D&D 5E Which Virtual Table Top are you using right now and what do you like best about it?

[chuckdee]

What issue in this gaggle of butt-covering turned you off? It seems fairly standard.

I haven't read it recently, but a lot of it was around transmission and ownership of your data. This was just a PSA to take a look and decide for yourself, but some of the language that was in it when I was taking a look completely turned me off and did not look standard. Someone I told to take a look at it as recently as a couple of months ago found the same thing without me pointing it out, so if you do not see it, perhaps they've changed the verbiage.

 

[LordEntrails]

The Astral agreement hasn't changed since 2018
"This Terms of Service was last updated on March 18, 2018."

 

[chuckdee]

The Astral agreement hasn't changed since 2018
"This Terms of Service was last updated on March 18, 2018."

So presumably it is still there. Again, it was around broadcasting and ownership, and didn't differentiate between their content and your own. Decide for yourself. If you don't see anything problematic, that's fine. It probably won't be an issue in the long term; I doubt they'd enforce. There's just too many options out there for me to deal with anyone that has any possibly non-consumer friendly verbiage in their legalese, and I have no patience for trying to even ask.

 

[darjr]

Mythictable is open source

 

[chuckdee]

Mythictable is open source

I think that was mentioned above as an option. At least, I think this is where I first heard of that and owlbear.rodeo.

 

[Snailpilot]

I use zoom for the video chat and had been using Microsoft Excel on a shared screen for the map and tokens.

But then one of my players told me about Owlbear Rodeo, a new free basic VTT that works like gangbusters for someone like me. Upload a gridded map (or use one of their basic blank ones), use the tokens provided or upload some of your own, cover the map with fog of war, then send your players the web address to load in. They then can move their own tokens around the map.

It is a simple and easy VTT that doesn't bother with adding in all the rules of 5E, it's just for easy mapping. As my players all have their characters on D&D Beyond, the easy map is all we need.

Beyond20 rolls dice on Owlbear.Rodeo ?

 

[Snailpilot]

I use zoom for the video chat and had been using Microsoft Excel on a shared screen for the map and tokens.

But then one of my players told me about Owlbear Rodeo, a new free basic VTT that works like gangbusters for someone like me. Upload a gridded map (or use one of their basic blank ones), use the tokens provided or upload some of your own, cover the map with fog of war, then send your players the web address to load in. They then can move their own tokens around the map.

It is a simple and easy VTT that doesn't bother with adding in all the rules of 5E, it's just for easy mapping. As my players all have their characters on D&D Beyond, the easy map is all we need.

Beyond20 rolls dice on Owlbear.Rodeo ?

 

[DEFCON 1]

Beyond20 rolls dice on Owlbear.Rodeo ?

Dunno about that... we don't use Beyond20. But Owlbear Rodeo does have their own dice roller too, if a group needed an electronic one. Our group though has their character sheets on D&D Beyond and our mapping on Owlbear and they will go back and forth between the two screens (or split screen themselves) as necessary.

But if those in our group want to roll electronic dice, they usually just click on the fields on their D&D Beyond character sheets that do the automatic rolling for them. It's just easier that way because it adds in the modifiers... plus you can right-click the fields if you need to roll with Advantage or Disadvantage.

 

[Blue]

Only one of the online games I'm in right now uses a VTT, and it's Roll20. The thing I like the best about it is ... the DM likes it?

We still use Zoom for audio/video in every game but one (which uses Discord) - not that all of these are D&D. The Discord one is Pulp Call of Cthulhu and we have separate channels for handouts (because it's very sandboxy/non-linear), rolls, characters, random, etc

The D&D games I'm in that don't use Roll20 have been using Google Draw for maps/images. It's really easy to throw upa battlemap, and everyone has a own-colored circle token. Just share an Edit link and everyone can move stuff. The Roll20 DM is a player in my game and tries to get me to use Roll20 for it, but there's a learning curve and as a player I don't see a big bonus between his game and a Google Draw game. Well, built in die roller with character sheet support seems nifty.

 

[TheOneGargoyle]

Yeah, personally I'd be happy with an app that did a decent job with maps, maybe has some simple line of sight and vision tools. If it integrates in with DndBeyond that's a bonus for me.

I don't need animation, I don't need to load monsters or PCs into the system, I'll use DndBeyond or just let people maintain their own character sheets like I do when playing in person. I don't need an online MMO even if that would be kind of cool. Voice and/or video I can get from dedicated apps.

Roll20 is adequate for my needs, but I'd love something simpler and easier to use. Oh well, if wishes were horses and all that.

The two mentioned in this thread were what solidified this for me- you might check out Mythic Table and Owlbear.Rodeo and see if they might work.

Yeah, I keep thinking I need to look again but then keep thinking "any day now we won't have to do remote any more" because hope springs eternal.

But good point, someone had a clarification on how to save maps in owlbear so I've been meaning to go back but laziness strikes again.

For what it's worth, this was me for years but this thread inspired me to action.

So last night I gave Owlbear Rodeo a go with my regular group.... And.... drum roll.... WE LOVED IT!

They all agreed they thought it was brilliant, just what we needed and want to continue using it from here on. Light weight enough to add into our mix without difficulty, features enough to fill gaps we need filling.

It just does 3 things : maps, tokens & dice. And really all we needed was the maps & tokens, but the dice are a nice bonus too.

Honestly, give it a try. It'll take you an hour or less to get the hang of, and just might be the next best thing for your group.