Last night I ran an epic battle from SKT on Fantasy grounds -
Fire Giant attack on Triboar.
4 PCs (1 player had only played about three times before), each with an NPC to control.
2 major "Boss" monsters and about 30 other monsters.
A battlemap the size of the Shire!
It took just under 3 hours to play, but wow! There is no (reasonable) way I could have done that on a tabletop, but FG made it a relative breeze. If I could have stretched the screen over another monitor it would have been even easier. Monster HPs and attacks were all dealt with - click this to hit, then click that to damage. PC's dealt damage to the monsters and I just left them too it, worry more about tactics and stuff. The ranger cast spike growth and was able to pop a 20 ft radius zone on the map. It was amazing!
Sorry for the enthusiasm - but we've never had it so good.
Yes - it is a lot of money, but worth every penny and more to me.
My group uses Tabletop Simulator and have found it amazing.
Not being tied to any, specific game has made it our go-to choice for Virtual Tabletop. We're less worried about automation and just want an actual, virtual table top, where we can play. We can play any of our GURPSgames there, and even my sister's D&D game.
We've tried both Battlegrounds and Roll20 and both were sorely lacking for everything we wanted.
Here's a screenshot from our GURPS Infinite Weirdos game:
I did some research into some of the options available that were suggested. As far as I can tell for VTT apps there's only two that are licensed D&D games that also support other licenses. They are Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. From what I can tell even though both offer free play it's a limited account and you won't be able to really enjoy the full games for D&D. You'll still have to purchase the virtual books to get the most out of the software or play with someone who has a higher tier account (and the books). While you could build your own game, purchasing the licensed campaign modules speeds up the setup time for your campaign. These licensed VTT are not compatible with one another so if you play from on one you'd have to repurchase the licensed books on the other. D&D Beyond purchases are not compatible with either software. Both apps don't appear to use 3D models or animations (I could be wrong). That's pretty much the gist of what I understand for those two apps.
Tabletop Simulation seems to be really flexible. It is supported by the Steam Workshop so there are tons of "free" add-ons you could get to support the game. Some of the purchased models are animated. D&D Beyond is compatible because Tabletop Simulation is exactly like playing on a real tabletop. It's all in 3D and the system requirements aren't very high end. There will be more setup time because there aren't any licensed Wizard of the Coast D&D modules to buy. Tabletop Simulation is 20 dollars on Steam right now (Jan 2019). I think you could also play in VR too, but I'm not entirely sure. Also, I don't know if there's a really good way to do Fog of War in TTS.
You can play in VR in TTS, but I wouldn't suggest running a game through VR. You lose a lot of functionality. They've recently implemented a Fog of War feature, but I haven't figured it out yet. And there are some amazing things in the workshop.
I am a maker and have three, 3d printers, but haven't needed to use them since we went digital. All the skills I developed working with STL files has paid off in spades for TTS. With the built-in software for Windows 10, you can load STL files you like, re-size them, decimate them (down to 50k triangles), export them to OBJs and load them in TTS. It's easier than it sounds after you've done it a few times.
I've made some of my own character models via Daz Studio and loaded them in (after a great deal of work). I've had to teach myself the basics of Unity to get a model Hand of Bobb made that we couldn't decimate down (from 6m triangles) to load. It's very versatile and I've barely scratched the surface.
All that said, the voice chat for TTS is awful (it might be better but . . .). We use Discord.
Not free, but, IMO, the best VTT out there for in person play is Arkenforge.
It only in beta at the moment, but already has more to offer than most of the others combined, and alot more on their roadmap to make it absolutly the best thing out there for VTT.
Fantasy Ground has the features I want, but I completely hate the interface. I own Fantasy Ground, I bought it years ago for use with my Rolemaster campaign, but none of my players liked the interface and neither did I. I considered going back to it when I started into 5E, but after trying it out again, I gave FG up almost as soon as I tried it again.
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Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
Not free, but, IMO, the best VTT out there for in person play is Arkenforge.
It only in beta at the moment, but already has more to offer than most of the others combined, and alot more on their roadmap to make it absolutly the best thing out there for VTT.
I've been following Arkenforge since someone else posted about it. However there is no way, as of yet, to try it out before buying it, so I have taken a wait and see view toqwards the program.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
I did some research into some of the options available that were suggested. As far as I can tell for VTT apps there's only two that are licensed D&D games that also support other licenses. They are Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. From what I can tell even though both offer free play it's a limited account and you won't be able to really enjoy the full games for D&D. You'll still have to purchase the virtual books to get the most out of the software or play with someone who has a higher tier account (and the books). While you could build your own game, purchasing the licensed campaign modules speeds up the setup time for your campaign. These licensed VTT are not compatible with one another so if you play from on one you'd have to repurchase the licensed books on the other. D&D Beyond purchases are not compatible with either software. Both apps don't appear to use 3D models or animations (I could be wrong). That's pretty much the gist of what I understand for those two apps.
Tabletop Simulation seems to be really flexible. It is supported by the Steam Workshop so there are tons of "free" add-ons you could get to support the game. Some of the purchased models are animated. D&D Beyond is compatible because Tabletop Simulation is exactly like playing on a real tabletop. It's all in 3D and the system requirements aren't very high end. There will be more setup time because there aren't any licensed Wizard of the Coast D&D modules to buy. Tabletop Simulation is 20 dollars on Steam right now (Jan 2019). I think you could also play in VR too, but I'm not entirely sure. Also, I don't know if there's a really good way to do Fog of War in TTS.
I can't speak to Fantasy Grounds, but I can to Roll20 - you don't need to have purchased the books or have a full subscription to play with others who do. I pay for the Pro tier subscription and everyone who plays in my campaigns gets access to all the features I have like dynamic lighting and can all see the content I've personally purchased. I can even set up a game and assign DM to someone else and as long as the game itself was started by me, they have access to all my cool toys.
As far as the modules go, yeah, purchasing there can speed up the set-up time a little (I really don't use modules, so can't say too much) - but it's still a lot faster to save the player version of a map from DnDBeyond, import it into roll20, set up with Fog of War (for the free version) or Dynamic Lighting than it is to assemble a set of dungeon tiles, minis, and so on and so forth.
That said, it's really only useful (in my opinion) as a way of playing online with a VTT. If you're playing a home game and just want to display a map on a monitor, there are a lot of better options which are all free- such as MapTools.
After the Reddit fiasco a few months ago, I cancelled my Roll20 account and now refuse to touch it with a 10-foot cattle prod. The serves/website/features aren't bad at all, but to deal with a service whose owner has no respect for "white males'.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
As far as the modules go, yeah, purchasing there can speed up the set-up time a little (I really don't use modules, so can't say too much) - but it's still a lot faster to save the player version of a map from DnDBeyond, import it into roll20, set up with Fog of War (for the free version) or Dynamic Lighting than it is to assemble a set of dungeon tiles, minis, and so on and so forth.
It doesn't take too much time to set up a player version of a map from D&D Beyond in TTS. And, if like me, you have a persistent table you use from session to session, you can already have all the figures you're going to need and can just copy/paste them and put them where you want them. Fog of war, still working on, but, fortunately, my players can firewall that sort of thing.
This is a screen shot of my GM area for TTS as it stands:
If I know there's something I'm going to need, when I'm doing my prep on Saturday, I'll simply load it into my table and have it ready.
ETA: Also, if it wasn't obvious, I've co-opted the Yellow Player's area (our group doesn't have anyone using it) as a staging area as well. Specifically for the RoboMages.
As far as the modules go, yeah, purchasing there can speed up the set-up time a little (I really don't use modules, so can't say too much) - but it's still a lot faster to save the player version of a map from DnDBeyond, import it into roll20, set up with Fog of War (for the free version) or Dynamic Lighting than it is to assemble a set of dungeon tiles, minis, and so on and so forth.
It doesn't take too much time to set up a player version of a map from D&D Beyond in TTS. And, if like me, you have a persistent table you use from session to session, you can already have all the figures you're going to need and can just copy/paste them and put them where you want them. Fog of war, still working on, but, fortunately, my players can firewall that sort of thing.
Heh - I should have specified - I meant tiles and such at an actual physical table. Especially if, like me, you game elsewhere other than your home. Setup time could take quite a while if I cared all that much - I generally use Theater of the Mind when playing real life, though do have an erasable map, tiles (and now 3d printed tiles- I love this thing!), and minis for things like big set pieces. Most of the time, any smaller battle logistics questions are solved using a spare dice rolling tray and spare dice.
I haven't used TTS to be able to compare the experience of that versus Roll20, but my online group tends to get complacent when already familiar with tools (I could never convince them to try out the Syrinscape remote player).
You could possibly use tabletop simulator on steam, but its even clunkier than roll20. On the bright side, you can have 3D models and shit. If you want to use many hours figuring how to insert them. And making maps can be rather frustrating at times. Also it can be more preformence required for your computer. Lastly the game isn't cheap, in addition to the "D&D" community is way smaller than roll20 which is dedicated for it. Im not even sure why im recomending it here in the first place. I would say go for roll20.
Okay, and then there was the moment when I had to chastise two players to "leave Ponch's head alone!" and locked it so they couldn't keep playing with it (it was just a marble, labeled "Ponch's Head").
After the Reddit fiasco a few months ago, I cancelled my Roll20 account and now refuse to touch it with a 10-foot cattle prod. The serves/website/features aren't bad at all, but to deal with a service whose owner has no respect for "white males'.
I am right there with you, but since it is "White Males" we are not allowed to protest and it is not big deal i guess.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I just want to tell everyone "happy gaming" and actually mean it. Whatever your game is, just have fun with it, it is after all, just a game.
I use Roll20 both for dice rolls and for combat maps. I DM long-distance players and we're only rarely able to play together. I find Roll20 can be made to look as nice (okay nicer) than my hand-drawn maps. I use the color fill for the background and place some token environmental effects (trees, room, river, whatever) and each player has control of their own token as well as my control of all tokens. In talking with my players they are interested in more dynamic (my players are all video gamers) maps, but I love that it's basically click and drag for me.
I'm probably just real cheap but I just make a google spreadsheet, make the cells square, and add tokens and color the cells as needed. It's handy cause if you're playing over long distances, you can add everyone to the sheet so they can move their own tokens, you can have multiple sheets in the same documents. Also it's free.
I've tried to use Roll20 and it's just so clunky to me. Most of my games are primarily RP based so to spend hours building up one map was too much. Sheets is really quick.
im really just hoping for DnDbeyond to eventually do their own VTT. im not paying for all the books on here just to go pay for say, out of the abyss again on some other platform to have an online battle map. its bad enough ive already bought source books twice to have them on here, i really dont want to go do it a 3rd time. And if i do, what do i need beyond for? hopefully Bradford and some of the people here at beyond see it this way too and have it on the roadmap down the line. after the encounter builder and what ever else they are working on now, it seems like a logical step to me.
I am not very experienced with roll20. I started to mess with it and it required me to put everything together. Fantasy grounds even though costing more when you do by campaign books they're built in. You can drop everything on the map there's pins already placed so when your characters enter a new area you're able to just click the pin and see what's in there. I simply do not have time to keep working on maps and books every day. Also when using fantasy grounds you do not have to be online when making it into a virtual tabletop for your home game. Which I think roll20 does. There is no storage limit because it's all on your computer. Do you decide what you want to do.
Also when you do by the ultimate it cost $149. People posting above me is showing prices for a year. If you buy the full ultimate there's no other subscriptions other than if you want to buy a book or campaign. I've had the program for five years and they've kept it updated every month. And when I look at the price over 5 years then I've only spent $30 a year.
So if you're new and or don't have money to spend and a lot of time on your hands to build your campaigns. Roll20 is your game. But if you're an old-school DM like me and you know you're going to be playing for years but you have a job and don't have a bunch of time.
Get fantasy grounds.
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Last night I ran an epic battle from SKT on Fantasy grounds -
Fire Giant attack on Triboar.
4 PCs (1 player had only played about three times before), each with an NPC to control.
2 major "Boss" monsters and about 30 other monsters.
A battlemap the size of the Shire!
It took just under 3 hours to play, but wow! There is no (reasonable) way I could have done that on a tabletop, but FG made it a relative breeze. If I could have stretched the screen over another monitor it would have been even easier.
Monster HPs and attacks were all dealt with - click this to hit, then click that to damage. PC's dealt damage to the monsters and I just left them too it, worry more about tactics and stuff.
The ranger cast spike growth and was able to pop a 20 ft radius zone on the map. It was amazing!
Sorry for the enthusiasm - but we've never had it so good.
Yes - it is a lot of money, but worth every penny and more to me.
Roleplaying since Runequest.
My group uses Tabletop Simulator and have found it amazing.
Not being tied to any, specific game has made it our go-to choice for Virtual Tabletop. We're less worried about automation and just want an actual, virtual table top, where we can play. We can play any of our GURPS games there, and even my sister's D&D game.
We've tried both Battlegrounds and Roll20 and both were sorely lacking for everything we wanted.
Here's a screenshot from our GURPS Infinite Weirdos game:
Thanks for all the suggestions in this thread.
I did some research into some of the options available that were suggested. As far as I can tell for VTT apps there's only two that are licensed D&D games that also support other licenses. They are Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. From what I can tell even though both offer free play it's a limited account and you won't be able to really enjoy the full games for D&D. You'll still have to purchase the virtual books to get the most out of the software or play with someone who has a higher tier account (and the books). While you could build your own game, purchasing the licensed campaign modules speeds up the setup time for your campaign. These licensed VTT are not compatible with one another so if you play from on one you'd have to repurchase the licensed books on the other. D&D Beyond purchases are not compatible with either software. Both apps don't appear to use 3D models or animations (I could be wrong). That's pretty much the gist of what I understand for those two apps.
Tabletop Simulation seems to be really flexible. It is supported by the Steam Workshop so there are tons of "free" add-ons you could get to support the game. Some of the purchased models are animated. D&D Beyond is compatible because Tabletop Simulation is exactly like playing on a real tabletop. It's all in 3D and the system requirements aren't very high end. There will be more setup time because there aren't any licensed Wizard of the Coast D&D modules to buy. Tabletop Simulation is 20 dollars on Steam right now (Jan 2019). I think you could also play in VR too, but I'm not entirely sure. Also, I don't know if there's a really good way to do Fog of War in TTS.
You can play in VR in TTS, but I wouldn't suggest running a game through VR. You lose a lot of functionality. They've recently implemented a Fog of War feature, but I haven't figured it out yet. And there are some amazing things in the workshop.
This collection of D&D Miniatures is amazing! (Link to Steam via Web).
I use this table for GURPS and D&D. (Link to Steam via Web).
I am a maker and have three, 3d printers, but haven't needed to use them since we went digital. All the skills I developed working with STL files has paid off in spades for TTS. With the built-in software for Windows 10, you can load STL files you like, re-size them, decimate them (down to 50k triangles), export them to OBJs and load them in TTS. It's easier than it sounds after you've done it a few times.
I've made some of my own character models via Daz Studio and loaded them in (after a great deal of work). I've had to teach myself the basics of Unity to get a model Hand of Bobb made that we couldn't decimate down (from 6m triangles) to load. It's very versatile and I've barely scratched the surface.
All that said, the voice chat for TTS is awful (it might be better but . . .). We use Discord.
Not free, but, IMO, the best VTT out there for in person play is Arkenforge.
It only in beta at the moment, but already has more to offer than most of the others combined, and alot more on their roadmap to make it absolutly the best thing out there for VTT.
Fantasy Ground has the features I want, but I completely hate the interface. I own Fantasy Ground, I bought it years ago for use with my Rolemaster campaign, but none of my players liked the interface and neither did I. I considered going back to it when I started into 5E, but after trying it out again, I gave FG up almost as soon as I tried it again.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
I've been following Arkenforge since someone else posted about it. However there is no way, as of yet, to try it out before buying it, so I have taken a wait and see view toqwards the program.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
I can't speak to Fantasy Grounds, but I can to Roll20 - you don't need to have purchased the books or have a full subscription to play with others who do. I pay for the Pro tier subscription and everyone who plays in my campaigns gets access to all the features I have like dynamic lighting and can all see the content I've personally purchased. I can even set up a game and assign DM to someone else and as long as the game itself was started by me, they have access to all my cool toys.
As far as the modules go, yeah, purchasing there can speed up the set-up time a little (I really don't use modules, so can't say too much) - but it's still a lot faster to save the player version of a map from DnDBeyond, import it into roll20, set up with Fog of War (for the free version) or Dynamic Lighting than it is to assemble a set of dungeon tiles, minis, and so on and so forth.
That said, it's really only useful (in my opinion) as a way of playing online with a VTT. If you're playing a home game and just want to display a map on a monitor, there are a lot of better options which are all free- such as MapTools.
After the Reddit fiasco a few months ago, I cancelled my Roll20 account and now refuse to touch it with a 10-foot cattle prod. The serves/website/features aren't bad at all, but to deal with a service whose owner has no respect for "white males'.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
It doesn't take too much time to set up a player version of a map from D&D Beyond in TTS. And, if like me, you have a persistent table you use from session to session, you can already have all the figures you're going to need and can just copy/paste them and put them where you want them. Fog of war, still working on, but, fortunately, my players can firewall that sort of thing.
This is a screen shot of my GM area for TTS as it stands:
Link to full image
If I know there's something I'm going to need, when I'm doing my prep on Saturday, I'll simply load it into my table and have it ready.
ETA: Also, if it wasn't obvious, I've co-opted the Yellow Player's area (our group doesn't have anyone using it) as a staging area as well. Specifically for the RoboMages.
Heh - I should have specified - I meant tiles and such at an actual physical table. Especially if, like me, you game elsewhere other than your home. Setup time could take quite a while if I cared all that much - I generally use Theater of the Mind when playing real life, though do have an erasable map, tiles (and now 3d printed tiles- I love this thing!), and minis for things like big set pieces. Most of the time, any smaller battle logistics questions are solved using a spare dice rolling tray and spare dice.
I haven't used TTS to be able to compare the experience of that versus Roll20, but my online group tends to get complacent when already familiar with tools (I could never convince them to try out the Syrinscape remote player).
TTS is better (Couldn't quote it )
Completely agree.
Here is our setup for the climax of my Infinite Weirdos game. The 3d Models make is much more interesting over just tokens.
Link to full-size image
Okay, and then there was the moment when I had to chastise two players to "leave Ponch's head alone!" and locked it so they couldn't keep playing with it (it was just a marble, labeled "Ponch's Head").
I am right there with you, but since it is "White Males" we are not allowed to protest and it is not big deal i guess.
I just want to tell everyone "happy gaming" and actually mean it. Whatever your game is, just have fun with it, it is after all, just a game.
I use Roll20 both for dice rolls and for combat maps. I DM long-distance players and we're only rarely able to play together. I find Roll20 can be made to look as nice (okay nicer) than my hand-drawn maps. I use the color fill for the background and place some token environmental effects (trees, room, river, whatever) and each player has control of their own token as well as my control of all tokens. In talking with my players they are interested in more dynamic (my players are all video gamers) maps, but I love that it's basically click and drag for me.
I'm probably just real cheap but I just make a google spreadsheet, make the cells square, and add tokens and color the cells as needed. It's handy cause if you're playing over long distances, you can add everyone to the sheet so they can move their own tokens, you can have multiple sheets in the same documents. Also it's free.
I've tried to use Roll20 and it's just so clunky to me. Most of my games are primarily RP based so to spend hours building up one map was too much. Sheets is really quick.
If you need it, I can homebrew it.
I am currently trying out Tabletopia. Wish me luck!
im really just hoping for DnDbeyond to eventually do their own VTT. im not paying for all the books on here just to go pay for say, out of the abyss again on some other platform to have an online battle map. its bad enough ive already bought source books twice to have them on here, i really dont want to go do it a 3rd time. And if i do, what do i need beyond for? hopefully Bradford and some of the people here at beyond see it this way too and have it on the roadmap down the line. after the encounter builder and what ever else they are working on now, it seems like a logical step to me.
If you check the road map, it is on the long term list. Wish it would be moved to short term or they setup a coop with Fantasy Grounds
I just want to tell everyone "happy gaming" and actually mean it. Whatever your game is, just have fun with it, it is after all, just a game.
I am not very experienced with roll20. I started to mess with it and it required me to put everything together. Fantasy grounds even though costing more when you do by campaign books they're built in. You can drop everything on the map there's pins already placed so when your characters enter a new area you're able to just click the pin and see what's in there. I simply do not have time to keep working on maps and books every day. Also when using fantasy grounds you do not have to be online when making it into a virtual tabletop for your home game. Which I think roll20 does. There is no storage limit because it's all on your computer. Do you decide what you want to do.
Also when you do by the ultimate it cost $149. People posting above me is showing prices for a year. If you buy the full ultimate there's no other subscriptions other than if you want to buy a book or campaign. I've had the program for five years and they've kept it updated every month. And when I look at the price over 5 years then I've only spent $30 a year.
So if you're new and or don't have money to spend and a lot of time on your hands to build your campaigns. Roll20 is your game. But if you're an old-school DM like me and you know you're going to be playing for years but you have a job and don't have a bunch of time.
Get fantasy grounds.