First post here - hey!
A friend and I are currently building a new virtual online tabletop exclusive for DnD 5e. We've talked about it for ages and are finally starting to develop features we really want to see in existing software such as 3D map building, free standard asset packs, and better built-in communications (like Roll20 but exclusive to DnD with most of the premium features like dynamic lighting for free.) The product would be supported by a marketplace where users could buy and sell custom asset packs like character tokens, user stories, tilesets, etc.
I'm sincerely curious about your thoughts on online tabletop gaming. What appeals to you most about the existing online tabletops now? What would you want to see in an ideal virtual online tabletop?
We sincerely appreciate any feedback or interest you might have. We're really excited to build this with and for the DnD community.
https://rollplay.unicornheart.club/
(1) Text-accessible interface: it should be at least
possible to drop a Hypnotic Pattern on a clump of orcs without clicking on a single button. Doesn't have to be natural language-based but it would sure be nice if it were smart enough to know that "cast Hypnotic Pattern" should default to casting it on the largest group of
enemies instead of casting it on one's current location or throwing a "you must specify a target" error.
(2) Ability to smoothly handle extremely large battles. If I say, "You open the door and see 44 zombies come boiling out of it to attack you," I
shouldn't be tempted to drop back to a whiteboard and ToTM in order to handle the battle. The product should make my life easier, not harder. Related to #1.
(3) Automation and machine learning capabilities, e.g. for learning more-effective zombie scripts, or for solving Internet arguments like "I bet a Warlock 10 could beat a Fighter 20" via Monte Carlo sim.
(4) Ability for the DM to prospectively or retroactively modify things by fiat, no matter what the rule engine says. "Actually there are two ogres here." "You're right, Brad, I forgot that you still have that magical boon. The ogre doesn't hit you--that is now a miss."
(5) Related to #2 and #4, should be usable on the fly as well as with pre-planned adventures. "Add ten ogres in random locations throughout the area" should be a thing it can do.
(6) Shareable (via URL) post-combat logs that are able to include non-combat activities, so you can see from the log all the roleplaying activities as well as the pure combat stuff. "Jack looks really mad that the ogre would say such things about Grizella. He snatches up a table leg and hits the ogre with it! 'She's NOT yummy, she's MY FRIEND!'
Jack hits the ogre for 3 points of damage."
(7) Deeply transparent explanations available for why things happened. "Jack hits the ogre for 3 points of damage" is just a summary which can be drilled down to a full explanation of what the ogre's AC was, what Jack rolled, whether Jack used any resources like Superiority Dice on the attack, why he did or didn't use Superiority Dice if he had them, what dice were used for rolling Jack's damage, what features caused those dice to be selected, etc.
(8) Good path-finding for AI-controlled creatures. Doesn't have to be perfect but should look like something a real creature would do.
(9) Partial information capabilities. E.g. it should be possible to use this tool to automatically track the movement of ten off-screen ogres moving around through the dungeon while the players are examining the cooking pots in another. Then when four ogres suddenly show up all at once, it should be possible (after the fact) to show the players that the ogres were there all along, and that they were just attracted by the noise when the PCs started banging pots together. This allows you to play Kriegspiel-like scenarios without the players having to feel like the DM might be handwaving unfairly or cheating, because they get to audit the game afterwards.
Partial information scenarios, 3D (e.g. a fort with hanging bridges that let you go over things and tunnels that let you go under them), and large battles are some of the real killer apps for virtual tabletop software, because you can't really do them easily at a real tabletop.
I don't really expect you to create a VTT that has all these capabilities, but as I've been working on my own little hobby project these are some of the design requirements I've come up with for a useful 5E software tool. And if you
do happen to have any of these capabilities I would definitely like to know about it. I see you support at least some AI PCs but from the web page I can't tell what the experience is like.
