What do YOU use to play GURPS online?

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Woodman

So the iTabletop solution might work, as it uses a central server, but in my tests the performance was rather poor so i didnt delve into it much further.

How long ago were you testing iTabletop? Things have come on a long way, particularly over the last year.

I use iTabletop (iTT) for GURPS (I also have licences for Fantasy Grounds and Battlegrounds). I find it the easiest one to set up as you don't have server complications and you can share pdf character sheets. As you've got video and audio available, I find it the closest to meeting up face to face. There's solid hex map support, without getting to the very advanced stuff you can find in MapTool and BRPG - which I personally really don't need.

If your game is primarily role-playing with handouts, as opposed to detailed combat on a map, then I recommend iTT.

It can do detailed combat on a map as well, of course, but doesn't have the depth of macro support you can get with MapTool or Fantasy Grounds.

Unfortunately, ITT's just discontinued its 'freemium' policy (which was an ad-supported way to use the software). You can join games as a player for free and try out the various games and worlds posted on line, but you can't create your own game, i.e. act as a GM. If anyone wants to try things out with a GM at the other end, though, PM me.

Graham

[Mateus]

Originally Posted by Graham

How long ago were you testing iTabletop? Things have come on a long way, particularly over the last year.

I use iTabletop (iTT) for GURPS (I also have licences for Fantasy Grounds and Battlegrounds). I find it the easiest one to set up as you don't have server complications and you can share pdf character sheets. As you've got video and audio available, I find it the closest to meeting up face to face. There's solid hex map support, without getting to the very advanced stuff you can find in MapTool and BRPG - which I personally really don't need.

If your game is primarily role-playing with handouts, as opposed to detailed combat on a map, then I recommend iTT.

It can do detailed combat on a map as well, of course, but doesn't have the depth of macro support you can get with MapTool or Fantasy Grounds.

Unfortunately, ITT's just discontinued its 'freemium' policy (which was an ad-supported way to use the software). You can join games as a player for free and try out the various games and worlds posted on line, but you can't create your own game, i.e. act as a GM. If anyone wants to try things out with a GM at the other end, though, PM me.

Graham

So my doubt was answred. I tryed to find the "free version" of iTT and did not find =). So To GM on it I have to pay a monthly $?

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Mateus

So my doubt was answred. I tryed to find the "free version" of iTT and did not find =). So To GM on it I have to pay a monthly $?

They've just last week switched back to an annual fee of $29.95 (so about $2.50 per month), paid as one-off 12 month purchases.

However, assuming that you have seven players or less joining at any one time, that's equivalent to the functionality of the Fantasy Grounds Ultimate Licence, which is $149.95. (The basic GM licence for FG is $39.95, but players then have to buy their own licences.) So you're basically paying over 5 years with iTT for what you'd pay for up front with FG.

Also, unlike the VTs that use the GM's machine as a server, iTabletop needs to have an annual payment model as everyone is hosted on the Amazon cloud: there is a continuing cost to the iTabletop team for ongoing play.

Graham

[Woodman]

Originally Posted by Graham

How long ago were you testing iTabletop? Things have come on a long way, particularly over the last year.

It was quite some time ago, i think when they moved out of beta or something like that.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Woodman

It was quite some time ago, i think when they moved out of beta or something like that.

Slow performance was usually a result of trying to use a browser other than Internet Explorer back then (IE had the best Silverlight support). More recent updates both to iTT and Silverlight really sped things up in Chrome and on the Mac, so it may be worth taking a look again if this could have been your issue. *

The latest addition has been a rather neat shared whiteboard, but a big caveat here: only use the whiteboard if nobody in the group has a Mac. Again there seems to be an issue with the Silverlight implementation on the Mac.

Graham

* There were also improvements in memory handling which sped things up even in IE. I can even run iTT on an old XP netbook now, although that is slow ;-)

[Mateus]

Now I am thinking seriously in using Fantasy Grounds 2. But I am having problems with the network configurtion (I am trying the Demo first). If somebody is interresed I create a thred to call for help here: http://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums...ad.php?t=15993

[demonsbane]

Originally Posted by Mateus

(. . .) If somebody is interresed I create a thred to call for help here: http://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums...ad.php?t=15993

On the other hand, if you jump to the unofficial FG chat, you can find answers to any technical doubt real quickly.

[demonsbane]

Originally Posted by Mateus

(. . .) but I am really afriad of having the same problens that I am having with MapTools.

Both in MapTools and Fantasy Grounds, these issues boil down to port forwarding (1802 port in FG), and only the GM needs to do it.

For what is worth, I never noticed connection issues with any of these two programs.

[Mateus]

Originally Posted by demonsbane

On the other hand, if you jump to the unofficial FG chat, you can find answers to any technical doubt real quickly.

Thanks for the link. I will give a try soon.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Mateus

Now I am thinking seriously in using Fantasy Grounds 2. But I am having problems with the network configurtion (I am trying the Demo first). If somebody is interresed I create a thred to call for help here: http://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums...ad.php?t=15993

Mateus, you probably need to go to the Virtual Servers page of the router configuration and Add a line for Fantasy Grounds, with an internal start and internal end setting of 1802. (Those will be the range of your internal ports that the data coming to your external IP address is forwarded to.)

Let us know how you get on. It may be that you're sitting behind an external firewall of some sort, in which case things get more complicated (you and your players would need to use VPN software) for GM-hosted applications like MapTool, Fantasy Grounds and Battlegrounds. If that does turn out to be the case, take a look at iTabletop; because iTT is hosted from a central cloud server, both the GM and the players simply connect to the web address from their browser: no router configuration is required.

Graham