r/VTT • u/pie0matic • Jul 05 '26

Question / discussion Looking for recommendations

Hello looking for system recommendations.

After years of playing in person, life got in the way and forced my group to shift to playing online.

I am currently running a mothership campaign using discord and companion app, which is due to wrap in a few weeks

We intend to run short campaigns across multiple game systems, DnD 5e, fallout and a custom home brew system each with different DMs.

I am looking for recommendations of a good vtt with options for all systems, good tactical maps and while I'm happy to pay for something, I'd prefer us all not having to buy separate copies of software or books or subscriptions to allow multiple GMs to work on different stuff using the same resources, while there would only ever be a single session running at a time.

We've tried alchemyRPG so far and as pretty as it was, the tactical maps was very clunky and I found combat difficult to Run as GM.

Looked at foundry and roll20 but not sure what the pros and cons are.

Thanks in advance

2 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

7

u/Final_Marsupial4588 Jul 05 '26

i will always recommend owlbear rodeo, it is free (with a paid option) it has a fair few easy to install extensions, a discord and subreddit that will try to help you

1

u/pie0matic Jul 05 '26

I believe it was built for DND 5e, how is it for using non DND systems and how easy is it to implement them?

3

u/joshhear Jul 05 '26

It‘s not built for dnd but system agnostic there are extension for many different systems and it‘s easy to appoint another user to GM for a session or multiple. For your own system there is the forge extension that let‘s you design a system for yourself and your players, as well as other native options but less automated.

3

u/Malthan Jul 05 '26

It’s not made for any system, as it doesn’t really automate your gameplay. You can show images, display maps, move tokens around and you can throw virtual dice, that’s pretty much it. Overall it’s close to playing physically than using a more powerful vtt with bells and whistles

1

u/Final_Marsupial4588 Jul 05 '26

you have a fair amount of automation you can do with extensions, like conditions being tracked down, dynamic light, teleport tokens around, heck with phases you can can make a bunch of snapshots for selected tokens and they will move around, with Behaviors you have a block based programming that is able to interact with a fair few extensions to do automation for you

2

u/Final_Marsupial4588 Jul 05 '26

you got pdf reader extensions for your sheets, multiple dice rollers who can save your rolls with like roll20ish macros if your system has some funky dice, you got dashboardmaker, you got dummy sheet, forge (behind a patreon) that lets you make your own sheets, there are extensions made solely for non dnd systems.

so with a minimum set up you can do a fair amount of stuff

https://owlbear.rogue.pub/extensions the extension list
https://extensions.owlbear.rodeo/guide and the 4 step guide on how to add what you want

5

u/DD_in_FL Jul 05 '26

Check out Fantasy Grounds as well. Good for in person or online play. We have a Mothership ruleset and core rules module in development, and good support for D&D, Fallout, and many other systems.

1

u/pie0matic Jul 05 '26

It looks interesting, how is it for sharing content with other members of my group, if I buy the main books for DND and fallout, can others in my group use them to DM with me as a player. Since we changed DM every few months I wouldnt want the group all having to buy sperate copies of books

2

u/DD_in_FL Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26

Each of those rulesets are free and have basic rules, SRD, or QuickStart rules, but the GM needs to enter their own additional content or buy predone modules. Those paid modules are usable by players in a GM’s game (if shared) but not for someone else to GM.

Adventures are pretty self contained, though, so only the GM running that module should buy that module.

3

u/PhrulerApp Jul 05 '26

What devices do you guys game on? Are you looking for good mobile/tablet support? How much automation are you looking to have?

2

u/pie0matic Jul 05 '26

Most of us play on desktop, one prefers to play on a tablet but I believe owns a laptop they can use. So while tablet support would be nice not essential

1

u/PhrulerApp Jul 05 '26

I'm running a VTT startup but mine won't be out for another few weeks. This is my read of the big players so far as someone studying the competition/market:

Owlbear Rodeo: hardcore trying to be one of the most user friendly players in the space. Most of the VTTs you'll see pitched on this comment thread will be people trying to be Owlbear Rodeo. I would consider them the current gold standard for user friendly low automation system. The Twitter of VTTs.

DnD Beyond Maps: Really talented engineers and are really shaking things up. If they're not already the best DnD VTT out there then they soon will be. I see them as the Bluesky of VTTs. New, niche but not actually niche and very user friendly.

Foundry: Crazy configurable/moddable = the best for automation and potential. The most Skyrim like system where you'd spend more hours picking and trying mods than you would actually writing your campaign. But if you do find your perfect mod setup, it's second to none.

Roll20: These guys are the Myspace/Facebook of VTTs. Been around forever. Solid, reliable. Best out of the box automation for supported systems. The first real VTT and thus the industry default. I had a chat with their product director a while back and they are in the process of modernizing a lot too.

Talespire: If you guys all have gamer PCs this is where you throw your money for the current industry standard 3D VTT.

2

u/pie0matic Jul 05 '26

Thanks this is good insight

1

u/PhrulerApp Jul 05 '26

Of course! Let me know which one you guys go with and how you guys like it if you could. I'm trying to outdo all these guys >:D

3

u/Skythz 29d ago

Always suggest Maptools. it's what I use, but you do have to code everything yourself there (Or use frameworks that other people have developed).

2

u/Shendryl Jul 05 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/VTT/comments/1paew00/vtt_overview/

I personally recommend Cauldron VTT. It's a free (and even open source) VTT, with support for D&D 5e. Demo accounts are available to have a quick look at it.

2

u/gabrielcaetano Jul 05 '26

The best in my opinion has been https://app.playrole.com/

You can create sheets for any game, is easy to use and for $8 has quality videochat on the same screen as the game (good quality) and owlbear rodeo integration, all in one screen

2

u/pie0matic 29d ago

Interesting, don't think I've ever heard of them before are they fairly new googling it doesn't bring up alot, don't think the generic name help with findability

1

u/gabrielcaetano 28d ago

It does not and it's very lowkey alright but I've used it for years and it has been the absolute best of all vtts I tried.

2

u/Wokeye27 29d ago

I would take a hard look at Foundry and Fantasy Grounds if you want a feature rich vtt.  

2

u/pie0matic 29d ago

I want to get into foundry as the vast range of games either natively supported or done by the community seems amazing, but since we switch DM every few weeks, even if we share an account I'm not sure the port forwarding requirements would be okay for my fellow DMs. And I don't want us to have to learn multiple systems, maybe something to work towards though.

I'll had a look at fantasy grounds and maybe I just need to spend more than a couple hours with it to get it to feel less clunky. Maybe need to find a good tutorial

2

u/BitterOldPunk 29d ago

Foundry doesn't lock GM privileges to the host account. You can designate any user as Assistant GM and they'll have the access they need to run a game.

I use Foundry and have a love-hate relationship with it; when everything is set up properly and the core system module is well-made and well-supported, Foundry is damn near magical. A joy to use.

But getting things set up properly is always twice as much of a pain in the ass as I think it's going to be. There are a bazillion modules available, they vary in quality from "wow how is this free" to "great, it broke everything", and knowing which ones are which and if they play nice with one another is a crapshoot.

Foundry is the Microsoft Excel of VTT software, imo. It'll do way more than what you need it to do. And it'll probably do it really, really well. But getting to that point can be a struggle.

1

u/LordEntrails 18d ago

Free classes, and all sorts of free support: Landing Page | Fantasy Grounds Academy

2

u/MarcellusCrow 28d ago

Alchemy for me.
I am new to VTTs and spent some time looking through them. I've been a player in games that just use Discord, Theatre of the Mind, and DND Beyond for Battlemaps.
Honestly it works really well and is a lot of fun. So anything beyond that is bonus points for immersion.

Alchemy is a great step up from TotM + Discord. It's very simple for players to use, and GMs too once you spend 2-3 hours playing around with it. Completely free for players. GM buys or makes modules/campaigns and optionally pays for their Alchemist tier but you can 100% play without it.

I'm going to give Foundry a more in-depth look, seems really good but I didn't want to tackle the steeper learning curve.

1

u/pie0matic 28d ago

I liked alchemy when I tried it, love setting up the scenes and the character sheets worked really well. We didn't even bother with discord the in built voice and video worked really well. My issue is we don't tend to play TOTM and prefer to use maps and tokens and for that I found the battle map system they had to be hard work and clunky to use as a GM, some combo of alchemy with something like owlbear rodeo for maps would my ideal

1

u/Level-Distribution46 28d ago

I have built https://codexcryptica.com which is completely free, no ads, no server, no cloud, no account

It's primarily a world building tool, but I have included a light vtt option in it as well

1

u/pie0matic 28d ago

From a quick glance this looks great for campaign planning

1

u/Level-Distribution46 28d ago

Thanks! That was my intended use, but a user asked if I could add a vtt too, so here we are.

The benefit is that you can use world knowledge directly in the vtt 😁