Mad Brew Labs

I think we may be seeing a virtual table-top integrated with Pathfinder in the near future. While at GenCon, I spied some of SmiteWorks’ people speaking with various Paizo luminaries as well as Lisa Stevens herself intensely demoing something at the SmiteWorks booth Saturday. For those unfamiliar with SmiteWorks, they are the producers of the Fantasy Grounds VTT.

 

During the Future of Paizo seminar at this year’s PaizoCon, Eric Mona and Lisa Stevens touched on integrating Pathfinder in technology. They of course mentioned the iFumble and iCrit (I abhor the iPrefix) iPhone apps that basically digitize their Critical Hit & Fumble card decks. They also mentioned their deal with HeroLab for character generation (my own VentureCaptain.com offers a free, unofficial character generator).

During the seminar, Lisa actually says:

We know there’s a lot of virtual tabletops out there, and this is something that, you know, we even have people in our office that are purposely doing games on virtual tabletops to learn what that’s like and what kind of limitations are there. What things they’d like to see and stuff like that.

There will be sometime in the future, there’ll be a way, or maybe multiple ways, to play Pathfinder games on a virtual tabletop in an official sort of way… We’ve been exploring, and talking to people… There’s a lot of questions. We’re actively exploring those questions, and when I mean actively… it’s a very high priority thing for the company to be looking at this question.

The Purple Golem Meets SmiteWorks?

It’s all speculation on my part, and d20Pro has a long standing relationship with Paizo, so maybe we’ll see more than one VTT integrate Pathfinder in a more official capacity.

Listening to: Gama Bomb – Tales from the Grave in Space – Slam Anthem

 

In case you haven’t caught it on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook, I’ve taken the liberty to create an interactive map of the GenCon 2011 Exhibit Hall. You can drag and zoom (using the mouse wheel or the up/down arrow keys) the map and when you rollover a booth, it displays the name of the vendor located there. If you click on the booth, it will take you to the vendor’s website (or GenCon.com if a website could not be found).

I’m hoping this will help everyone in aiding with finding, discovering, and planning this GenCon.

Listening to: Ramin Djawadi - Game of Thrones OST – North of the Wall

Print is far from dead, but digital is definitely here to stay. My eBook (inluding my RPG library) collection surpassed my physical collection more than a couple of years ago and its size has continued to grow exponentially. I spent a lot of time organizing, maintaining, and converting books in my library, which could be a hassle until I found Calibre.^[1]

Calibre is the most feature rich eBook management tool I’ve seen. Calibre can also be extended via plugins or by improving the source, which is open. Most of the following can be found on the Calibre site, but I’m so thrilled by the software I’ll repeat the features here.

Library Management

It manages your library from the concept of a logical book, which means it will only have one entry per book regardless of how many formats I have it in, which keeps the interface clean and concise. It can also sort on all the metadata you’d expect: title, author, date added to library, date published, size, rating, series, etc. It even stores covers. Calibre will even go online and download metadata for the book based on title/author or ISBN.

It also supports custom metadata via tags, which is especially great for RPG libraries. You can tag with system, version, setting, or as a third party publication. This makes finding all the relevant resources for your game a snap. I used to organize my library by publisher, but then I’d find myself needing to access lots of directories to get all the material I needed. You may also attach comments about the book.

Format Conversion

The eBook converter is pretty amazing. It supports more formats than I’ve ever used and it can rescale font sizes, detect and create structures (table of contents), and even insert metadata into the “book jacket.”

accepted input formats:

CBZ	FB2	MOBI	PML	TXT
CBR	HTML	ODT	RB	TXTZ
CBC	HTMLZ	PDF	RTF
CHM	LIT	PRC	SNB
EPUB	LRF	PDB	TCR

available output formats:

EPUB	MOBI	PDF	TXTZ
FB2	HTMLZ	RTF
OEB	PDB	SNB
LIT	PML	TCR
LRF	RB	TXT

 

Device Sync

Calibre supports a large number of devices natively, but it be used with any eReader that exports itself as a USB disk. The following is a list of just a few of the devices supported: Android devices, Edge, iPad/iPhone, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, and Sony PRS.

eBook  Viewer

Calibre can also be used to read your library and its viewer supports a wide array of formats. It also supports bookmarks, table of content, CSS, printing, and searching. You may also customize the experience by adjusting a user style sheet and fonts.

RSS Download

Of particular note to bloggers and blog readers is Calibre’s ability to automatically fetch feeds and convert articles into an eBook format. It supports about 300 news sites out of the box, but users can build recipes for new sites and upload them to the Calibre forum.^[2]

Content Server

My favorite feature of the Calibre program is its ability to serve my books so I can access them from anywhere. This feature is particularly useful for those of us with mobile devices that don’t have a lot onboard storage.

You can actually browse your collection from anywhere with an internet connection with a simple browser (like on your smartphone or even with the Kindle). Hell, this ability is even useful when running a game at home as it allows me to keep all my eBooks in one location but access them from multiple devices at the table.

Calibre gets my highest recommendation 5 out 5 flasks!

Listening to: Kyuss – Blues for the Red Sun – Green Machine

Resources

[1] Calibre’s official website

[2] Calibre forum

At any one time, I probably have three to five personal projects (usually of the geek variety) happening at once. Some of these projects I find I’m not interested in anymore and they are scuttled to the bottom of the Sea of Dead Projects. Most of them are completed, but I keep to myself. The rest I deem worthy for public consumption and I release into the wild.

While it may seem counter-intuitive, I keep so many projects around to avoid burnout. I usually only have one primary project at any single moment in time, but it shares mind-space with several smaller distractions. These distractions allow me to stoke the creative fires when intense sessions with the primary project threaten to blowout the hearth.

Well, today, I present one of the distractions that avoided the Sea of Dead Projects and has been released into the wild:

SavagedTools

SavagedTools is a small, bare-bones application (semi-optimized for mobile devices) that combines card-based initiative, dice rolling (supporting aces & wild die, and hopefully any number of edges/hindrances), and a logger into one tool.

It uses a simple sign-on that only requires display and campaign names. There is no registration. This means anyone can access your campaign’s log or impersonate you, but the damage is minimal (just create a unique campaign name and don’t share it).

The sign-on allows your group to share initiative draws and dice rolls with each other in near real-time on the logger. Whenever the deck is shuffled or a player draws a card, the results are recorded in the log and the page is updated. Same thing with dice, and players can even assign a description to their roll.

What may be especially interesting is that all the important stuff happens server-side, so players cannot manipulate the results through JavaScript trickery. I’m also especially proud of the fact that random number generation is accomplished by using the API available from Random.org. Random.org uses atmospheric noise to produce true random numbers.

To keep my database size manageable, I’ve incorporated a routine that will destroy any data older than hour, so the logs are not permanent. Other than that, the tool is free to use and comes with no strings attached (for as long as I can cover the hosting).

I plan on re-using the dice library I wrote for my other online RPG tool, Venture Captain (a character generator for the Pathfinder RPG). So this distraction will also prove useful for my primary project.

Please check out SavagedTools and let me know if you encounter any issues.

Listening to: Testament – The Gathering – Eyes of Wrath

I have finally opened up the online Pathfinder PRG character generator beta testing to the public. You can find the generator at VentureCaptain.com. I was surprised the domain name was available (considering all the “make money for nothing” schemes found on the web). I actually plan on expanding the site to host a suite of utilities for use with the Pathfinder RPG including a dice app I’ve been tinkering with that uses true random number generation, courtesy of Random.org. You can also follow Venture Captain on Facebook and on Twitter.

TECHNOLOGY

The character generator is a plain web app. It runs XHTML 1.0 Strict (every page but the contact page validates), CSS2.1, and JavaScript/jQuery. So it should display and render fine on most standards compliant-ish web browsers. The generator exports characters as a small PDF (~40k) file, so whatever platform you are using must support PDFs.

I’ve built the app according to how I plan on using it. I run Chrome on Windows 7 have no issues. Chrome renders JavaScript blazingly fast, but I’ve also tested it on Firefox 3.5/3.6 and it runs fine. On IE 7/8, the generator performs a bit on the sluggish side. I haven’t tested it on mobile devices, because quite frankly, there is just too much information to try to display effectively on such a small screen.

THIS IS BETA

I must stress that the generator is in BETA. There are obvious things missing, as well as ton of undiscovered bugs waiting to be squashed. I am working on tying up loose ends with the current implemented features before slaying the bigger dragons of Equipment and Spells. Oh yeah, and the only guy writing code for this app is me.

Some things I’m working on now is expanding the class feature information presented on the character sheet (displaying bloodline powers, school powers, etc.) as well as creating an interface for missing elements such as being able to choose what Mercy you get when you take the Extra Mercy feat.

This being said, if you find anything missing, improperly formatted, not compliant with the latest Pathfinder RPG rules, or have a general suggestion please do not hesitate to contact me via Twitter, Facebook, or using the VentureCaptain.com Contact page. I want this tool be the best it can be, so everyone’s feedback is important to me.

FEATURE ROADMAP

Below is how I think feature implementation will roll-out. I’m naming the builds after cities in Golarion, with the first build belonging to capital of the oldest empire.

v1.0 [Sothis] Feature Implementation (bold items are finished; italicized items are in development):

• Ability Scores (point buy, tier points, racial adjustments)
• Core Classes (alignment restrictions, favored class bonuses, selectable class features)
• Skills (class skill training bonus, skill focus bonus, racial bonuses, ability modifiers)
• Calculated Combat Stats (BAB, CMB, CMD, AC, Touch AC, Flat Footed AC, Saves, HPs, Speed, Initiative)
• Feats (Racial, class granted feats, full prerequisite validation)
• Equipment (calculate wealth, calculate encumbrance, attack/damage bonuses, highlight proficiency, equip to slots)
• Spells (select known spells, select memorized spells, calculate DCs, calculate dice/bonuses)
• Portraits by 60+ Terrible Portraits
• Save to PDF (complete with calculated values, racial & class features, custom landscape layout)

v2.0 [Oppara] Feature Roadmap:

• Prestige Classes
• Traits
• Language Selection
• Custom Magic Weapon & Armor
• Random Bio Generation (Name, Homeland, Age, Height, Weight, Hair, & Eyes) based on Race & Gender
• Aging Affects validation based on Age in Bio
• Rules Info (overlays with PRD definitions for class features, feats, etc.)
• Pathfinder Society legal character validation
• Save to HTML

v3.0 [Egorian] Feature Roadmap:

• Advanced Player’s Guide Update
• Non-core free entry for class, feats, traits, skills, equipment, & spells.
• Pre-calculated Combat Maneuver & Spell sheets
• Storage Solutions

IT’S FREE!

Did I mention this web app is free? Yeah, creating characters with Venture Captain costs you nothing (except whatever you pay to access the internet already). It will continue to be free for as long as I feel like covering the cost of hosting and development. There may be pay features in the future (storing characters in cloud?), but only for convenience services, never for content.

If you like it, please follow @Venture_Captain on Twitter and spread the word, like Venture Captain on Facebook, or even blog about it.

Venture Captain Online Pathfinder Character Generator

The online Pathfinder RPG character generator that I’ve been tinkering with in my free time over the last couple of months is quickly approaching open beta testing. I currently have all the validation implemented for core class features, feats, and skills. The sole remaining elements to work on involve displaying character information effectively in the PDF export. Just need to figure out how I want to render class features and feats and it’s ready to go.

I’ll add equipment and spell selection during the beta testing, but before that, I want to optimize the validation logic performance. Seeing how sluggish the JavaScript performs on Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3 bugs the hell out of me. Chrome, which blazes through most of the code, hits a bottleneck during skill validation (but only initially).

Features Roadmap

I figured I might list some of the features I have already implemented as well as those I eventually plan on including. For the moment, I am only supporting the Core Rulebook, but as I find time (and motivation), I’ll add stuff from other Pathfinder products (hint: beer money is motivational).

v1.0 Feature Implementation (bold items are finished; italicized items are in development):

• Ability Scores (point buy, tier points, racial adjustments)
• Core Classes (alignment restrictions, favored class bonuses, selectable class features)
• Skills (class skill training bonus, skill focus bonus, racial bonuses, ability modifiers)
• Calculated Combat Stats (BAB, CMB, CMD, AC, Touch AC, Flat Footed AC, Saves, HPs, Speed, Initiative)
• Feats (Racial, class granted feats, full prerequisite validation)
• Equipment (calculate wealth, calculate encumbrance, attack/damage bonuses, highlight proficiency, equip to slots)
• Spells (select known spells, select memorized spells, calculate DCs, calculate dice/bonuses)
• Save to PDF (complete with calculated values, racial & class features, custom landscape layout)

v2.0 Feature Roadmap:

• Portrait selection (using 60+ Terrible Portraits^[1])
• Traits
• Random Bio Generation (Name, Homeland, Age, Height, Weight, Hair, & Eyes) based on Race & Gender
• Aging Affects validation based on Age in Bio
• Rules Info (overlays with PRD definitions for class features, feats, etc.)
• Pathfinder Society legal character validation
• Save to HTML

v3.0 Feature Roadmap:

• Non-core open entries for class, feats, traits, skills, equipment, & spells.
• Pre-calculated Combat Maneuver & Spell sheets
• Export/Import character from database (may charge fee for storage)

Platform Choices

It’s times like these when I begin questioning the platform choices I’ve made. The entire front end uses valid XHTML 1.0 Strict, CSS2.1, and JavaScript. The back end is ASP.NET 4.0 & C#. I also have access to SQL Server 2008 in case future features require data storage.

I passed on HTML5 because I feel like there are too many compatibility issues that need to be addressed before you get a [nearly] uniform experience across browsers. Cross-platform is still ever elusive. Just take a look at percentage of browsers in use on W3C’s statistics page^[2] and cross-reference that with the HTML5 browser readiness site^[3].

There are still a ton of users out there with little to no HTML5 support. Now consider that each browser implements features in slightly different ways and you have a nightmare for a developer wanting to build a robust app and ensure a similar experience across the browsers.

The choice to build upon ASP.NET was easy. I work with ASP.NET in my day job, so I’m pretty handy with it. The .NET library I’m using to generate PDFs is pretty slick and I’m not sure if it would be as easy to implement with another server-side language.

Concerning CB

This line of questioning is especially germane with current hobby events as I saw my Twitter feed recently choked full of bitching and moaning about Wizards of the Coast’s choice in using Silverlight to develop their new online character builder^[4].

All the geek angst seems to originate from a ZDNet article^[5] that cherry-picked quotes from Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC). Someone thinks Microsoft is “deprecating” Silverlight (I could not find a direct quote from the conference that ever used the word, deprecate). And of course, all of the Apple iP* fanatics are sad-faced because Silverlight means it won’t work natively on their iOS devices.

Microsoft quickly cleared up any confusion about Silverlight (within 2 days of the ZDNet article)^[6][7], because there are a lot of businesses out their using the platform. Also, I’m sure you’ve recently seen a big marketing push for Windows Phone 7. Well WP7 is practically synonymous with Silverlight, so it’s most definitely still supported. You can now think of Silverlight as Objective C that benefits from browser plugins.

Listening to: City of Fire – City of Fire – Rising

REFERENCES

[1] 60 (108) Terrible Portraits for Creative Commons Release

[2] W3School’s Browser Statistics

[3] HTML5 & CSS3 Readiness

[4] Wizards of the Coast’s CB FAQ

[5] ZDNet’s Silverlight Article

[6] Bob Muglia, President of the Server & Tools Division at Microsoft

[7] Tim Heuer, Program Manager for Silverlight

Wow, there’s a lot of dust around here!

Things have been pretty busy elsewhere in my life, so I have unfortunately had to concentrate my energies there. But enough excuses, let’s get to the RPG-related content.

ENnies Blog Shout-out

First, I’d like to give a shout-out (back?) to Tony Law and the ENnies Blog. Tony interviewed me (and many other ENnie nominees and winners) and the interview went live this morning. The interview was completed before I gave my controlling interest in Nevermet Press to Jonathan Jacobs, who is now the sole proprietor.

Pathfinder RPG App

Even though the Labs appear to have been abandoned since GenCon, I can assure you I have only secreted myself away from the villagers with their burning torches and nasty pitchforks while I gave life to my newest endeavor.

If you cannot tell from the screenshots, it is a web-based character generator for the Pathfinder RPG. I cannot say when I’ll be finished; I am currently on my 3^rd re-write of the code at the moment in an attempt to get the app to perform decently on any browser but Chrome (Chrome IS the fastest browser when complex JavaScript routines are concerned).

The character generation takes place completely on the client side through the liberal application of JavaScript until the final step where the app creates a PDF of the character and stores it for a limited time on the server (the app automatically redirects to the (Character Gen Sample) PDF in the browser).

Here is the list of features that have been developed so far:

• Point buy Ability Score calculation (though you are free to break it)
• Favored Bonus points distribution (including Half-Elf bonus favored class)
• All racial features for the 7 Core Races
• All selectable class features for  the 11 Core Classes
• Validation logic for all 176 Core Feats
• Skill bonus calculation
• Saving Throws, BAB, CMB, & CMD calculation
• Hit Point calculation using ½ Hit Die + 1 (and max HPs at 1^st level)
• Save to PDF

As far as things to come, I want to add equipment and spell selection, with automated calculations for attack, damage, and save DCs. I plan on introducing Traits from the PDF enhancement as well. I also want to look into implementing random Ability Score generation options as well as random options for Hit Points.

Since I am in the middle of development, I do not want to reveal the project’s web address (it is actually live), but any parties interested in testing the app when the time comes, feel free to leave a comment below. I would also like to thank the handful of people who have already given me feedback on the project during its infancy.

For now, I’m sticking to the core rulebook only. Once the core rules are hammered out, then I will consider adding material from other sourcebooks. The core of the web app will certainly be free, but I am considering charging a small fee to store characters in a database.

Listening to: Danzig – Deth Red Sabaoth – The Revengeful

Do you have dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of loose notes?  Are they floating around on old bill envelopes, post-its, scrap paper, and bathroom tissue?  If you are like me, or at least the me a year ago, you probably write down your inspirations and ideas on whatever is handy and nearby.  Crayon and a fast food cup?  Been there.  And now you can’t find that plot outline for the greatest story ever told because your husband or wife threw it out with the garbage.  Either that or it simply got sucked into that dimension where my missing G.I. Joes and the matches to about a half a dozen socks go.  Maybe it was the house gnome.  GRRRRRR!

But that was me approximately a year ago, before I discovered some wonderful software called FreeMind.  Whenever I get inspired, I fire up FreeMind (if it isn’t already running) and add some nodes to my “Story Ideas” mind map.  For those times I don’t want to be saddled with a computer, I ensure I have my pocket sized notebook on me.  I’ll jot the bits down and then enter them into FreeMind the next time I am at the computer.  Then I scratch out the idea and if the page is full I tear it out and throw it away.

I can hear the skeptics now.  I could do this in MS Office (or Open Office) and achieve the same thing.  Well, you could, but FreeMind allows you to map things, similar to flowcharting software.  The nodes are collapsible so you can view it on a micro or macro level.  You can even create custom icons for each node.  It is quick and easy to learn and best of all it is FREE.  Oh and for all you non-Windows users, it is written in Java so it should be cross platform.

You could also just keep on trucking in a notebook, but how often do you lose your computer… and it would be a pain in the ass to “backup” the written page.  This software is good for any type of brainstorming or project development.  In fact, I use it at work for software development.  It also has the additional feature of being able to export your mind map to HTML.  It saves its data in an XML format, so the code monkeys out there could take extra advantage of it.

GMs, DMs, and Storytellers everywhere should do themselves a favor and at least try this bit of programming genius.

Listening to: Deathstars – Synthetic Generation – Genocide

gamingD&Dd20rpgroleplayingdungeons and dragonsworld of darknesstechnology

Most of my gaming group live about an hour away from me, in Podunksville.  I finally wrestled the first Saturday of every month away, so one night a month we play at my house.  Well, as members of the group acquire more responsibility, we find it harder and harder for us to meet face to face.  So we kicked around the idea of distance gaming and I went on the hunt to find some technologies that helps bring the table to the internet.

I have tried each of these applications, unless otherwise stated, and have provided as much information as possible to help anyone else out there decide whether they like it or not.

RPTools’ MapTool

RPTools have a suite of five open source, cross-platform (Java 5) applications at your disposal.  Honestly, I cannot believe this stuff is free. Even the one app still in development, the CharTool has a very nice level of refinement.  They offer the DiceTool, MapTool, TokenTool, InitTool, and CharTools (still in dev) on their site.

The MapTool is a client/server app which means you can either use it to host your own games or to connect to someone else’s.  You drop in an image for your map or use a default background that can be tiled.  You can pan/zoom the map as well as lay down a grid.  Tokens can also be added to the map to represent PCs, NPCs, monsters (which are reall just hostile NPCs right?), treasure, obstacles, whatever.  You can assign a few attributes to tokens like name, status, and if it gives off light.  You can use the TokenTool to easily create slick looking tokens for the map.  The MapTool also supports fog of war, drawing on the map, and a simple chat program with dice rolling functions.  The DiceTool reads dice expressions (i.e. 1d10+2d6+4) that can be be saved to buttons and extended by using JavaScript.  The InitTool helps a GM track initiative as well as character stats.  Finally the CharTool is a character manager that can be used with any system but comes with pre-made configurations for D&D 3.5, Savage Worlds, and Heroes.

I definitely urge you to check out RPTools.  Its free, works on any machine with Java 5, and if you are code savvy, can be extended by modifying the available source code.

NBOS’ ScreenMonkey

ScreenMonkey is from the same people that brings you Fractal Mapper, NBOS.  ScreenMonkey requires that the GM be running on a Windows machine, but players can connect with any modern web browser.  The full version costs $34.95 USD (and you only need one), but there is also a free Lite edition which comes without scripting, saving, and announcement capabilities.

I think the biggest selling points for this software is that you only need one copy, it is easy extendable by editing the HTML page players see as well as supporting the fairly robust VB Script.  It has a powerful chat program, chat archives, and extendable minis.  It supports initiative, fog-of-war, Fractal Mapper maps, sound (mp3 & wav), dice rolling, and map annotations.  I have used this software a lot, myself.

Smiteworks’ Fantasy Grounds

Fantasy Grounds II is a pretty slick looking application, and probably is the most refined app out of the list.  It is probably the closest to what DDI wants to be, but it just so happens you can use FGII today.  However, Smiteworks wants to charge for both player and GM licenses at $23.95 and $39.95 USD respectively.  It has a lot of DirectX, so this is Windows only.

FGII supports some nicely animated dice (color customizable) to roll, player handouts, maps, tokens, portraits, drawings, character sheets, and even rule book references.  It has a very robust integrated chat client and supports the linking of resources.  It has some sweet drawing utilities that even support pressure sensitive drawing tablets.

It has character sheets, combat tracker, and player turn seperation in the chat window.  If you have the ca$h to spend, this might be the app for you.

Smiteworks also makes adventures ready to use with FGII.

d20 Pro

d20Pro is also very polished, I just wish my 30 day trial hadn’t expired before I really put it through the paces.  It is available for $29.95 and everyone will need a copy (each copy can be both DM & player). There is a Windows version as well as a Mac/Linux version.

d20Pro has done a pretty good job at incorporating the d20 rule set.  You can program attacks for monsters which is based upon their Hit Dice and Strength or Dexterity.  Special ability templates and the four OGL spellcasting classes of cleric, druid, sorcerer, and wizard are all supported and extendable.  Spell effects are tracked during play and the spells integrate with the special ability templates.  Fog-of-war, grids, feats, skills, intiative, and saving throws are all supported.  d20Pro has a dice roller, saveable game logs, a main chat and separate player to DM chats.  You can even give monsters an inventory.  All in all, it is a pretty solid application, if you are playing a d20 game.

Battlegrounds

Battlegrounds is a pretty decent virtual table top that I find very similar to FGII, but it works on both Windows and Mac (sorry Linux users).  It has a dice roller, chat window, fog-o-war, zoom, grid snap, and supports .png which means you can have transparencies.  It also has nifty token facing and label overlays.  Battlegrounds is also coming out with a Wargame edition that will be suited to wargames. Battlegrounds comes in two flavors, GM or Player at $32.00 and $16.00 respectively.

RPG Host’s OpenRPG

Open RPG has been around awhile (remember WebRPG?), and is the oldest of the open source solutions I am aware of.  This application is cross-platform and available for the cheap price of free.  It also has a decent sized community supporting it.

It has all the basics, map, miniatures, chat and dice. You can zoom, grid, and freehand draw on the map as well.  The game tree is the most customizable aspect, allowing users to create custom character sheets and GM aids.

kLoOge Werks

kLoOge Werks is a cross-platform (Java 5) digital gaming table that comes with two different licenses. A GM license costs $30.00 USD and the player license costs $15.00 USD, with bundle discounts.

I actually got a demo version of this at the first GenCon in Indy.  It is fairly polished and includes a map with masking and fog-o-war, programmable dice, chat, spell shape templates, and a round-to-round event tracker.

It supports the big three image types (.jpg, .png, & .gif) as well as threatened areas, character sheet based dice expressions, animated gifs, audio support (.wav, .au, .mp3, .ogg), event based sound, facing, and health gauges.

Its pretty full featured, and definitely a contender.  The GUI is pretty polished even if their website isn’t.

D&DI’s Game Table

D&D Insider: This is the official platform for playing D&D 4e online and is available for a MMOesque monthly subscription of $14.95 USD, and its only available for Windows users. Most of us are aware that D&D Insider’s online tools are way behind schedule (and therefore over budget as well). After pulling the plug on their social network for gamers (Gleemax),  Wizards of the Coast is focusing all their resources on developing what may be the best platform for playing 4th Edition D&D.  While it hasn’t even reached beta testing yet, all the video demos of the software are very polished and professional.  It gives you access to a Character Visualizer (make digital 3D mini of your d00d!), Dungeon Builder, Character Generator, Game Table, D&D Compendium (rules), and access to the online magazines Dragon & Dungeon.

Though I haven’t used it personally (who has?), from what I have seen, the Game Table interprets the rules for you, making movement/action available based upon your character (ex: highlights all the spaces you can enter and targets you threaten, only shows what your vision/light would allow).

While I was writing this, D&D I News published a post that gave a sitrep (situation report for the uninitiated) on DDI.  Apparently, they offered a pricing structure so they can charge people for reading Dragon and Dungeon magazines.  Check it out if you are interested.

Here are some other applications I have looked at, but not tried:

GlitterCom:

GC is still in active development, but has a beta version out.  The beta has the basics, including an interactive map, dice roller, and chat, as well as map masking, ability to draw on the map, and hit point and initiative tracker.  It is going for a fairly refined interface, so it requires a video card that supports Pixel Shader 2.0 and it requires XP or Vista.  The app is available for FREE.

RPGtonight:

RPGtonight is browser based and you operate off their hosts (with space available for storing game info).  It has a map with masking, chat window (which can be disabled if everyone is using voice), dice roller, and avatars.  Its free and works with any OS that has a web browser.

ViewingDale:

Viewing dale uses your graphics card to present quickly updating maps.  It has an integrated chat and dice application, but beyond the fancy graphics program, doesn’t offer much.  I believe you only need one license ($45 USD) but it only works on Windows.

GRiP:

The Generic Roleplaying for Internet Players software is an IRC app published by the makers of Traveler RPG. It is basically just a layer you add onto IRC, much like mIRC if anyone is familiar with that. Finding, installing and using the software is somewhat cryptic, and it costs $35 USD. Also visit http://grip.2ya.com/ for more information.

JParanoia:

It’s an online Paranoia rules infused app.  I haven’t tried it, but its free and I think its programmed in Java, which should make it cross-platform.

Epic Table:

This still in production software looks promising, it has the basics plus spell shape templates, lighting, masking, complex chat, and a combat tracker.  Its Windows only and I’m not sure how much it will cost.

iTabletop:

I can remember seeing this at GenCon last year.  It is still in beta and appears to have all basics but ups the ante with video chat.

Gametable:

Simple online multiuser whiteboard with a chat box and dice.  It looks to be browser based using Java and its free.

Tabletop Network:

Looks like a very general online card, chess, boardgame app that must be used with Skype.

Listening to: Gothminster – Empire of Dark Salvation – Monsters

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It also struck at Microsoft’s Xbox division when the Project Manager for Digital Products at Wizards of the Coast, Joseph Batten murdered his estranged wife, Melissa Batten, a Software Development Engineer in Test (and Harvard Law School graduate) and then killed himself.  I got this on my Destructoid feed.

Apparantly it all began after the former Microsoft employee Joseph discovered that his wife had an affair, obtained a gun, and threatend to kill himself. This part of the story was discovered after further research on the Seattle Times.

gamingD&Dd20rpgroleplayingdungeons and dragons