D&D General My experience with popular D&D VTT tools

[TheSword]

I find it surprising to see Roll20 described as having a low barrier to entry - I’ve twice spent significant time trying to use it and given up in frustration.

Drag and drop

 

[Mistwell]

Very good reviews of the two systems I’ve used extensively (Roll20 and Foundry). I won’t comment on the systems I’ve not used.

I kinda feel that Roll20 is the way in if you play D&D and then Foundry is the system once you familiarize yourself with VTT.

[Unless you play WFRP, in which case just go straight to Foundry because of the support]

I am wondering if, for DNDBeyond existing users who have their character sheet there already, whether Maps will become the way in if you play D&D. I am hoping it's more intuitive and things are more built-in for D&D.

 

[Emerikol]

I just want a map, tokens, and a good die roller. I don't want to automate my game or character sheets. What should I use?

 

[el-remmen]

I just want a map, tokens, and a good die roller. I don't want to automate my game or character sheets. What should I use?

Owlbear Rodeo

 

[Emerikol]

Owlbear Rodeo

The reviewer specifically said Owlbear Rodeo does not have a die roller.

 

[el-remmen]

The reviewer specifically said Owlbear Rodeo does not have a die roller.

Must be some kind of free add-on because I use an OBR die roller.

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

Because I have to be old school and contrary.

Maptools​

What it does well:

• It doesn't cost you a single dime. Ever. Nor an asinine subscription. This is especially important in a world where every damn battlemap now is a patreon subscription because capitalism has all but killed people actually making things because they actually want to anymore.
• Module ecosystem is actually incredible - you can actually customize almost anything about the interface and functionality, more so than any other "modern" VTT.
• Automation can essentially do everything "modern" VTTs can do, with the except of unneeded sound effects or unnecessary animations, presuming you have the appropriate macros (see cons).
• Performance is noticeably better than literally any modern VTT, especially with large battle maps.
• You're neither limited to one game system to play, nor required to use the absolute subscription scam that is DnD Beyond.

The downsides:

• Learning curve for DMs is significant. If you want all the modern bells and whistles, you are going to have to learn how to script, or find macros online via their forums or discord.
• The networking functions are finicky and annoying to troubleshoot. Expect to be spending at least an hour setting the damn thing up.
• No one will have ever heard of your map program despite it being around for nearly 20 years and still being objectively the best actually free VTT out there, especially if you actually play the game on an actual tabletop in person rather than online.

 

[Moving Pictures]

I think Owlbear Rodeo is perfect for groups that still prefer playing paper and pencil style but have to use the internet to play because of time or distance.

The two online games I am involved in still use paper character sheets.

Or in my case, are in person but there's a need for displaying long dungeon-crawl maps to the group.

 

[Kichwas]

For me the recommendations would be Foundry or Owlbear.

Do you want a powerful engine you can heavily customize but might have to turn half of it off, but for which “there’s a mod for that” is the answer to most if your unmet needs?

Or do you want a chat box, a pretty picture to set the mood, and some dice on the screen?

Anywhere in between is probably best met by just drifting towards one of those two.

With Foundry you can be sure that 90% of your mods will break once a year when they do a major version bump. Before v13 however you could rely on the UI being pretty consistent so a version bump would just mean losing some toys on the edges until mods updated.

V13 showed they were willing to just throw anything and everything you were used to out the window and make forced UI changes to make things harder to find, often hidden, and mostly transparent… and just let user “deal with it.”

I shudder at how far they will screw us over next year.

UI changes belong in mods, not the core app. But that’s not how they see it anymore.

So who knows if Foundry will remain the best option for configurable VTTs. With V13 their big advantage dropped to being only “no one is bothering to even try to compete in this space”, which simply means that a healthy mod community in any other VTT could end their advantage.

 

[CleverNickName]

My gaming group has been using Roll20 for 5 years and counting, ever since the pandemic lockdowns began. We dabbled a bit with FantasyGrounds and Foundary during the lockdowns also, but we bounced off of them.

FantasyGrounds was too frustrating to get running on all of our different computer platforms, and getting them all to connect with the different TCP/IP protocols. Some folks in my group used Windows, some used Apple, one guy used Chromebooks, and cross-platform support wasn't really a thing back then. Maybe it's gotten better in the 5 years since?

Foundry was the fastest, but it had a limited library at the time, and required someone to set up a dedicated web server (which nobody in our group wanted to do). It also meant that nobody could work on their character sheets offline between games unless the owner of the host computer kept their computer running and connected at all hours.

Roll20 was the most expensive ($90/year for the Pro subscription), plus the cost of modules and games. There are deals on DriveThruRPG and Humble Bundles, but even so, cost has always been our biggest issue. I won't sugar-coat it: Roll20 is a money pit, with tons of microtransactions. Even so, it's been the best fit for my group. We haven't experienced any of the stability issues that others in this thread have described--but we don't play with Dynamic Lighting or animated maps enabled, we don't use the built-in jukebox, and we don't use the built-in webcam/microphone (we use MS Teams for that). I suspect people who are having bandwidth or stability issues are trying to do All The Things, on a computer that doesn't meet the (hefty) system requirements, and/or with an improperly-configured browser.

We use Roll20 for D&D 5E mostly, and Call of Cthulhu semi-regularly, and also for the occasional game of B/X D&D. And thanks to some Kickstarters and Humble Bundles I've funded over the years, we have used Roll20 for games of Coytote and Crow, Daggerheart, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, and Cypher games like Old Gods of Appalachia RPG and Magnus Archives RPG.