D&D 5E Virtual Tabletop Support

pragma · Post by **pragma** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:34 pm

http://www.polygon.com/2015/4/22/847047 ... sy-grounds

Abandoning the Morningstar crowd seems to have paid off for WOTC. I don't use virtual table tops, so I have no idea whether the software here is any good. But I'm impressed that they've released anything after a long history of dicey IT.

hogarth · Post by **hogarth** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:35 pm

My understanding is that Fantasy Grounds is fine, but it is not any better than free rgras like Maptools.

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:09 pm

Naturally they pick *the* most expensive option of them all.

Want to run a game? 40 bucks. Want to play a game? Fuck you it's the same license. 5 people will cost 200 bucks.

UNLESS.

One player buys the engine and then magnanimously spends *another* 120 dollars to upgrade to "ultimate" edition, wherein players can play for free.

Then the core class pack costs you another 50 bucks and the monster pack is another 50 bucks.

As I said, *the* most expensive virtual tabletop experience out there that I'm aware of.

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 12:24 pm

This looked pretty good but never tried either. Has anyone used it?

http://roll20.net/

mlangsdorf · Post by **mlangsdorf** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 1:15 pm

I've used roll20.net a couple of times as have some of my friends. The interface can be a litttle annoying, in that a wrong click can undo a great deal of work. It's also a little clunky if you're coming from MapTools. Still, we could play the game and stuff.

Supposedly, roll20.net is friendlier to new users that MapTools is, but it doesn't quite have MapTools flexibility and power once you learn to use MapTools. On the other hand, roll20.net uses a sane scripting language, and MapTools doesn't, so there are things you can do in roll20.net if you're a programmer that you can't do in MapTools.

I think for most hobbyists, the important point is that MapTools and roll20.net are free, and Fantasy Grounds is expensive and not that much better.

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 4:41 pm

Roll20 does have a subscription for it, but if memory serves you only need the sub if you're a power user and want to dev content. It's also way cheaper. I think you could play Roll20 for like 5 years as a subscriber before you hit the entry cost point for fantasy grounds.

Roll20 isn't bad. My friend kickstarted it and got a lifetime sub.

Insomniac · Post by **Insomniac** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 7:19 pm

TheFlatline wrote:Naturally they pick *the* most expensive option of them all.

Want to run a game? 40 bucks. Want to play a game? Fuck you it's the same license. 5 people will cost 200 bucks.

UNLESS.

One player buys the engine and then magnanimously spends *another* 120 dollars to upgrade to "ultimate" edition, wherein players can play for free.

Then the core class pack costs you another 50 bucks and the monster pack is another 50 bucks.

As I said, *the* most expensive virtual tabletop experience out there that I'm aware of.

Holy mackerel, what a bilk-job.

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 8:15 pm

Individual classes cost between 5 and 7 bucks. They're all represented in the 50 dollar pack but yeah they monetize the living *shit* out of 5e.

Eikre · Post by **Eikre** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 8:59 pm

I played a few sessions in a pirated version of FG some time ago.

I crafted about thirty different portraits of the same character with different facial expressions and kept switching them out during dialogue and whenever he got owned in combat or w/e.

Literally can't remember anything else besides the simulated rolling dice.

Dogbert · Post by **Dogbert** » Sat Apr 25, 2015 1:41 am

Fantasy Grounds is a PS 3 while Roll20 is Steam.

The PS 3, in words from Sony's people, marketed itself as "the Mercedes Benz of consoles" back in the day (which might explain why just as few people ponied up the console's price while everyone else settled for 360's Honda).

It probably works for all apologists of overpriced RPG books out there, but I don't happen to be one of them. My current table supports Roll20, but other than that, I still firmly believe that roleplaying is meant to be a cheap hobby.

hogarth · Post by **hogarth** » Sat Apr 25, 2015 1:45 am

ckafrica wrote:This looked pretty good but never tried either. Has anyone used it?

http://roll20.net/

It's okay, too. I like Maptools better, but YMMV. I've also used a (free) program called TTopRPG which also worked fine.

Stubbazubba · Post by **Stubbazubba** » Sat Apr 25, 2015 2:57 am

I was one of Roll20's original backers. The other VTT options had high learning curves and cluttered interfaces that I didn't have the time/motivation to learn to be comfortable with. Roll20's interface is far more streamlined, while bringing a surprising amount of features for the price point. It's not without its limitations, but especially with the way they've opened up the API to subscribers, the functionality has really taken off.

I would recommend looking at Roll20 first. If it's not enough for you, then look at the other options.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Sat Apr 25, 2015 3:45 am

Dogbert wrote:Fantasy Grounds is a PS 3 while Roll20 is Steam.

The PS 3, in words from Sony's people, marketed itself as "the Mercedes Benz of consoles" back in the day (which might explain why just as few people ponied up the console's price while everyone else settled for 360's Honda).

The PS3 outsold the X360 worldwide, only in the US market did Microsoft take the lead.

Sakuya Izayoi · Post by **Sakuya Izayoi** » Sat Apr 25, 2015 8:36 am

Roll20 has been the standard for my online group for a few years, aside from some short lived attempts to play over Mumble.

Eikre · Post by **Eikre** » Fri May 01, 2015 11:20 pm

OgreBattle wrote:
Dogbert wrote:Fantasy Grounds is a PS 3 while Roll20 is Steam.

The PS 3, in words from Sony's people, marketed itself as "the Mercedes Benz of consoles" back in the day (which might explain why just as few people ponied up the console's price while everyone else settled for 360's Honda).
The PS3 outsold the X360 worldwide, only in the US market did Microsoft take the lead.

That didn't seem right to me for a couple of reasons, so I researched the year-by-year sales figures.

The Xbox360 went out a year earlier than the PS3 and, in its exclusivity, picks up about five million sales. After the launch of the PS3, their worldwide sales were pretty much identical until Sony launched the PS3 Slim, which released at a comparable price point to then-current models of the 360. The PS3 took five more years of sales surpassing the 360's to make up for Microsoft's head-start and the two consoles only equalized in total sales after the launch of the next generation.

Now, the Playstation brand had a two-generation legacy of success compare to Xbox's one-generation legacy of tepid unremarkability (at best), not to mention an entrenched, domestic economic stronghold in Japan, so the Xbox selling at the same rate was a phenomenal success that only dropped off when it wasn't the cheaper system anymore.

Naturally, when the roles were reversed and the XBone launched for a hundred dollars more than the PS4, Sony fucking bulldozed the market.

People buy the Honda.

RelentlessImp · Post by **RelentlessImp** » Sat May 02, 2015 9:06 am

There was once a VTT called DnDChat. It had all the functionality of Fantasy Grounds, had dedicated servers on which you could host games, and was completely free. Unfortunately it disappeared some time ago, and as I've lost the program I don't know if the servers are still up (they were about two years ago), but it was A: Easy to use, B: Easy to set up, and C: Free, while having all the functionality of overpriced tabletops. I also like OpenRPG but involves installing a python framework for it to work which is about as annoying as having to install VB/Microsoft.net for other programs, and is as intuitive as GIMP due to it being an open source program.

Roll20 has the benefit of being universal - have a browser that supports Flash? You can use it. The in-built voice chat is annoying as fuck and at least used to have the same problems as built-in MMO voice chats. Most campaigns I play on Roll20 use it for maps and dice rolls while using Skype for voice chat to avoid using Roll20's unreliable voice chat.

vagrant · Post by **vagrant** » Sat May 02, 2015 10:22 am

Oh man, DnDChat was what got me into DnD! That was back in the days of fucking dial-up, when poor Vagrant was just a fat, nerdy kid going through the NYC public school system. Fucking hell, I didn't even realise anyone even knew about it.

momothefiddler · Post by **momothefiddler** » Sat May 02, 2015 12:26 pm

RelentlessImp wrote:and is as intuitive as GIMP

At least you didn't say Blender.