So far, there are no plans that I have heard in which non-DDI members will be permitted to use the VT.
I Did a Little Experiment and I'm Impressed.
So far, there are no plans that I have heard in which non-DDI members will be permitted to use the VT.
Kind of kills the idea for many groups, I'd think....That means a group of 5 players and a DM are paying how much a month to play? That's a huge investment for some people.
Hussar
Legend
Well, I suppose it would be 40 ish dollars a month to play. But, then again, I doubt that any face to face group would ever be interested in a VTT game anyway. VTT play is for people who don't have groups at the time when they want to play (for whatever reason - geography, schedule, cat piss smell...) and are looking for another option.
I doubt most existing groups, as they play right now, would need any sort of VTT. However, I could see something like Living Campaign players getting on a VTT system very quickly.
That all being said, I continued my comparison last night and did up A 1 Stuck in the Mud for Maptools. Timewise it turned out pretty much the same.
BUT
There is a big caveat here. I've used Maptools for a long time and I'm very familiar with it. I am using Deviant Null's framework and an additional framework that lets me import monsters directly from the DDI with a simple cut and paste. However, as I said, I'm pretty familiar with Maptools, so I can do all of this.
Someone just off the street would never be able to do what I just did without investing a heck of a lot of time climbing the wall of learning required for Maptools. Someone who is new to VTT's would be able to sit down at the DDI VTT and get right to it and probably be as fast as I am creating an adventure.
That's a very, very big advantage for the DDI. Additionally, I noticed that the later Chaos Scar adventures all use tiles for their maps. Which means that recreating the maps in the DDI VTT would be very, very quick and easy. If the maps in the adventure match the tiles in the VTT, you could read the module and create it in the VTT pretty much at the same time. You should be able to be completly prep and be ready to run one of the Chaos Scar adventures in about 15 minutes.
That's pretty sweet.
But, for an advanced user, the DDI is a pretty pale shadow to what you can already do with free options.
I doubt most existing groups, as they play right now, would need any sort of VTT. However, I could see something like Living Campaign players getting on a VTT system very quickly.
That all being said, I continued my comparison last night and did up A 1 Stuck in the Mud for Maptools. Timewise it turned out pretty much the same.
BUT
There is a big caveat here. I've used Maptools for a long time and I'm very familiar with it. I am using Deviant Null's framework and an additional framework that lets me import monsters directly from the DDI with a simple cut and paste. However, as I said, I'm pretty familiar with Maptools, so I can do all of this.
Someone just off the street would never be able to do what I just did without investing a heck of a lot of time climbing the wall of learning required for Maptools. Someone who is new to VTT's would be able to sit down at the DDI VTT and get right to it and probably be as fast as I am creating an adventure.
That's a very, very big advantage for the DDI. Additionally, I noticed that the later Chaos Scar adventures all use tiles for their maps. Which means that recreating the maps in the DDI VTT would be very, very quick and easy. If the maps in the adventure match the tiles in the VTT, you could read the module and create it in the VTT pretty much at the same time. You should be able to be completly prep and be ready to run one of the Chaos Scar adventures in about 15 minutes.
That's pretty sweet.
But, for an advanced user, the DDI is a pretty pale shadow to what you can already do with free options.
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