"I try out 3D Virtual Tabletop for PCs and Tablets." Topic

(a tile I imported into the app and ran figures on)

Quite by accident I stumbled upon 3D Virtual Tabletop, which just launched from Kickstarter recently. Apparently it's a way to run tabletop miniature games using either a computer, tablets or smartphones. I downloaded it and tested it last night. My reactions are somewhat mixed. I haven't actually run a game yet (for reasons that will become clear), but the general look and feel are pretty good out of the box. I will need to really stress a scenario to make up my mind.

Obviously, this thing is aimed at roleplaying miniature players over wargamers, but I could easily see this as being a way to play miniatures games with tablets. It's worth a look, and you can look (but not play) for free.

here's the link: link

thanks for your time and attention thus far.

Respectfully,

Walt O'Hara

Sorry if this comes across as rude; I'm not usually this blunt but…

Paper miniatures are (in my opinion) a bad compromise. Why, if you are just emulating miniatures, wouldn't you emulate actual 3D figures?

This seems like sitting down to play Call of Duty and then finding you have to type in your actions.

Why would anyone do this?

I certainly don't argue with that point and I'm hardly offended by you bringing it up. In fact, I think there's folks who ARE modeling the three dimensional figures. The "Paper" (really, representations of paper) figures were what came with the app in demo mode. I'm not married to them.

Hmmmm. That is a screen shot from a computer, not something played on a table top with maps and counters printed out. So it looks to have pretty high grade graphics, but everyone playing would need their own Internet connection as well as a copy of the software and possibly a 'subscription' to the service, like 'Ventrillo' which was pretty much default with WoW players.

Paper miniatures are (in my opinion) a bad compromise. Why, if you are just emulating miniatures, wouldn't you emulate actual 3D figures?

It's far, FAR easier to find a 2d image that represents your creature, than trying to find a suitable 3d model that is in the right pose, textured and in the right scale. Decent free models are very rare and to utilize them you'd need at least a minimum of knowledge with handling 3d model files, which most people lack.

As for why would anyone do this: for many folks who lack the time or friends that are near, it comes down to wether to not play altogether or play online, where distance doesn't matter and if people don't show up, at least the other ones' time is not wasted.

Without knowing too much about the specifics, I think it could also work in wargame campaign situations, where the commander of one side isn't able to make the game, but he can get a look at the tabletop, arrange the units, give some general overall orders, and let the guys on site go at it.

I know from when I'm an overall commander and can't make a game, it can give me heartburn when I find out the Guards were used to lead the attack on an inconsequential hill…

Could maybe also work for kriegspiel type games too.

One of the guys in our club moved up from Florida. He still plays role-playing games with the guys in Florida by using two Web cameras. One points along the table at the DM and the other players. The other points down on the map and figures. It is quite effective and could be used to let you be the overall commander when you can't travel to the game to avoid those Guards being wasted.

Also VTTs allow for fog-of-war and hidden movement, something that is cumbersome to realize in RL.

Got to agree with BaldLea. Why the heck would you create a computer program that simulates a 3D battlefield with 2D paper figures on it, that's just ridiculous. I understand that 3D rendering take a bit longer, but rendering a 2D image on a 3D battlefield is just plain lazy. It's like taking a photo of a postcard when you're standing in front of the actual monument / landscape that's on the postcard.

Ian

It's not the computer rendering time, it's the time spent building it yourself. I've run D&D 4E using MapTool for years, and it's hard enough finding 2D images of monsters. If you add the time spent 3D sculpting to the rest of the prep time, forget it. I think it's an elegant solution, providing isometrics without the workload.

This – for me – is a solution desperately looking for a problem…

Not my cup of tea.

John T

Di gustubus non est disputatum. It works very well for smaller scale games, such as skirmish games or role-playing games. There is a somewhat more mature browser based technology, Roll20, that essentially does the same thing with more tools, and there's a big market for it.