Roll20 or Tabletop Simulator for ToR?

[Pen242]

Hi all,

Which one would you suggest for the One RIng?

Tabletop Simulator has a cool map, table, and the actual dice to roll (which I think my players would like more that a macro).

Roll20 seems more complicated with macros/scripts and whatnot, but I see that Heilemann has done a lot for ToR.

What do you think? I've never really used either one?

Thanks,
Pen

[Valarian]

I'm biased, I recommend Fantasy Grounds. No setup required, just create your campaign and start building characters and story.

[ghaste]

I will try this month to release my fork for Roll20. I have remade the way you roll the dice to something more visually appealing and with some Api, you hear the dice rolling sound when they do a roll and believe me it does the trick. Here a screen, (yes they all die)

[Wbweather]

I've been using Valarian's ruleset for TOR on Fantasy Grounds for almost 4 years now.

[Pen242]

I've been using Valarian's ruleset for TOR on Fantasy Grounds for almost 4 years now.

Everyone in your group has to have bought FG though, right?

My thought with Roll20 was that I could subscribe to it, but the others in the group could get the free version.

FG's looks cool, but isn't it pretty expensive for a whole group?

[Wbweather]

Only the LM has to have a paid copy. Everyone else can join and play with the free demo.

[Farath]

Is there a function to seek other players or do you have to form the adventurous group on other channels?
Also, as I understood it, there is no server hosting all fantasy ground games, the LM has to expose his/her machine to the internet and tell the others the IP address, right?

[Valarian]

I've been using Valarian's ruleset for TOR on Fantasy Grounds for almost 4 years now.

Everyone in your group has to have bought FG though, right?

My thought with Roll20 was that I could subscribe to it, but the others in the group could get the free version.
FG's looks cool, but isn't it pretty expensive for a whole group?

It depends on the license you buy. The version that I have, the Ultimate license, allows unregistered players to connect as players. For a subscription, it's $9.99 a month, which is the same as a Roll20 Pro subscription. Fantasy Grounds doesn't have the mapping functionality of Roll20 but is better in story management, character sheet, NPC sheet, combat tracker.

Alternatively, everyone can pay $3.99 a month for the standard license subscription, or buy outright ($39). The standard license allows people to connect as a player or host as a GM.

Is there a function to seek other players or do you have to form the adventurous group on other channels?
Also, as I understood it, there is no server hosting all fantasy ground games, the LM has to expose his/her machine to the internet and tell the others the IP address, right?

There is a forum to seek other players, and a game calendar for letting players know the time of the game and the alias to use to connect.

With Fantasy Grounds, your PC is the server but you don't need to tell the players your IP address. The Fantasy Grounds license server records an alias for your game (e.g. idle bard cold troll) and logs your IP address when you start your game up. When the players connect using the alias, Fantasy Grounds looks up the IP address using the alias and connects.

Yes, you will need to open port 1802 on your router through to your computer. There are instructions available online on how to forward the port through your router. You also need to tell your firewall that Fantasy Grounds is allowed to host games. This is the same for a lot of multi-player computer games. The software is a client/server model not centrally hosted. This does have the advantage that you are still able to use the software if the company goes belly-up - though you'd lose the updates and convenience of the alias lookup.

You can try the setup of Fantasy Grounds before you buy with the free demo version, which allows a single player to connect to a pre-generated demo campaign. There are plenty of people on the forum to help you if you get into difficulty. The community is very friendly and helpful.

I've been using Fantasy Grounds since 2007. I'm also a backer of Roll20 and iTabletop. I've not yet found a Virtual Tabletop that suits my gaming needs better. Mainly because most other VTTs seem to be map focussed and I want to focus on story and the characters. I'm very much a narrative style GM.

[Farath]

@valarian. Thanks for the clarification.

[Giorgio]

@ Valarian,

1- Are you currently running any FG: TOR games?

2- I got FG threw a Steam sale, does it work the same as a non-Steam version?

3- Do you know if FG runs any regular sales on their website? (Like the annual Hero Lab -50% sales, GM Day Salem, any convention sales..)

Thanks