Does anyone use these for their pen and paper games. I have Fantasy Grounds (Ultimate Edition), d20Pro (some fancy licence but I never use it), and iTabletop (which might as well be vaporware). I have never tried Roll20 or Hangouts for games but I know they have had a limited amount of support for D&D 5e as of this year. Fantasy Grounds is the most expensive option, but it does several game systems well. I have most of the 5e stuff, and some other systems like Savage Worlds, Mutants and Masterminds, Labyrinth Lord and I'm sure I have more. There is a DCC ruleset in the works, and since I just picked that up at my FLGS a couple of days ago I might want to try that once some of the bugs are worked out.
The most recent update for Fantasy Grounds allows for manual input of dice. This is a boon to me. My old game group still gets together. My one friend does not have internet. However he does have a big TV, so this update means I could bring over a laptop along with wireless keyboard and mouse, run a game (like 5e, which is a "sequel" to the AD&D 1e games we have run for decades) and let the VTT handle the paperwork while the players use their own dice.
I wouldn't mind trying an online group at some point. The campaign I have worked on is kind of Planescape set in Sigil but with added weirdness, like a train station (The Concordant Express will take you around the border towns of the Outlands, and connectors go to other worlds such as Gothic Earth), trolleys and auto carriages made from Modrons. For obvious reasons running a game in the Realms is my best bet because most of the material is already there. I did make this map (http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp233/KrimsonGray/Campaign%20Cartographer/Erthmyst2_zpsx4yg7oim.png) earlier this year so I could have more than just FR stuff available.
Anyhow I wanted to see if anyone was interested in this sort of thing?
Ive done the text versions quite a bit. Chats and a few MUCKs and MUDs.
Used WebRPG way back in the late 90s.
"MapTool" is the open source contender in the area. It has a lot of GUI-based tools and also it's own scripting language.
http://www.rptools.net/toolbox/maptool/
I'm using TiddlyWiki and TiddlyMap to get most of the wiki/data-store functionality along with "mind-map/relationship-map" layout (not the complex stuff from MapTool like light/sight ranges and fog-of-war).
http://tiddlywiki.com/
http://tiddlymap.org/
No, I don't.
Quote from: Omega;929622Ive done the text versions quite a bit. Chats and a few MUCKs and MUDs.
Used WebRPG way back in the late 90s.
I played one or two back in the late 80s, using dialup and a 300 baud (baud, not bps) modem before a swap, a trip to Radio Shack, and some soldering later, I was able to run at a quick 1200 bps. Those were mostly sci-fi though. Fantasy Grounds is kind of nice because chat is integrated with maps and tokens and a nice little engine for running combat.
Quote from: Telarus;929689"MapTool" is the open source contender in the area. It has a lot of GUI-based tools and also it's own scripting language.
http://www.rptools.net/toolbox/maptool/
I'm using TiddlyWiki and TiddlyMap to get most of the wiki/data-store functionality along with "mind-map/relationship-map" layout (not the complex stuff from MapTool like light/sight ranges and fog-of-war).
http://tiddlywiki.com/
http://tiddlymap.org/
I'll certainly check those out I already own the above mentioned VTTs as well as Campaign Cartographer so I do have some nice tools but the idea of a mind map kind of sounds neat.
Quote from: RPGPundit;930371No, I don't.
That's understandable. I've seen your DCC journal (I picked up the game at my FLGS last Saturday) and if I had a regular face to face group I'd totally be wouldn't be asking. Well okay, I did go play a session of my 30 year long AD&D 1e campaign yesterday but those are once every one or two months at best. :D VTTs are my best option, aside from running something play by post which though great on the narrative level, just doesn't feel the same.
Nope. Nada.
Roll20 works pretty well - plus it's free (you can pay a few bucks a month for more options & no ads). I don't use it to find new games, but my old group has scattered to the four winds, but we can get together on Roll20 a time or two a month.
Quote from: Charon's Little Helper;930433Roll20 works pretty well - plus it's free (you can pay a few bucks a month for more options & no ads). I don't use it to find new games, but my old group has scattered to the four winds, but we can get together on Roll20 a time or two a month.
I've heard it's good, though the main reason I haven't tried it is I already have a few VTTs.
Another I forgot about is Tabletop Simulator which is available on Steam. Tons of RPG stuff to download from Workshop, as well as board games. Could be fun for a war game or traditional RPGs. The dice are polyhedral models and roll using physics which is a good simulation.
Another I have considered trying is VASL, which is exactly what it sounds like: Virtual Advanced Squad Leader.
Quote from: Krimson;930401I played one or two back in the late 80s, using dialup and a 300 baud (baud, not bps) modem before a swap, a trip to Radio Shack, and some soldering later, I was able to run at a quick 1200 bps. Those were mostly sci-fi though. Fantasy Grounds is kind of nice because chat is integrated with maps and tokens and a nice little engine for running combat.
heh. Yeah running on raw telnet was not exactly easy. No clue how they accomplished the Shadowrun MUD with a near exact recreation of the RPG rules into the MUD.
There are some MUDs which can handle the D&D rules. Or can be coded to. As for maps and tokens. I predominantly play without either for combats so all text works fine.
I'm necroing this thread to checkin about Roll20. I've had an account for a few months but haven't taken the plunge. They now have full 5e support and seem to be the platform of choice for WoTC. Lots cheaper (free even) with more players and GMs than on Fantasy Ground I hear anyway.
I'm moving away from my regular gaming group (except for my wife obviously) and was thinking of using Roll20 to keep things going or find another group. I'm mostly looking for 5e and CoC, to play at first til I feel comfortable enough with the tech to GM. Also interested in using it to check out more one-shot and PbtA games but I would guess The Gauntlet may be the best way to do that.
Specific G+ RPG communities have lots of relevant threads going and it's fairly easy to pick up a game if you want to. I use Hangouts for my gaming at the moment as I can set up an event using Google Calendar and have it initiate the Hangout and send invites out automatically. Rol20 is still very flakey since it lost the ability to integrate with Hangouts and is using WebRTC very ineffectually making video an issue. Discord or Hangouts in a second tab is often the way to get usable audio/video even if you use the Roll20 tabletop (the issues are often down to lousy bandwidth and the client not noticing the connection has dropped so when restart is hit another connection is added making it even more flakey).
What is the advantage to using Roll20 if the video doesn't work? The virtual dice and tabletop/icons?
Virtual dice, tabletop, various maps, icons, store character sheets, store NPC sheets, etc.
I usually use a combination of Roll20, and Mumble for audio.
Quote from: Voros;980976I'm necroing this thread to checkin about Roll20. I've had an account for a few months but haven't taken the plunge. They now have full 5e support and seem to be the platform of choice for WoTC. Lots cheaper (free even) with more players and GMs than on Fantasy Ground I hear anyway.
I'm moving away from my regular gaming group (except for my wife obviously) and was thinking of using Roll20 to keep things going or find another group. I'm mostly looking for 5e and CoC, to play at first til I feel comfortable enough with the tech to GM. Also interested in using it to check out more one-shot and PbtA games but I would guess The Gauntlet may be the best way to do that.
It works and works well. If you really get into customization then the paid subscription level is worth it. But if you are not and the included character sheets (free no such things as paid sheets) are enough then the free level works fine. The only thing I would be cautious on is paying for WoTC adventures and supplements. Make sure it worth the time save because you will NOT be able to download any of the content.
However for the most of the other art assets being sold you can download it separately as well as use it in Roll20. I have bought many sets of Devin Night tokens for example.
Quote from: Voros;981001What is the advantage to using Roll20 if the video doesn't work? The virtual dice and tabletop/icons?
The video is a nice to have not an essential feature. in fact most of the friends I play on-line rather not have Video turned on.
What Roll20 (Fantasy Grounds, VTTs in general) get you is a combination of text chat, RPG utilities (at least a dice roller often more), and a whiteboard to show images and can be drawn on.
Beyond that it gets VTT specific. The leading VTTs (Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds) offer automated character sheets and rule sets. So if you were fill out a runequest characters in either, you would be able to click or drag your sword skill and it would make the correct type of roll in accordance the rules. Adding in all the modifiers found on the character sheet. The more clever sheets even manage to work in or incorporate situational modifiers. For example the 5e character sheet can show you a disadvantaged roll or a roll with advantage. Also the better character sheets will autocalculate various fields based on the rules of the RPG.
Roll20 has scripting capability while Fantasy Grounds uses a custom script engine. What both do is expose various utilities. For example GURPS ruleset for Fantasy Grounds has a function to roll on any of the critical tables or fumble tables and show the result.
One advantage that VTTs have over face to face is easy fog of war. Basically the referee sees a slightly faded view of the map and the players see only black. The referee then can reveal areas which turn clear for both him and the players. Often I would upload a dungeon map without any numbers and turn on fog of war. Then reveal it room by room as the party explores.
Then there unique features like Roll20's dynamic lighting. Basically you switch to a lighting layer and redraw the map walls. Yes it is a bit of pain but the end results can be spectacular. What happens after is that you mark what type of light source on the character's token and whether it is visible to all (torches) or only to the character (darkvision). Then Roll20 will figure for each players what they only see. I had parties get separated and unable to find a dying member in the dungeon as they tried to remember where they been. Because of the redrawing of the map bit I only do it once in a while. For example I didn't do it for Barrowmaze as the map was way too large so I just rely on fog of war.
The downside is that VTTs are form of voice and internet collaboration with several downsides. If you ever sat through a phone conference you know what I mean. So it not as ideal as face to face is and requires a small amount of voice discipline to make it work smoothly. Some groups never seem to get the hang of it. My group muddles through.
However it is playing tabletop roleplaying not something that pretend to be tabletop roleplaying like a MMORPG or CRPG. Everything you do in face to face you do in a VTTs. It quite possible to switch freely between the two modes. I know more than one group, including my own, who game weekly using the VTT but get together for a face to face every month or so.
Hope this answers your question.
Desktop: The VR Paper-Pushing Game. No role-playing required.
I've done a lot of remote RPG GMing and playing without a virtual tabletop:
* snail mail
* telephone
* email
* forum
* multi-person chat software
* using some PBEM and multiplayer computer games
I've tried some programs, but never really took the plunge to trying to use programs designed to be virtual tabletops for RPGs. I've looked at them but never saw one I wanted to use more than just using email or something.
I have found that it can be fun and interesting to do, but also can be even more work than running a game in person (at least the way I do it). One thing I have really liked though is that all of the methods (except phone) tend to give the GM a complete record of everything.
It's also good for making "note passing" easy and undetectable... but that also applies to players passing notes without the GM knowing. I've seen players doing rather elaborate OOC metagaming outside the channels the GM is connected to - sometimes for better, sometimes not.
I use papers and pencils usually, plus some dice and maybe a rulebook.
Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;981042Desktop: The VR Paper-Pushing Game. No role-playing required.
Don't know what alternate reality you are from but I don't know anybody who considers a internet whiteboard and text chat as a form of virtual reality. As for the roleplaying people roleplay as much with VTTs as they do face to face.
Which of the VTTs work best with various OSR offerings - for example, I'm currently pretty partial to Beyond the Wall for fantasy and White Star for sci fi. Would Fantasy Grounds or Roll20 be markedly superior options for those?
Having moved out to the stix some years ago there are no real 'face to face' groups about down here. And I'm way too lazy to go up to Dublin for a game (plus, it's expensive and rural transport is highly restrictive).
So online is the only option for me at the moment. That said, I'm having a good time with it (not as good as a face to face group but still good fun).
Because I'm a technophobe our set up is very basic. Skype... That's it. A couple of the guys roll their own dice and one uses an online roller. It's an honor based system. If I need to send a map I've already got it ready and sent it over skype. If I need to do one up quickly then I'll draw it in photoshop and send it over.
Essentially we all play as a face to face group would - except you can't see the other players. We don't use video as it eats up the band width.
I played in a roll 20 game recently. I found setting up the die roller awkward. I wouldn't subscribe to it personally... I think it was Estar who mentioned that you can get a whiteboard app (for skype). So, that's another way you can draw up maps virtually.
Quote from: Skarg;981044* snail mail
* email
* forum
The difference with VTTs with the above is that it takes place in real time like with face to face. I particpated in play by post RPG campaigns and it has very different pacing than face to face. VTTs in contrast has the same pacing as a face to face session.
Quote from: Skarg;981044* telephone
* multi-person chat software
When it comes to a referee who runs a campaign in a theater of the mind style then using the telephone or multi person chat
Quote from: Skarg;981044* and multiplayer computer games
I ran a few sessions using Neverwinter Nights, no where equivalent what you do with VTTs or
Quote from: Skarg;981044I have found that it can be fun and interesting to do, but also can be even more work than running a game in person (at least the way I do it). One thing I have really liked though is that all of the methods (except phone) tend to give the GM a complete record of everything.
It's also good for making "note passing" easy and undetectable... but that also applies to players passing notes without the GM knowing. I've seen players doing rather elaborate OOC metagaming outside the channels the GM is connected to - sometimes for better, sometimes not.
Fog of war with maps is the one thing that VTTs clearly does better than tabletop. Even with dry erase or dwarven forge, exposing and hiding with fog of war takes but a simple movement of the mouse.
Quote from: The Exploited.;981661I played in a roll 20 game recently. I found setting up the die roller awkward. I wouldn't subscribe to it personally... I think it was Estar who mentioned that you can get a whiteboard app (for skype). So, that's another way you can draw up maps virtually.
If you want just to display maps then Discord is the better way to go at the moment. Skype has no whiteboard but there are websites with whietboards on them.
I will add you can use Roll20 just for the whiteboard and not bother with their diceroller and keep doing on what you been doing.
Quote from: ArtemisAlpha;981660Which of the VTTs work best with various OSR offerings - for example, I'm currently pretty partial to Beyond the Wall for fantasy and White Star for sci fi. Would Fantasy Grounds or Roll20 be markedly superior options for those?
Both are equally good, both have OSR rulesets and character sheets. Of the two Roll20 has more at the free level and slightly easier to get going with. I would recommend using Roll20 for a bit. After you get comfortable with whole VTT thing and willing to pay for something, look at Fantasy Ground demo version. Then decide which one is worth paying for.
Either way you won't go wrong. And both have committed developer team and a growing user base. It like asking what you like better a Cadillac or a Lincoln?
Quote from: estar;981713If you want just to display maps then Discord is the better way to go at the moment. Skype has no whiteboard but there are websites with whietboards on them.
I will add you can use Roll20 just for the whiteboard and not bother with their diceroller and keep doing on what you been doing.
Cheers... Discord is definitely an option I want to look at. The whiteboard option in skype was buggy alas.
The guys on the Grognards podcast had the most hilarious play by post story on the most recent episode.