I may be in the minority, but the thing that has me the most excited about the announcement on August 18 was the D&D Digital VTT. Creating this VTT with the Unreal Engine for a 3D environment is really cool, and has already started my wish list of features going. I am throwing the top few things I would love to see, regardless of whether they would be practical for most players or DMs to enjoy--the absolute best system, of course, would be able to accommodate varying degrees of detail and complexity to allow the widest range of access for players and DMs.
A bit about my VTT experience: I downloaded Roll20 in 2013 and piddled around with for a long time before actually getting a paid subscription and beginning to run campaigns of my own in 2018. I have looked at the other VTTs, but I like the Roll20 solution for several reasons: 1) system agnostic--it supports everything from Fate and Call of Cthulu to Pathfinder and D&D 5e; 2) cloud storage and connection--you don't need to have your players logged into a server you own or into your own computer, and if your PC dies, when you get a new one and reconnect all your stuff is there and doesn't need to be transferred or reloaded. Of course being a browser-based system has limitations such as the priority given the processor and the amount of memory dedicated to it, and fixing that means making everyone tweak their own computer settings, which is not ideal. So it's not perfect. But I like it better than the other options for the security and flexibility it offers.
So if I could order a VTT to my specifications, here is what it would do:
Provide APIs for 3rd Party Content. Have a "build your own" system where I could do everything from importing customized graphical environments and structures and monster models to writing customized rules for calculating die rolls to building customized character sheets to make everything accessible and clickable for the players. I have high hopes this will be a feature from the beginning for two reasons. One--the Unreal Engine is one of the most popular and most robust game engines out there, and tons of modders already know it, use it, and love it. Two--the advent of the DMs Guild a few years ago showed us that WotC encourages 3rd party content to be created and shared and used in their games. Roll20 has an enormous library of macros, options, and plug-ins that can be accessed from within the system or downloaded from repositories like Github and easily imported. Hopefully, the new VTT will incorporate a similar philosophy. If the platform is flexible enough, other game companies or fans of other systems could leverage the Wizards VTT to build 3D environments for Fate, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulu, and any other TTRPG system that you might want to play on a VTT.
Use Cloud Storage. Don't make me keep all my crap stored on my own hard drive and don't make me pay for a host to keep all my game data on a 3rd party platform. Store all my stuff for my games in the VTT, and let it be there when my current computer dies or becomes obsolete and I have to replace it. Obviously, I keep all my own backups on a separate cloud or an external HDD for safekeeping, but I don't want to have to reload everything after I have to change or upgrade my own computer.
Put Processing Power in the VTT. This is one of my gripes with Roll20. Some of the effects (like dynamic lighting) are nearly unusable when you have a large number of PCs and NPCs on the map, because the VTT wants your processor to render all the shading and lines of sight (and do that with the limitations of the memory assigned to the browser window, thanks). Give me an option where I can pay a premium subscription and have the VTT do all that processing for me and just show me the results. I think my players would be willing to pay a small fee every month to help me cover the cost of a subscription if it means we could all have smoother graphics and more immersive gameplay.
Let the DM Control View Options/Give multiple Camera Views per player. Let me set (scene by scene, map by map, or on the fly) restrictions for what camera angles my players can use. When they go into a new area, let me force them to view through the POV of their own character at first, so they can see only what their character sees. Have that include things like the passive perception score, darkvision, and other special sensory abilities, and render what they see accordingly. For example, when they enter a dark area where a monster is waiting to ambush them, let my stealth roll for the monster and their passive perception or active perception check results determine who the monster remains hidden from and who might detect its presence. Also in battle, let the character check the actual POV of their character to see if they have line of sight for a spell effect or a ranged attack instead of debating "well, I can see a corner of that square, does that mean I can see the target?" That would also go for me as DM determining if a monster can see a specific PC to target it with a spell or ranged attack.
Support Streaming Views. A limitation of Roll20 means I have to run 2 computers when I stream my D&D sessions. I want the stream to see a generic "player view" (not see the GM layer reveals) so I have to put that up on a second machine and stream from there while controlling the game from my DM computer. This causes some problems--if I don't regularly "ping reset" the center view, sometimes our exploration or battles drift out of the frame the stream computer is viewing on a large map. Let me designate a "streaming view" so that the view resets to the active token or character, especially in combat. And maybe have the VTT be smart enough to automatically zoom/pan to follow when the entire group of tokens moves closer to the edge of the viewed area. If I could simply have that as a background view and not require a separate computer to show it, then I wouldn't need to have a complicated setup to stream/record my game sessions.
Those are the Top 5 things on my wishlist. Like I said, I don't really care how practical they are; I just want them as options in a "perfect" VTT solution. What are some of the things you would want to see in a new VTT? What are features you love from the VTT you currently use or wish the one you use now would do better?
Quote from Gallibond>>Put Processing Power in the VTT. This is one of my gripes with Roll20. Some of the effects (like dynamic lighting) are nearly unusable when you have a large number of PCs and NPCs on the map, because the VTT wants your processor to render all the shading and lines of sight (and do that with the limitations of the memory assigned to the browser window, thanks). Give me an option where I can pay a premium subscription and have the VTT do all that processing for me and just show me the results. I think my players would be willing to pay a small fee every month to help me cover the cost of a subscription if it means we could all have smoother graphics and more immersive gameplay.
Dude, it's so bad!
I agree on all counts; if you're paying for premium, the platform should do the heavy lifting .
I would add that having an option to import your Hero Forge minis would be great, regardless if they have an in-house mini builder
I think 3d is probably a bad idea. Even the 2d systems out there are too cumbersome when trying to respond to where they players want to go as opposed to what I’ve prepped.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I may be in the minority, but the thing that has me the most excited about the announcement on August 18 was the D&D Digital VTT. Creating this VTT with the Unreal Engine for a 3D environment is really cool, and has already started my wish list of features going. I am throwing the top few things I would love to see, regardless of whether they would be practical for most players or DMs to enjoy--the absolute best system, of course, would be able to accommodate varying degrees of detail and complexity to allow the widest range of access for players and DMs.
A bit about my VTT experience: I downloaded Roll20 in 2013 and piddled around with for a long time before actually getting a paid subscription and beginning to run campaigns of my own in 2018. I have looked at the other VTTs, but I like the Roll20 solution for several reasons: 1) system agnostic--it supports everything from Fate and Call of Cthulu to Pathfinder and D&D 5e; 2) cloud storage and connection--you don't need to have your players logged into a server you own or into your own computer, and if your PC dies, when you get a new one and reconnect all your stuff is there and doesn't need to be transferred or reloaded. Of course being a browser-based system has limitations such as the priority given the processor and the amount of memory dedicated to it, and fixing that means making everyone tweak their own computer settings, which is not ideal. So it's not perfect. But I like it better than the other options for the security and flexibility it offers.
So if I could order a VTT to my specifications, here is what it would do:
Those are the Top 5 things on my wishlist. Like I said, I don't really care how practical they are; I just want them as options in a "perfect" VTT solution. What are some of the things you would want to see in a new VTT? What are features you love from the VTT you currently use or wish the one you use now would do better?
Dude, it's so bad!
I agree on all counts; if you're paying for premium, the platform should do the heavy lifting .
I would add that having an option to import your Hero Forge minis would be great, regardless if they have an in-house mini builder
I think 3d is probably a bad idea. Even the 2d systems out there are too cumbersome when trying to respond to where they players want to go as opposed to what I’ve prepped.