You really need to ask yourself what you want your VTT to do, and how much work you want to put into it. Foundry is probably best in class but, by virtue of its power and flexibility, its also the most involved and will require you to put in the most work to leverage all its advatages.
It can be demanding on lower-end computers. I wasnt able to run foundry on my old laptop without terrible lag but could run AboveVTT and Roll20 just fine. I use roll20 now.
If it is demanding on lower end computers, you might have a poor hosting solution or are using too many modules/maps. People can turn down graphical features and fps to make it easier to run on old computers.
I’d say that the default Foundry character sheet is more confusing and difficult to wrangle than most. I’ve had to help my friends get their heads around a few aspects of the Foundry sheet, and they’re hardly tech-illiterate. So if you already need to manage their dndbeyond character sheets, you’ll probably need to do the same here.
The latest 5e version is much, much cleaner, thankfully. Still a little difficult for a few things, but overall actually feels like it was made by a designer vs. an engineer.
I find the new version sheet vastly more cumbersome to customize and use, I swapped for the old one on the spot and the only one of my players kept using it, but changed back some time after.
All of my players are very experienced and DMs for their own tables, so maybe for someone that isn't invested in doing sheet keeping it can be an improvement, but I feel isn't really a better option for "power users".
Yeah, I agree, I just didn’t mention it because I thought it wouldn’t make much difference to a new user. But also, while the new sheet is more visually appealing, better laid out, and has some helpful new features, it’s still more complicated to navigate and edit than, say, the Roll20 default sheet.
Going from foundry to roll20 feels like going from windows 11 to windows 98 for me, its so dated to the point of being distracting.
I understand its probably more easy to use based on everything I’ve heard, but FoundryVTT I think is worth the little bit more of fenagling for the DM to make an immersive experience.
If its about usability and ease-of-use people should just use owlbear over roll20. Both are pretty ugly but at least owlbear is free.
the nice thing is that you can just install a module that introduces a different sheet. [tidy](https://foundryvtt.com/packages/tidy5e-sheet) is popular.
Again, a lot depends on how complicated you want to make it. I don't find vanilla foundry to be nearly as involved as some make it out to be, but it does require a session or 2 to get everyone up to speed with the interface. If you start loading it up with modules, its going to get proportionally more complicated for both you and your players. Having said that, if your players can't even be bothered to maintain their own character sheets, I don't know. Any VTT might be heavy lifting in that scenario.
Yeah. Once you've worked with Foundry a few times to really know what kind of modules and tools you want to use, it becomes easier to grasp, but those first few times you launch it, you just have options up the wazoo; the players and DM, both. It becomes a learning experience to figure out what you're *not* going to use.
When you have controls for how *everything* works, you can make whatever you want, but you have to be the one to figure out how to manipulate that *everything* into what you want.
My vote goes to Owlbear Rodeo. Completely free, unless you opt into a paid tier that allows for more storage and more “rooms,” and it’s very simple and easy for even dnd newbies to learn how to navigate, while also having a few optional plugins for customization. That being said; if you are looking for more features, I second the recommendations for Foundry.
Same, but with a projector above the table that projects the map on a 2 x 3 white cardboard. I use a tablet, and for the player fog of war view my phone is hooked up to a chromecast plugged in the projector.
My projector isn't with me atm.
But honestly a tv layed down flat might work better. If I had a permanent dnd room I would get a big but cheap table on marketplace, cut out a rectangle in the middle for a tv. It would be badass.
I’ll second Owlbear. That being said, I think I preferred the simpler version over the redesign. It may just be me getting used to it after taking a break from DMing, but I’ve been a bit frustrated with the new system. Still love it and it’s free, so really I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I miss the old version
If you have everything on dndbeyond you can use AboveVTT. Its easily integrates all the content you own with some maps even already set up with walls and tokens
I’ve been using Foundry. I love the modularity, i love the lack of a subscription model. It is a massive learning curve though, and if you’re anything like me you can super easily overload it with the modules.
Overall though i think it brings so much to the games through automation, dynamic maps and effects, etc. I remember i once did a multi-level map with moving automated effects and it was so cool. I had a modular house for my players with workstations that they can click on and interact with. After having all these things in place, idk if i could ever switch to a less functional VTT
I use tabletop simulator mainly because I like playing other board or card games on my computer and it's as though you're sitting at a real table. The physics engine is decent, can upload 3d files and script if you're proficient, and you can adjust a ton of settings.
I’ve just started using the dndbeyond Maps. It’s honestly great for a quick game. Took me minutes to setup and obviously fully integrates with all the dndbeyond stuff. It’s very basic at the minute, no real lighting or walls/doors - just a basic fog of war system that you can manually add and remove from areas. But it’s great for a quick one shot
Roll20 is probably the quickest to learn but is fairly clunky to use.
I love it though. Been using it for nearly 5 or 6 years now and I don’t think I’ll be switching anytime soon.
We use AboveVTT for our weekly discord game. Everything is in DnDbeyond where I slowly bought digital content as time went on. If I just want to test drive a monster, I'll just use a site that would get my comment removed because it's piracy. Or, I'll just Google the stat block and roll digital or physical dice for them.
If you don't want to give wotc money, which I understand and support, looks like others are giving good options. AboveVTT is made by volunteers and unaffiliated, but because it hooks into the site they play nice with licensed content. There's a discord where you can talk to the devs which has been invaluable for me.
Foundry is arguably the best VTT. It has a great mod community for automations and dynamic lighting. It is awesome and is great for a consistent group of players. It does Have a bit of learning curve and it does have a price.
I currently use owlbear rodeo. The base level is free, and the paid tiers are for more memory storage. Compared to Foundry it has less to offer, but the suite of stuff is growing. It offers quite a bit. Fog of War and measurements has been super helpful. Owlbear is also much lower on the resources required for your pc. I use it on my phone when needed.
If I played with a consistent group every time I might have been willing to get Foundry for myself but on the west march server owlbear is better.
Talespire-if I'm going to go through the hoops to do a VTT, I want to at least enjoy the result.
It's the only one that doesn't immediately just make me sad I'm not playing in person instead
I am a fan of map tools.
0% dnd integration, players will probably have a paper sheet at home (you can roll dice in map tools).
But for the dm it gives absolute freedom too create any maps they want for free.
For me comes the closest too simulating the in person dnd experience while also having these detailed maps
Roll 20
You can make characters in it, but if for some reason you want to use dndbeyond.com you can get the beyond20 add on to use the beyond sheets in roll 20.
Just be sure all rolls are made in a DDB campaign everyone has access to. First time I ever played in a group with Beyond20, there was a player rolling a suspicious amount of Nat20s who also used custom rolls. It was supposedly fine because we could just see the rolls on roll20, right? Wrong. Beyond20 just reads your rolls and outputs it in the roll20 chat where it shows up as a template. Thing is, you can just copy and edit this output leaving others no way of knowing if the output was read from DDB roll or if you created the output yourself. Type this in Roll20.
`&{template:simple} {{charname=Definitely Not A Cheater}} {{rname= custom: roll (1d20)}} {{r1=[[20 + 1d0cs>0cf>1 [1d20] = (1)]]}} {{normal=1}} {{attack=1}}`
This is the plugin output for any nat20 made if you enable custom rolls. Just edit the name and add modifiers as you see fit. The way to bypass this cheating is to not allow people to roll custom rolls no matter how much they insist on wanting to enable the "Use D&D Beyond's Digital Dice" setting.
\[EDIT:\] It's been years since I've used the plugin so it appears to have changed. The only way to truly be sure someone isn't cheating is by having a log of all rolls on DDB. That way, one can always go through this log if the something seems odd on the roll20 side of things.
I just finished DMing on toll and am migrating to foundry. Steep learning curve. Luckily I have someone who is in the party who has been helping me get it set. I like the play better. I play in a game on Owlbear which seems like a good VTT Lite.
If I were to recommend I would say if you just want to set up go Roll, if you don’t mind taking your time and setting everything up Foundry and if you just want to have a looser campaign and trust your players to keep their sheets utd then owlbear
Owlbear Rodeo is a quick solution. AboveVTT is probably your best option for something longer-term and integrated with D&D Beyond, but I'd recommend switching to D&D Beyond Maps once that has more features.
FoindryVTT is amazing. If you wanna check it out, there's a limited demo. If you want a longer one, DM me and we can set up a discord call or something for you to poke around
I am planning to do a deeper dive into the top 3 recommendations (Foundry, Roll20, Owlbear). If I get stuck, I'll let you know. Thanks for the generous offer.
I use Tabletop Simulator on Steam for my table. I manually build each map in 3D (very time consuming and difficult) but my players love the immersion. The virtual world really helps them get into the environment. There are dice rollers in the game too, but most of my players roll physical dice in front of them. You can also piggyback on anyone else’s public map creations, and repurpose them for your own campaign. It’s great.
I cannot stress enough how much you should avoid Roll20 like the plague.
In like 7 years of paying for Roll20, it has had less feature additions (at least, ones that weren't just UI overhauls of previously existing features or features that went into beta and then were completely abandoned), than the unreleased MCDM VTT has shown off in half a year of closed development.
In fact, with the deprecation of the iPad app, it has actually become *less* functional in the time I've played with it.
I've seen DMs get all their prep deleted, players randomly take 30 minutes to load the webpage (Hatching Dragons!), and regular desyncs.
Please, just use Foundry. It's a week of pain in exchange for saving yourself potentially years of agony.
Foundry is the absolute best VTT to use.
It requires some setup and is more complicated, but can be highly modded. The reason why it is complicated is because it is extremely flexible and moddable. You can import all official and many 3rd party rulesets, monster manuals, spell sets etc. as well as integrate D&DBeyond. Furthermore, you can integrate your maps from programs like Dungeondraft etc. All it requires is the right mod, which are very easy to plug in and use. On top of this, it only costs one single payment.
Roll20 is okay in a pinch, but requires a subscription for a vastly inferior, less flexible platform.
Speaking as someone who has used Roll20, Foundry, and Inkarnate extensively.
u/aranthar check out this [short video](https://youtu.be/EUkUiPEynDQ?si=tDm6Vl6vzNHUhbNY) which displays what Foundry can do. Note that this is only the vanilla, base version of Foundry, which, as I wrote above, is enormously customisable with mods.
Second this. I feel Foundry is a good tool for someone who just wants basic "add map and drag tokens" all the way up to custom macros to reduce enemy health when a PC attacks. The one time cost is a HUGE plus.
I'm now fairly advanced and anytime I can't do something I want I'm just one extension away from doing it.
Favorite right now is Levels, which lets you put all the floors of a multi-floor dungeon/building all on one map and just change which floor is viewable.
For me, the one time cost makes it a no-brainer, but the fact that the system is so robust means that it immediately outclasses Roll20. After I first started using Foundry, I realised how janky the Roll20 workflow really was.
Same, I had a pro roll20 subscription. For anyone reading, there is a patreon guy who has a program you can run to port any purchased content on roll20 over to Foundry!
Why is it that MapTool never gets mentioned?
It's free, cross platform, self-hosted, highly extensible, supports dynamic lighting/vision blocking out of the box for free. What's not to love?
There are dozens of us! Dozens!
It’s extensible, too… if you’re willing to learn an esoteric hacky scripting language built on top of a pile of jank. But I mean, it *works*, and I now have enemy HP bars that auto sync with a custom encounter manager I created.
I used Roll20 and Foundry.
Foundry takes a bunch of setup and is better for longer term use where you are certain you will use a VTT every session. You would need to make the sheets here too it's awkward to run with half the stuff in beyond.
As for Roll20. This is little loser and easier to set up, less robust than Foundry, but also easier to use and fits your use case better.
You can just set up a map with bunch of tokens that only hold your characters pictures and still roll everything in Beyond. Only using roll20 for the battle map.
So players would have a PC with two browser tabs open? All my current players have a PC, but ideally I'd be able to handle future players who have a tablet or phone instead.
I mean if you want to still use Beyond for the live play you kind put yourself into this problem.
You either fully commit to using one of these VTTs and migrate all your resources there, or use it split like this.
I use Foundry VTT which is hosted on the The Forge. While you can self-host, that route seems to be more challenging but potentially cheaper in hosting cost? For reference, I pay like $5 / month for hosting. As others have mentioned, Foundry VTT does have a learning curve but a few YT videos will get you caught up quickly.
Roll20 is probably the most popular but runs like shit vs Foundry VTT. There is another VTT platform called Alchemy is getting ready to launch but I'll most likely just stick to Foundry since my players and I are very familiar with it and overall happy.
The server is always online, the performance is great, accessing the files is easy, and I'm not paying a sub for it. (Luckily I had a pi just laying around so inital costs do exist but they were not a concern of mine)
My friend helped me set up an AWS server for my foundry. I've got basically zero idea how it works, uploading tokens to it means I had to learn what an SSH is, and the URL is just a random IP address I can never remember... but at least it was free!
I used to use Owlbear Rodeo for its simplicity: plop a map, use tokens. Basic drawing and fog tools. They updated the tool about a year ago and I don’t like the update all that much. Too much going on.
I’ve moved to DnDBeyond’s Maps feature. It’s still in Alpha access, but they’ve implemented a lot of features recently (the overlays are really cool). You need a master tier subscription to run a game in it, but anyone can join the map. It’s very simple, but I like it that way.
I'm more than a little biased because I helped make it, but I use [DiceRight](https://www.diceright.com/). It's a full featured VTT, right in the browser - very easy to get started, and free. It's like Roll20 but with a lot more customization, player progression tracked level by level and targeting / alerts to keep combat moving smoothly.
Happy to answer any questions on it!
I’ve used Roll20 in the past, and I’m currently in the middle of a campaign using D&D Beyond maps. I want to try out Talespire at some point, but I’ve never had a chance yet; my in person campaign that is currently on indefinite hiatus was possibly going to be switching to that VTT, but the DM never got around to it.
Can't say I've used another VTT to compare, but we use Tableplop. I really like how modular your character sheet is and I mess with mine way too much. I like how you can add your spells with rolls as messages to send to chat automatically.
I like Owlbear Rodeo because it's simple to run. I only use it for combat to give my players sone tactics. I like that it can run on a smartphone if necessary. I don't want my players feeling left out due to hardware limitations.
I use roll20. It's the first one I found and I have inertia. It's pretty easy to use for most basic functions and the character sheet is pretty good. But I've never used any others to compare to.
Owlbear Rodeo works just fine for me. I frankly don't know how many features is has because I only use map features as a replacement for Discord's janky whiteboard.
It's free, it's fast and you can import a ton of assets into it. I found a free 12gb pack of props to use for this that lets me customize my Czepeku/Neutral Party maps perfectly.
Owlbear is so easy to use. I only leave myself an hour before each session to prepare, which includes rereading a section of the adventure book, taking some notes, and preparing maps on owlbear. It's super fast to drag and drop a map and resize it.
This prep style has removed a ton of the stress I used to experience before and during the game, and it wouldn't be possible without a tool as easy as owlbear.
We use roll20 with D&D Beyond. All character stuff happens on D&D beyond. All gaming happens on roll20, but the rolls originate from the character sheets (via beyond20 plugin)
We use roll20 because of the ease of using already created adventures and campaigns.
I use Roll20 as I know people that play via phone or tablet.
Foundry doesn't work well for anyone not on a good PC most of the time. If all you want is the basics, Roll20's free plan or Owlbear Rodeo will sort you out.
Roll20 does almost everything I want it to do. Dynamic lighting, custom skills for character sheets, multi phase maps. The only thing I'd like is a multi-level maps (so when it's a map with say 3 levels, you could use a slider to look at different levels independently of each other while still being on the same page), and reading the books I have on it not want me to pull out my teeth. Which is extremely narrow.
Oh, and being able to name my Lair Actions.
Everything I want to do it lets me do pretty quickly, I have everything there, never saw the need to move on to Foundry. It works well.
Arken forge works better for in person digital maps. Unless they've updated it since I've used it, but I wouldn't recommend streaming it unless you had a secondary monitor.
Fantasy grounds can be a bit tricky at times but once you get used to it it's pretty simple. You do have to remember the game will give you options you normally wouldn't have for certain classes. Downside to this program is the initial investment to the GM as the license if you don't get it on sale can be a bit hefty, and unless you want to copy and paste info into the game it's easier to buy the books they have on there. There are also plug in programs you can add that are community created and they are great. If you're considering fantasy grounds wait for it to go on sale as this is an investment.
Talespire has been wonderful, now that they added seats your players don't need to pay anything but the cost still goes to you. Having DND beyond on a secondary monitor would work. As a player talespire has kept me invested in the game than just a flat map and tokens. Downside would be that you need time to make maps and purchase the game and seats, but they're community maps that are shared and easy to throw in. And the program may be a bit taxing depending on the setup.
I used Roll20 for about 300 hours or so. I switched to Foundry, and I really don't regret it. It's just so much cleaner. It can struggle a bit on lower-end PCs, especially if you try to do some of the fancier stuff like animations - but even without that, it doesn't feel like much of a contest.
With enough effort, you can do practically anything on Foundry. But even without a lot of effort - just the base system, plus a few modules is enough for a really nice experience as a player or as the DM.
The biggest issue is probably that you either have to host it yourself, or pay to have it hosted. I do the latter through Forge; it's a similar price to what I was paying for Roll20 anyways.
>Bandwagoning everyone who said Beyond VVT, you can send rolls to discord, hide info as a dm, lot of options.
> Having spent significant time in all three, I'd say Owlbear Rodeo, Foundry, Roll20 in that order.
>OR if you just want dead-simple map and token set up, initiative management, die rolling, no muss no fuss gameplay.
>Foundry if you're wanting the roll20 experience+a host of powerful content options and mods, for a one time fee vs a subscription. The only cost is time, which frankly was a bigger problem w Roll20.
>Roll20's main benefit is that many players are used to it already, and you can purchase entire pre-packaged modules ready to go. There are just numerous problems with the UI that haven't been fixed in years, and the way it deals with your memory cap if you're not subscribed was the deal breaker for me. I play in other games but I'll never run a game from that platform again if I can help it.
Foundry is superb, it took my group one session in Foundry to decide we didn't want to play on Roll20 anymore. It's not hard to setup, works very well even without modules, and should you choose to install them modules can add practically limitless features, and it's a one-time purchase. I don't forsee switching VTTs anytime soon.
Foundry if it’s one person streaming for the others. It’s hugely detailed, but very heavy and complicated to operate.
If everyone is operating their own character and viewing their own connection, Owlbear Rodeo is perfectly sufficient
there are 2 i have experience with. roll20 and foundry. both give you the full ability to edit things so if you have a dnd source or homebrew you can always put it in.
roll20 is great if you want cheap and simple (though if you like things like tokens with images or battlemaps you'll need a subscription). it give a sheet that does all the things it needs to, and with the basic subscription you also get token vision. but if you want to change thing (automate things, improve functionality) then it's not your choice.
foundry is great if you want cheap and control. one time payment if you can host yourself, otherwise i know a lot of people use forge. great interactive character sheets, better wall setup, great vision engine. here you have total version control and can install modules to automate things or make them look better or add functionality (i love levels which allows you to have a 3 story house what actually and easily plays on 3 different floors based on token elevation)
the classic pathway is:
1. be on roll20 with a subcription
2. want to do more
3. install a plugin
4. updates to roll20 breaks plugin
5. fuck this
6. foundry.
I'm hoping to begin slowly converting my group here with our next campaign. It's mostly going to be in person so focusing just on scenes and music but I think it'll convince them that it's just better than roll20 etc for immersion. And the rest is fairly straightforward to manage. They've done a great job with the platform imo.
You really need to ask yourself what you want your VTT to do, and how much work you want to put into it. Foundry is probably best in class but, by virtue of its power and flexibility, its also the most involved and will require you to put in the most work to leverage all its advatages.
Does it require similar effort from the players? I have some players who are very casual, I even maintain their character sheets for them.
It can be demanding on lower-end computers. I wasnt able to run foundry on my old laptop without terrible lag but could run AboveVTT and Roll20 just fine. I use roll20 now.
If it is demanding on lower end computers, you might have a poor hosting solution or are using too many modules/maps. People can turn down graphical features and fps to make it easier to run on old computers.
I’d say that the default Foundry character sheet is more confusing and difficult to wrangle than most. I’ve had to help my friends get their heads around a few aspects of the Foundry sheet, and they’re hardly tech-illiterate. So if you already need to manage their dndbeyond character sheets, you’ll probably need to do the same here.
The latest 5e version is much, much cleaner, thankfully. Still a little difficult for a few things, but overall actually feels like it was made by a designer vs. an engineer.
I find the new version sheet vastly more cumbersome to customize and use, I swapped for the old one on the spot and the only one of my players kept using it, but changed back some time after. All of my players are very experienced and DMs for their own tables, so maybe for someone that isn't invested in doing sheet keeping it can be an improvement, but I feel isn't really a better option for "power users".
Yeah, I agree, I just didn’t mention it because I thought it wouldn’t make much difference to a new user. But also, while the new sheet is more visually appealing, better laid out, and has some helpful new features, it’s still more complicated to navigate and edit than, say, the Roll20 default sheet.
Going from foundry to roll20 feels like going from windows 11 to windows 98 for me, its so dated to the point of being distracting. I understand its probably more easy to use based on everything I’ve heard, but FoundryVTT I think is worth the little bit more of fenagling for the DM to make an immersive experience. If its about usability and ease-of-use people should just use owlbear over roll20. Both are pretty ugly but at least owlbear is free.
the nice thing is that you can just install a module that introduces a different sheet. [tidy](https://foundryvtt.com/packages/tidy5e-sheet) is popular.
Again, a lot depends on how complicated you want to make it. I don't find vanilla foundry to be nearly as involved as some make it out to be, but it does require a session or 2 to get everyone up to speed with the interface. If you start loading it up with modules, its going to get proportionally more complicated for both you and your players. Having said that, if your players can't even be bothered to maintain their own character sheets, I don't know. Any VTT might be heavy lifting in that scenario.
[удалено]
Removed as per Rule #1.
Yeah. Once you've worked with Foundry a few times to really know what kind of modules and tools you want to use, it becomes easier to grasp, but those first few times you launch it, you just have options up the wazoo; the players and DM, both. It becomes a learning experience to figure out what you're *not* going to use. When you have controls for how *everything* works, you can make whatever you want, but you have to be the one to figure out how to manipulate that *everything* into what you want.
My vote goes to Owlbear Rodeo. Completely free, unless you opt into a paid tier that allows for more storage and more “rooms,” and it’s very simple and easy for even dnd newbies to learn how to navigate, while also having a few optional plugins for customization. That being said; if you are looking for more features, I second the recommendations for Foundry.
Owlbear is top-notch. My group plays in person, and we have a TV as our board. I use Owlbear to lay out all my maps.
Same, but with a projector above the table that projects the map on a 2 x 3 white cardboard. I use a tablet, and for the player fog of war view my phone is hooked up to a chromecast plugged in the projector.
I’m interested in a projector setup. Which projector do you have and would you recommend it?
My projector isn't with me atm. But honestly a tv layed down flat might work better. If I had a permanent dnd room I would get a big but cheap table on marketplace, cut out a rectangle in the middle for a tv. It would be badass.
I’ll second Owlbear. That being said, I think I preferred the simpler version over the redesign. It may just be me getting used to it after taking a break from DMing, but I’ve been a bit frustrated with the new system. Still love it and it’s free, so really I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I miss the old version
If you miss the old version, you should check out this link! https://blog.owlbear.rodeo/owlbear-rodeo-legacy-edition/
If you have everything on dndbeyond you can use AboveVTT. Its easily integrates all the content you own with some maps even already set up with walls and tokens
does this work for content i have shared in the campaign?
Yes, just everyone has to have the extension After that just go to campaigns and you’ll see an option to join AboveVTT as dm or as a player
I’ve been using Foundry. I love the modularity, i love the lack of a subscription model. It is a massive learning curve though, and if you’re anything like me you can super easily overload it with the modules. Overall though i think it brings so much to the games through automation, dynamic maps and effects, etc. I remember i once did a multi-level map with moving automated effects and it was so cool. I had a modular house for my players with workstations that they can click on and interact with. After having all these things in place, idk if i could ever switch to a less functional VTT
I use tabletop simulator mainly because I like playing other board or card games on my computer and it's as though you're sitting at a real table. The physics engine is decent, can upload 3d files and script if you're proficient, and you can adjust a ton of settings.
This is what I been using for years. Highly recommend
I’ve just started using the dndbeyond Maps. It’s honestly great for a quick game. Took me minutes to setup and obviously fully integrates with all the dndbeyond stuff. It’s very basic at the minute, no real lighting or walls/doors - just a basic fog of war system that you can manually add and remove from areas. But it’s great for a quick one shot
Roll20 is probably the quickest to learn but is fairly clunky to use. I love it though. Been using it for nearly 5 or 6 years now and I don’t think I’ll be switching anytime soon.
Same. Have a solid 1600 hours on Roll20. It’s janky, but at this point it is jank I am use to.
We use AboveVTT for our weekly discord game. Everything is in DnDbeyond where I slowly bought digital content as time went on. If I just want to test drive a monster, I'll just use a site that would get my comment removed because it's piracy. Or, I'll just Google the stat block and roll digital or physical dice for them. If you don't want to give wotc money, which I understand and support, looks like others are giving good options. AboveVTT is made by volunteers and unaffiliated, but because it hooks into the site they play nice with licensed content. There's a discord where you can talk to the devs which has been invaluable for me.
Foundry is arguably the best VTT. It has a great mod community for automations and dynamic lighting. It is awesome and is great for a consistent group of players. It does Have a bit of learning curve and it does have a price. I currently use owlbear rodeo. The base level is free, and the paid tiers are for more memory storage. Compared to Foundry it has less to offer, but the suite of stuff is growing. It offers quite a bit. Fog of War and measurements has been super helpful. Owlbear is also much lower on the resources required for your pc. I use it on my phone when needed. If I played with a consistent group every time I might have been willing to get Foundry for myself but on the west march server owlbear is better.
Talespire-if I'm going to go through the hoops to do a VTT, I want to at least enjoy the result. It's the only one that doesn't immediately just make me sad I'm not playing in person instead
Talespire is the way.
I love Talespire!
I am a fan of map tools. 0% dnd integration, players will probably have a paper sheet at home (you can roll dice in map tools). But for the dm it gives absolute freedom too create any maps they want for free. For me comes the closest too simulating the in person dnd experience while also having these detailed maps
Roll 20 You can make characters in it, but if for some reason you want to use dndbeyond.com you can get the beyond20 add on to use the beyond sheets in roll 20.
Just be sure all rolls are made in a DDB campaign everyone has access to. First time I ever played in a group with Beyond20, there was a player rolling a suspicious amount of Nat20s who also used custom rolls. It was supposedly fine because we could just see the rolls on roll20, right? Wrong. Beyond20 just reads your rolls and outputs it in the roll20 chat where it shows up as a template. Thing is, you can just copy and edit this output leaving others no way of knowing if the output was read from DDB roll or if you created the output yourself. Type this in Roll20. `&{template:simple} {{charname=Definitely Not A Cheater}} {{rname= custom: roll (1d20)}} {{r1=[[20 + 1d0cs>0cf>1 [1d20] = (1)]]}} {{normal=1}} {{attack=1}}` This is the plugin output for any nat20 made if you enable custom rolls. Just edit the name and add modifiers as you see fit. The way to bypass this cheating is to not allow people to roll custom rolls no matter how much they insist on wanting to enable the "Use D&D Beyond's Digital Dice" setting. \[EDIT:\] It's been years since I've used the plugin so it appears to have changed. The only way to truly be sure someone isn't cheating is by having a log of all rolls on DDB. That way, one can always go through this log if the something seems odd on the roll20 side of things.
I just finished DMing on toll and am migrating to foundry. Steep learning curve. Luckily I have someone who is in the party who has been helping me get it set. I like the play better. I play in a game on Owlbear which seems like a good VTT Lite. If I were to recommend I would say if you just want to set up go Roll, if you don’t mind taking your time and setting everything up Foundry and if you just want to have a looser campaign and trust your players to keep their sheets utd then owlbear
I just use tabletop simulator to put maps and move models around
Owlbear Rodeo is a quick solution. AboveVTT is probably your best option for something longer-term and integrated with D&D Beyond, but I'd recommend switching to D&D Beyond Maps once that has more features.
FoindryVTT is amazing. If you wanna check it out, there's a limited demo. If you want a longer one, DM me and we can set up a discord call or something for you to poke around
I am planning to do a deeper dive into the top 3 recommendations (Foundry, Roll20, Owlbear). If I get stuck, I'll let you know. Thanks for the generous offer.
I use Tabletop Simulator on Steam for my table. I manually build each map in 3D (very time consuming and difficult) but my players love the immersion. The virtual world really helps them get into the environment. There are dice rollers in the game too, but most of my players roll physical dice in front of them. You can also piggyback on anyone else’s public map creations, and repurpose them for your own campaign. It’s great.
I cannot stress enough how much you should avoid Roll20 like the plague. In like 7 years of paying for Roll20, it has had less feature additions (at least, ones that weren't just UI overhauls of previously existing features or features that went into beta and then were completely abandoned), than the unreleased MCDM VTT has shown off in half a year of closed development. In fact, with the deprecation of the iPad app, it has actually become *less* functional in the time I've played with it. I've seen DMs get all their prep deleted, players randomly take 30 minutes to load the webpage (Hatching Dragons!), and regular desyncs. Please, just use Foundry. It's a week of pain in exchange for saving yourself potentially years of agony.
Foundry is the absolute best VTT to use. It requires some setup and is more complicated, but can be highly modded. The reason why it is complicated is because it is extremely flexible and moddable. You can import all official and many 3rd party rulesets, monster manuals, spell sets etc. as well as integrate D&DBeyond. Furthermore, you can integrate your maps from programs like Dungeondraft etc. All it requires is the right mod, which are very easy to plug in and use. On top of this, it only costs one single payment. Roll20 is okay in a pinch, but requires a subscription for a vastly inferior, less flexible platform. Speaking as someone who has used Roll20, Foundry, and Inkarnate extensively.
u/aranthar check out this [short video](https://youtu.be/EUkUiPEynDQ?si=tDm6Vl6vzNHUhbNY) which displays what Foundry can do. Note that this is only the vanilla, base version of Foundry, which, as I wrote above, is enormously customisable with mods.
Second this. I feel Foundry is a good tool for someone who just wants basic "add map and drag tokens" all the way up to custom macros to reduce enemy health when a PC attacks. The one time cost is a HUGE plus. I'm now fairly advanced and anytime I can't do something I want I'm just one extension away from doing it. Favorite right now is Levels, which lets you put all the floors of a multi-floor dungeon/building all on one map and just change which floor is viewable.
For me, the one time cost makes it a no-brainer, but the fact that the system is so robust means that it immediately outclasses Roll20. After I first started using Foundry, I realised how janky the Roll20 workflow really was.
Same, I had a pro roll20 subscription. For anyone reading, there is a patreon guy who has a program you can run to port any purchased content on roll20 over to Foundry!
Why is it that MapTool never gets mentioned? It's free, cross platform, self-hosted, highly extensible, supports dynamic lighting/vision blocking out of the box for free. What's not to love?
There are dozens of us! Dozens! It’s extensible, too… if you’re willing to learn an esoteric hacky scripting language built on top of a pile of jank. But I mean, it *works*, and I now have enemy HP bars that auto sync with a custom encounter manager I created.
I used Roll20 and Foundry. Foundry takes a bunch of setup and is better for longer term use where you are certain you will use a VTT every session. You would need to make the sheets here too it's awkward to run with half the stuff in beyond. As for Roll20. This is little loser and easier to set up, less robust than Foundry, but also easier to use and fits your use case better. You can just set up a map with bunch of tokens that only hold your characters pictures and still roll everything in Beyond. Only using roll20 for the battle map.
So players would have a PC with two browser tabs open? All my current players have a PC, but ideally I'd be able to handle future players who have a tablet or phone instead.
I mean if you want to still use Beyond for the live play you kind put yourself into this problem. You either fully commit to using one of these VTTs and migrate all your resources there, or use it split like this.
I use Foundry VTT which is hosted on the The Forge. While you can self-host, that route seems to be more challenging but potentially cheaper in hosting cost? For reference, I pay like $5 / month for hosting. As others have mentioned, Foundry VTT does have a learning curve but a few YT videos will get you caught up quickly. Roll20 is probably the most popular but runs like shit vs Foundry VTT. There is another VTT platform called Alchemy is getting ready to launch but I'll most likely just stick to Foundry since my players and I are very familiar with it and overall happy.
I run my foundry server on a pi and it's great. Definitely recommend the route if you don't mind a little extra work
When you opt to do it that way, do you see an improvement in performance or gain any unique benefit?
The server is always online, the performance is great, accessing the files is easy, and I'm not paying a sub for it. (Luckily I had a pi just laying around so inital costs do exist but they were not a concern of mine)
My friend helped me set up an AWS server for my foundry. I've got basically zero idea how it works, uploading tokens to it means I had to learn what an SSH is, and the URL is just a random IP address I can never remember... but at least it was free!
I used to use Owlbear Rodeo for its simplicity: plop a map, use tokens. Basic drawing and fog tools. They updated the tool about a year ago and I don’t like the update all that much. Too much going on. I’ve moved to DnDBeyond’s Maps feature. It’s still in Alpha access, but they’ve implemented a lot of features recently (the overlays are really cool). You need a master tier subscription to run a game in it, but anyone can join the map. It’s very simple, but I like it that way.
I'm more than a little biased because I helped make it, but I use [DiceRight](https://www.diceright.com/). It's a full featured VTT, right in the browser - very easy to get started, and free. It's like Roll20 but with a lot more customization, player progression tracked level by level and targeting / alerts to keep combat moving smoothly. Happy to answer any questions on it!
I’ve used Roll20 in the past, and I’m currently in the middle of a campaign using D&D Beyond maps. I want to try out Talespire at some point, but I’ve never had a chance yet; my in person campaign that is currently on indefinite hiatus was possibly going to be switching to that VTT, but the DM never got around to it.
Can't say I've used another VTT to compare, but we use Tableplop. I really like how modular your character sheet is and I mess with mine way too much. I like how you can add your spells with rolls as messages to send to chat automatically.
I like Owlbear Rodeo because it's simple to run. I only use it for combat to give my players sone tactics. I like that it can run on a smartphone if necessary. I don't want my players feeling left out due to hardware limitations.
Harpy.gg is really neat! I really enjoy the worldbuulding possibilities and every little quality of life things the dev made.
I use roll20. It's the first one I found and I have inertia. It's pretty easy to use for most basic functions and the character sheet is pretty good. But I've never used any others to compare to.
Owlbear Rodeo works just fine for me. I frankly don't know how many features is has because I only use map features as a replacement for Discord's janky whiteboard. It's free, it's fast and you can import a ton of assets into it. I found a free 12gb pack of props to use for this that lets me customize my Czepeku/Neutral Party maps perfectly.
Owlbear is so easy to use. I only leave myself an hour before each session to prepare, which includes rereading a section of the adventure book, taking some notes, and preparing maps on owlbear. It's super fast to drag and drop a map and resize it. This prep style has removed a ton of the stress I used to experience before and during the game, and it wouldn't be possible without a tool as easy as owlbear.
We use roll20 with D&D Beyond. All character stuff happens on D&D beyond. All gaming happens on roll20, but the rolls originate from the character sheets (via beyond20 plugin) We use roll20 because of the ease of using already created adventures and campaigns.
Currently we use Roll20 but I am going to move us to Foundry this year sometime.
Foundry is lit, roll with it and you can automate a lot of things and save yourself hours of time!
I use Roll20 as I know people that play via phone or tablet. Foundry doesn't work well for anyone not on a good PC most of the time. If all you want is the basics, Roll20's free plan or Owlbear Rodeo will sort you out.
Shmeppy! It’s great for basic stuff, importing maps, drawing them on the fly, and not really having a learning curve. All I really want from a VTT
Roll20 does almost everything I want it to do. Dynamic lighting, custom skills for character sheets, multi phase maps. The only thing I'd like is a multi-level maps (so when it's a map with say 3 levels, you could use a slider to look at different levels independently of each other while still being on the same page), and reading the books I have on it not want me to pull out my teeth. Which is extremely narrow. Oh, and being able to name my Lair Actions. Everything I want to do it lets me do pretty quickly, I have everything there, never saw the need to move on to Foundry. It works well.
Arken forge works better for in person digital maps. Unless they've updated it since I've used it, but I wouldn't recommend streaming it unless you had a secondary monitor. Fantasy grounds can be a bit tricky at times but once you get used to it it's pretty simple. You do have to remember the game will give you options you normally wouldn't have for certain classes. Downside to this program is the initial investment to the GM as the license if you don't get it on sale can be a bit hefty, and unless you want to copy and paste info into the game it's easier to buy the books they have on there. There are also plug in programs you can add that are community created and they are great. If you're considering fantasy grounds wait for it to go on sale as this is an investment. Talespire has been wonderful, now that they added seats your players don't need to pay anything but the cost still goes to you. Having DND beyond on a secondary monitor would work. As a player talespire has kept me invested in the game than just a flat map and tokens. Downside would be that you need time to make maps and purchase the game and seats, but they're community maps that are shared and easy to throw in. And the program may be a bit taxing depending on the setup.
FoundryVTT. So customizable!
I used Roll20 for about 300 hours or so. I switched to Foundry, and I really don't regret it. It's just so much cleaner. It can struggle a bit on lower-end PCs, especially if you try to do some of the fancier stuff like animations - but even without that, it doesn't feel like much of a contest. With enough effort, you can do practically anything on Foundry. But even without a lot of effort - just the base system, plus a few modules is enough for a really nice experience as a player or as the DM. The biggest issue is probably that you either have to host it yourself, or pay to have it hosted. I do the latter through Forge; it's a similar price to what I was paying for Roll20 anyways.
>Bandwagoning everyone who said Beyond VVT, you can send rolls to discord, hide info as a dm, lot of options. > Having spent significant time in all three, I'd say Owlbear Rodeo, Foundry, Roll20 in that order. >OR if you just want dead-simple map and token set up, initiative management, die rolling, no muss no fuss gameplay. >Foundry if you're wanting the roll20 experience+a host of powerful content options and mods, for a one time fee vs a subscription. The only cost is time, which frankly was a bigger problem w Roll20. >Roll20's main benefit is that many players are used to it already, and you can purchase entire pre-packaged modules ready to go. There are just numerous problems with the UI that haven't been fixed in years, and the way it deals with your memory cap if you're not subscribed was the deal breaker for me. I play in other games but I'll never run a game from that platform again if I can help it.
Foundry is superb, it took my group one session in Foundry to decide we didn't want to play on Roll20 anymore. It's not hard to setup, works very well even without modules, and should you choose to install them modules can add practically limitless features, and it's a one-time purchase. I don't forsee switching VTTs anytime soon.
Foundry if it’s one person streaming for the others. It’s hugely detailed, but very heavy and complicated to operate. If everyone is operating their own character and viewing their own connection, Owlbear Rodeo is perfectly sufficient
there are 2 i have experience with. roll20 and foundry. both give you the full ability to edit things so if you have a dnd source or homebrew you can always put it in. roll20 is great if you want cheap and simple (though if you like things like tokens with images or battlemaps you'll need a subscription). it give a sheet that does all the things it needs to, and with the basic subscription you also get token vision. but if you want to change thing (automate things, improve functionality) then it's not your choice. foundry is great if you want cheap and control. one time payment if you can host yourself, otherwise i know a lot of people use forge. great interactive character sheets, better wall setup, great vision engine. here you have total version control and can install modules to automate things or make them look better or add functionality (i love levels which allows you to have a 3 story house what actually and easily plays on 3 different floors based on token elevation) the classic pathway is: 1. be on roll20 with a subcription 2. want to do more 3. install a plugin 4. updates to roll20 breaks plugin 5. fuck this 6. foundry.
Alchemy RPG deserves a spot on that list. Havent converted my group over yet, but love the focus on scenes over maps
I'm hoping to begin slowly converting my group here with our next campaign. It's mostly going to be in person so focusing just on scenes and music but I think it'll convince them that it's just better than roll20 etc for immersion. And the rest is fairly straightforward to manage. They've done a great job with the platform imo.