The thought of switching VTTs is so daunting

[UngainlyTitan]

But weirdly it is a major PITA to get info out of FG.

I do not see what is weird about that. It is not their content, so it is locked down to the confines of the application.
The biggest problem with the one application approach is that the players get these overly complicated over featured applications for their use.
What information do you want out of it?

 

[Reynard]

I do not see what is weird about that. It is not their content, so it is locked down to the confines of the application.
The biggest problem with the one application approach is that the players get these overly complicated over featured applications for their use.
What information do you want out of it?

If you do your prep in FG and make new monsters or items or whatever, the process of getting that info out to be usable elsewhere is a pain if you want to do anything beyond copy/pasting the text.

 

[Iosue]

We are currently in the middle of switching from Roll20 to AboveVTT. Today we played on the new DDB Maps tool just to get used to using the DDB character sheets. Next game will be on AboveVTT and we’re hoping it goes smoothly.

When we first started gaming online in 2015 (I live in Japan, the rest of the group in the US), Roll20 was a godsend. Sure it was a bit clunky, but it was free, and it let us play together. We took a break in 2018 after my daughter was born, but got back into it last year. And since then I’ve been more and more dissatisfied with Roll20. When it got to the point that I was turning off dynamic lighting just to get things to run without so much lag, and their new toolbar went buggy, I thought there has to be a better way.

It certainly was daunting, but I was motivated because I foresee purchasing adventures and eventually even new Core Books, and I did not want to sink any more money into Roll20. But also, purchasing adventures on DDB just made so much more sense, because it would provide me with all the maps and information I'd need to easily set those games up on any of the free and/or simple VTTs. Heck, the DDB Maps tool doesn't need that much more to be entirely satisfying to me. (Really, just a pointer, a ruler, simple drawing tools, and the ability to edit Token names.)

 

[UngainlyTitan]

If you do your prep in FG and make new monsters or items or whatever, the process of getting that info out to be usable elsewhere is a pain if you want to do anything beyond copy/pasting the text.

True that, that is a side effect of their application architecture, everything is stored in encrypted xml. It one of my source of dismay at their development direction. They appear to have spent the last 5 years or so building some highly capable image manipulation software. While a lot of obvious pain points for the average gm seem to go unaddressed.
Now for all I know they have been working away at the guts of the application to make it easier to introduce quality of life improvements in the future but i do not know what they are actually doing.
In fairness to them there have been a number of quality of life improvements over the past year but I have no idea when if ever they intend to address any particular issue.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

We switched from 5e to PF2e and since so many people on the PF2e subreddit swore Foundry was the way to go, we also switched from Roll20 to Foundry. What no one told me on Reddit was the Beginner Box module for PF2e was a pretty good tutorial on running a game in Foundry so it greatly eased the learning curve of switching both game system and VTT at the same time.

I don't do Pf2e, even though I really like the system for that specific game style. But I still must add that the commercial Pf2e adventure path modules for Foundry is the most luxurious and best implemented stuff I've seen. If I ever come into a life situation with zero prep time as a GM, I would run Pf2e on Foundry. Heck, I've been tempted to run Pf2e just because of how good the Foundry implementation is, even though I'm done with d20 fantasy.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

We are currently in the middle of switching from Roll20 to AboveVTT. Today we played on the new DDB Maps tool just to get used to using the DDB character sheets. Next game will be on AboveVTT and we’re hoping it goes smoothly.

When we first started gaming online in 2015 (I live in Japan, the rest of the group in the US), Roll20 was a godsend. Sure it was a bit clunky, but it was free, and it let us play together. We took a break in 2018 after my daughter was born, but got back into it last year. And since then I’ve been more and more dissatisfied with Roll20. When it got to the point that I was turning off dynamic lighting just to get things to run without so much lag, and their new toolbar went buggy, I thought there has to be a better way.

It certainly was daunting, but I was motivated because I foresee purchasing adventures and eventually even new Core Books, and I did not want to sink any more money into Roll20. But also, purchasing adventures on DDB just made so much more sense, because it would provide me with all the maps and information I'd need to easily set those games up on any of the free and/or simple VTTs. Heck, the DDB Maps tool doesn't need that much more to be entirely satisfying to me. (Really, just a pointer, a ruler, simple drawing tools, and the ability to edit Token names.)

I haven't checked in on AboveVTT in quite a while - what's the word on the future in relation to Wizards own VTT?

 

[Deset Gled]

My group had been using Roll20 for a couple years now, and I get the feeling that the longer we stay here the more entrenched we become. I think the thing most likely to make us switch is if the game fell apart and we re-grouped with some different players.

I do foresee a future where groups get more entrenched in a specific platform. I'm just hoping it turns out more like the video game console wars, where people reconsider and switch sides every few years, are willing to play on their friends systems, and where if you learn all the Mortal Kombat moves on Sega Genesis you can transfer them to Super Nintendo with some (but not zero) work. I don't want it to be like the Android/Apple wars, where people buy into an ecosystem too much and never leave it.

 

[Mageman]

I started with roll20. Switched to Fantasy grounds. I was great to switch. I do occasionally play on Foundry now too. It's easy to go back and forth.

 

[Yora]

I bought Foundry recently because it's a single one time payment (something like 50€ for me) for the person who is hosting the game. For the players (and other GMs) it's just like using Roll20.
Being reliant on existing rules modules for games I want to run, and it being much more complicated to run homebrew system is a real downside, but I guess irrelevant for most people.
I've actually forgotten what features it has that Roll20 does not have for free. But it feels nicer.

 

[Corum Jhaelen Irsei]

I've actually forgotten what features it has that Roll20 does not have for free. But it feels nicer.

I'd say that Foundry feels a bit more slick and robust (I do like them both though).