even without that feature. What sort of virtual tabletops do you guys use?

Take a look at MapTool. Freely available, java based so it is cross platform as well. Use the video tutorials linked to from the site to get up to speed quickly.

 

[Hussar]

Holy crap, d20 Pro only allows TWO guest slots for 30 bucks? What a ripoff. TEN BUCKS for each new guest slots? Wow, are there really any suckers who would pay this? That's crap.

So, I get to shell out 30 bucks as the DM so that my group of seven players can shell out an additional seventy bucks to use the program? Why in hell should I pay to sell this product. I loathe with the power of the sun this sort of pricing pyramid scheme.

/end rant

Maptools does not tie you to a grid if you don't want to. I'm also watching the development of Epic Table RPG with great interest.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

I don't tend to use one, but MapTool is likely the one I'd use if I were on a full computer.

I just bought "Battle Map" for my iPad:
Razeware | iPhone and iPad Apps for Gamers | Battle Map

A bit pricey for an app (especially with the exchange rate) but it's got a fair amount of functionality.

Virtual tabletops aren't of a whole lot of use to me as I don't do online rpg stuff. For portability, I don't have a laptop, refuse to get a netbook, and own an iPad. So the choice is easy.

They're working on a port of MapTools to the iPad, but it's going to be essentially worthless to me, since last I'd heard you need to have a real computer running and acting as a server.

Right now Battle Map seems to be the best option for an iPad.

I personally have been very attracted to Battle Grounds, as it looks very nice:
Battlegrounds Home

Thing is, nice as it looks, I'm not sure it's offering that much greater functionality over MapTools.

One thing MapTools, Battle Grounds, and Battle Map have in common is a lack of rule-enforcement. They're electronic boards for shuffling stuff around.

On the other hand, Fantasy Grounds for example requires a game definition file (or at least it used to) and is actually offering up options based on that. It looked nice, but horribly kludgy for anything other than straight up D&D, unless you're one of those folks that loves to get really stuck in on the more geeky aspects of these things. Since I personally don't care about doing that sort of thing, I immediately bumped FG off my list and never looked back.

But FG does have a huge amount of popularity, so.... *shrug*.... depends on what you're after I suppose.

 

[Hand of Evil]

ITable top
Inferno
Fantasy Grounds

 

[Jor-El]

While I haven't used any, I have heard good things about Maptool and Fantasy Grounds.

I was able to check out Inferno at Gencon and wasn't too impressed.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Holy crap, d20 Pro only allows TWO guest slots for 30 bucks? What a ripoff. TEN BUCKS for each new guest slots? Wow, are there really any suckers who would pay this? That's crap.

So, I get to shell out 30 bucks as the DM so that my group of seven players can shell out an additional seventy bucks to use the program? Why in hell should I pay to sell this product. I loathe with the power of the sun this sort of pricing pyramid scheme.

You are not reading that right.

The DM version gets two FREE guest slots. You can add more free guest slots as the DM for $10 each, or the player can just buy their own client for $10.

For as many free guest slots as you have with D20 Pro, the player does not need to buy any sort of client.

Cost of D20 Pro for a table of four =$50.

As for why you would want it? Because it's the only VTT software that directly supports Pathfinder, the PFRPG Bestiary and the Advanced Player's Guide?

Fantasy Grounds is also a solid choice. I own them both.

Blah Blah Blah >>Maptool<< : For the most part in life, you get what you pay for. For creating a map? Maptool is handy if somewhat difficult to use software.

But For running a virtual tabletop game? FG and D20 Pro are both superior, imo.

 

[Stoat]

I've been using d20Pro for three or four years now, and I've found it well worth the money. As Steel_Wind notes, the cost is not as great as Hussar seems to think. Cost aside, this is what I like about d20Pro.

1. Stability. Before d20Pro, I used Klooge, and I nearly tore my hair out over it. Klooge regularly crashed, hung up and lagged. I haven't had that problem with d20Pro.

2. Easy to Add Monsters. VTT's I've looked at tend to be pretty heavy on data entry. Again with Klooge, adding a monster to the VTT took a long time and a lot of typing. d20Pro uses a lot of radio buttons and dropdowns to speed up the process. I can literally add a monster on the fly without the Players realizing I'm doing it.

3. Built for D&D. Related to point 2 above, d20Pro was designed for use with 3.X, and can be customized to work with 4E. As a result, it automates a lot of little things (flanking, skills, saving throws, BAB). It's a feature I appreciate.

 

[Matchstick]

I've recently been shown glittercomm and d20pro. Have people used these? Are there any virtual tabletops that other people recommend?

One thing I'd like to see, is one that does NOT force the use of a grid, having circular templates and measuring ranges and distances in straight lines. (instead allowing movement like using a tape measure in warhammer, and cones shaped line cones, instead of cones shaped like cones approximated into squares).

I know these two don't have that. Are there any that do?

Even without that feature. What sort of virtual tabletops do you guys use?

We use Fantasy Grounds and have had an excellent experience with it. My impression has been that Fantasy Grounds and Maptool are the two best choices, and that they each have things they're better at than the other (though I haven't used Maptool). I like Fantasy Grounds because the licensed rulesets are embedded in the program making character sheets interactive. The quickkeys for die rolling are great and the module format and combat tracker help things to move quickly. We actually play faster over the internet than we do in person.

FG has licensed a bunch of rulesets and is working on getting more. Savage Worlds, Rolemaster (can you imagine writing that ruleset?) and Call of Cthulhu are some, and there are more in the works (GUMSHOE). They're also hoping to get a Pathfinder license.

FG is at Fantasy Grounds :: The Virtual Tabletop for Pen & Paper Roleplaying Games. I'm not involved with the company in any way other than as a user.



ENWorld poster "heruca" makes "Battlegrounds" and also has the (IMO) definitive list of VTT options on his site. Here's a link:

Battlegrounds Links

Hope that helps!

 

[Hussar]

You are not reading that right.

The DM version gets two FREE guest slots. You can add more free guest slots as the DM for $10 each, or the player can just buy their own client for $10.

For as many free guest slots as you have with D20 Pro, the player does not need to buy any sort of client.

Cost of D20 Pro for a table of four =$50.

As for why you would want it? Because it's the only VTT software that directly supports Pathfinder, the PFRPG Bestiary and the Advanced Player's Guide?

Fantasy Grounds is also a solid choice. I own them both.

Blah Blah Blah >>Maptool<< : For the most part in life, you get what you pay for. For creating a map? Maptool is handy if somewhat difficult to use software.

But For running a virtual tabletop game? FG and D20 Pro are both superior, imo.

The only problem is, of my group of eight (including myself) we're all GM's. It would actually cost us over two hundred dollars to use this program.

30 bucks for the DM plus 10 more for each player, presuming we don't have two free loaders, is still going to run me close to a hundred for a program that runs Pathfinder. Whoopee. I've played six different RPG's in the past year over Maptools.

No thanks.

Heck, running Maptools with Rumble's framework, you can cut and paste directly from the DDI into a token without entering anything. The framework for running Savage Worlds is a thing of beauty.

I'm just really, really tired of VTT publishers screwing over DM's. Why in hell does the DM have to pay THREE TIMES as much as everyone else? There should be one price and you're done. Shafting GM's is the prime reason I won't ever use pay VTT's.