Virtual Table Top programs for GURPS

[Dantar]

Kymage, would you mind linkifying those programs you found?

[mook]

This list should do:

OpenRPG.com
Fantasy Grounds 2
Battlegrounds
Screen Monkey
Maptool

The only one I have first-hand experience of is Maptool, and I definitely dug it ... if I were ever to actually run an online game, I think Maptool and Ventrilo would certainly do the trick. (Maybe Stickam for webcams if everyone had 'em too).

[Diomedes]

Here's another free tabletop program. I haven't had occasion to try it, though.

[Graham]

Heruca maintains an excellent page of links to virtual tabletop programs at the bottom of this page.

Graham

[heruca]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

I'd like to read some kind of report after you've run a few sessions, on how the software was to use.

I don't have a chat log saved, but here are a couple of screenshots from one of the arena bouts that we played on GURPS Online Day using Battlegrounds.

Fight starts

Fight ends

Those pictures should give you an idea of what it's like to play GURPS with BRPG.

Configuring Battlegrounds for a GURPS game takes about two minutes, and requires absolutely no scripting or XML editing. Simply download the GURPS dice macros (from here) and install the Turn Sequencer settings (available here, for both 3rd and 4th Edition). If you're a purist, you may also want to enable the d6 with pips.

You could also make BRPG even more GURPS-ready by typing up some charts for things like Hit Location and crit results, but I can't distribute such files due to copyright reasons.

[cliff]

This is why I like Battlegrounds RPG... the developer is involved with his product, and cares about our opinions.

[Kymage]

Well I downloaded Maptool this weekend and have been puttering around with the program. Looks interesting. When more time opens up, I'll probably download the demo versions of Battleground and FG.

Anyone out there want to volunteer to help me out learning the system as is applies to GURPS?

[benz72]

Originally Posted by Kymage

Well I downloaded Maptool this weekend and have been puttering around with the program. Looks interesting. When more time opens up, I'll probably download the demo versions of Battleground and FG.

Anyone out there want to volunteer to help me out learning the system as is applies to GURPS?

What do you need to know? A lot of questions are answered on their forum (connected to the download site), and if you post quations there is generally a pretty quick response (within a about a day is the longest I've ever seen).

The character sheet isn't all that good for GURPS, but I'm trying to organize work on it.

[The Wrathchild]

As my sig would indicate I have an active interest in the MapTool program :-). I am one of those who have been producing and gathering GURPS ressources for the program. Anyone looking for GURPS MapTool stuff could do worse than starting here.

That said, it seems that both Battlegrounds and Fantasy Grounds provide for the GURPS gamer as well. MapTools is just so endearingly free ;-).

MapTool is system agnostic out of the box.

The MapTool developments of late have focussed heavily on macros and a scripting language to support this. It's arcane stuff. It is also entirely optional! In that regard MapTool is like GURPS - it's as complicated as you wish to make it! You can use it in dead simle ways that will service an online game just fine - and you can go (stir!)crazy with details, bells and whistles.

As others have said, the community is very active, the developers right there among the crowd, accessible on a daily basis. If you wish to follow the development process there's lots and lots of reporting going on.

The fluid nature of the place does mean that documentation is a bit lacking in places, but on the other hand, the fanbase has produced some very exellent videos to explain the basics - which is the stuff you really need. everything else is frosting.

[Bruno]

I don't think any of the VTTs require scripting, XML hacking, or whatnot to act as a table, with a map on it, some minis on the map, and a die roller/chat client. If any of them did, I'd judge it pretty rough and suggest it go back for a few more rounds of development.

If you plan on using some sort of voice conferencing and old-fashioned paper character sheets, this means ANYTHING that can be set up to allow totally free movement of miniatures across a map can be used to game just about as fast as real life gaming.

Players would be prevented from randomly putting their minis down the same way they are in Real Life - by knowing the rules, and knowing that everyone can see what they're doing. Players will figure out if they succeeded on their die roll the same way - by looking at the number, looking at their character sheet, and doing some mental math on the penalties. Etc. Etc.

Scripting assistance is helpful to speed things up, but if you're using voice chat, it's not vital, merely convenient. Where various kinds of automation shine is if you are using text only - most people type slower than they talk, and some folks become extremely picky about their typed text when they'd be far less concerned about sounding "polished" when speaking. This means that text-based games usually run slower than voice-based games.

Once you're looking at 2-4x slower than a real life game, every tiny bit of speed-up you can squeeze out of the game mechanics saves you time to make up for Ragnar The Destroyer's player spending 5 minutes on a sentence of dialog, or Frank the Thief getting up from the computer to make a sandwich just as his turn comes up (you can at least yell at him over Voice and hope he hears you from the kitchen...)

Mind you, the speed up applies even to voice games or face to face. Which can be VERY nice. And some things, like Maptools' handling of light, line of sight, and giving each player his own point of view of the map, aren't available at all in a face to face game. These are "cool enhancements" made possible by the computer. They're more work to set up, but I like to do that work because dangit, if I'm on a computer for six hours, I want at least SOME cool computer things.