D&D 5E VTT, Looking for Advice

[Michael Hebert]

I am looking into getting one of the many VTT. Not sure which one. looking at Fantasy Grounds, D20Pro Roll20, Infinitas, Mapforge, any others.
Looking for ease of use.
something that will add value for my players.
Currently we play 5E, 3.5E, sometimes FASERIP, Just tried savage worlds and new star trek, plan on trying starfinder.

Looking for suggestions with reasons why one or the other the best to use VTT?

Thanks for help

 

[Satyrn]

From everything I understand, I'd go with Roll20.

It's cheaper than Fantasy Grounds. Infintas is just terrible. Mapsforge looks like the internal workings of map programs. I know nothing about D20Pro.

So I'd go with Roll20, while giving D20Pro's free trial a shot at the same time. (And Fantasy Grounds a shot too if there's a free trial.).

 

[Shiroiken]

I've only looked into Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. If you are willing to spend money (mostly an upfront investment), Fantasy Grounds is really good. Roll20 is Free, which IMO is the best feature. Both have a learning curve, but both also have teaching videos to help get you started (I suggest the Roll20 Master Series on YouTube).

 

[Satyrn]

Ah, just found the mapforge you meant. It's not what you're looking for. It's just a program for making (really nice looking) maps. It isn't a VTT. Infinitas isn't either.


So still the best advice I can give is this: Roll20 is free, so start with that. Then trial D20pro and Fantasy Grounds and pick your poison.

 

[NotRussellCrowe]

Fantasy Grounds has all the published 5e content available. You don't have to buy it to use it, you can always enter everything yourself but it saves a lot of time entering data and scanning in images/maps.

There is also a lot of Savage Worlds content in Fantasy Grounds that you can buy. You have to buy the rule set but after ward should be able to enter everything you need if you already have the books/PDFs.

Pathfinder is coming (you said 3.5 so not sure if that's strictly D&D or also includes PF). Not sure if Starfinder is coming though. For most other games you can use use the MoreCore rule set that includes lots of dice rollers. I'm not sure if there are specific Star Trek rolls but the rule set has Conan rolls, both of which are 2d20 so hopefully that would work. MoreCore is free, you just have to download it yourself off the forums.

The Standard license for Fantasy Grounds is currently on sale and will be for the rest of the weekend, and there's a 4-for-3 deal on Steam. To keep costs down you could get a subscription to an Ultimate license which would allow anyone else to connect to the DM for free.

Happy gaming!

 

[Mistwell]

I am looking into getting one of the many VTT. Not sure which one. looking at Fantasy Grounds, D20Pro Roll20, Infinitas, Mapforge, any others.
Looking for ease of use.
something that will add value for my players.
Currently we play 5E, 3.5E, sometimes FASERIP, Just tried savage worlds and new star trek, plan on trying starfinder.

Looking for suggestions with reasons why one or the other the best to use VTT?

Thanks for help

I would say given the high levels of support, either Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds are your best choices. The others are not bad, but they're all falling behind at this point based on sheer money that both Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds are able to generate and put back into the game platforms. And both those platforms carry official licensed material for D&D.

Aside from that, I would try both of those platforms (Roll20 and FG) before deciding. They're both good. I personally prefer Roll20 but there is nothing wrong with FG.

 

[MNblockhead]

I've looked into Fantasy Grounds, Roll20, and D20Pro.

I ended up not going with any VTT as I play in-person games and the extra work to prep a home-brewed game was just too much. If I were playing an AP and playing on-line, however, then using one of the major VTTs would be a no brainer.

If I were to go with a VTT, I would go with Fantasy Grounds, because—in addition to on-play support—it works offline and can be used for creating digital battlemaps with a display lain flat on a table. I've seen DMs do this at games stores and conventions. It makes it easy to set up a map at the correct scale. In addition is offers excellent combat management, automatically tracking conditions and calculating bonuses, etc. Further, if your budget allows, you can buy the official 5e content optimized for use in FG. You could easily forgo the paper books and run an AP 100% in FG (except that I don't know how easy or pleasant it would be to read through all the content ahead of time).

There does seem to be a high learning curve with FG, but I have a number of experience GM friends who us FG, so I have community support that would help me over the learning curve.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I don't use VTTs for either in-person or online games. I find them to be too clunky, such that they hinder the experience rather than help it.

Around a table I find it's easier to just use a dry-erase mat.

I also started an online-only D&D group over a year ago. We started a private Google+ group for each campaign and the DM starts new "topics" for each scene. We roll in a group Google Hangout using the dice roller that's built into it. Quest notes are kept in a Google Doc and treasure/money in a Google Sheet.

 

[LordEntrails]

I am looking into getting one of the many VTT. Not sure which one. looking at Fantasy Grounds, D20Pro Roll20, Infinitas, Mapforge, any others....

Mapforge (as mentioned) is not a VTT, but BattleGrounds from the same developer is.

See this post for my suggestions on what you should consider; http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...page2&p=7176518&highlight=fantasy#post7176518

Here's another post where I link to some comparisons; http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...page3&p=7166998&highlight=fantasy#post7166998

Also, you can search the forums here, including the product reviews section to get other opinions and links to more references. http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=386930
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?386960-Roll20