Program for playing over long distance.

[Elric VIII]

Some friends and I will be parting ways soon, but we would like to continue to play D&D together. We plan to play over skype, but since most of our play is focused on tactical combat (rather than any of that silly RP stuff :smallwink:) I feel that webcams and mics won't really cut it.

What I am looking for is a program that we can all use that gives us the ability to create and manipulate battlefields during a play session.

Specifically, I am looking for the ability to:

connect multiple people on a single program/board.
create and color-code different terrain types.
create and mark enemy units.
temporarily add spell effects to the battlefield.
add (via list form) buffs/debuffs/conditions to units.
allow the players to control their units.


Does such a thing exist?
Does

[Yorrin]

I've DMed two campaigns via Skype, and while not ideal it is viable. A big life-saver: screen sharing. As long as you dont have all your DMing notes visible on your screen you can use something like MSPaint to draw quick maps/grids and such.

[Yorae]

I've actually been thinking of creating such a thing, since I haven't really found one. However, our group gets by with Ventrillo (previously skype, but vent is more convenient) and sometimes Twiddla (http://www.twiddla.com/) to draw things that everyone can see. The DM uses it to draw dungeon layouts and things or so people can see what reach things have in combat, etc. It's not terribly convenient for having an FFT-style battle grid, though.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I've used Gametable (http://gametableproj.sourceforge.net/)once or twice, and it seems to work decently. Possibly combine it with a video/voice conference program of your choice.

[Belmikor]

I've used MapTool (http://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=maptool) by RPTools. Open source. Has inbuilt dice roller, chat, initiative counter. Is pretty customizable and was (to my knowledge) designed for D20 and Shadowrun and similars. Also has inbuilt VoIP service, but that didn't work as well as I had hoped to we used Skype for speaking instead.




Specifically, I am looking for the ability to:

connect multiple people on a single program/board. Check.
create and color-code different terrain types. Check. Even better, you can use existing pictures as a map. RPTools community has also a good amount of terrain textures and such if you want to create your own.
create and mark enemy units. Check. MapTool uses tokens which can be found pretty much all over the internet. Or you can use their TokenTool to create new ones from picture files.
temporarily add spell effects to the battlefield. Check.
add (via list form) buffs/debuffs/conditions to units. Check. Yes, but might take a bit work.
allow the players to control their units. Check.


Does such a thing exist?

Adding buffs/debuffs can be done, but might take a bit prepwork as you'll probably have to write the conditions yourself.
Downsides are moderately steep learning curve and at times a bit clunky interface. But RPTools team has made pretty good tutorial videos and the interface is pretty logical when get used to it. And the program comes with very reasonable (and my personal favorite) price. Meaning free. Also my review is based on build84 which isn't the newest one. They probably have polished it a bit since spring 2011 (IIRC).

Edit: Forgot something some might consider a drawback. Runs on Java so with lots of people and/or lots enemy tokens or a big campaign save file, it might be a bit heavy on older computers (at least on those with little RAM).

[Beer Bear]

I recommend Fantasy Ground. Playing via this program requires some preparation from DM, but it worth it.
P.S. First post

[Leekos]

It's not available yet, but there is a kick starter and it looks promising. Take a look at Roll20. There's a nice YouTube video showing the features.

Roll20.net

[Eldebryn]

Personally I believe the best free choice out there is the combination of Skype and TtopRPG. It's a rather interesting platform which albeit simple, offers many options for customization and tools a DM will expect from such software. With some preparation you can use it very effectively to run online games.

[Anxe]

My friends and I use google hangouts instead of skype. It handles multiple people much better than skype does.

As for the board, we usually do without one. When necessary I just point my camera at my mini board. Since you're specifically avoiding that I suggest maptools. I have tried it in the past and found it not to my liking, but it has most of the things you're looking for as Belmikor already pointed out.

[Bloodgruve]

I've used d20Pro and maptools along with Skype and Ventrilo. I prefer d20Pro personally. It costs some but its very user friendly. Pretty customizable also.

Blood~

[Draz74]

Yeah, MapTool has a kind of steep learning curve, but it's absolutely the most powerful, feature-rich option if you use it to its fullest. (For game mechanics. Not for sound/music stuff.)

[Elric VIII]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I'm going to have to find some free time to find the best one for us, but it's great that there's so much variety.

Thank you.

[Roguenewb]

Geeks love computers.