Paladin from the iTabletop Pandoren Virtual Table Top has released a video newsletter giving an update on developement and a honest pitch to sign up new lifetime members for the service for 25 bucks. I have a minor quible, and that is the insinuation that the other paid to play VTTs charge for upgrades / updates to the software. I can only speak for Fantasy Grounds, Klooge and Battlegrounds RPG, but I've never been charged for an update to the software from any of these companies.
That being said, the video is a fine demo of the video quality of the iTabletop Pandoren software. I think Paladin would have been better served if he devoted a minute or two to the actual use of the software in play, especially as the video link was sent out to over 3,000 members of the forums, many of whom signed up and rarely (I suspect), if ever, returned. Such is the nature of the internet. To see iTabletop Pandoren in action, go here and try the video links. (Paladin, if you are reading this... the site upgrade looks awesome).
Full disclosrure: I own one of the earlier lifetime memberships (that gave 10 floating licenses) and gifted two. So, in for a penny, in for a pound and all that. Then again, I own a Battlegrounds RPG license with 5 floaters, a Klooge license with 6 floaters, and a Fantasy Grounds Ultimate Licesne with unlimited floaters. I'm kinda commited to Virtual Table Tops in general ;)
The Shadow People (book review)
-
*Thoughts draw them. They are sensitive, they pick up something from us,
they can track us by our thoughts as dogs can track by scent. Angry or
disturbed o...
6 hours ago
Since you've sunk the cash into all of these, maybe you're the best person to answer: what would we get from any of them that we don't get from the free alternatives? (We use Maptools+Skype for our game, and we've got both PC and Mac users, so cross-platorm is a must.)
ReplyDeletecross platform kills fantasy grounds, unless you vmware or such.
ReplyDeletebattlegrounds is cross platform. regretfully, i havent used it much, but battlegroundsrpg.com is the site, and heruca (designer) is very responsive to questions.
klooge - one of the earliest. it actually is painfull on my eyes. i believe it is java based, not sure if it is cross platform off hand, but i am not recommending it
iTabletop has video/audio chat built in and is cross platform - runs via your web browser - IE for Windows, Safari for Mac. The video/audio aspect is top notch and has been for a while. The VTT side of it had lagged behind during beta, but should be up to speed by now... i really need to run a test session with it, but i've been using FG2 and skype. Need to transition my group and get their feedback.
Maptools is a great product. I just found i needed to learn some programing skills to do with it what i wanted (and knew the software could accomplish). That and FG2 has great character sheets. Oh, and iTabletop has video chat, and in game sounds and / or video you can trigger.
See? You had to get me started...
Correction for the URL to Battlegrounds:
ReplyDeletewww.battlegroundsgames.com