Virtual Tabletop capabilities...

[Stargrove]

There has not really been any recent news about Realm Works that we have not seen for that last year or so...

In the past my gaming group and I had use a product called Kloogeworks and experimented with a few others like ScreenMonkey and FantasyGrounds. We stopped gaming virtually, so I guess that says something about those tools. We are mainly playing computer games online now as we have continued to disperse across the country but I really want to start gaming again.

A long winded way to ask a simple question...


Is any planned virtual tabletop capabilities, ala any of the tools mentioned above?

James

[ChrisRevocateur]

I'm pretty sure they've said no to this. Depending on the games you play, have you checked out d20Pro?

[Stargrove]

Yes, I downloaded it this weekend and played around with it a bit. Was a bit frustrated with how the fog of war functionality worked since it requires a lot of micro-management on the GMs part.

In my mind, if I am going to use something like D20Pro or whatever, I may as well just manage my campaign with it and not worry about a whole other program like Realm Works too. While some of the others may not have all the data handling functionality as RW, I just don't want more than one program to have to keep track of my data in.

[mirtos]

I think it depends what you want. For the virtual tabletop, i like maptools by RpTools.net

But i dont use it for anything more than a virtual tabletop and initiative tracker. I dont use the advanced macros.

[ChrisRevocateur]

I don't see how you could manage your game in d20Pro, as it's really just battle maps, creatures, and a dice roller, but hey, whatever works for you.

[ChrisRevocateur]

Oh, and the fog of war isn't that great, for sure, but they're working towards getting dynamic FOW similar to maptools.

[rob]

Originally Posted by Stargrove

Is any planned virtual tabletop capabilities, ala any of the tools mentioned above?

Definitely not at first. Beyond that, it's possible but not part of the current plan. If we go down that path, it will be in response to user demand and due to other VTT tools not evolving sufficiently to satisfy what users want. We view VTTs as complementary to what we're doing, and we really don't want to re-invent the wheel if we can help it. That's why we've made sure to enable integration of Hero Lab output into the various VTTs. Our hope is that the relationships we've established with the VTT developers continues with Realm Works and everything works well together. If we're not able to achieve that, we might find ourselves in a different place and feel the need to enter the VTT space, but that's definitely not part of our existing plan.

Hope this helps...

[Troedel]

My 5 cents concerning VTTs Realmworks and, of course, Herolab. I use a VTT and the other mentioned programs and the biggest drawback is the lack of dynamic interaction between them. It´s nice that you are able to export from HL but what if you change the character, apply conditions in the VTT or pull up a monster with stats in HL to put it on your VTT, the dynamic interaction is missing. Thats where something developed specific for the interaction between the LoneWolf Programs would really shine.

[mirtos]

i disagree.... i like the lack of interaction, to be honest. i dont want my tabletop to touch my campaign info, or even my characters, just like i wouldnt want to keep my character info on the battlemat.

[Troedel]

But imagine an integrated environment that gives you the power to use, lets say the tactical console ( Herolab ) with an integrated battlemap. Perhaps it is the setup I use. The VTT for us is like a digital playmap without very much automated actions. It´s used to track movement, conditions, HP´s and the like. Apply a condition to a token and it´s automaticly ticked on the HL Statblock and vice versa. Would be a nice thing to have for me. Realmworks? For me no interaction with VTT required. But I always like to hear differnt opinions to better reflect on my own thoughts and come to better conclusions in the end.