Q on Fantasygrounds, OpenRPG, DnDi, and other methods of online play

[Kichwas]

Any opinions on the different methods of gaming via a virtual tabletop online?

I'm aware of:
Fantasygrounds
OpenRPG
Webrpg (defunct?)
and soon DnD insider

Any others?
Opinions on which is best?

Which of them has the best toolset for 'finding other people' who are looking for a game?

Which of them supports the widest range of gaming choices?
Which is easiest to customize to enable use of games it doesn't currently support?

For these games in particular, which choices would work?
GURPS 4e
Hero
BESM 3e
d20 / DnD 3.x
True20
DnD 4e
MnM

 

[Emryys]

Here's a VT Comparison chart form the iCoN VT convention... stop by fouruglymonsters, a VT gaming hub...

 

[Arkhandus]

I don't have experience with the other VTTs, but I can say that, as far as I know, OpenRPG would work just fine for the RPGs you mention, and others. I just haven't played anything over it myself thus far besides d20 and Shadowrun stuff. OpenRPG works fairly well, and you can set up macros to handle different kinds of dice rolls and such quickly.

Finding a game isn't too hard; you can either check the OpenRPG forums and post there in the section for finding games, or just check the servers at times of day that you're available and ask people if they've got room for another player, or you can start up a temporary server titled RECRUITING: whatever-it-is-your-game's-called, and wait around to see if anyone enters to inquire about the campaign.

 

[gcsears]

Check out Maptool and Skype

So I was new to the concept of playing online with a virtual table-top, and it was suggested that I use MapTool and Skype. Both are platform neutral (Maptool uses Java and Skype has both Windows and Mac versions). I was able to get a Maptool server up and running minutes after downloading the program.

I have not used much other than Fantasy Grounds, and while Fantasy Grounds has nice bells and whistles (such as a built in character manager for 3.5 edition D&D), Maptool is just a shared map that allows you to drop tokens onto it. It also has a built in chat client (although we use voice chat, thus the recommendation abotu Skype). The chat client allows configuring macros for die rolls, etc...

There is a lot of support for Maptool on the web, and you can download off of their site multiple token sets which people have made for all varieties of fantasy beasties. They also provide you with a tool for making your own tokens from any pictures you have that you want to use.

That is my take. I am interested in DDI, and will try out their map tool, but Maptool is free and here now.

Geoff

BTW -- MapTool can be located on the website http://rptools.net

 

[Wisdom Penalty]

Not trying to threadcrap here, but the competitive advantage I saw for DDi (based upon the previews) was the use of 3D virtual minis. Now that I understand WotC plans to charge extra for those, I believe DDi's game table just jumped into a level playing field with the pre-existing online tools (of which you list many).

As for me, I'm a big fan of Fantasy Grounds. Connections are easy, maps are easy to load and zoom, and the RP Token Tool (found at that link above) is a simple way to create tokens from any image you can find on the net. Literally takes only seconds.

The user community of FG is also nice, and already has a 4e character sheet with powers - but hasn't released it publicly due to the fact the GSL isn't out yet.

Wis

 

[Asmor]

the competitive advantage I saw for DDi (based upon the previews) was the use of 3D virtual minis.

The competitive advantage I see for DDI is that it's made by Wizards. Thus, it will be considered by tens of thousands of gamers and will have hundreds if not thousands of people using it.

Doesn't matter how good a solution is if there's only a couple people using it...

 

[Metus]

I'll add my support for Fantasy Grounds. I'll say right now that it's not very good for any other system besides D&D, but for D&D, it is amazing. I have the full license, my players have the lite version, and we all love it. If you're looking at running D&D games online, I highly, highly recommend Fantasy Grounds.

 

[EtanMoonstar]

I'll delurk long enough to second the vote for MapTool with a VoIP program (my group uses Ventrilo, since I'm the DM and already had it installed for WoW). It's free, system agnostic, well-supported, and has a ton of neat features (with plenty more on the way). Make sure you check out a couple of the tutorials at http://www.rptoolstutorials.net/maptool.htm--they'll really give you a good idea of the potential of this program.

 

[CleverNickName]

We have used FantasyGrounds (and Fantasy Grounds 2) for almost two years, and we love it. It's the best online gaming solution we have found:

1. Maps are easy. Just find/scan an image, and save it as a .PNG file in the map directory. You can mask the map so that only portions of it are visible to the players, you can add and resize a grid with a click, etc.

2. The virtual dice roller lets you see all of the players' rolls, and only let the players see the GM's rolls when you want them to.

3. It is easy to make your own custom tokens...just use Google image serach to find an image, and save it as a .PNG in the image directory. Poof, all the custom tiles you need.

4. Monsters, stats, spells, etc. are at your fingertips. If it is SRD, it is there.

We love it. But to be honest, it isn't perfect...

1. It doesn't have a voice chat option. Which isn't *that* big of a deal, because you can just use your favorite game chat program (Ventrillo, etc.), but it is noticeable.

2. It doesn't work well for homebrewed game elements. If you like to make your own monsters or spells, it takes some elbow grease (and some XML experience) to get them punched into the game. Of course, you could just keep a notebook next to your computer with all of your custom stuff, but a lot of people don't like it.

3. It doesn't really support non-D&D games. If you like to play a lot of different games (like GURPS or C&C), it makes a great virtual tabletop and online dice roller, but that's about it. The character sheets and rule books are pretty difficult to change by the average Joe.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

For free stuff, the Maptools series of tools rocks pretty seriously. And the developers of it are constantly working on it. The community seems pretty nice too.

For pay... I can't buy it right now, but when I can I'm going to buy Battlegrounds. The developer works on it consistently, and continues to improve it an add in nifty elements.

It can be a bit pricey if you're planning on going with the GM client and floating license option, but it's got the advantage that the players don't have to spend any money. So if you're not getting it exclusively to play with a few friends (that can always buy their own license), but instead plan on doing online play in general then folks can simply use the demo version to play.

The main "disadvantage" to both Battlegrounds and Maptools is that they're "system neutral". They don't have rule-enforcement of any sort. So players/GMs have to know the rules or have someone in the game that can help resolve any rule questions or whatnot.

On the other hand, it's and "advantage" because you're not stuck like you are when using something like Fantasy Grounds. v2 of FG might be "friendlier" for customizing, but it's not really geared for the "casual" user. So you're either stuck waiting for someone else to make the ruleset for you, or you're going to have to spend time learning XML and lua.

Last time I looked at it seriously, it was still pretty limited in terms of what it offered for non-d20 support. It looks like now they've got Savage Worlds and Castles & Crusades bits you can buy.