Author Topic: Virtual Tabletop programs  (Read 5876 times)

Aokarasu

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Virtual Tabletop programs
« on: 16 May 2013, 01:14:36 »
As it's been very difficult for me to find players locally - whether joining an existing group or forming a new one - I am considering using a VTT program. I'm specifically interested in one that supports DnD 4E and was hoping for some suggestions and/or recommendations.

Taharqa

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Re: Virtual Tabletop programs
« Reply #1 on: 16 May 2013, 10:56:28 »
Its been awhile now, but I used to use the kloogewerks tabletop to run a Conan D20 campaign online. I liked it a lot better than the competitors at the time. Most of those were basically a combined chat, dice rolling, and character sheet program. You can move tokens around a virtual map but all of the heavy lifting is still done by hand. Kloogewerks automates a lot of the calculations like to-hit rolls, spell use, initiative, threatened areas, etc. so it makes life easier on the GM. I know there are both 3E and 4E rules integrated and there is a pretty active group of users who are improving the 4E rules. It is also java so any OS can run it. You can see chatlogs and some screenshots from the campaign I ran here.

It also has some downsides. It is feature rich so the learning curve can be a bit steeper than other VTs. That didn't bother me because I get into the geeky stuff, but a lot of the players had difficulty with the learning curve especially because the nature of an online game means that the player base is constantly shifting. So I had to do a lot of management of how other people used the system and we would sometimes have to wait for awhile why the newbie figured out how to swing his sword at the goblin. Still all in all, I liked it a lot. I even have a rough draft of a Mechwarrior 3 ruleset for it.
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truegrit

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Re: Virtual Tabletop programs
« Reply #2 on: 16 May 2013, 11:41:41 »
I don't know much about them, but Infrno was at GenCon last year. I signed up for an account, but I haven't done anything with it, but it's one more option to look into.

Paladin1

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Re: Virtual Tabletop programs
« Reply #3 on: 16 May 2013, 12:17:16 »
I used to use one a few years back, but don't remember much about it beyond the fact that it seemed like a good idea with less than perfect execution, due to voice chat not being included.

I've wondered several times how hard it would be to set up a VTT system designed specifically to run ATOW/TW integrated games, since one of the largest hurdles I've come across is as Aokarasu mentioned, how hard it is to find players where I'm at now.

Arkaris

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Re: Virtual Tabletop programs
« Reply #4 on: 19 May 2013, 23:59:57 »
I've always found OpenRPG to be a really good VTT and one I go back to often, it is still being developed by a couple of people and is almost always stable.  There's D20 Pro which is not bad, but you have to pay for the GM account and if you have over so many players you have to buy player accounts as well.  And then there is the always buggy as all get outs but probably one of the most advanced VTTs Maptools.  Maptools has a set of tools that once loaded and programmed can handle all of the 4e mechanics automatically.

www.openrpg.com
www.d20pro.com
www.rptools.net

Sorry, rptools.net, not .com
« Last Edit: 20 May 2013, 11:14:46 by Arkaris »

Aokarasu

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Re: Virtual Tabletop programs
« Reply #5 on: 20 May 2013, 07:49:08 »
Thanks for the responses so far; am still looking at options.

 

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