Virtual Table Top for GURPS

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by nick_coffin

SJGs wants to be reassured that VTTs don't reduce any revenue they would have made otherwise. So they are leery of anything that could be used to replace PDFs and physical books.

Having things like an official character sheet with automatic dice rolling macros would be a significant QoL enhancement and doesn't in any meaningful way compete with any products they sell. I wouldn't want to even try to implement a character builder, though I could see an option that translates a GCA character into a VTT character.

[thalcos]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Having things like an official character sheet with automatic dice rolling macros would be a significant QoL enhancement and doesn't in any meaningful way compete with any products they sell. I wouldn't want to even try to implement a character builder, though I could see an option that translates a GCA character into a VTT character.

This is actually how the Foundry VTT unofficial GURPS version works. It handles all the skill rolls (you just click a modifier then click your skill - tada!). For damage, it even lets you drag the damage to an NPC, and it applies all the modifiers of DR, damage type, etc.

And it imports characters from GCA and GCS, and lets you do some minor edits.

It's awesome.

[ethanrat]

The unofficial VTT for Foundry is amazing. When we switched to using it over meeting in person all of us where surprised at how much QoL and play speed it added for us.

We have slowly been adding more rule that we would not have used otherwise from splat books like tactical shooting and martial arts we would not have used otherwise due to the slowdown in play they can cause.

If SJG did officially license a VTT I am almost certain I would purchase it. Even for when we can meet in person again we are planning on using Foundry to play on a projector rather then going back to a physical tabletop, the QoL from a VTT is just too much to lose after we have tried it.

[mook]

A lot of the main super awesomeness of Nose & Nick's game aid -- and there's a lot of it! -- has already been extolled, but I also wanted to mention that (when coupled with a free Foundry VTT Module, PDFoundry) not only does it open your purchased PDFs to the correct page on page references, if you *don't* own that particular PDF it automatically brings you to the Warehouse 23 page for that item so you can purchase it immediately.

[maximara]

Has anyone looked at MapTool? Sure the learning curve is steep and you have to do some heavy lifting but its free.

[Blind Mapmaker]

Originally Posted by maximara

Has anyone looked at MapTool? Sure the learning curve is steep and you have to do some heavy lifting but its free.

I wouldn't say the learning curve is that steep. If all you want to do is use the free GURPS frameworks and not automate everything it is probably the easiest Virtual Tabletop to figure out - unless one of your players' computers has a corrupted set of Java (happened twice in the last twelve years for me) or is behind a very restrictive firewall/router (but that's a problem for most non-browser VTTs I imagine).

MapTool lets you drag and drop graphic assets and has no real upper limit to their size except bandwidth, which is a huge advantage over Roll20's 10 MB. I find it a lot easier for the basic stuff too. It used to be a bit of a hassle with having to install the Java Runtime Environment, but that's a thing of the past now since they compiled the whole thing into an exe (or dmg or deb if you're running Apple or Linux).

And once you're comfortable you can use the powerful Vision- and Movement-Blocking functions and maybe even make a macro or two of your own. There are tutorials for that and it's not that difficult.

Yes, you aren't going to get everything handed on a silver platter, but I for one feel that the VTT automatically rolling all your relevant dice for skills and tables actually takes it farther from the actual tabletop experience. If that's your thing, better choose something else, that's true.

Did I mention that it's completely free? This used to be a huge selling point for players pre-pandemic. You don't need to sign up to any dodgy mailing lists or anything. And when you disconnect nobody can hack your account. My Roll20 got hacked during the big Roll20 hack a couple of years back and it wasn't a bundle of fun. You can also run your own server for extra speed if you have the equipment.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

Did I mention that it's completely free? This used to be a huge selling point for players pre-pandemic. You don't need to sign up to any dodgy mailing lists or anything. And when you disconnect nobody can hack your account. My Roll20 got hacked during the big Roll20 hack a couple of years back and it wasn't a bundle of fun. You can also run your own server for extra speed if you have the equipment.

This is the whole focus of the Gaming Aids page on the GURPS wiki: tools that are either free or have enough functionality you can try before you buy.