Roll20 Update?

[Mask_of_winter]

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134644-Roll20-Virtual-Tabletop-Nears-500-000-Users-Big-Update-Coming

FG will no longer be the only VTT that offers a robust character sheet.

[damned]

its good to have ongoing product development... keep those smiteworks fellas on their toes.

[Valarian]

Might actually be worth looking at for roleplaying if they have a character sheet. To me it's a must-have, a basic necessity. I can't believe they initially discounted it, but all too many players seem to put a huge emphasis on map, and map functions (like dynamic lighting). Great for board or miniature games, but not roleplaying ones. Wonder if it'll be "free", backer or subscription level functionality. As a backer, I seem to be getting less of a return on my investment. I get library content (battlemaps, tokens, etc.), but only the free level functionality in the tool.

[Zeus]

TabletopConnect is also developing along very nicely, recent alpha updates have included full customisable character sheets (with field linking if required), turn management, chat and inline video chat, and a very funky 3D/2D map system complete with 3D minis and a full in-game map/level editor. The latest build has expanded the 3D asset pool to include, dungeons, caves and burrows. For software thats still in alpha (beta should drop soon), I am very impressed with the versatility and flexibility this VTT offers.

The nicest thing about TabletopConnect is its ability to fade into the background when your using it to host RPG sessions, it has an incredibly low overhead for getting a game up and running and because it doesn't try to boil the ocean with automation, its very easy to prepare pretty much any tabletop game. e.g. adding a new char sheet is as simple as loading it into the software and then adding your fields - took all of 15mins to prepare a new D&D 5E character sheet.

[ddavison]

TableTopConnect has some very innovative approaches to VTT design and is built in Unity already -- a direction we are still trying to move into. The easy way of laying out rooms in the map building tool are especially nice. Roll20's inclusion of character sheets is interesting and will ultimately give them the ability to check a box on a feature list -- even if it isn't well done. It reminds me a little of how they have 3D dice but how people may have tried the Roll20 version before deciding they didn't really need them. It would be nice if they tried out the FG version first. :)

There is some definite competition out there. We will keep trying to provide what we feel is the best mix of features and content for the cost. It seems like new competition pops up a couple time a year. Most of them fade away after a promising start, but Roll20 is here to stay for now.

[viresanimi]

I thought Realmworks would help me make more detailed worlds. But I feel like everyone that shouts "FG is so confusing to use" should be shown that programme... But as most others I do support other VTT's. I simply think it is a good thing to encourage development and have options available.

Realmworks actually wrote to me, because they could see I hadn't touched it for months since early beta. I simply replied I wanted to look at it and wanted to support it. Would look at it when it was done, but didn't think it was something that I would need. But what works for me may not work for others and vice versa. Options are a good thing I believe, and I am willing to support that with my money. Sparse as they are.

The ease with which I can create notes and link story elements together and the fact that I can reskin FG to my hearts content, makes me love this and works for most of my gaming needs. But you know, there might be something that needs another program. As I have mentioned before I use Roll20 for Castle Falkenstein, but the campaign.... I keep that is contained within FG.

I really dislike the diceroller in Roll20 too. It takes aaaaaaaages. But I must admit the character sheets intrigue me. Simply because I think I saw an image of a 3rd edtion Exalted character sheet. I can't wait for that version to be released (it keeps getting pushed back... damn you Onyx Path!). But I doubt there will be a ruleset for the new version of Exalted anytime soon in FG - considering the non-support of the old rulesets for the previous editions. But you know what.. that really doesn't matter. CoreRPG can actually handle that just fine, if need be.


Vires Animi

EDIT: I can see I should look at Tabletop Connect again. My gaming group isn't that into moving figures and rolling a lot of dice in combat and calling it roleplaying. We are old geezers that call such thing RollPlay. *Grins*

[Valarian]

I thought Realmworks would help me make more detailed worlds. But I feel like everyone that shouts "FG is so confusing to use" should be shown that programme... But as most others I do support other VTT's. I simply think it is a good thing to encourage development and have options available.

Realmworks actually wrote to me, because they could see I hadn't touched it for months since early beta. I simply replied I wanted to look at it and wanted to support it. Would look at it when it was done, but didn't think it was something that I would need. But what works for me may not work for others and vice versa. Options are a good thing I believe, and I am willing to support that with my money. Sparse as they are.
I actually like RealmWorks. It's detailed, and will be better for players once there's the web front end, but you can build up. You can create a detailed game world, with NPCs and their relationships/drives, then bring what you need in for your story. I think that there's a lot of possibility there for campaign planning if you wish to spend the time.


EDIT: I can see I should look at Tabletop Connect again. My gaming group isn't that into moving figures and rolling a lot of dice in combat and calling it roleplaying. We are old geezers that call such thing RollPlay. *Grins*
Tabletop Connect looks great, but all the work is again on the map and minis. Carl's not yet done that much work on the character sheet. I'm hoping that this gets a look before release, especially the multi-tab sheet and landscape formatting.

I think Will Hindmarch & Jeff Tidball in "Things we think about games" say it best:

A board game is a game with a board.
A card game is a game with cards, but without a board. (If a game has both a board and cards, it's a board game.)
A miniatures game is played with figures that are representational, and non-abstract, and to scale with each other. It's played on a surface that also has a uniform scale, although the figures need not be - and usually aren't - to scale with the surface. This surface is not what any sane person would think of as a "board".
A tabletop roleplaying game is a pastime that generates a narrative. Very few roleplaying games are actually games, because no one wins, so it's more accurate to think of them as toys. A roleplaying game that requires a board, or cards, or miniatures on a surface, is suspect in its definition.

[ddavison]

Doug, are you playing with your toys again?

[Velocinox]

As a backer, I seem to be getting less of a return on my investment. I get library content (battlemaps, tokens, etc.), but only the free level functionality in the tool.

Wait. A. Minute.

You're telling me you backed them when they had nothing and you STILL have to pay subscriptions? I already considered them the spawn of the 666th level of greed hell, but now I know they tortured their own puppies to get their title.



My gaming group isn't that into moving figures and rolling a lot of dice in combat and calling it roleplaying. We are old geezers that call such thing RollPlay. *Grins*

Well as a fellow old geezer, I call that a closed mind; a terrible affliction that tends to happen to old people that forget how fun youth was. *Grins*


Roll20's inclusion of character sheets is interesting and will ultimately give them the ability to check a box on a feature list -- even if it isn't well done.

I'm not going to reply with 'LOL', but that's what I did.

I remember when Doug was going to buy out the company from the Finns, Oh Crap I thought, now what's going to happen? I grit my teeth and watched with trepidation. The deal was struck, and we moved on. Still I thought, when's the other shoe going to drop? Then it did...

Doug had the unmitigated gall to actually improve the product. He gave us more ways to both support the company, (without stealing from us) and provide games for our friends still on the fence about this weird online tabletop stuff. Then he really showed his true colors when he asked Moon Wizard to stop making his 4E_JPG mod... and start working for the company. That was the last straw... Doug was a good guy! Who would have thought?!? This company has only improved since then. I've tried plenty of other rulesets... I've had my eye turned by that sexy but emotionally broken maptool girl and her big light sources and tight little independent player PoV's, but I kept coming back to FG and the real deal. (and no, that Roll20 gold digger skank doesn't measure up even if she bought big fake light sources and a tight little independent player PoV's with all the money she's stolen from her hapless boy toys)

Look, it's not just about the features... It's about who gets the money you spend. Are they going to use it to buy little puppy thumb screws to hurt their own pets like that skank's pimps do? Or are they going to donate it to help research the tastier taco, and back house cleaning robots that have all the rules to every RPG and have a tabletop player slider that stretches from 'Most boringly verbose Mary Sue roleplay snob' to 'Unibrow beer swilling combat monster munchkin'... Seriously? Who are you going to support?

[ddavison]

I'm not going to reply with 'LOL', but that's what I did.

:p

[Mask_of_winter]

Hopefully, Smiteworks will put some of that new Steam generated revenue to good use. Some of the things I felt should have been done a long time ago we're starting to see now. I believe the interface needs to become more user friendly to attract and retain new license holders. I'm reading the threads over on Steam and also the ones over here. The ruleset wizard should have been a priority from the get go. Give this tool to us 3 or 4 years ago and the number of products available in the store would be 100 times what it currently is. Two men can only do so much, I get that. However, like I said, with the Steam generated revenue it should be possible to do to more. The streamlining already begun with the latest FG 3 release and the CoreRPG, now let's take it to the next level. Give us a lobby, put together a demo team (I'm willing to be part of it), give us a way to customize our content, and like I said make it more user friendly. Tutorial videos are great but not everybody wants to spend hours watching them.

I'm a strong FG ground supporter, spent hundreds of dollars on it and want it to remain healthy. So this was my two cents on it. :)

[ddavison]

The big change is that it allowed me to take a gamble and walk away from a very lucrative corporate job so I could devote full time to SmiteWorks. Up until recently, Fantasy Grounds work was relegated to evenings and weekends and mixed in among family obligations. This meant the a large part of my time went simply to customer service requests, QA and deployment for community developments, accounting and other less than fun or exciting activities. Thankfully, Moon_Wizard has been able to focus much more attention on it and has been able to release a lot of different improvements to the core offerings and many of the rulesets.

Now, we are still limited to what two people can do but hopefully we can make a little better headway on the areas that you and others have mentioned.

[damned]

There is some definite competition out there. We will keep trying to provide what we feel is the best mix of features and content for the cost. It seems like new competition pops up a couple time a year. Most of them fade away after a promising start, but Roll20 is here to stay for now.

yerp - rol20 is not going to go away!

[leozelig]

If you are willing to pay for a vtt, fantasy grounds is really the way to go. Puppies aside, I suspected as much from the roll20 feature list, if you can call it that. :)

And if you don't immediately disable the 3d dice roller in that app, then you have not seen it done right! I actually roll my own dice with roll20 (honor system) because entering some numbers and clicking a button isn't a whole lot of fun either... Even just a character sheet builder for fg would be great though - CoreRPG sorts alphabetically in a list, so creating fields for ability scores really doesn't work well. If I knew anything about coding, this might be an easy fix.

[Trenloe]

Even just a character sheet builder for fg would be great though - CoreRPG sorts alphabetically in a list, so creating fields for ability scores really doesn't work well. If I knew anything about coding, this might be an easy fix.
There are a few improvements to the CoreRPG character sheet in 3.0.4, including attribute/skill grouping in the main tab.

Also, you can always put a number in front of an attribute to control ordering if you don't want alphabetical lists.

[damned]

Even just a character sheet builder for fg would be great though - CoreRPG sorts alphabetically in a list, so creating fields for ability scores really doesn't work well. If I knew anything about coding, this might be an easy fix.

cue the predictable response...

Check out this cool project! https://www.verkami.com/projects/7992-ruleset-wizard-for-fantasy-grounds

[jshauber]

I am a backer for TableTop Connect and have talked to Carl numerous times. It does look great and being able to create a map in minutes will be nice. Also the 3D figures and dynamic lighting are very nice features. I've never looked at Roll20 but did spend some time with d20Pro before settling on FG.

The main advantage to FG for me is the fact that the rules are supported with in game documentation. d20Pro didn't have it and TTC isn't going to either. They are platforms for having a character sheet, map and rolling dice. As a GM much of the prep work still has to be done outside the game.

I like that I can sit down, open FG, put together an entire gaming sessions worth of material and NEVER open a book on my desk or make a note on a piece of paper for later. Everything is in FG!!!! AND everything needed to run the game is in the program like effects and easily managed.

I may have missed some functionality of other programs, and if so I hope someone can tell me what I have missed and why it would be better than FG...