RealmWorks vs VTT
 

Kia ora all,

I am a big fan of RealmWorks, and despite its lack of development at the moment, it is still the best tool for organizing large campaigns. One of its limitations is that it is not, and was never intended to be used as a live tool.

However, this is currently how I use it a bit for maps, but I am looking for a better alternative.

My set up is that I have a TV mounted onto a table, connected to a PC, and we have character and monster tokens that we move around the maps displayed on the TV.

At present, I use the RealmWorks Player View, and manually update and save the map to refresh it. This however is pretty clunky, and I am looking for a tool that can automatically update the map (and what players can see) based on the position of players.

Ideally the virtual character tokens can be hidden, and I as GM can just move them to where they move their physical tokens to update the map. Obviously the requirement to upload homebrew maps is a given. I do not really need it to function for a group in different locations, as we do all meet up IRL.

Any recommendation on the best program for this. We do not need any rules or initiative tracking etc, as we use HLO for this.

Many thanks for any thoughts!
Stu

There are options here, but in all cases you need GM and Player instance of the software running.

I would recommend Fantasy Grounds, as it is the best out there, but you won't be using any of the automation out there. There are Line of Sight, Dynamic Lighting, Token Vision, Weather effects, manual Fog of Far (if you don't use the LOS), so the maps will look awesome.

On the GM instance you control everything - visibility and etc, on the client instance that is on the screen, is the map. In the FG forums there are mods and suggestions how to use the program locally and on screen.

Another option is Foundry VTT - similar features, but web-based and self-hosted.

Both options are paid, if you look for free explore Roll20 (quite limited without subscription) or MapTools (free, looks very dated).

If you used Foundry VTT, then my Foundry "RW import tool" can help you run a game session.

If you export the topic(s) required for a game session beforehand, you can load them into Foundry and use a GM view to reference all the map pins and a Player view (web browser logged into the game running on your local PC) to show the map and tokens to your players.

I tried to do this but it really adds a massive amount of prep and at the table work-load on you as the DM.

I have a similar setup and can I just pass on feedback that it is much easier to ignore the dynamic LOS functionality and just use the standard reveal polygon method.

MapTools does everything you need for free. It has a dated interface sure, but for what you need it does everything efficiently. You barely need to interact with the interface of the application.

Arkenforge is another option. It's designed specifically for at table play and supports animated symbols which is a huge bonus imo.

There are others. I'm exploring Foundry but my take-away is they are all designed for internet play and have so many bells and whistles. Way beyond what I need.

I use Arkenforge currently for the animtion but i prefer using MapTools.

I backed arkenforge (not installed it yet) since I also have catographer all those choices.... :D But I wondered - i have the fantasy essentials bundle and the sci fi essentials bundle, now they have plenty of other packs e.g. fantasy bundle. Anyone knows if such packs overlap? Or do they have always 100% unique assets?

I've been running a virtual campaign for a while now using MapTool and Realm Works. Use Realm Works to house all my world info and individual campaigns. Then use Maptool for the maps. It does require some prep time, but it works really well. We use Google meet for communicating. One player has low bandwidth so Meet and Maptool don't overload him.