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So after running 2 VTT 3.5 groups. and one Pathfinder face-to-face group; I finally get to play for the first time in over 3 years! And the DM wants to make it a Pathfinder game; it is also a VTT game. The problem? We need a platform in which to run it. I use Fantasy Grounds and it does have a user-created PF version, but it isn't user-friendly or easy to convert over. I got him to look into d20 Pro, but it also requires a cracked-type patch to use, and it also requires for a person to buy 2 programs to use. Also, the DM can't help with character creation/updates like he can with FG II.
I know Lisa Stevens talked about working with Smiteworks to get FG Pathfinderized, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. My DM is starting to lose his enthusiasm for the project as it becomes annoying trying to find something that might work.
So are there any ideas? Can anyone think of any other VTT platform that is ready to work with PF stuff or that is an easier patch?????
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So after running 2 VTT 3.5 groups. and one Pathfinder face-to-face group; I finally get to play for the first time in over 3 years! And the DM wants to make it a Pathfinder game; it is also a VTT game. The problem? We need a platform in which to run it. I use Fantasy Grounds and it does have a user-created PF version, but it isn't user-friendly or easy to convert over. I got him to look into d20 Pro, but it also requires a cracked-type patch to use, and it also requires for a person to buy 2 programs to use. Also, the DM can't help with character creation/updates like he can with FG II.
I know Lisa Stevens talked about working with Smiteworks to get FG Pathfinderized, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. My DM is starting to lose his enthusiasm for the project as it becomes annoying trying to find something that might work.
So are there any ideas? Can anyone think of any other VTT platform that is ready to work with PF stuff or that is an easier patch?????
Well I can tell you as a GM that runs 2 concurrent Pathfinder games with D20pro that it works pretty well. It works even better if the Gm also has Herolab. It takes only a few minutes to really get the hang of things and learn how to input the data or modify things to your need. All the files are on the d20pro web site to modify the skill/feats/classes to Pathfinder and there is quite a bit of user created content as well.
Maptool is also another that I have heard works absolutely amazing with the Pathfinder rule set. I have absolutely no experience with it other than a few minutes watching a game in progress but you only ever really hear good things from the users.
Suggest you use MapTool, which is free and has a superb community-developed Pathfinder framework. See rptools.net.
We've been using the tool for two years (alongside Ventrilo) - it's great, and it keeps getting better.
Our group uses maptool. At its core, its just a virtual table top which displays a map or series of maps and lets players and DMs move tokens and image files around. These things by themselves are all you need to play a game over the interwebs. Its very game/setting neutral.
That said, what makes maptool popular is its very modular macro system, which can do everything from rolling complicated dice formulas for you, to showing HP bars on tokens, to generating character sheet pages for each player when they press a hot key. Its very very customizable and if you get into it, you can find all these custom made framework files for PF and other games. BUT those features can take some java script knowhow.
Even so, you could not ever know a thing about java script and still use maptool to great effect as just a way to manage maps, tokens, and dice rolling.
A quick correction, Anburaid; MT does not use JavaScript. It has its own little syntax based on HTML and dice notations. Future versions are supposedly switching to JavaScript.
If you are interested in PF maptool, I have created a GM toolbar that takes care of a few things in initiative for you. It tracks fast healing, bleed, and spell durations and a few other nuisance features for GMs.
I'll come back and link to it when I have a full keyboard.
If you're not afraid of a little complexity, I'd suggest MapTools. Otherwise, the only other VTT I've used is TTopRPG, and it works just fine too (on Windows only).
The promised link:
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MapTool advantages:
* Free
* Under active development constantly
* Cross-platform (runs on Windows/OSX/Linux)
* Has true sight/light/vision support
* Now has support for hard and soft fog for EACH token separately (1.3b77)
* Much easier to host a game than TTopRPG (no IP address stuff and MapTool has UPNP support to make port forwarding unnecessary)
* Anyone can host the server (player or GM)
* More customizable than you care to know ;)
* The entire campaign is in a single file which makes moving it from machine to machine very simple
* Maps can be infinite size (limited only by memory)
Disadvantages:
* Under active development constantly (the team strives for upward compatible data files and hits the mark 99% of the time)
* No commercial support (but we have hundreds of community users who provide very fast turn-around time on questions)
* Requires a fair amount of memory but is intelligent about managing it
* User interface is appropriate for the 1980's, not 2010!
I've been using it for more than two years now and it's been a godsend!
<disclaimer>
I'm the web admin for www.rptools.net and the forum admin for forums.rptools.net. Oh, and I also fix bugs in MT and coordinate builds. Including creation of .dmg files for Mac users. And I integrate patches and language translations from users (English, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, and Chinese currently). Myself and one other developer are spearheading the move from MT 1.3 to MT 1.4.
</disclaimer>
MapTool is great but you need to be ready to invest some time in learning its ways. Do that and you'll be hooked.
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MapTool is great but you need to be ready to invest some time in learning its ways. Do that and you'll be hooked.
We see this comment a lot. The truth is that for players there's not that much to know. And the screencasts are very good at this (click the Tutorials link in the toolbar at the main site). If you're the GM, you need to know a little more about how to create maps, but you can leave out the fancy stuff if you don't want it (like the vision/light thing I mentioned above).
Many GMs on our forum don't use that stuff and clear away the fog-of-war manually. And it's nice to have macros to automate things (rolling attacks and saves), but you don't have to have them. Any more than you have to have macros in TTopRPG or any other tool. Of course, you'll find it faster and easier over the long haul...
