Ever since I've got foundry, I can't use anything else. The moddability, one time purchase, and not relying on third party hosting is perfect for me.

@Mark73

7 ай бұрын

Same here. I first tried Roll20 around 2010 in my old 3.5e game, and I hated it (we mainly used RPTools). When my 5e game moved online in 2019 we went to Roll20 again, and I still hated it. We passed around DM duty and when my turn came I shopped around for something better and found Foundry. It was pretty comprehensive, had a lot of support and a mod community, and only the DM had to pay for it. It was perfect. I got everyone else to try it and they loved it so much that DMs after me switched too. And we're still using it now that we've switched to Pathfinder.

@Qedhup

7 ай бұрын

Same for me.

@Alex-cq1zr

7 ай бұрын

Hardware requirements are it's biggest problem. Owlbear Rodeo was a great vtt in the past. Wonder if it's still good, after overhaul.

@CakeDayZ

7 ай бұрын

@Alex-cq1zr yeah I've started to notice. I had a bunch of modules and now I'm having to slim down for player performance.

@picopan2722

7 ай бұрын

Foundry has everything for me besides mobile support.

I didn’t expect for this video to not be purely informative, so “Oh, what TIME is it in Costco?!” and “Oh no, it’s SNOWING in Costco!!” was a one-two punch I was not ready for.

@Dudeman715

7 ай бұрын

I just wanna say that I love Costco

So... Basically a simplified version of Tabletop Simulator. With Tabletop Simulator Allowing a lot more stuff. Lets you play non-TTRPG stuff. Is beloved and have a soon 10 years of active support. And is about the same price.

@LieseFury

7 ай бұрын

tabletop simulator also requires each player to buy it so it's not really the same price.

@CommissarMitch

7 ай бұрын

@@LieseFury I feel that is a small price to pay for all the benefits.

@LieseFury

7 ай бұрын

​@@CommissarMitchi'm not saying it's not worth it, i'm saying it does cost a lot more.

@Seoul_Soldier

7 ай бұрын

@@LieseFury If cost is a big issue then you shouldn't be using either one when Owlbear Rodeo exists.

I just don't get what the appeal of making a VTT is right now. How are you going to beat Roll20's free options, Foundry's deep immersion, Fantasy Ground's _(awkward silence),_ Owlbear Rodeo's simplicity? Even if you need a 3D VTT (which I personally don't enjoy as much as the 2D options), there's Talespire, Game Master Engine, Rolltable. I don't know what you can do with a VTT to make yourself different.

@crapshot321

7 ай бұрын

Funny, Hasbro and WotC think that their VTT environment is going to generate billions in future revenue. So, _they_ think they are doing something different. Well that, and having the DnD brand.

@icefirepython

7 ай бұрын

@@crapshot321 Honestly anything with the DnD brand or Hasbeenbro/WhatC label at this point is just likely to crash and burn. There is absolutely nothing that they can really do at this point to make themselves look good in peoples eyes. They messed up in a way that just cant be pushed aside.

@earthbound9999

7 ай бұрын

@@crapshot321 The only notable thing hasbro has done lately is lay off 1,100+ artists right before the holidays.

@crapshot321

7 ай бұрын

@@earthbound9999 True, but did you catch that leak about when the new rule set for Dnd might come out? It's a likely reason why they got rid of the art directors. Because in executives minds, the work is done, and they don't need them anymore. Which is scummy in my opinion, whenever, corporate made the decision to let them go. More importantly, Hasbro, and WotC have decided to go all in with digital content. With such content, there is less need for employees. Again, I think this is despicable to do this on Christmas, and the execs were just thinking of the quarterly returns. Just sad.

@earthbound9999

7 ай бұрын

@@crapshot321 I didn't catch the leak, but I have noticed WotC's shift towards digital. It's incredibly fucked up, and I hope all the workers they laid off can find new jobs quickly.

I will say a little feature i saw that i like , but would be pretty exclusive to 3d VTTs is that when you were measuring distance, it created a sphere which could be used to gauge height.

This is clearly meant to be a virtual map for live sessions In that scenario players wouldn't need to have their own camera angles and stuff, as it would just be an extra tool for the GM to help visualize things for the players I kind of like that idea, as you don't have as much control over printed maps and figurines in the moment (you only have the stuff you brought with you, meanwhile with this you have everything you have added always)

If I want a 3d virtual tabletop that doesn't have rules integration, I'll use Tabletop Simulator. If I wanted to put the time into it, it even could have rules and character sheet integration! CostCo one-shot coming up.

The ui is really difficult to read. My eyes keep blurring trying to read the lines and text because of the weird colors they picked.

Supports steam remote play? I've tried a lot of games with that, even some simple indie games, and the latency usually kills the experience. Maybe not a killer for a tabletop Simulator like it is for a co-op game, but it isn't a feel good way to play.

There's something here but holy shit the corners they cut held load bearing beams

I'm not really sure what their intended niche here is. If all you want to have is a map and tokens, Roll20 can do that for free.... and then also have all the other stuff like character sheets and such as needed. Why spend $20 for less functionality..?

@Barthenn

7 ай бұрын

My guess, as someone who wants and have paid for virtual tabletop program, is that 1st it has access to hero forge and is can show 3d elements. As someone who prefers to play online than in person. I wish 3d Tabletop or VTT or whatever you call them were more user friendly. Most of them are very expansive, but most of them are also much better than this one.

So its just for maps yeah ive got other things i can use that make life easier on me

I'm blanking on what games they were but I've played older games where you use shift to move the mouse. I think the older total wars were like that. Not to say that's the best way to do it but I've seen it before

@MattWeber

7 ай бұрын

yea but thats why its an "older" game thing. Nowadays with multitouch and such on tablets/touch displays, the shift button need has went to the wayside as it results in more complex UI coding or need to allow for additional key remapping to ensure usability across platforms.

@steel5315

7 ай бұрын

@MattWeber No ik and that's fair I just don't think its that weird of a choice, just a bit outdated.

"We'll assume you have the character sheets covered." imo is a good statement that actually seems positive and is good targeted advertising to me, someone who has avoided digital tools because I get lost in trying to replicate character sheets and systems rules. This phrase up front actually makes me more interested in it. Most of your other criticisms are valid for the use cases you specify. Though it seems pretty clear they intend for a pass-the-controller use case, and not a hotseat keyboard/mouse mode, so continuing to harp on that as if it were the main/only interface seems a little disingenuous. Most, if not all, of these VTTs are unintuitive for some people, especially me. So personally I don't see any difference between the unintuitive UI of this than the unintuitive UI of anything else I've ever tried. That's still not a good thing, but there's learning curves to everything. This software seems aimed at a use case that is appealing to me. My use case, specifically, is potentially a replacement for laying out a big map on several tables pushed together. Currently I'm running Abomination Vaults for my players, and it's been a bit rough to find a way to print out the maps to scale and tape them together. And they're big maps too. If instead I could cast something like this to a big TV or projector, and either move minis for people or pass a wireless controller around, that might be convenient. I probably won't do that anytime soon, as I've been disappointed in the tools for that, and I'm so bad with tech that even a form-fillable PDF is not something I've learned to trust. And at least if I do, you've shown me that this is probably not a tool I'd want to use. Thanks for pointing me to Owlbear Rodeo, I'll check it out.

I understand that it's not for everyone but I can see the appeal to this. Me and my band play Pathfinder while touring and having an app like this, let's say on the Switch, would be awesome. I don't see it as a complete VTT but litteraly like a portable Chessex mat with a couple of minis. We used to play with owlbear Rodeo but it got a little more complex recently and opted for a dry erase board instead. This app COULD MAYBE be what we need. Anyway good video!

I'm struggling with this video. I really love your content but I feel so torn on how you approached this one. On the one hand, your critique of the UI and software as a whole seems fair and specially when there's a $20 price tag attached to it. However, it feels to me that you assume most players are online players and use VTT as a method to play online, and I mostly say that because the whole section where you explain how weird it is to pass the controller around seems to miss the target on how this software is meant to be used. It comes off as a player who's used to online play and believes that live play dynamics are gonna be the same and doesn't adjust accordingly. As many have said in the comments below, this is clearly a live play enchancement. Players are not 'meant' to be passing the controller around, the fog of war isn't really meant to obscure the creatures inside but just the map (as we do with cardboard cutouts and other DIY solutions for live games), and there isn't a need for a system to be implemented. All this software is is a different method to display a map to your players around the table, one that has some pretty effects and a few neat 3D features. It's unfair to lump it in the same category as Foundry/FGU/Roll20 when they're aiming to do vastly different things. You can totally use Foundry/Roll20/TabletopSim to display maps using a projector or a Surface Pro, but it's like using a pile driver to affix a shelf to the wall. This is more in line with Owlbear Rodeo (as you pointed out) and it does things Owlbear doesn't, namely the 3D aspect + some weather and ambience effects. I still whole-heartedly agree that it isn't as intuitive as it could be, and the UI needs serious work but this review felt like someone complaining their regular paper notepad isn't as robust as a ReMarkable2 e-ink tablet. I still enjoyed seeing it in action as I had wishlisted it specifically for my live games. I think I'll be waiting for it to get some of the kinks ironed out before giving them $20, or maybe wait for when it innevitably goes on sale. Keep being awesome, dude!!

This seems like its even less than Roll20 in a lot of ways. Even the free version of Roll20. Hopefully this gets updates to make it worth even considering for the $20 tag

That bit at 5:00 where you're like "Don't use a 3-d figure in 2-d mode" ... makes me think of the D&D game on PSP I used to play ... XD

I would love to see you do reviews of other vtts and even map makers

I assume it could be fun in set of a projector & a touch screen tablet like surface pro

considering how everything else is doing the same stuff for free, and more, why would I pay for this ? Like the guys behind it were really thinking "let's make people for that"

This was an honest critique, And now I know about Conclave. I could see this more for Solo Play, I've never used a VTT but I could see myself using this for Solo Play. Hopefully they'll fix the bugs but who knows.

Might be designed for a tablet to be passed around?

The in-software on-screen keyboard doesn't even make sense for phones really, because those tend to just pull up their native keyboard for in-app text entering. I would appreciate a minimalistic 3d-ready heroforge-compatible VTT.... but what, no dice? No way to even set up basic stats for your character in there?? No API for a community to build up their own character sheets and macros like roll20 does??? No GM-only info screen?????

It seems like this is designed for gaming table with built in screens. A lot of the worst things about it, make a lot more sense from that perspective. You only need one perspective if you're playing on the same screen. And you're probably won't be using a mouse and keyboard to control that (although it does need good touch screen support). And the minis being clunky to use makes more sense, if it was an afterthought because you'll primarily use real minis on a virtual board. That said, they do need to communicate that clearly to the players, and things like the poor UI is still a big negative.

Thanks for the PSA.

loveing the new do

Not a fan of VTTs but this seems pretty good? Dunno, going to keep playing in person

I like owlbear rodeo. I dont play ttrpgs online, but I like to use digital maps on my 82-inch tv. It sounds like basically this, except payment is an option and not remotely necessary.

I like how KZread thinks this is Tabletop Sim

Is there anything between Foundry and the really cheap ones?

I don't personally see a huge issue with this. Especially for some software that just came out. I'm not really the target market, but this strikes me as being for people who want to play irl and have a steam deck or computer but don't have the table space for physical maps.

I think... I'll stick with Foundry.

Wow... this was not planned at all. I feel like they cobbled together stock resource from an assets store, slapped it on a mobile framework, dusted off their hands and went, "Yeah... someone will buy that".

I am not particularly a fan of the HP bar, I think that most table at least as far as I am aware, prefer not to outright tell their players how many HP the encounters have. Prefering to described instead how badly injured they are.

@MattWeber

7 ай бұрын

Agreed, thankful that it has a visibilty option at least.

Love the hair cut you're a beautiful man.

Nice haircut dude!

Isn't those the same controls on Tabletop Simulator?

Well, i think im going to stick with foundry vtt.

Oh no that Remote Play is genuinely awful. 0/10 on that alone. No!

I believe it was made for a steam deck and so.

Program Lets other people access your C drive over the internet. Do not use ever

VTTs by their very nature are designed for remote play, so Conclave fails from the get go for me. And not having character sheets, welp, I am never going to look at this product ever again.

Observed

Ill stick with Talespire

Why would someone want Conclave? If a person already has dice, books, and can make their own maps. So who is this for, if everyone is at a table together?

This just sounds like TableTop Simulator, but worse

@Barthenn

7 ай бұрын

What is the difference between a Tabletop simulator and this? Not trying to defend it because its pretty bare bone and bad, as someone who is constantly trying to find a way to play online with virtual and bought a few of them. I think this one looks very bad, but I don't understand the distinction you are making.

@Sodiumman123

7 ай бұрын

​@Barthenn tabletop Sim has lots of other options for automation

@littlegiantj8761

7 ай бұрын

@@Barthenn Tabletop Simulator is a Unity game. It has chess, checkers, etc. But it has support for you to upload PDFs and PNGs to mane tokens and maps as tiles or game boards. Steam Workshop has a crapload of IRL boardgames added. You'll need to track sheets outside of it, because edited PDFs don't function well (or do a bunch of notecards). The only downside to it is anyone with visual impairments are going to be left in the dust. The difference? Tabletop Simulator actually works and supports internet multiplayer.

@Barthenn

7 ай бұрын

@@Sodiumman123 Tabletop simulator isn't not just a broad term that basically emcompass all genre of games played on table/ Board game. VTT and Tabletop simulator they are very much just 2 different term that means the same thing, one says virtual but Tabletop Simulator are all virtual, and all of them could have the simulator word attach to them. It feels as though all these company are fighting over the term to use as if it change something.

@mikaelaardal81

7 ай бұрын

@@Barthenn Tabletop Simulator is a specific program on steam

alll it sounds like is a map.....Tabletop Simulator is by far BETTER. EDIT: Why notget this.......and not just get a physical map? this sounds...horrendus....... EDIT EDIT: Gonna have to say; yea, you dont have to be negative, but if something is bad you should not scitter around the edge of truth just to save the makers emotions from the truth they failed at it or did a bad copy of Roll20 with the idea of it being in person (which is what you would use PHYSICAL MAP PIECES FOR)......this is just....like 5 people got togath and got drunk and decided to make a map editor.

Wow, this seems very poorly made and probably shouldn't have been released as a product people should pay for.

Why is it so ugly?