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Message: <blockquote data-quote="snikle" data-source="post: 3315007" data-attributes="member: 46532">Hello all, I am one of the guys behind the upcoming <a href="http://iconvention.org/" target="_blank">iConvention (or iCon)</a> mentioned a few times and this is exactly the reason we decided to run the convention. Information. Check out the website, the convention is entirely FREE and almost all the VGTs will have demonstrations and free demos that you can download and try.One of the main things I see here is the confusion of where VGTs (or VTTs) are today. Everyone keeps bringing up NWN (2) and OpenRPG. Neither is a good example. NWN is not a VGT. OpenRPG is a VGT that has not been in development for a good long time (not to be confused with the still very much in development Open RPG+). If you think this is the best the VGT community has to offer, you are truly doing a disservice to yourself, especially if you are a typical gamer with a busy life like allot of us. Many of us began looking into VGTs because we were unable to continue to game like we did when we were in high school. Do I think VGTs are as good as F2F gaming, yes. Period. In some respects I think they are better, all of the social comments I do not think are valid. I probably know 400 times more gamers because of my involvement with VGTs, I talk to them allot more than I used to talk to my old gamer buds, I know about their lives, wives, kids, likes and dislikes, etc. I do not believe anything socially is lost by getting together around a virtual table as compared to a real table. The 'note passing', jokes and side comments from the real table are all still there in the form of OOC chats, the whispers, IMs, emails, etc. Maps are simply better than the old graph paper. Unless you purchase the battle tiles and spend a fortune printing them all out, there is simply no way the maps at a real table can compare to those being used daily in the VGTs...none. Many people are even using these VGTs AT REAL TABLES using projectors so they can take advantage of all the features they offer. One VGT, d20Pro is even building in spell effects using the SRD, so area effect spell effects happen automatically when a play casts them, no more calculating out area of effect, duration and all that mumbo jumbo. Talk about making the GMs life easier! If you need one that has a feeling of being around a actual table, try Fantasy Grounds, the developers have gone to extreme lengths to make it appear you are at a real table. Want one that epitomizes mapmaking and GMing on the fly? Try out Maptool, for a free and open source application, it simply one of the best VGTs out there.I have ran games online going back about 8 years now, starting out on ICQ and IRC, then later moving to full fledged VGTs like Fantasy Grounds and MapTool. These programs out today are simply amazing, some of the things you can do with them, I would even venture to say that in terms of game functionality some even take the RPG to a new level with things like interactive Fog of War and calculating character sheets. Now allot can be said for getting around a table and fighting over the last piece of pizza, doing physical jokes, and yes, even I would still like to get around a table now and then, but would I give up VGTs (and the literally hundreds of players I have met from around the world) for that? Not in a million years. I also think the comment about WotC getting involved is dead on, I expect to see and official D&D VGT here in the next two years and for WotC to release their products digitally for their VGT, producing 500 copies of a product digitally is allot cheaper (read: profit creating) than printing 500 books...I think you all need to get used to it. ;-)</blockquote>

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