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HeroLab Online + VTT

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DJalin1

Active member
I am looking to start an online game with friends and family long distance. I have all the PF2 Books and HLO can handle the book keeping, but I am looking for a good Free VTT to run with it. I have D20Pro and I have played with it a bit. But is there anything that would work better for me to learn to use. Guess I am looking for a simple map / grid / fog of war VTT that doesnt need to handle the system since HLO Does

Thanks for any assistance gamers.
 
I've used MapTool for years, and though it's admittedly quirky you can't beat the price. While it's capable of running advanced tools, I don't use the macro capability or game system frameworks, just the basic map capabilities (including Fog of War).

The main RPTools site appears to be under DDoS attack at the moment :mad: but you can download the latest version (1.5.14, not counting the 1.6 beta) at GitHub here and there is a documentation wiki available as well.
 
Hi All,

To add to this, have any of you figured out how to link HLO into any VTT, so that any changes that take place in HLO gets pushed into that VTT? I am thinking about starting a game and am looking for this feature for my players so we dont have to keep jumping back and forth, as well as updating. If so which VTT. I am not worried about price as I am of ease of use and functionality.
 
Duskrunner said:
Hi All,

To add to this, have any of you figured out how to link HLO into any VTT, so that any changes that take place in HLO gets pushed into that VTT? I am thinking about starting a game and am looking for this feature for my players so we dont have to keep jumping back and forth, as well as updating. If so which VTT. I am not worried about price as I am of ease of use and functionality.
Click to expand...

Can't be done. If you use HLC, you can do it, with fantasy grounds at the very least.

But no, HLO is all about the future, and that means using your phones at the gaming table in person only with a dedicated internet connection the entire time.
 
As has been established in other threads, @Nightstar doesn't agree with the path we've chosen for HLO, so s/he chose to be rather disingenuous in the post above. Alas, that was probably self-evident from the tone s/he used. :(

I have openly stated in various threads here that integration with VTTs is something very high on our priority list right now. We do NOT yet have something available, but we expect to have our end of it ready in the weeks ahead (not months, but weeks).

I'm not sure how much work is involved on the VTT side. I'm sure that will vary depending on the VTT and an assortment of factors. I do know that a long-time contributor to the aforementioned MapTools has expressed an eagerness to get the data from us and is anxiously waiting for the ability to integrate with that tool. That's based on his comments in one of the other threads where this subject was discussed.

So we don't have something in place yet, but we're working on it. And MapTool will likely be one of the first, if not THE first, to have some level of integration.

Hope this helps!
 
I would recommend putting effort in contacting the VTTs that have greater interaction and (Offical) support for Starfinder, PF2 and Shadowrun.

Astral - PF2
Roll20 - PF2, Starfinder
Fantasy Grounds - PF2, Starfinder
D20Pro - Starfinder

I am not seeing one that has official support with Shadowrun, but I could be missing it.
 
Nightstar said:
If you use HLC, you can do it, with fantasy grounds at the very least.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly sure that this isn't an integration - it is export from HLC and an import to FG.

Proper integration keeps the character sheet in HLC/HLO and allows a VTT to interrogate and modify properties of the character on-the-fly.
 
If you already have d20Pro, I'd stick with that.
It isn't free, but if you've already paid for it, then it costs you nothing to use.
It's the VTT our group uses and works fine.

You can use Roll20 for free, but you lose some of the features that are included in d20Pro.
Namely the line of sight stuff, to be able to see what is visible from a character or NPC's perspective.
I like to be able to disable other people's sight, to see if a character has Line of Effect to something.
If the PCs are ever separated, it's also good to have each see what they see.

You can have those features in Roll20, but then have to pay their higher tier subscription.
And after three months of that, you could have bought D20Pro (that you already own).

If for some reason you don't like D20Pro, Roll20 is free is you don't need "Shadow Casting / Line of Sight".

MapTools is also free, but it is script based.
You may be able to find a script that is close to what you want.
Or if you're comfortable learning their scripting language, you can customize it to do what you want.
If you just want to play D&D and have no interest in learning to script it, it's probably not the best option.

One of the features I liked about Hero Lab Online, at least when it was announced was that you could have your character in HLO and check buffs there.
That would update the URL of your character.
And VTTs would have the option of reading the URL for an "active with current buffs/debuffs" of the character.
So we wouldn't have to either export from Hero Lab (into the VTT format) or import from the VTT (reading the raw HL format).
There isn't really integration yet.
Also for our group, there is no Pathfinder 1e version that runs in HLO yet.
 
So an update on what I have been doing.
I currently have 2 games running Pathfinder 2e and running them in Roll20 as a Pro subscriber. Still getting used to the learning Curve, But I have already started setting up some macros. Maps have been fairly easy to work with and set up. I will forever be a Table Top preferred gamer, but I am working with it.

I am actually a Founding Member of D20Pro, but I havent been able to get anything going with it.

My one concern with Roll20 is the lag I have been experiencing with dice roll macros. Also setting up has been getting a bit annoying with lag. While editing NPCs I click on a box and have to wait until I can actually edit it. With that said, it is the active community that drew me to Roll20. There are several already helping me learn how to set up macros. I do feel that Roll20 isnt giving Pathfinder 2E the support I have seen in fantasy grounds. Fantasy groups has many more books available.

Addition:
I am really excited about the chance that HeroLab (Supported for decades) could have VTT connections in the next few weeks to a month. Currently have to put up 2 screens, one with HLO and the other with Roll20. Oh and also Discord for Video Chat. I like seeing people at the table..... Old Schooler in me.
 
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DJalin1 said:
I am really excited about the chance that HeroLab (Supported for decades) could have VTT connections in the next few weeks to a month. Currently have to put up 2 screens, one with HLO and the other with Roll20. Oh and also Discord for Video Chat. I like seeing people at the table..... Old Schooler in me.
Click to expand...

I am currently playing D&D 5E on roll20 with dndbeyond (and beyond20 browser extension). The integration of the character sheets from dndbeyond is probably what HLO will eventually be like with any VTT for pathfinder (2E) games. The dndbeyond set up is lacking some tight integration which hopefully HLO will be able to implement.
 
Dragnmoon said:
I would recommend putting effort in contacting the VTTs that have greater interaction and (Offical) support for Starfinder, PF2 and Shadowrun.

Astral - PF2
Roll20 - PF2, Starfinder
Fantasy Grounds - PF2, Starfinder
D20Pro - Starfinder

I am not seeing one that has official support with Shadowrun, but I could be missing it.
Click to expand...

Astral now Supports Starfinder.
 
PF 2 Export to Fantasy Grounds Unity

Just making sure it is added to the list of requests. I know it is possible to go from the Classic version of HL pathfinder to the Classic version of FG. Working with FGU, Pathfinder 2E, and HLO now. Sure would be nice to be able to do a quick port over. Also would make it a much more attractive option if you want folks to purchase and maintain a HLO account (instead of just a free FGU account and use their GM's content).

Offering this as one of those GM's who has and will be maintaining all of the content ... but with players who like being able to go into HeroLab (and would love to do the same with HLO) and futz with various options and then use them in-game.

Just sayin' ...
 
Work on exporting the data in a clean manner is actively underway on our end. There are actually lots of pieces involved in doing this well, so it's not something we can just throw together quickly. Well, I guess we COULD, but then all the VTTs would be stuck with a quick hack solution, and nobody would be happy. So we're NOT doing it that way. :)

The mechanism is being designed to support consumption by both user-created tools (e.g. prettified character sheet output) and VTTs. The latter will likely be grabbing the data repeatedly during a session, so we're including support for reporting only deltas. It's a similar mechanism to what we use internally within the product to keep bandwidth utilization to a minimum.

When we have something ready in an early state, I'll be posting to let folks know about it here. I'm certain that @Jamz will want to take a look, and I'm pretty sure a few others will, as well. Then we can assess what adjustments are needed. My best guess is that an early look will likely be a couple weeks from now. Something final really depends on how much tweaking will be needed based on the initial feedback.
 
rob said:
The mechanism is being designed to support consumption by both user-created tools (e.g. prettified character sheet output) and VTTs. The latter will likely be grabbing the data repeatedly during a session, so we're including support for reporting only deltas.
Click to expand...

Will this include HLO pushing changes to the VTT (such as a change in HP), rather than the VTT having to continously poll HLO for changes?
 
rob said:
Work on exporting the data in a clean manner is actively underway on our end. There are actually lots of pieces involved in doing this well, so it's not something we can just throw together quickly. Well, I guess we COULD, but then all the VTTs would be stuck with a quick hack solution, and nobody would be happy. So we're NOT doing it that way. :)

The mechanism is being designed to support consumption by both user-created tools (e.g. prettified character sheet output) and VTTs. The latter will likely be grabbing the data repeatedly during a session, so we're including support for reporting only deltas. It's a similar mechanism to what we use internally within the product to keep bandwidth utilization to a minimum.

When we have something ready in an early state, I'll be posting to let folks know about it here. I'm certain that @Jamz will want to take a look, and I'm pretty sure a few others will, as well. Then we can assess what adjustments are needed. My best guess is that an early look will likely be a couple weeks from now. Something final really depends on how much tweaking will be needed based on the initial feedback.
Click to expand...

That's great to hear and thank you for approaching this in a sensible, technically debt free (where possible) way,
 
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