Legal Eagle has entered the chat, about OGL 1.1

[Staffan]

We use Roll20. Put the whole map on the screen and cover whatever the PCs can't see. As they move reveal the new areas of the map. It's not hard. It's not perfect but it works.

It's the insistence that the VTT be a simulation that's the problem...and what drives players towards "needing" a 3D VTT. Do you spend the extra time in meatspace games to get a mobile light source that shows through windows and doors? That only and exactly shows what the PCs' light source would reveal? I'm guessing no. Or do you just reveal the whole next room by pulling back the cloth or whatever you have covering the map? I'm guessing that's what you do.

So the "extra" work you're complaining about and dreaming a 3D VTT would solve is a problem entirely of your own making. You've created the problem and want the machine to solve it for you. Why do that? You can run it in the same way you likely run meatspace games. Just because the VTT can do something fancy doesn't mean you have to use it. All that extra work for so little gain.

In a meatspace game, I usually only draw the relevant parts of the map once combat starts. And drawing by hand on dungeon tiles is much easier than drawing using the computer, at least when using a mouse. If I were to draw battlemaps by mouse at run-time, that would be a massive pain both for me and my players.

 

[overgeeked]

No one "needs" it. No one needs minis or battle mats. The game can be played purely "theater of the mind." It can be played by postal mail.

Lots of people (including me and my group) like it, which is why VTTs have been successful and the space is a significant opportunity for Wizards. I completely understand why it doesn't do anything for you. I just don't understand why you can't seem to stop universalizing your preferences.

You're misunderstanding what I'm saying. I like VTTs. They let me play safely with my friends and family. I'm not universalizing my preferences. I'm pushing back against the idea of a 3D VTT that's half-a-step away from a video game and removes the need to imagine things in the fiction of the game. You are taking that and deciding what I really mean is all VTTs are garbage. That's not what I'm saying. This is maybe the third or fourth time I've had to say that to you specifically. So, tschüss.

 

[overgeeked]

In a meatspace game, I usually only draw the relevant parts of the map once combat starts. And drawing by hand on dungeon tiles is much easier than drawing using the computer, at least when using a mouse. If I were to draw battlemaps by mouse at run-time, that would be a massive pain both for me and my players.

Yeah. I'm the same. I use a double-sided dry-erase roll-up mat and markers. Generic tokens that are numbered and color coded for PCs and baddies. Finding a free battle map and dropping it in is great. Obscure the whole thing and only reveal what the PCs see by room. Drawing is easy enough on Roll20 but it's time consuming.

So why is dynamic lighting a thing to spend time futzing with? Why does it matter if the door opens with a click or if you have to fiddle with layers, etc?

 

[Greg Benage]

So why is dynamic lighting a thing to spend time futzing with? Why does it matter if the door opens with a click or if you have to fiddle with layers, etc?

It doesn't. You're right. Everyone who likes those features has a wrong opinion.

 

[Reynard]

I really, really just want a VTT white board so I can run the game just like I do at the table with tactiles. If they can give me tokens that look like dice and M&Ms, even better.

 

[Clint_L]

It doesn't. You're right. Everyone who likes those features has a wrong opinion.

I spend a lot of time and money making sure I have both physical terrain with opening doors and LED lighting, so I can only imagine how wrong my preferences are. I feel shame for being so wrong about the way I like playing the game.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

We use Roll20. Put the whole map on the screen and cover whatever the PCs can't see. As they move reveal the new areas of the map. It's not hard. It's not perfect but it works.

We use roll20 and have been hit or miss on dynamic lighting...

I default to saying "If we were at a real table i would have the map out, so I'll just trust you"

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I really, really just want a VTT white board so I can run the game just like I do at the table with tactiles. If they can give me tokens that look like dice and M&Ms, even better.

but I can't eat your mini then...

 

[Reynard]

but I can't eat your mini then...

The edible* ones are always the monsters.

EDIT for clarity: but not like actual edibles.

 

[mhd]

I really, really just want a VTT white board so I can run the game just like I do at the table with tactiles. If they can give me tokens that look like dice and M&Ms, even better.

I'm just waiting for someone to either release a dedicated skeuomorphic VTT or just enough graphical assets to do that with existing ones.

Just like something that goes all out for pixel art and JRPG-ish aesthehtics (no, not talking about Shmeppy).